Imperial Valley press., 1915-05-25
THE IRRIGATION DISTRICT.


There has been developed Of late great deal of men
acting street talk regarding the irrigation district With
much of this the Press has sympathy This journal be-
eves that this gossip has done injury to i'm
properly criticised and that the person who is respon-
sbe for the drift of should be recognized and that
on his shoulders should be placed what degree of blame
may be attached to affairs, if blame is due.
The criticism, it on the street. is that the
Southern Pacific Company has great hold on the r.
rigaon district That is sweeping allegation that has
been hurled at prominent persons throughout the whole
history of Imperial Valley Whenever person has sought
heap opprObrium a neighbOr and his vocabulary OF
yectives exhaustion, he always has ended by
aing him "a tool of the Southern Pacific. There may
not have been particle OF sense IN the dec arauon but
had become the fashionable last resort in denuncaon
In just this sort of way, the phrase has of late been
urned against almost everybody connected with the
district.
But while this phrase is working its customary in
Justice there is condition that does call for comment
The Southern Pacific Company was in control of the
irrigation system and 1t was necessary for the irrigation
the system.
Admittedly one of the brightest lawyers the county
is NJ w Conkling, who has for many years been closely
connected with the Southern Pacific Company Mr. Conk-
ling made attorney for the district and him de
voyed IN great degree the negotiations with his former
employer, the Southern Pacific Company.
Ihe Press has believed from the beginning that how
able Mr. Conkling may be or however valuable ne
might be in some capacities he was out of place in per
forming this duty From the day of his appointment there
has been steady approachment between the irrigation
district and the railroad company.
In itself this fact is not necessarily evil and it does
not necessarily reflect either Mr. COnkng any per-
son in the district.
The district was to buy from the railroad and the
railroad to assist in financing settlement with claim
ants against the California Development Company. The
business points involved necessarily brought the railroad
and the district into close relationship but that relation
ship was to end in the people acquiring the irrigation sys
TEN at an early date
1t is nearly four years since the district came into
existence and meanwhile the people have been support
ing the district and hoping to reach end of the delay
in purchase Finally It was thought the end was near
The bonds voted with which to buy the system. and
told that it would be necessary to wait until the
supreme court should hand down decision in April on
the Bordwell ruling
Then that decision postponed and it said the
supreme court had delayed action thinking the matter
to be settled out of court Who gave the court that
impression is a mystery. No person knows when that
decision will be handed down.
Mr.. Conking then brought forward project for con-
demnation proceedings under which the district would
condemn only that part of the California Development
property IN the United States thus taking most of the
property out from under the creditors.
Other lawyers secuted this idea declaring that no
court would permit condemnation proceedings against the
essential factor in irrigation SYSTEM and when the
came before Judge Myers, Mr.. COnkling completely
defeated the court ruling that condemnation proceedings
must De against the entire SYSTEM including water rights
and the stock in the Mexican Socedad.
Up to that point the Press had supported Mr. Conk-
ing, though it believed him to be the wrong man
in that place
But when he met with this defeat and then proposed
enter condemnation proceedings acquire the
tire property of the California Development Company
the Press took to the siding.
The most notorious fact connected with irrigation
matters California for sixty years has been litigation
and when it is seriously proposed that this valley be
launched that course, the Press most emphatcaly
protests.
It is whispered that Mr. Herrin of the Southern Pa
cic law department feels aggreved at portions Of
the BordWe decision and for that prefers the
valley would fight the claims against the California De-
veOpment Company rather than compromise them. But
that Is Mr. Herrins funeral and not ours.
One of the objections the Press has to Mr. Conking
IN this capacity is his method of suppressing things The
great late editor of the Kansas City Star said he
found he did not accomplish much in his stocking feet
It IS IN his stocking feet that Mr Conking has been