Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1901-03-20
A CALL TO ACTION.
A United and Determined Movement Nee
essary to Preserve New Mezico's
Water RIGHTS,

|
| Mesilla Park, N. NJ, February 25.-
To the Editor of the New Mexican: Si
1t must appear to all men of common
sense that the time has now come fol
| New Mexico to take determined actor
| to prevent the alienation of her imme
mortal rights in the waters of the Rio
Grande by a clique of PERSONS, who
while calling themselves Americans
and protesting to have their country's
interests at heart, would yet deprive
New Mexico, a shining jewel in thai
countrys crown, of one of the main
springs of her prosperity, almost,
might say, of her very existence, and
all in the interests Of themselves, and
OF our sister state of Mexico.
This clique, headed, it is said, by
Gen. Anson Mills, United States army
has SO far, with a determination and
persistency worthy of a better cause,
brought all our striving after justice
and fair play to naught. The proceed
ings of this party, iniquitous as they
are, have been characterized by a
sturdy persstency and force which put
to shame the half-hearted and abortve
attempts of our citizens as a whole to
secure, not concession, not a be-
grudged gift, but a heritage of olden
times, right of which nothing but
grossest injustice can defraud us.
And, in the face of these strenuous
efforts on the part of the enemies of
the territory, shall New Mexico, in pas
sive Indifference, submit without a
struggle to the bitter end, to the laying
waste by the spoiler of that fair and
fruitful valley which provides liveli-
hood for thousands upon thousands of
the best of our citizens; to the reduc-
tion to penury of those whose forefa-
theirs won, and who themselves CLEAN,
each year with ever increasing difficulty
Difficulty which can be obviated only
by the construction in New Mexico it.
self of storage reservoirs), a scanty yet
sufficient living from lands rendered
fruitful by the life-giving Rio Grande,
the Nile of America?
Can we quiescently watch the falling
back to its original condition of waste
and desolation of that great area of
country, hardly won from a chaos of
windbown sandhills and swamps,
which is now aptly called the Garden
Spot of American"
Are we, great and populous terri
tory to tamely submit to the machina-
tions of some dozen men and see our
farms and orchards, a present the pro-
viders of so great portion of New
Mexico, return to solitary and unpro.
ductive wastes of sands and brush. and
the work of decades thrown to the
winds for the qualification of General
Mills and his associates?
Perish the thought. There must be-
nay, there is--in New Mexico manhood
enough to devise and carry out some
means of frustra ting the schemes of our
would-be destroyers.
petition signed by Governor Otero
by the members of the legislature. and
by each federal, territorial and county
omclal throughout New Mexico, urging
the department of justice to accept as
final the findings of the territorial
courts in the Elephant Butte dam case,
will surely have more weight with
those who hold our fate in their hand
than the bidding of those patriots ca
who for personal gain would sacrifice
New Mexico and its thousands of in
habitants to Mexico, foreign though
friendly country
once more let me urge the necessity
of united and determined action, lest
our enemies triumph over US and we
fall into the abyss which our own sloth-
fulness and faint-heartedness will have
created for our destruction.
J. FRANCIS FINDLAY,