El Paso Daily Herald

MAKE HASTE SLOWLY

It is too much to expect that the proposed elimination of the sixth clause of the international dam treaty is all that is necessary to assure the immediate success of the international negotiations. In making a compromise between several parties that have hitherto been opposed, the mere sacrifice of a certain contention on the part of one is not enough to make agreement sure and lasting. It is necessary that there should be complete harmony, such as can only be attained by careful discussion of all the points involved and the specific acceptance of each separate section of the draft of the proposed convention.

In the pending controversy, there are at least six parties at interest to be brought into a condition of harmonious acquiescence. These are the two governments, the people of Juarez and the Mexican valley, the people of El Paso, the people of New Mexico and Colorado, and the Elephant Butte Dam company.

To reach an effective compromise between all these elements will take hard and intelligent work, and time, and money. Before any representations are made to either government, complete understandings should be reached between the parties to benefit and the parties who have hitherto been opposed.

Readers of the HERALD will remember that Ambassador Aspiroz said distinctly that the action of the two governments would be dependent upon an adjustment of all conflicting claims and disputes between the parties directly concerned.

It will not be enough, then, to take for granted that the sixth clause was the only stumblingblock, and send a committee to Washington to ask for the ratification of the proposed treaty upon the sole ground of the acquiescence of certain individuals in the revised draft of the treaty.

The matter must be approached with thorough organization and system. The first thing to do is to secure the formal consent of the state of Chihuahua and the city and people of Juarez to the treaty as revised. The next is to secure the formal withdrawal of opposition from New Mexico and Colorado, through official bodies of business men, counties, municipalities, the territorial government, and individuals who have been prominent in the opposition.

The next is to ascertain the status and intention of the Elephant Butte company. In short, make every effort to do everything that would have to be done otherwise by the agents of the two governments before any negotiation could be concluded. Save the governments trouble, and time. It is our interest, therefore it is our business.

The proposition to send a committee to Washington is premature. There is work for months in getting things arranged at our end of the line. It would be waste of time and money to send a committee to Washington until we have our case complete.

More effective work can be done for the present by individuals, concentrating every effort upon individuals at home and at the seats of the governments.

El Paso people should write personal letters to men in either capital who are at all influential with the governments. Personal pressure should be brought to bear upon men and corporations in the territory north of us, and in Colorado.

The active support of every senator and congressman west of the Mississippi ought to be obtained by personal work and personal correspondence, and a lot of this work can be more effectively done before congress meets.

Don't go off half cocked.