Arizona republican., 1911-06-22
The Grief of Fl Paso.


 and indignant at the complacency
 with which the country has received
 the result of the Chamizal arbitration
 Under the terms of the award as
 made by a majority of the arbitra-
 ton commission-th American rep
 roscntative dissenting and protesting "a strip of ground in the southern
 section of Fl Paso three miles long
 and one-third of a mile wide becomes Mexican territory. Some six thousand people are living on the strip in Ques-
 ton. and the value of the tract is
 seven millions of dollars.
 The Fl Paso Herald thus discusses the apathy of Texas congressman in the matter:
 Would the state of Texas allow the United States government under any conditions to give away a part of El Paso that has been under her actual jurisdiction for half a century?
 We have been wondering why six teen certain congressman and two certain senators have not been mak- ing the atmosphere in Washington luridly incandesceut. The man who said it would be necessary to make a neutral strip a mile wide and wall it with armor plate. to keep the peace if the award were enforced. was per haps d little premature. for diplomacy hasn't been exhausted yet. But eight ..ar1 T~ayaqoS i'm, qau ryraSc or1ght n ma l<a noise before today's sun goes down. Millions for banquets, bouquets. and charity. but not one foot of land to satisfy a Canadian jurist's spirit of compromise-thats Fl PasO's motto. Fl Paso is absolutely innocent of any wrong doing in the Chamizal matter and if Mexico is entitled to anything, let it be a money payment in good faith and amity-and a boundary that will stay put"
 We confess to a considerable sym pathy with the American residents of the disputed tract who object to this official transfer of their habitation to Mexico Not only do Americans uni versauy refuse to forswear their citi- zenship. but they quite as generally decline to become permanent residents of foreign country.
 The merits of the controversy are somewhat obscure. It appears. how ever. that the cratic habit of the Rio Grande river in changing its channel from time to time has furnished the basis for the dispute-under the terms of the treaty between this country and Mexico the channel of the Rio Grande forms the international line. Back about 1927 the channel of the Rio Grande ran about on the level of First street and just south of the courthouse in Fl Paso. At the pres ent time it runs about q mile and a half south of the line. In 1927, while Texas was under Mexican control. the Mexican government made d grant of about two hundred and ten acres of land on the north side of the Rio 1 Grande as it then stood to Juan Ponce | de Leon. and in 1858 Texas ratified the grant The Rio Grande moved | south in 1865. but there was no dis pute over the intervening land until | 1882. when the railroad reached Fl | Paso. Then those who had purchased | from De Leon claimed the new land | south to the river, while American squatters and former Mexican owners also laid claim to the land. The re- suit has been that for nearly thirty years land titles in the southern part of Fl Paso have been in a state of doubt and uncertainty. For more than twelve years the two govern ments have been at Ioggerheads over the national ownership of the so- called Chamizal zone. Under the award Mexico gets only about one third of the territory she claimed, but our government has always insisted that we own all of the tract.
 This is the first time, we believe, that Uncle Sam has been wOrsted in a boundary dispute, and the people Of Fl Paso are not to be blamed for feeling sore over the award. It is no small thing for an ambitious city to lose six thousand inhabitants at one swoop, not to speak of loss of seven millions in taxable property. But, as the Fl Paso Herald says. the resources of American diplomacy are not yet : and, although President Taft is an ardent apostle of the gos- pei of arbitration, it is not yet to be assumed that he will rest satisfied ( with the Chamizal decision No doubt the Mexican government could use to good advantage a few extra millions |