Albuquerque citizen., 1908-03-27
MAGDALENA BAY
NOT FOR SALE
TO j. s.
Far Sightedness of Great
Britain Bars American Pur.
chase of important Port.

City of Mexico. March 27.-The
hubbub that has been caused by the
proposition that America buy the
peninsula Of Lower California from
Mexico, in order to obtain absolute
possession of Magdalena bay, has
brought to mind the difficulties
America would encounter in trying
to get possession of the country with
out buying the territory from Mexico
outright The whole question has
been brought forcibly to mind since
the arrival of the fleet in Pacific wa
ters, an event which first made Amer
lea realize the great strategic value
of Magdalena bay in case of naval
war along the Pacific coast.
To Mexico Lower California Is
nothing The government collects a
small tax from the rocky peninsula
and expends nothing there. The
whole area is regarded, with consid-
cradle justice. as a barren and worth
less waste. but Mexicans are alive to
the possibilities of Magdalena bay.
England, the Ever Prcscicnt.
Incidentally. however, the situation
discloses a farsighteduess, not on the
part of Mexico, which has hardly
learned the meaning of that word,
but of Great Britain. whose splendid
ly aggressive and frequently offensive
foreign policy is again called into
question.
Perhaps If the restless and SO often
resistless flow of emigration of Amer
leans could find an outlet into the
peninsula of Lower California the
time might come when the first alarm
of war would find the shores of Mag
dalena bay peopled with Americans
living under Mexican rule, but ready
and eager to show where they stood
If their home country was in trouble.
Fill Lower California with such a
migrated population and it is easy to
foresee an undeniable demand from
its people for annexation to the Unit
ed States.
Unfortunately this cannot be, and
something more stubborn than the
Mexican law prevents it. There is ev-
cry reason to believe that England
has long ago foreseen just such pos
sibility and has secretly supported the
acquisition of the border lands by
British citizens, who. as employees of
Mexican corporation, do nothing the
year round but draw their pay and
see to it that no outsider buys a foot
of ground or finds any inducement to
settle.
The Mexican laws prohibit aliens
from owning any Mexican territory
within six leagues of the land border
line between it and another country
or within three miles of the coast In
addition to this the entire coast line
of Lower California. including Mag
dalena bay, is owned by Mexican cor
porations whose stockholders are SO
per cent British. on the largest of
the tracts held by these corporations
there is no industry I'm such operation
as would justify the retention of the
lands under the most economical plan
of payment for caretakers But the
lands are preserved and have plenty
of caretakers.
No American receives the slightest
encouragement to stay i'm the country
and not an acre of the land can be
bought from the corporation. Its
tract lies like an impossible dixie be-
tween the United States and the Low
er California peninsula, whose rich
alluvial soil is now nothing more than
desert where rain seldom falls
more often than every four or five
years. but which irrigation would
turn into just such Towering para
disc as the country about san Diego
and Los Angeles is. where the lands
have been irrigated by artificial
means.