Imperial Valley press., 1910-02-05
APPEAL ID CONGRESS
 FOR SQUARE DEAL Railroads Claim Is Approved by Fl Centro Chamber
 of Commerce.
President RooseveIt's Promise to Pay For Protection of Government Works and Homes of Thousands of Citi- gems Should be Made Good, Say the Settlers of Imperial Valley.

At special meeting of the El Gen. tro Chamber of Commerce, held last Wednesday night in the city hall, w. F. Holt brought up the matter of the bill in Congress to reimburse to the Southern Pacific the cost of closing the break of the Colorado River and saving the valley and the government works at Laguna dam. MT. Holt recit ed the facts, telling how President Roosevelt asked the railroad to do the work and promised that the govern ment would pay for it, and said that any money repaid by the government would reduce by that amount the price that the people of the valley would have to pay for the irrigation system when they should take it ov CT. The claim was just and should be paid. The work not only pro tected the homes of large number of American citizens but had saved millions of government property. MT. Holt then presented and the Chamber of Commerce unanimously adopted the following resolution:
 Whereas, the cost of protecting the property in Imperial Valley by the levee system constructed by the Southern Pacific Company must ulti mately be borne by the residents of Imperial Valley, unless the same be assumed by the Government of the United States, and
 Whereas, under the long establish ed and wise policy of the Government in protecting properties of the var ious states from inundation by floods in the rivers, it is and was the func | tion of the Government to protect the people on the California side of the Colorado River from inundation by proper levees along the western banks of the said river, as was recognized by the Government in it's construc- tion of levees along the eastern side of the said river to protect property in Arizona;
 Now Therefore, be it Resolved: That this body does respectfully petition the Government in words and figures following, to-wit:
 In the month of December, 1906, the entire volume of the Colorado River was flowing into Imperial Val ley and it was inevitable that, unless checked, the property of the valley would suffer not a temporary loss, such as those occasioned by floods of other rivers, but a total and perpet- ual destruction. The conditions as they then existed were correctly set forth in the Special Message to Con gress by the President, of date Jan uary 18th, 1907, to all of which we re- spectfully refer and extracts of which are as follows:
 Tt is further understood that the Southern Pacific Company having eX- pended $2,0O0,000 or more for the pro- tection of it's interests, declines tC furnish more money to The Califor- mia Development Company to save the Imperial Valley, beyond controlling the present break in the river bank The owners of the property in Imperia
 Valley, both farmers and towns peo-
 pie, together with the Southern Pa : cific Company and The California De
 velopment Company, have combined to call upon the Government for 6 contribution to assist The California , Development Company to the exten
 of erecting permanent works to insure 1 protection for the future.
 "If the river is not put back anC , permanently maintained in it's natur' } al bed the progressive back cutting l in the course of one or two years l will extend up stream to Yuma, as be
 fore stated and finally to the Laguni l Dam, now being built by the Govern ment, thus wiping out millions Of dollars of property belonging to th' l Government and to citizens. Contin |. uing farther, it will deprive all the val ley lands along the Colorado Rive r of the possibility of obtaining neces
 sary supply of water by gravity ca f nals.
 9 "At the present time there ap - pears to be only one agency equa
 to the task of controlling the river