Imperial Valley press., 1919-09-12

M. Swing. From our agent m Men
leo City.
Mr.. Hayden Then, it is publ
record in Mexico?
Mr.. Swing. | take il that it is, VII
teally.
As say, our country itself ha
long since proclaimed the public pol
icy of putting as much of the Colora
do River as possible to beneficial
use for irrigation and agriculture
and it is the proud boast of our Rec
lamation Service that it, together with
var Gus private enterprises, have pro.
iects they will consume the entire
natlral flow Of the Colorado River
dur ng low season.
Ill. Taylor. Not only that. hut we
have enormous withdrawals of water
from the Colorado River in Colorado.
The county Of the Grand is all with
drawn; actually whole county in my
state is withdrawn as reservoir sites
to increase the waters of the Colorado
River; and they expect to dam up
what is known as War Canyon. which
is q canyon just like the Royal Gorge
1900 feet straight up. and ney have
put a dam in there and when COM
pleted it will cover the city of krem-
ling and two or three other towns
100 feet deeD under water. and they
say it will ruin the whole county. but
II IS the finest reservoir site in the
word, and it will increase the flow
OF the Colorado River enormously in
that country. But they are holding
up the development OF that project
just now
Mr. Smith. | was called out of the
room for a moment, and you may al
ready have furnished the information,
desire; but ! desire to PROFOUND one
or two questions, and if you have ans
wered them yoG need not repeat.
he first question is, In what man.
ner has Mexico, or have those repre-
senting the interests Of the company
owning land in Mexico irrigated from,
the Colorado River made formal de-
mand that their alleged rights to these
waters be respected?
Mr.. Swing. Not at all, that know
of.
Mr. Smith. Well, you have been in
Producing lot of testimony here
that would indicate that there has
been some dispute raised as to wheth
er or not Mexico has a right to those
waters.
MIR. Sinnott. Well. members of the
committee have asked those questions
about that.
Mr.. Smith. Well, Mexico or those
pcople owning the lands down there,
dc not make the claim that their
rights to these waters be respected,
do they?
Mr.. Swing. Ne formal protest has
ever been made that ! know Of, except
the one made in 1901, that I referred
tc. Of course, they doubtless will
make an effort to hang on to good
proposition from their point Of view.
Mr.. Smith. Well, do YOU concur in
the opinion expressed by others be-
fore this committee that those own
ing land in Mexico irrigated by the
Colorado River have been instrument
al in influencing the Federal Land
Bank to refuse loans OF lands in the
Imperial Valley?
Mr.. Swing. | have no information
cn that. as / have not kept in touch
with the land bank situation, except
that when ] heard Of the report
wrote and tried TO get copy of it;
and received a reply stating that it
was true, but they did not furnish me
with copy Of the report, which was
made by Denver engineer Mr..
Whistler
Mr. Hayden. Mr. Chairman, would
il not be well for Us to address a let
ter TO the chairman of the Federal
Farm Loan board requesting that a
copy cf that report be sent to the COM
mittee.
The Chairman. Yes; think so.
Mr.. Swing As | said and as ! have
attempted to show. the United States
Government is not under any obliga,
tion, by treaty or contract, 10 permit
or to continue to deliver water intC
Mexico any longer than it is to it's ad
vantage to do 50, and if it or the dis
trict can find better route, they ar,
at liberty TO use it.
Mr.. Smith. That fact is not dis
puted by those people in Mexico o
by the Mexican Government is it?
Mr. Swing. ! have never heard 0
any dispute about it.
Mr.. elling. Well, / submit that i
they did dispute it, they would no
dispate ii through this committee