Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1925-01-21
COUNSEL HIRED
TO WATCH BILLS
ON IRRIGATION
D. w. Glasscock to Rep
resent Valley at Aus
tin; Is Employed at
San Benito Meeting
Especial To The Uerald.o

SAN BENITO. Tex, Jan. 21-D w
| Glasscock, attorney of McAlen, was re-
| tanned b. the Jcint Association of
| Cameron-H idalgo Water Improvement
| Districts here Yesterday to represent
them 1T Austin during the present s. $
| sion of the legislature and to keep
them in touch with the situation as it
| pertained to irrigation legislation. An
assessment Of l IA cents an acre on ir-
rigated lands. was agree d on to pay Mr..
| Glasscock's fee.
Will the consensus was that there
! was no attempt to injure the Valley in
the proposed changes in the general il
rigation law and the water improve
ment district law. it was believed ne
cessary to keep close watch on pro-
posed legislation in order that harm ful
| measures might not be passed unwit
tingly.
The trouble at the prcstn Mt time il
was pointed out. lies in the fact that
proposed irrigation projects in Western
Texas do not have the same conditions
to face as the Lower Rio Grande Val:
ley which lies on a boundary river.
While the people of the Valley Go not
desire to prevent legislation which
would aid western Texas to secure ade-
quate water systems it does not want
them to secure it at the expense Of
the VALLEY. according to the members OF
the joint association The Valley Sc
cures it's 4Matef undt + water rights
granted with various 5000 acre ''por-
clones" by the Spanish crown in 1863
which carried the water rights with the
land. If the Spanish grants and ripar-
ian rights were revoked and the appro-
priation system substituted it would
mean endless litigation among the Val
ley ranehers and farmers to secure the
water which they now secure with the
title to their land. 1t is to prevent
this that the water district boards ale
oppose d to any radical change in irriga-
tion law at the present time. They ara
willing to assist other sections Of the
state to secure whatever they Nneed in
special legislation but they want'to pro
te themselves from anything which
might react to their det,imant
To establish their atti i,udc and TO give
their legal observer at the capitol Il
background from which TO trk the
association adopted the following reso-
luton, drafted by q committee appoint
cd for that purpose consisting Of Judg'
Samuel Spears, Frank J. Strickland
and D. W. Glasscock:
whereas, there are now pending, O
will in the near future be pending
treaty negotiations between the United
States and Mexico which will include
an adjustment Of the rights of the re
spce;ive governments relative to watei
in the Rio Grande and until those
rights have b. en adjusted. the amount
of water available for irrigation in the
Lower Rio Grande is unknc wn; and
"Whcreas. irrigation interests are
now, and will for sometime be cntcring
into, ncgc tiations for rcfinancing amy
material changes in tn present general
irrigation or water improvement dis
trict law, will make such refinancing
more difficult and expensive,
wherefore, it is the sense of this
meeting that any rewriting or e neral
changes in either of said laws is liable
to so disturb conditions in the Valley
as TO result in great loss and indci-
nitely retard development, and we
therefore hope that no effort will be
made in the direction Of amending such
laws, except in minor matters which
viii enable irrigation companies and
water districts in the state to function
more efficiently in the dicharge Of tbs
(Continued on Page Two