26 THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



is hereby prohibited." Fortunately the company's attorney discovered 

 this proviso, and secured the recall of the bill from the House. 



Mills and his associates subsequently had the following proviso 

 inserted.; "That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized to secure 

 from the State of Texas the necessary land on which to build a dam 

 on the Rio Grande at or near El Paso in that State. No reservoirs for 

 the storage of water shall be built on said river within the boundaries of 

 the Territory of N ew Mexico without an Act of Congress authorizing the 

 same." 



This was nothing more or less than a disgraceful legislative at- 

 tempt to destroy the right to impound and appropriate the waters of 

 the Rio Grande for irrigation in New Mexico previously conceded to 

 the Rio Grande Irrigation Company. The bill with the pending motion 

 having been sent back to the committee, the company's attorneys ulti- 

 mately succeeded in having the amendment knocked out; though so 

 long as General Mills is backed up by the authorities, it cannot be 

 hoped that he and his friends will desist from their attempts to de- 

 fraud the English shareholders. 



The official support afforded to General Mills is still further evi- 

 denced by the fact that in February last he managed to get a resolu- 

 tion through the House calling upon the President to report upon the 

 proceedings of the International Boundary Commission, including cor- 

 respondence etc., relating to the Rio Grande, also to include the 

 draft of a proposed treaty between the United States and Mexico, a 

 treaty wherein the United State Government would convenant to build 

 the proposed International Dam at El Paso. 



The President responded to the resolution, and presented a report 

 of over 210 printed pages, the very character of which makes it ap- 

 parent that Mills or some one with an axe to grind manipuluated the 

 report in the State Department. Numerous important documents up- 

 holding the company's rights were ntirely suppresed or merely men- 

 tioned, every particle of record militating against the Mills Interna- 

 tional scheme having been omitted, All of General Mills misleading 

 letters and reports were set forth in large type. 



It goes without saying that President McKinley could not have 

 been aware of the offence committed by Mills and his confederates, 

 but the State Department having been advised of the manner in which 

 the confidence of the President has been abused there can now be no 

 excuse for delay in bringing the actual offenders to book. General 

 Anson Mills' conduct demands immediate investigation. 



The recent heroic achievements of the American army and navy 

 excites the admiration of the world, but the charge of dishonesty lev- 

 elled by commercial nations against American public officials becomes 

 by contrast all the more damaging to American credit. 



Public opinion throughout the west is exemplified by the follow- 

 excerpts from a recent editorial in the "Denver News." 



