Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1902-03-21

state or territory in the union), ant
hood of states, has been denied voic'
in the councils of the nation, and ha
been obliged to content herself will
representation in congress by on
voiceless, voteless delegate. l emplo.
| the term "voiceless'' metaphorically
for surely never did man make {
braver, more strenuous effort to secure
begrudged right to his constituent:
than our present delegate to congress
the Hon. B. s. Rodey.
This very helplessness Of New Mexi
co, instead of securing for her protec
ton from her enemies in congress, has
been seized upon as a weapon where
with to destroy her by those who
would rob her of her chief source Of
wealth, her most precious heritage, the
right to use the waters of her catch
ment area.
Everyone is now familiar with the
the Elephant Butte dam case, crime
committed in the interests Of the pro.
jectors of the socalled international
DAM" proposed to be built on the Ric
Grande at Ell Paso, Texas. The avowed
object of the promoters of this inter-
national dam is to appropriate fol
their reservoir the whole of the flood
waters of the Rio Grande in New Mex
leo, regardless of the ruin the carry
ing out Of such a project must inflict
on the thousands of farmers living
along the banks of the river through
out it's course in the territory. The
gross injustice of this proposal is east
ly demonstrated by the following
facts: The report of the International
boundary commission, of which Gener-
al Anson Mills, United States army, is
chief, shows that approximately 100000
acres are irrigated in the Rio Grande
valley below Ell Paso, while almost
200,0 900 acres are irrigated above, in
New Mexico.
Yet, General Mills philanthrophy, a
philanthrophy bounded only by the
line between Texas and New Mexico,
and so great as to include the inhabit-
ants of a foreign state, to the detri-
ment of his own countrymen, leads
him to urge the construction of a dam
just above Ell Paso, which, with a
height of go feet WILL according to his
own estimate, submerge some $4,000
acres of land, of which SO per cent is
irrigable and in New Mexico.
Further General Mills in his report,
states that he considers one acre. foot
per acre of water per annum sufficient
for irrigation purposes. That is to say
that the 10000 acres of irrigated land
below Ell Paso will yearly require 10000
acre feet of water.
Taking these statistics General
Mills OWN into consideration, it would
appear somewhat greedy, to put 1t
very mildly, to construct dam which,
if filled but once year. will contain Il
quote from General Mills statistics
once more), almost 2,500OoO acre feet
of water-considerably more than 80
times the amount of water the 10000
acres heretofore irrigated could possi-
bly, require or be justly entitled to-.
Can any unbiased and fair-minded
person perceive the justice in General
Mills absurd proposition II carried
out, with it's attendant conditions, 1t
will not only deprive New Mexico OF
the chief source of her prosperity, for
the benefit of it's promoters, and for
that of a few Texan and Mexican far
mers, but will destroy by submersion
&C. 900 acres Of the soil of New Mexico,
and reconvert some 100000 acres of her
most fertile farm lands, at present
providing homes and a LIVELIHOOD to
thousands of law-abiding and indus
trtous citizens, into the barren wastes
from which with infinite toll and the
help Of the life-giving waters Of her
great river they have been SO slowly
and hardly won.
Under a territorial form of govern
ment, these and other evils are likely
to befall us, for the reason that we are
powerless to avert them.
The international dam scheme, and
the Culberson-Stephens bills, are
aimed at the foundations Of our pros
perity, and should they become reali-
ties, vast proportion Of our 100000
citizens would be fhopelessly ruined,
our agriculturally supported cities and
towns, t1ourishing even under our ter
ritorial disabilities, would decay, our
mining camps. supported and fed by
the farming population, would close
down, and New Mexico's growing
prosperity and greatness would be-
come phantom, . thing Of the past.
There Is but one help for us-State-
hood.
We must, work out our own saliva
tion. 1t behooves every patriotic citi-
zen Of New Mexico to follow the lead