Laserfiche WebLink
<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />Emotional Impact <br /> <br />This problem has been a source of much emotional hysteria. It was a <br /> <br /> <br />natural for the opposition political party to pick up and dramatize. A picture <br /> <br /> <br />of a campesinos family, 8 or 10 I believe, standing in front of their mud hut <br /> <br /> <br />with thatch roof, with a salt encrusted field in the background, made excellent <br /> <br />propaganda. <br />And I have. here a clipping of an advertisement in the Washington Evening <br />Star of December 26, 1961 entitled "To the people of the United States of America" <br />and signed "The people of the State of Baja California, Republic of Mexico" by ten <br />organizations ranging from the Mexica1i Chamber of Commerce to the Employees Union. <br /> <br />This statement says, among other things, "--- the United States Government has been <br /> <br /> <br />sending us salty waste drainage from the Mohawk and Welton (sic) areas in the State <br /> <br /> <br />of Arizona in lieu of natural Colorado River water" and "one irrigation alone will <br /> <br /> <br />cause approximately four tons of salt to be deposited on each acre." Assuming <br /> <br /> <br />water at 1739 ppm which is my figure for the average in 1962, that would be 2,37 <br /> <br /> <br />tons/af. To get 4 tons of salt per acre per irrigation would require an irrigation <br /> <br /> <br />of 1.70 feet. That's a little heavy! <br />And the ad ends with this stirring paragraph: <br />"Do the people of the United States of America or does the President of <br />your great Nation, instigated by the selfish interests of a few of your citizens <br />and bureaucrats, possibly desire to destroy our lands, our economy and our families? <br />Is such a position tenable by a people who have traditionally sustained the idea <br />of fair play, and the principles of liberty and justice on which both of our <br />Nations were founded?" <br /> <br /> <br />And I learned in August of this year that the Republic of Mexico and <br /> <br /> <br />the State of Baja California each maintain a lobbyist in Washington. <br /> <br /> <br />The Rehabilitation ProRram <br /> <br /> <br />To Mexico's eternal credit, she has not spent all her time sitting on <br /> <br />-11- <br />