Show op OD THREATENS IMPERIAL imp VALLEY rational emergency has arisen in MIR erial aerial valley the nations mar asket is lying in the path of cation river elver water colorado great grea t brorn montana to the arizona i blanketed with them the heaviest ill III in twenty years not since inter of 1904 6 5 has there been 3 heavy pack ahe ie summer of 1905 the melting peat great snow pack caused a in n the colorado river which ted tea imperial valley the sala ea remains today as a bonu to that disaster and a warning at t happened in 1905 may happen in n 1927 unless something is about bout it and done quickly v this time the damage will be sand and times as great as in those days lys of imperial valleys beyel t then it was a local disaster it would be a national calamity years rears the lower colorado has buting ting up upraising raising its own bed orbell of soil which ter r carry down from the rivers reaches aches each year it has come r the he tops of the puny levees hold ld it back from the basin is imperial valley far below s own level ly i the fact that the past few have been relatively dry has ed the levees guardians to keep I 1 iver ver within its man made bounds year experts fear there will be lung it unless emergency work roe ne far beyond the ability ot of imil I 1 valley to accomplish ly ily the national government can i the crisis and that only by an if f congress scant two we weeks eks remain of this ion on of congress after march A 4 ss will not reconvene until robe r whatever is done will to be done in the the next two we weeks eks ie e Swing JoHnson bill providing a 2 high dam on the colorado at dt de canyon is the only colorado r control measure now 1 pending te re congress its best friends ad that is has no chance to pass at session lis ils isto be re regretted gret ted but even if 1 d jagsit pass it would do absolutely no IBO far as the present emergency berned ned neither would an enable measure lae asure provi providing dink for the top idam dam which some soffie prefer or any ir t dam darn project ie e 13 boulder dam will require at t five years to build probably after every legal flegm po political lotical and onal obstacle has had been cleared y f he crisis in imp imperial eril al valley is less a that many months away here ie are many useful purposes tely to be served by colorado er control con arol hood flood protection power arati ration on water storage for domes and irrigation pui purposes desi liing equating qua ting act ut right now there is but one that is the protection of imperial ey y from the flood that menaces all the rest can wait must wait all the bitter controversies which e for years blocked any action on arado river development therol the lias rl but one phase on which there ever been any dispute that is eed arid and right of imperial valley detection from the rivers annual 48 ls he ha big eastern newspapers oppose boulder dam plan because they it is a government ownership corporation scheme to benefit ahr tern california and to supply angeles with drinking water but r y one of thern them declare that im pel a I 1 valley should have floca flood pr protection tec tion congress is split wide open on the swing johnson bill but not a single voice vol ce in either cither house has been raised against gainar giving imperial valley flood protection the seven jeven states directly interested in the river negotiations have never been able to get together as a unit on anything except on the fact that imperial valley should have flood protection it is the one thing upon which everybody is unanimous aint and it is the one thing that now is most urgently pressingly needed it is ae the one thing which congress can agree on now therefore the times urges all the dissenting elements of the southwest to lay jay aside for the moment dispute upon those phases phase of colorado river work on which they cannot agree and immediate appeal to con unite in an gross for an emergency appropriation tio 1 for flood control work to be done in tho the next three months to save imperial valley from inundation such an appeal will avill in ift no wise prejudice the position of an any y individual organization community or state on that can be the main question fought out later the flood will not wait flood control work adequate to keep until a dam bounds the river within can be built is feasible and from the national standpoint relatively inexpensive if started with within in the next few weeks it will prevent disaster that will vili cost millions of dollars from which the southwest west will not recover in a generation without regard to their several attitude on the main maill question of colorado river development the times ures all individuals organizations officials and political subdivisions without delay to make themselves luponi emphatically heard beard in a demand upon flood control con congress gres s for emergency and congressmen work our senators should be inundated with ith telegrams from chamber of commerce city councils county supervision business houses banks bank s bome ns clubs bodies labor un unions ions civic and social individuals every ery one and churche whose well being is the overy every group tali california fOrnia and the well being of South southwest ves los loa angeles times |