Arizona weekly citizen., 1882-07-23
UNNATURAL BOUNDARY.
Why The Hio Crahde Causes so Much
 Trouble.


 Ever since men had common sense
 enough to form themselves into com | munities, large rivers have been utilized
 as boundary lines. It is the most | natural thing iu the world to select q | large river as boundary line, hence rivers are called natural boundaries. Ii
 IS possible for nations to quarrel about
 lines ifIthey are merely artificial; but the ! suppOsltiOn IS that a river Is per
 manent institution, although, like
 Governor Roberts, it Is always running. In Europe or Asla, If you put a large river down anywhere out of doors, It
 will stay where you put 1t. You might 90 oil and stay a thousand years, and
 when you got back that river would be
 right there where you left iJ. Nobody can coil up a Tver a thousand miles
 long and carry it of, any more than you can lift lofty range of cloud-capped
 mountains up and put it into 6 hand cart. Such, at least, has been the
 generally accepted opinion in regard to
 river; but with thus, as win all other rules, there is an exception, and the ex- ceptiou is the Rio Grande, which is the
 boundary line between the United States md Mexico.
 The Rio Grande is the most peculiar river in the world. Words cannot des- cribe its croOkedness, and the color of its waters are like unto the cOmplexions of the hOrse-thieVes who infest its borders. Whether the crookedness of the natives is caused by the course of the river, or whether the river has been induced to depart from the straight line of duty by the bad example set 1t toy the lords of creation who prOwl along it's banks, is one of those intricate ques- tlons We have not got space to discuss. The soil of the Rio Grande Is alluviRl, and very similar to that of the valley of the San Antonio river. Wnen 1t rains the soil dissolves into a soft kind of like snake in water.
 One of the consequences of thIs is that the boundery hne, which is declared to be the middle of the channel of the river, Is as uncertain and as utterly unreliable as q political prediction of the Houston Post.
 For instance, John Smith, an honest, industrious and unexceptiOnHl Anglo SaXson, settles on the American side of the Rio Grande. He is an American ID the fullest sense of the word. The Rio Grande, according to the costumbre de Paris, gets on bender, and next morn- ing John Smith finds that he has become, by an act of God, as Blackstone calls it, Mexican. The boundary line has gone around him during the night, having selected new channel, winch leaves him several miles in MeucO. The channel of the river being the boundary, the MeIicAns claim the land as Mexican territory, and SO it is. What IS poor John Smith to do? When you are in Rome you must howl with the wolves. In a short time John Smith has become Don Juan Esmitee-that's the way the Mexicans prOnounceit. He wears a great biz sombrerO, smokes cig- arittOs, big spurs jingle at bis heels, he goes to mass regularly, and to inspire his Mexican comrades with confidence, he steals an occasional horse. In a few years, were 1t not for hls red head and blonde freckles, and an occasional oath, nobody would take him to be an Ameri- can. That is all right as far as 1t goes, but just about the time Don Juan Esmitee begins to relish chile con carne and others Mexican lucuries, the boundary line gets on another tare, and going back to its old channel, leaves Don Juan Esmitee high and dry on the American side once more. The Ameri- cans reclaim their land, an1if Don Juan Esmitee does not move away, he fails to feel at home. The very first time be gives any of the Mexican lingo to his American brethren, or as soon as he ylelds to his acquired habit of stealing U horse, h0 '---- 4-c-,b'a nf tba most geri- ous character on hand. In other W0fus, he has got to the end of his rope.
 The same disaster befell the Mexican citizen, who contrary to his wishes, IS into an American, and back again to Mexican citizen by this oN- traordinary river.
 Then again, in many places 1t goes dry entirely, and the two twin sister republics arc left without any boundary line whatever.
 We are glad to see that President Arthur is conferring with the authorities in relation to adjusting a permanent md unchangeable boundary line be- tween the two countries. Such a step, if 1t does nothing else, will fool the Americans into believing that the Unit ed States is not going to absorb Mexico, and thus do away with the necessity for any boundary line.