Imperial Valley press., 1926-12-18
SITUATION
DECLARED.
HOPELESS.
Swing Advised No Hope
Held For Agreement
With Arizona
MEET NEXT w E E X
Pound Charges Arizonans
With Attempts to De-
lay Proceedings

Virtually no hope is held out by
returning Imperial Valley delegates
who attended the last conference Of
lower basin states Colorado River
commissioners in Los Angeles this
week, so far as any adjudication of
the Arizona California differences
i'll the Boulder Canyon dam pro icct
is concerned.
Returning from the conference
yesterday, Earl G. Pound and f. II.
McIvcr. officials of the Imperial
Irrigation district, declared that tn.
three days of arguing between com
missioners of California and Ari-
IONA had but demonstrated one
thing: viz: the Arizonans are ire
Nocablv opposed to the Swing John
son bill and the seven state com
pact in its present form. Despite
this pessimistic attitude here, the
conference has been adjourned for
the weekend and will conven"
again on Tuesday of next week in
another desperate effort to arrive
at some conclusion.
Swing Advised
The gist of the conference situa-
tion is contained in the following
telegraphic communication sent to
Congressman Phil u. Swing by his
brother Senator Ralph Swing. one
of the California commiss ioners:
After three days negotiations
unanimous opinion of committee and
representatives of Los Angeles and
Imperial Valley who have acted
with us that no possible chance of
amicable adjustment with Arizona
at this time. We have agreed upon
some minor details but Arizona at
titude has not apparently changed
with reference to royalties and she
still maintains right to levy royal
ties and tax on power to full eX-
tent the traffic will bear. Arizona
insists on modification of seven
state pact as Il condition. We are
afraid our consent to tampering
with seven state pact dangerous and
might perhaps upset upper basin
states.
AT the meeting today friday
Reid of Arizona stated they were
-unaltcrablv opposed to the Swing
Johnson bill.
"All of which indicates to us that
even though California accedcd to
every demand made BY Arizona they
would continue to oppose the Swing
Johnson bill or any other similar
measure.
This would result in delay of
development for an indefinite pc
riod. 1t is the unanimous opinion
of all interested parties in Cali.
fornia that the only possible solu
tion is for YOU to request your com
mittec tn report the bill and pro-
ceed with its adoption.
elf at any time Arizona s atti
tGde changes so as to make tri-
state compact possible she will be
fully protected under Nevada
amendment to your bill.
Don't like to disappoint YOU,
but feel that above reflects the
true situation with reference to our
negotiations. viii meet again
Tuesday but have no hopes.
Pound Pessimistic
In commenting upon the whole
tnrce days of argument i'll Los An
gclcs, Pound stated today that there
was every appearance of attempts
to delay proceedings on the part of
Arizona. Dilatory tactics marked
the entire meetings and we moved
around in circles, trying first to dis,
cuss ALLEGATION of waters of the
river, and then failing to agree
there, going on to power and roy
alties, also failing there. The seven
state compact was one of the major
bones of contention and the famous
Article Three, paragraphs "f' and
"g' were the most Objectionable
to Arizona. it seemed.
Article Three deals with alloc2-
ton of water so that the lower
basin gets 75,000.000 acre feet every
10 years. The Arizonans, it is re-
ported. dcmurred to the intcrprc-
teton ordinarily placed upon the
compact and insisted that they fear
&C large volumes of the river would
forever be consigned to Mexican
lands under the compact terms.
Senator Ralph Swing and Assem-
hlyman Finney argued that the com
ract is a constructive document and
that no courts would ever interpret
it so as to deprive American lands
Of water not already acquired in
the United States, or by agreement
of all states allotted to any pro-;
oct.
Those who represented Imperial
Valley at the meetings are: A. c.
Finnev. commissioner; Earl G..
Pound, president Of the district; +.
II. McIver, secretarv-treasurc of
the district; M. j. Dowd, chief en-.
gineer of the district; Edmund
Continued on Pags g.