“For my part I am greatly prepossessed in favor of Idaho. It has an area of about 86,000 square miles, a population of about 90,000 and a vote of about 30,000. Its vote is now increased by, probably, 15,000 on account of the extension of the right of suffrage of women. This will be an advantage to your colonists, because the proportion of married men among you will be greater than that of the shifting population of the mining camps. It is evident that you will control the state as soon as you have 50,000 men and women there. Already the Co-operative Commonwealth numbers 3,000 men and this means 6,000 votes. But I make no doubt that 100,000 men, to say nothing of their wives, are ready to go to Idaho with your colonies if you choose that location. “But you ask, what manner of place is Idaho? I reply, that in my journeyings throughout my beloved country I have found its superior nowhere in what goes to produce a great commonwealth. Its name signifies ‘Light on the Mountains.’ It has valleys of great breadth and fertility, mountains covered with extensive forests, lakes of enchanting beauty, navigable rivers, swift streams, unlimited water power, inexhaustible mineral resources. “It has 12,000,000 acres of land which can be reclaimed by irrigation and made lavishly productive, and there is plenty of water available for the purpose. It has seven million acres of forest lands. You, perhaps, have no very great acquaintance with Idaho. This, in my opinion, should induce you to select a committee to visit the state incognito to examine and report on its resources. You will find that it is capable of supporting a population of 10,000,000 people. These can engage in manufacture, farming, grazing, fruit culture, mining, wool growing and all the pursuits followed by the people of Pennsylvania or New England. The climate is not so warm as that of Tennessee, but in my judgment that is an advantage. It is much warmer than in any northern state east of the Rockies and north of the Ohio river. It is dry and healthful. “Gentlemen, I shall not enter into a further description of Idaho, but beg you to make an investigation. Remember that in states whose opportunities are famous those opportunities have been occupied. If you can find a state which is but little known you will find its opportunities, open for you to take possession of and control. Idaho is such a state.”