Imperial Valley press., 1921-08-12
DANGER I 0
ALL FROM
ANGELES
GRAB
Northern Newspaper Sets
Forth What Every Small
Community May Expect II
Los Angeles Is Unchecked.


The scramble between the city Of
f.os Angeles and the power companies
for the control Of water power sites
in middle and southern California is ,
becoming more lively each day.ywith
I the result that the seIfishnessIand hog
like prOpensities Of the Angel City is
becoming more apparent.
/ The fight rs il looks today is not
that of municipal corporation against
\ privately owned corporation. but of
clique Of public ownership politicians
who are out for monopoly of all the
| hydro electric sources, against the
very Industrial and economic life Of
| every community smaller than the city
/ of Los Angeles in the entire southern
section of the state. Ii is the story Of
great big bully trying to bulldoze the
little fellow out Of his natural rights.
The .progenitors of this great nation
wrote into history the expression that
in 'union there Is strength" The lit
! tie fellows, which means all the south
ern end of the state outside of Los
Angeles are getting together 10 fight
the Angel City grabbers. This move
ment has crystalized under the gen-
! eral head of the Interior Counties
movement, and it is winning support
from every section. Witness the fol:
lowing excerpts from the lnyo Regis
ter, published at Bishop:
1t is the clear duty of Inyo county
to support the Interior Counties move
ment, recently begun in Riverside, fer
the purpose of common defcrse
against the city of Los Angeles.
The community did what it could
against the original aggressions of the
city in this valley. Nevertheless, we
saw Los Angeles secure every point.
We saw every land filing first submit
ted for the city's approval. We saw
| Owens Valley as u whole put into
miscalled and illegal forest reserve"
We saw prior locators set aside by
department orders, and Los Angeles
given preference. We saw, in effect,
all the machinery Of governmnt having
any barring on the situation made sub
ordinate to the citys plans and wishes.
and regulations made or unmade 10
suit its purposes. These are facts of
record
The southern communities which
now foresee danger gave no aid, save
on the one point of re-electing Con
gressman Smith despite the thunders
launched against him by Los Angeles.
| The wonder war, not that Owens Val
/ ley lost it's contentious. but that its
mere handful of defenders We're able
to withstand the final decisions SO long
as they did against overwhelming in
J fluence and departmental perversions.
In the end our water was taken, not
to meet the citys' pressing needs but
to build up and irrigate territory more
Immediately tributary to it.
That was long ago, but let US tell
you that the menace of the big city
against the small communities( Owens
/ Valley included, has not diminished or
become less real. II has only spread
and enlarged. The difference is that
Owens Valley has become but part
instead of the whole of its field of per.
nicious activity. Our duty and our
need Of self preservation is not de
creased because the welfare Of other
communities has become part Of at
tack.
A leading farmer said this week
that he believed the agitation was of
Southern Sierras origin, and should
not be supported
Undoubtedly the Southern Sierras
will forward the movement in any way
it can, from self interest; but itiJ only
an incidental factor. If the company
were to end tomorrow the plan would
not slacken in the least. 1t is bigger
than any one interest, for II concerns
the welfare of central and southern
California in general
If we believed the farmer quoted 20
(Continued on Page Twol