Imperial Valley press., 1918-07-13
SUL.L|VAN { | Y ES
PARTING WORD 7 O
Y A LLEY FARMERS

! left Thursday night, after closing his
work of more than a year in this
county, to enter the Naval Training!
School at Los Angeles, submitted to
/ the Farm Bureau report Of his work
J and observations.
I The report, which deals intimately
with Imperial Valley problems, fol-
lows:
I "The position and record of the In
perial Valley is one which causes at
| tention and immediate interest where-I
/ ever it is mentioned. The entire state
lof California realizes that the Imperial
Valley is something different. The
causes of this interest are many.
Among them is the fact that we are
below sea level, we have developed
from a terrible desert to prosperous
county in eighteen years; acre for
acre we hold the record for prodncc-
ton, and the size of our problems is
such that they have attracted world
wide attention.
! "The story Of the struggle to stop
/ the Colorado river as 1T poured over
our levees and into the Salton BASIN
was one which has reached ali cor
ners of the globe. At the present time
the "All-American Canal project Is
one which is causing nationwide M
terest. But even with all this, people
who have not been here do not real
ize what we have and what a mighty
proposition the Imperial Valley is.
! iperhaps the world ''valley" conveys
something sf smallness, but to offse;
this let ~ place opposite to it the
fact that our irrigation project in
cludes something like 100000 acres OF
! irrigated land, with Il possibility of
100000 more being developed wheh
the Mesa is taken in hand.
"At this very time our valley Is III
the process of producing 100000 acres
of milo maize, 100 900 acres of alfalfa,
/ 80 900 acres Of cotton. and, to sho"
that we are absolutely in harmony
with the War Departments requests
we have Wanted 5000 acres of castor
beans. which will produce oil for LIB
/ ertv motors. In addition to these
crons the valley is supporting some
90 600 head of dairy cattle, 10000 head
of hogs and during last winter we
had in the valley 100000 head OF beel
cattle and 10000 head Of sheep II
| can be easily seen that the food pro
! ducts produced are tremendous. Inc
| land of the valley, in view OF It's m
| trinsic wortht. sells for much less than
any other land to be found in Cali
Ifornia. Among the reasons why TINS
condition prevails are: The fact that
we arc a very young county and not
vet fully settled: the heat and length
of the summer: the unsettled condition
of the water questions, and the fact
/ that as vet we have not developed
orr connection with marketing points
When the Imperial VALLEY succeeds IN
! finding other markets than that OF
ILos Angeles alone and succeeds III
| having the element of competition en-
ter into its transactions, the result
will be more favorable for ths farm
Ier. Another factor which has tended
to slow down the proper development
of the valley is the fact that the VaI-
lev has practically had to build It
self MANY of the people first faklnH
mn lanI did not have the proper capl-
tai to develop it and hence 1t was
more or less of struggle to get
started. Many times these people
have been forced to borrow money
from unscrupulous capitalists, who
because lney Htu 'ie it'i ii'Si az VIZ
Grasp, extracted exorbitant amounts
of interest. This condition has not
4 vet been remedied and today this un-
wholesome condition is still extant.
"Another condition which, if not
remedied. is going to work havoc IL
the valley is the type OF people when
is now pouring in. DO you realize
that the Japanese association now has
a membership of so Japanese? The
Hindu is also here in large numbers,
while the Southern negro of the low
est type is just starting to come. Ger
tain undesirable types of citizens
from Texas and Oklahoma are also
becoming more numerous from day
to day. and all this infusion is low
erine the industrial scale OF the val
LEV. Unless something is done to inn
prove this situation Imperial Valley
!, will daily become less of a place for
the sturdy. Industrious farmer TO
make his home. With 1900 Of the
sons of the Valley in the service, and
more to 90, more opportunity is given
dailv to the men Of the hrown-skinned
races, who are not called for military
service. to improve their position and
to profit materially by the crisis We
are now going through. Let ps trust
that n readjustment Of this situation
will come.
S "The destiny of the Valley cannot
: but be a great one. Local and tran
i, sient conditions can slow it's progress
L,,4 eop,o+ ,,ravert tha ipnvif ahln re.