The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-07-08

America should be placed il a fund
known as the Reclamation Fund"
and be expended under the direction
of the Secretary of the Interior. As
the result of this legislation, a bureau
or division known as the Reclamation
Service was established in the De
partment of the Interior of the Fed
eral Government, and as a further re-
suit of the legislation there came in
to the Reclamation Fund" to be ex-
pended as provided by law, about
thirty millions of dollars, which has
| from that time to the present increas-
ed to about sixty million The work
of the Reclamation Service began
| throughout the states to which the
act applied. 1 might note at this
point, as a basis for further remark
upon the subject, that the delegation
in congress, at the time the act was
passed, from the state of Texas, vot
ed solidly against the passage of the
reclamation act, and the law did not
include the state of Texas within it's
provisions. The state of Texas, as you
will remember, has no Federal public
domain. Under the provisions of the
Legislation mentioned the reclamation
officers have been directing operations
in New Mexico. AS a result of their
direction and operations we have the
Hondo project near Roswell complet
nd
completed, now in use, and the Ele
phant-Butte work on tie Rio Grande
commenced. Since the passage of the
original law the old question of the
settlement of the international boun-
dairy line between the United States
and Mexico, which has been a ghost
| to the Southwest, and especially to
our Territory for some years, became
again a live question Federal officials
from the Department of State and OF
her Departments of the Government
and boundary commissioners have
made various reports upon this Ques-
| ton, and always, l am sorry to say,
| it seemed to be against the United
=
of the day is that our own men in
charge of our own affairs in the boun-
dary dispute between the United
States and Mexico have lent strongly
to the Mexico side of the controversy.
My recollection is that the original
claims were something like thirty
million dollars. 1t is my impression
that they were largely prompted by
American citizens for selfish purposes
of a largely padded character. 1t
could have been settled likely for one
sixth of the claim, but by recent act
of Congress it was determined to take
the waters of the Rio Gra1de, belong
ing really to the people of New Mexico
and by direct appropriation of one
million dollars in aid of the Elephant
Butte project, settled thereby all diff
erences between the United States and
Mexico. In my own judgment it would
have been far better and much more
the act of a great nation, to have TAX
on the money directly from the feder-
al treasurer and paid the proper claim
of Mexico. if she had any, rather than
take the water belonging to the people
Of New Mexico, an outlying pro-
vince as viewed by tle federal of
fcials. to pay the claim against the
Federal government. The people of
New Mexico are not responsible for
these claims and the wealth of the
Territory should not have been, by an
act of Government, appropriated in
the payment thereof, that may be a
beneficial use of water, but is against
the real owners. the waters stored
| in the Elephant-Butte project should
| Mexico, not in Texas and Old. Mexico.
1 am a little inclined to think that
there is something in Colorado's po-
sition in that celebrated suit of
Kansas against Colorado, as construed
| by Justice Brewer, that God gave
is" the waters and we are going to
keep them and use them in New Mex
leo Under the recent aforesaid law of
Congress, Texas thought better of ir-
tigation and she has for the second
time' been annexed to the United
States, but this time for irrigation
purposes only and we are to use the
silvery ribbons of water, flowing from
Rio Grande, the waters of New Mexico
Is the cords which are to bind Texas
20 the United States for the aforesaid
purpose Under the provisions of the
reclamation act" and those amenda-
| tory thereof, l strongly insist that the
waters which have been given to
Mexico and Texas should have been
| stored at Elephant-Butte and at White
Rock Canyon North of Albuquerque,
J to be used upon the lands in New
Mexico for the benefit of her citizens
l md for the development of her re
sources New Mexico has lead in sys-
TENS and plans, ancient and modern,
in this country on the subject of irri-
| cation. Even Pike, in his account of
/ his expedition, to explore the head of
the Arkansas River in 1866, records
Il the fact that he saw irrigation tnen
II u. A