The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-09-30
ON THE SOUTHERN FRONTIER.
An Unmarked Boundary Between
Mexico and the United States.
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An Unmarked Boundary Between
Mexico and the United States.
From the NeD York Star
Zone of the most important questions
pending between the governments of the
United States and Mexico just now, is the
proper marking of the boundary line be-
tween the two countries" This remark
was made in the course of chat had with
Senior Jose NJ. Garcia of Janos, Mexico, at
the Fifth Avenue hotel asst evening. "You
must know" he continued, in explanation,
that the boundary line between the two
republins is. for some 1900 miles, purely
artificial. Down as far westward as FL
Pasco Tex, a line in the center of the Rio
Grande gives the water of the river equally
to the two nations, but from Ell Paso, Tex,
to Tia Junia, San Diego county, California,
the line is an imaginary one, marked out
by monuments of iron and stone erected by
Commissioner Larrigui for Mexico and by
Maj. Emory of the corps of the United
States engineers, for your country. When
this survey was completed, somewhere
between the years 1S50-'56, the whole
country was an arid waste. Now it has a
large population, growing denser day by
day.
In view of the absence of population,
the commission contented itself by making
WIG AAhC Ol SAcStlAk many
cases ninety miles apart. The result now
is, that man living close to the frontier
line either in Arizona or New Mexico ex-
cept he is in the neighborhood of a monu-
ment, cannot tell whether he is in the
United States or Mexico, and, of course,
the same thing holds good on our side of
the border. So great has this trouble grown
of late that Mexican custom house, until
few years ago, was collecting duties IN the
lInltad SfataS whita af tho
miners from the United States are taking
up claims, under your mining laws, upon
our territory"
HAS anything been done to remedy the
evilw
Yes. but only by the military authori-
ties. As early as 1888 a bill passed the
congress of the United States, and that of
Mexico, providing for a resurvey of the
boundary, to be made by the military en-
gineer officers of the two governments.
The object Of the survey was to determine
how many monuments would be required
to SO mark the line that each monument
would be in sight of another, to tie end
that man could trace the line for himself
at any point. This work was so admira-
bly, done by Capt. Thomas w. Symons of
the United States corps Of engineers, that
his field notes were accepted by our gov
ernment, and his report to your govern
ment approved. That is all the good.
however, that came of Symons' work. The
American congress has not appropriated
any money to remark the line, though our
government is ready to pay one-h half the
expense. During Mr.. Cleveland's admin
istration our minister to Washington was
most earnest in his efforts to have the
matter attended to, and in one of President
Cleveland's messages he drew attention 10
its Importance. but that is all that has come
of it. Since the Republican party has gone
into power the outlook has become more
than gloomy, and. excuse me, but IL seems
to us Mexicans that there is a desire on the
part of your government to leave, for some
occult reason, question unsettled which,
in the very near future, may give rise to the
most serious complications