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Show HI HO, AQUALANTES 189 Peace can be attained only by honest recognition of a simple truth that must appear incredible after so much contrary Upper Basin propaganda: That California seeks only to protect her own hard-won rights in the river. Few Utahns know that California long ago offered sur- prisingly temperate peace terms. These are her seven proposed amendments to the storage project bill. Three of them ought to have been accepted immediately. Two are certainly susceptible of compromise. With such gains, there is excellent reason to believe California would with- draw the remaining two. But the Upper Basin's stubborn refusal to compromise has led eastern congressmen to question our good faith. In addition, they contrast California's dignified conduct with our continual display of bad manners and name- calling. If reclamation is in peril, we need look no farther than the nearest mirror to find the cause. A number of people knew Mr. Cricket's real identity. He was a veteran Upper Basin water official and could not in any way be accused of being either a California spy or a propagandist. Mr. Cricket took it upon himself to scold his Upper Basin associates for failing to recognize the character of their "strange new bedfellow, Arizona." 216 Said Mr. Cricket in an epistle to the Tribune: Let's refresh our memories: 1 - Arizona alone of the seven basin states, refused for twenty-two years to ratify the 1922 Compact. 2 - Arizona has brought suit three times in the U. S. Supreme Court - 1930, 1934, and 1935 - against Utah and the other basin states, seeking nullification in one form or another of the 1922 Compact. Each suit was dismissed. 3 - Arizona, in 1934, called out her militia and by force of arms stopped work on Parker Dam - the very dam to which she now points with such pride. Work was resumed only after a special act of Congress whipped her into line. |