So the meeting was declared open for discussion. The gentlemen who participated were not partisans of any particular section or state and were evidently disposed to be deliberate and cautious in their selection. Most of them presented arguments in favor of Tennessee. Some were in favor of the state of Washington. As I listened to the discussion I was conscious of a deep feeling of interest developing within me. It seemed to me that intuitively I comprehended the motives and purposes of these men and that I had a stronger grasp upon the details of their design than they. A great inspiration seized upon me which seemed to swing my mind over every detail and to light up every feature of this subject. When all who intended appeared to have spoken, the chairman suggested that Mr. Braden might, perhaps, present some views which would be worthy of consideration. I could not forbear compliance and spoke as follows:
“Gentlemen—I feel a deep and profound sympathy for the objects of this meeting. When I say this I do not want to be understood as expressing favor for any plan whereby the thoughtful, conservative statesmanship of modern society is to be set aside, and experimental statesmanship is to be substituted for it. I am convinced that the social system which Christendom accepts to-day is the best which humanity has ever employed, and that it would be the worst of crimes to destroy it without furnishing some practical model for a new and better one.
“The United States presents a plan which is sufficiently elastic, an area sufficiently extensive, and opportunities sufficiently varied and abundant, to make it proper that one state should be devoted to the development of the co-operative system. I, for one, am fully convinced that a state should be selected in which the obstacles to your efforts will be but few and slight. For instance, you ought not to concentrate your efforts on Tennessee if there is another area, less populous, less prejudiced and less attached to the present system.
“The vote of Tennessee is 321,190. Its population approaches 2,000,000. You must, in order to gain control of Tennessee, increase its population by nearly 2,000,000 co-operators casting a vote of nearly 300,000. This assumes that a portion of the present population is not opposed to the Co-operative Commonwealth. It is plain to me that it will take you a generation to accomplish your purpose.
“The same objections apply in a less degree to Washington. The population of that state is 450,000 and its vote 93,435. To direct our colonies to a territory not yet admitted into the Union, like Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma, would subject them to repressive congressional legislation from which in a state they would be free. As for Wyoming, with a population of 60,000 and a vote of 21,000, it does not present a field for our operations as suitable as some others.
“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.”
My remarks produced a deep impression. I was followed by several gentlemen who heartily approved the suggestion to appoint a committee of investigation and to send the committee to Idaho, to report after a month’s absence. A motion to that effect was carried providing that the chairman and two others, to be appointed by him, should constitute that committee. The chairman did me the honor to appoint me, and also appointed Henry B. Henderson, a gentleman of great wealth, a reformer of thirty years’ standing, and one of the truest and best men who ever graced the planet with an unselfish life. The assembly then adjourned to meet again a month after, when the committee was to make its report.