My object in sending you the inclosed copy is to solicit, very specially,
an examination and decision of this grave question by the Department of
State, in order that the evils referred to by the Mexican consul at El
Paso, Tex., may be remedied.
[Inclosure.—Translation.]
Mr. Guarneros
to Mr. Romero.
Consulate of Mexico,
El.
Paso, Tex., October 4,
1894.
No. 2.]
For some time past, as you are aware, the difficult question of the
right of both peoples to make use of the water of the Rio Grande has
been agitated by the inhabitants of the frontier towns of Paso del
Norte and El Paso, Tex. This question is an element that is destined
to decide with regard to the existence or the disappearance of the
frontier towns. Thus has been estimated, with good reason, in my
opinion, the importance of this most serious question.
As you are likewise aware, our Government has never abandoned its
claim to that right, and no one doubts that the matter will be
settled in a manner favorable to the interests of both countries;
but that which now renders it imperatively necessary that some step
be taken, even if it be merely of a temporary character, is that the
alternative “to be or not to be” is daily drawing nearer, an
alternative which has so long been feared by persons who know the
needs which press so hard upon Ciudad Juarez. The nearness of that
danger is what compels me to address this report to you, the
depopulation of our aforesaid city staring me, so to speak, in the
face.
Of course it is not my purpose here to touch upon the points of
public law which the question involves, since that does not come
within my
[Page 396]
province, nor
would I ever presume thus to elucidate it; I must simply confine
myself to a statement of what is actually taking place to the
detriment of the interests of Paso del Norte, leaving it to you to
infer what the results will probably be.
Agriculture, which is already impoverished on this entire frontier,
is threatened with total destruction within perhaps two years, if
the scarcity of the river water continues during that short period;
and the destruction of agriculture will inevitably entail the ruin
of the infant industries which are now kept in existence with so
much difficulty.
Almost all articles of prime necessity are brought from places
situated at a distance of from 500 or 1,000 miles, because they can
not be produced here, and this circumstance occasions a condition of
things that is well nigh unbearable, since, owing to it, the prices
of commodities are not proportionate to the limited means of the
majority of the inhabitants.
It is already impossible for employers to pay the wages of their
employés with their accustomed liberality or regularity; large
numbers of the laboring class are absolutely unable to find
employment, and leave the country. As this class of persons forms
the majority of the inhabitants, it is evident that, if this state
of things continues, the city must go to decay and ruin.
There remains no other recourse for the maintenance of tranquility
pending the settlement of the main question—the only one which will
remedy so many evils—than the equitable division of the waters of
the river.
There is a scarcity of that water here, not because the supply in the
river has been naturally exhausted, in which case there would, of
course, be no ground for complaint, but because of the numberless
drains which have been made by the farmers of Colorado and New
Mexico, who have settled the pending question by appropriating the
water of the Rio Grande to their own exclusive use.
Companies, moreover, are still being organized and plans are being
formed, more or less seriously, for the purpose of monopolizing on
the American side the small amount of water brought down by the
river in those months when it is so abundant that it can not be
exhausted by the drains in New Mexico and Colorado. A meeting of
stockholders has just been held at Denver for the purpose of
removing the political and material difficulties which have hitherto
stood in the way of the accomplishment of their plans for
irrigation, and I am informed that it is attempted to create the
impression that these plans involve certain concessions in favor of
Ciudad Juarez, such as selling it the water which it requires, when
Ciudad Juarez has quite as much right as they have to use the
water.
The plans, which have heretofore threatened our city with
destruction, are not unknown to you, and it is probable that you
also have knowledge of those to which I have referred as having been
discussed by the meeting at Denver, but, as a supplement to this
report, I have the honor to inclose four clippings from The
Times1 newspaper,
published in this city, which have reference to that meeting, and,
as I have already remarked, I leave it to you to consider the
consequences that must necessarily follow the accomplishment of
those plans.
All that I desire to do is to discharge my duty by reporting the
foregoing to you and to our Government, and, in doing so,
I have, etc.,
