Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1922-01-06
U. S. AND MEXICO
CLAIM RICH LAND
Property in Heart of Ell Paso
Now Worth $3,O0O,O00 in
Dispute for Years.
RIVER CAUSES CONTROVERSY
lncorrigibly Vagrant Habits of the
Rio Grande Cause Dispute
Which Has Remained Unset.
tied for Sixty Years.

Ell Paso, Tex.-When a 600-acre
tract covered with industrial improve
ments worth more than $3,O00,O00 In
the heart Of a large American city
does not know whether it belongs TO
the United States or Mexico. the stu
alton may presumably offer faint hope
to victims of income and excess profits
taxation. Otherwise, however, it is
fraught with disadvantages which
overbalance these largely hypothetical
benefits.
At least these are the conclusions
reached by the officials of the Santa
Fee railroad yards here and the own
ers of the large packing, stock yard,
lumber and milling interests who In
the last twenty years have built up,
southeast of the FL Paso Union sta
ton in what is known as the ChamiZal
district, one of the most thriving and
compact industrial centers in the
Southwest Also these are the rea-
sons why statement recently at
tributed to Undersecretary of State
Fletcher, that in any treaty to pre-
cede United States recognition OF
Mexico the "Chamizal question will
be settled and settled right" has
pleased several business men of more
than local connections as much as any
detailed point in the administrations
Mexico policy yet revealed.
Sixty-Year-Old Controversy.
The Chamizal controversy, now ap-
preaching the age Of sixty years, is
the result of the incorrigibly vagrant
habits of the Rio Grande river, which,
flowing out Of the New Mexico noun
tains, begins to form the boundary
with Old Mexico a few miles west OF
Ell Paso. 1t is by no means the only
dispute arising from the same cause
along the 1900 miles of Topped and
twisted stream bed between here and
Brownsville, Tex, but it is the only
one In which anything like so much
valuable industrial property Is in
volved in so small an area.
Realizing that the Rio Grande was
net to be trusted to keep to its bed,
the Mexico and American peace COM
missioners who fixed the international
boundary after the Mexican war in
the treaty of Guadelupe-Hidalgo, 1S4S,
agreed that when changes In the river
channel came about by accretion, that
Is, gradually, the boundary should
follow the river bed; but that when
sudden cutoffs were formed by the
rivers violently breaking through dry
land to make new course--evulsion,
this process Is called in the technical
jargon of river experts-the old de-
serted channel should continue to be
the line.
This formula would have sufticed,
no doubt, if, in addition to its prowl-
ing proclivities, the Rio Grande had
not developed a sly and deceitful dis
position. Waiting until the entire
American population of the region 90
years ago-a few soldiers In far
away military outposts-were away In
the Civil war, and until the Mexican
border garris0ns were likewise busy
fighting for or against the Austrian
usurper Macmillan, the river between
1863 and 1865 deserted its old channel
few blocks below the principal bust
ness district of Eel Paso for bed
approximately a quarter Of mile
farther west and south, which, in the
main, it still occupies. Chamizal lies
between the old bed and the new.
Cause of Controversy.
The controversy hinges on whether
this change was accomplished by &C.
cretions or by evulsion. The United
States position is that the change,
though relatively rapid, came about
through gradual alterations Of the
channel extending over several years
and not at all as the result of sud
den break through dry land. Hence,
say the Americans, the international
follows the present river channel and
the Chamizal zone is American terri
tory. On the other hand, the Mexican
government claims that the alterations
of the '65s were the result of evulsion,
making Chamizal Mexican.
Neither government regarded the
controversy as worth an argument IN
i'll the rapid metropolitan growth OF
Ell Paso began 80 years ago. By that
time the testimony of the few Mexi-
cans who had witnessed the changes
OF the '60s was so confused and con-
fticting as to be of little value. Con-
sequently, the permanent Mexican
American boundary commission
charged with keeping track of the Rio
Grande's wanderings, has never been
able to reach an agreement on
ChamiZal.