Imperial Valley press., 1919-09-12

not TO nave Q0ne So.
Mr.. Swing. AS long as they have tn
physical control of the water unde
this concession, they can irrigate larg
quantities of land; and as have stat
ed, there are upward Of 100000 acre
Of land in Mexico that can be reached
from this system. We feel that thest
Mexican unreclaimed lands menace u:
! like a great sponge, which threaten
! to absorb more and more water, unit
such time as they will take all of the
natural flow of the river. They are
worth reclaiming to the man who has
control of them. They have cheap la
bCr down there, and they have got
our water, and there is nothing to pre-
vent them going on and on; and when
the time comes and the actual con-
flict arises, we would be compelled to
resort to Mexican court to claim
even the benefits of that very unjust
concession. If you throw US back
upon that as our only remedy, then
you will find this thing happening,
that the Mexican courts, in support of
the needs of Mexican lands from which
they derive a revenue, will declare
this concession forfeited, for one rea-
son or another, and they will take all
the water or as much as they see fit.
Mr.. Sinnott. What do you mean
by unjust concession?
MIR. Swing. The Mexican concession
TO the Mexican corporation, already
referred to, which gives them one-half
of the water, while they pay but a
fraction of the cost of getting it.
Mr.. Taylor. And even if they are
entitled to get half they can cut your
part further down?
Mr.. Swing. They can cut US further
down. And | ask this question: Is
our Government to stand idly by and
watch foreign lands de-
velop by sapping the life out of an
American community when the rene
dy Is easily within its reach without
cost to the Government of signle
dollar? We are here simply asking
for the chance to live.
The recent war proved that divided
loyalty and divided allegiance meant
disaster, yet uner present arrange
ments our international complications
c1,ph thot
must recognize two masters. The part
that is American is subject to the su-
pervision and direction of the Cali
fcrnia State engineer; that part lying
in Mexico is subject to the supervision
and direction of the Secretary of
Fomento at Mexico City and his duly
appointed agents. We have to submit
to those authorities the plans and
specifications of any work to be un-
dertaken. The State engineer of Cal
ifornia will say. "Yes; do that. be-
cause it will benefit the Imperial Val
ley;" but the inspector for Mexico
may say, mo; do not do that; that
will put the canal down too deep in
the ground, beyond the point where
the landowners in Mexico can get wa
ter out" The possibility of conflict of
is always present.
The Imperial irrigation district is
the largest irrigation project in the
United States. In TIE past three years
since IL took over the system, it has
expended in excess Of s2,O00,0OO a
year.
Fer successful operation of such
large enterprise it should have high
ly centeralized organization yet to
comply with Mexican laws that part
Of the system lying in Mexico must
be owned and operated by an indie
pendent organization 1t is true the
district controls the Mexican corpor-
alton through the ownership of the
stock, but the dual organization at the
best IS cumbersome. unwieldly. and
inefficient, causing waste and extra
Vagance. and is productive Of costly
and dangerous delays. We have to
submit the plan of the work both
to Sacramento and to Mexico City and
to await approval before the work is
done or to consider the possibility of
being fined under the Mexican law,
and sometime te woshrk is urgent.
The canals and works, forming. as
they do, one complete and indivisible
system, it is imperative, on account of
its size, that it should be administer
ed under one head, with central con-
troll.
But as intolerable as the present
dual management is, Imperial Valley
stands in constant danger of the com
plete severance of the Mexican part of
the system. The concession granted
in 1904, which Mexico holds to be
still operative, prohibits any foreign
State or Government becoming inter.
ext nH IN thn fnnnncut,,,n.,-.