Arizona republican., 1910-07-28

Inere SnOulu De an uHOerSIaNulHS as to what proportion of the appropria- ton is to be returned to the treas ury. He seemed to think, according to Mir. Kelly, that the ranchers of the Imperial valley, the Southern Pacific company, and the government of Mexico should each contribute to a least. It is within the power of the president to dictate terms, for the appropriation was made with the pro- sion that it should be expended ac- cording to the presidents dictation.
 We may well doubt, however, whether congress contemplated that there should be any conditions attach ed to the expenditure of the money. So far as the Imperial ranchers are con cerned it would place q grievous bur den upon them, and we believe an unjust burden, to require them to stand a portion of the expense. When settlers go upon the public domain they do so with the implied under standing that when they comply with the law they can depend upon per manent ownership of homes. and upon federal protection in the enjoy ment of their homes. The cratic Colorado river threatens the destruc- ton of the Imperial valley, by over flow. To control the river and con- fine 1t to its proper channel will require the construction of an exten- sive system of levees. precisely as the Mississippi river is confined to its channel by levees. For the Mississippi river levee system the government lions. It is true that these vast fedral appropriations for control of the father of waters in its lower val ley were excused in the first instance by the claim that they were for the benefit of navigation. It was neces- sary to make this excuse in the early days. because those were the days Of democratic demand for strict con struction" of the constitution-such a construction as would have pre- vented the federal government from making appropriations from its treas ury for the mere relief of any com munity, no matter how grave the emergency. But those days have passed. The government has time and again gone to the rescue of com munities devastated by floods and other calamities. and the doctrine that there is no warrant of law for such has become obsolete. While there may be some effort to preserve the fiction that the appro- priations for the Mississippi levees Is for navigation purposes purely, it is well understood that these appropri- ations are for the protection of the adjacent agricultural lands from over flow.
 If the government can so freely money for the benefit and protection of the farmers in the southern states along the Mississippi and for other communities which are unable to furnish the resources for coping with the great disasters, why should a different rule be applied to the ranchers of the Imperial valley? These ranohers are poor. They have encountered many hardships in their efforts to establish homes-hardships incidental to the initial mismanage- ment of the canal system, all the hardships which the pioneer encount- CTS in his efforts to subdue the desert
 The Republican has taken great in terest in the problem of protecting the Imperial country from the hungry Colorado This paper, we believe. was the first publication outside of teh Imperial valley to call the at- tention of the country to the dangers which threaten that locality, and we were glad to do what we could to bring the situation to the attention of the president and of congress. The most important thing, of course, is the assurance that the appropriation now available under the presidents direction will enable the governments engineers to construct levee system which will protect the Imperial coun- try. But to the ranchers down there it is of vast importance as well that they be not burdened with the obligation of returning to Uncle Sam any portion of the expense.
 We are confident that when MT. Taft has carefully considered all phases of the question he will not insist that the Imperial ranchers shall be loaded with further bur dens because of the Colorado's floods.
 TEMPORA MUTANTUR.