Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1898-01-27

who Is the instigator OF the Proposed Low
Line Ditch

Who h the Instigator Of the Proposed los
Lin Ditch9
Editors Citizen.
The scurrilOus attacks OF the Democrat
upon Pedro Perea, primarily. and Incl
IDENTIFY upOn the republican party OF Ber,
nalillO county, calls for more than a cas-.
ual notice.
The truth Of the business is that IN,
leading man, now playing the role o.
'Sayior Of Albuquerque" Is Mr.. A. A
Grant, the original agitatOr and proposed
constructor Of the low line irrigation
canal. That he and one or two others
who will have a controlling interest In
the stock. will ultimately own and con.
troll the canal, admits of no doubt Il
those conyersant with the management
Of corporations, by men graspinp
"a Mr.. Grant has shown himself to be
This Mr.. Grant Is the same Mr.. Grant
who from the organization OF Albuquer.
que a. a town has owned and controlled
every valuable franchise which the town
or present city has had to give away. He
has owned the water works, and charged
the people OF Albuquerque two prices
for worse water than Is furnished TO any
other city In the country. He has owned
the electric light works and charged the
city aud its inhabitants twice as much
Tor an inferior quantity and quality Of
! ght, rs Is found anywhere else In a city
OF like population. He has owned the
gas works and charged the city and
lis inhabitants like exOrbitant rates.
After thus robbing the people Of { IL
city, he Ia not satisfied, and now proposes
to extend his nefarious operations into
the surrounding country, and rob the
native people OF their water rights. and
charge them one dollar and hfty cents
per acre, annually. for what they have
been hitherto getting for a day or two
Of manual labor on the present acequias,
which have been used for irrigating
the lands along the river bottom.
The people living along the valley are
very willing 10 work a day or two on
some acequia for the privilege Of getting
water 10 irrigate their lands, but when II
comes to surrendering that privilege, and
In addition paying M dollar and fifty
cents per year for the water which has in
the past cost thempractically nothing, they
enter a protest and appeal to the courts
to protect their rights; and because the
Hon. Pedro Perea sustaiDs them and as
sists them in thus presenting the matter
for adjudication. the Democrat attacks
him as the arch iend, against whom all
the elements Of progress and the infu-
ence OF the citizens Of Albuquerque
should be arrayed.
But the Democrat will fail In its un-
dertaking. The people OF this city and
this community know Pedro Perea too
we'll to be prejudiced by any slurs that a
monOpolistic, grasping rival may hurl
against him. He has always been a
friend OF the people, true to their inter.
ests and willing to give his time and
money for their protection. In this in
stance, he is not lighting the city or the
people Of Albuquerque. but he is asking
that the rights OF his friends and neigh
bors DO protected from the hands OF
a man who has shown himself to be for
Grant first, Tor his California home next,
and for Albuquerque, when 1t is to his
interest to be 30, last. Between the two
men the people will gladly choose the
man born here, raised here, who spends
his money here. rather than the man
who comes here only when ne wants to
bleed US, and takes Our money away from
here to spend In luxury on the slopes Of
the Pacific. PALEROs.