4
Imperial Valley Press
Official Newspaper of Imperial County and City of El Centra
PrniLTcifEbI!VBRY~3AfURDAYr *
Manager C. F. Hayden
Kdltor Allen Kelly
Associate Editor Lewis Havermale
SUBSCRIPTION
OM Year .....*. $100
Blx Months 50
Three Months 25
Wngle Copies .06
The number of our paid circulation and rates of advertising will tw
furnished on application.
All remittances and communications should be addressed to the Imperial
Valley Press.
Entered as second-class matter March 3, 1906, at the postofflce at K\
Ooatro, California, under the act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
ADIOS, SENORES LOS TOREDORES!
Until last Sunday only a small part of the population of Im
perial Valley had more than a vague, general idea of the nature
of the peculiarly Spanish "sport" of bullfighting. Knowledge of'
the true character of that diversion, as practiced in Mexico, is
now fairly well disseminated. Nearly three thousand persons at
tended a bull fight at Mexicali. Nearly all of them were from this
side of the line, and it is safe to estimate that at least ten per cent
of the population of the county assuaged its thirst for more or less
useful knowledge.
Observers of experience and credibility report that the sport
ing element was not much in evidence and that the crowd was
made up chiefly of the highly respectable. There had been so
much talk about the reprehensible character of the sport that the
good people of the valley desired to be sure that condemnation was
deserved. The element which does not call itself "better" knew
something about bullfights and had no desire to see them again.
Ask any American sportsman what he thinks of bullfighting as
a game, and it is a hundred to one that he will answer : "Rotten !"
Bloody sports do not appeal to the Anglo-Saxon as a rule. The
Latin is a creature, of different temperament and is not to be
judged by the Anglo Saxon standard. He sees nothing evil in
combats between animals or between men and animals, but he
looks upon a boxing match with gloves as the quintessence of bru
tality. Where an Englishman or American would use his fist,
the Latin uses a knife and applauds his own valor and honor. It's
all in the blood. *
As an entertainment, a Mexican bullfight of the sort that was
exhibited at Mexicali is on a par with the slaughtering of pigs
in a Chicago stock yard. It might interest and satisfy the soul
of the Chicagoan, who manifests his hospitality and his civic
pride by taking his guests on a personally conducted tour of the
packing house district and expects them to enjoy seeing beeves
knocked in the head.
There is no combat in a "bull fight." An amiable old bull is
goaded into making a weak attempt to chase some men out of the
ring, and when he is tired out, one of the men butchers him. A
delectable spectacle! The people who enjoy it are in the stage of
mental and moral development of the child that amuses itself by
-pulling off the wings of insects.
Resolutions condemning the sport and disapproving the ad
vertising of it were passed recently by several associations in Im
perial Valley. The resolutions were pertinent and correct, and
the Press has no quarrel with them. But resolutions did not prove
effective in deterring the people of the valley from satisfying their
curiosity. On the contrary, it is probable that the additional pub
licity—and the indisposition of Americans to let others do their
thinking or regulate their conduct — served to advertise the affair
more widely and effectively.
Curiosity has been satisfied, some persons have been reminded
that they do not speak with authority this age even when they are
in the right in their views, and it is a good bet that the "plaza de
toros" will not be crowded again.
A SQUEAL FROM YUM A.
\ One of the Yuma papers is having fits because it fears the I
Senate Committee on Irrigation may devote more time to Imperial j
Valley than to Yuma. This is the way it squeals :
"If this committee ever gets sidetracked off at Imperial, or any place In
the Imperial Valley, that is the last of them. The Imperial Valley people are
the greatest boosters in the southwest and they don't let any good thing get
v away. We remember recently when the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce
sent a train load of her best people to Yuma to take part in our celebration
on the completion of the Lagana Dam, that the Imperial people got them
switched off into the land below the sea and kept them there until the last
day of the celebration, when they turned them loose in time to get to Yuma
for a brief half-day. Yuma wants what's coming to her in all of theso mat
ters and doesn't want to play second fiddle to any other place."
Imperial Valley people do not care a hoot if the committee
elects to spend a month at Yuma. All they desire is that the Sec
retary of the Interior and officials of the land office, accompany
ing the committee, devote to the Imperial Valley enough time to
enable them to learn the actual condition of land titles and surveys
->an.d to judge of the feasibility of extending the work of the Recla
matidn. Service into this region.
Chamber. of Commerce excursionists and government com
mittees fix^schedules for themselves and pay little attention to the
demands of local "boosters" or squealers.
A RAILROAD BOURBON.
Ripley, president of the Santa Fe railroad, has an unruly
mind and a reckless tongue. He clings to the delusion, from
which some of the big railrogues have been jarred loose of late,
that a railroad company is sacrosanct and that the divinity that
doth hedge a king is an attribute of his class. '
When a court has the temerity to lay irreverent hands upon
the Santa Fe f s treasury and exact a penalty for law-breaking,
Ripley sternly rebukes the judges' and intimates that the bench is
becoming "anarchistic" and losing respect for the real rulers of ;
the land. - . ■■ !
It appears now that the "peasantry" of America are growing j
presumptuous and insolent toward those to whom Providence, in ;
its wisdom, has entrusted the property interests of the country— ;
aa explained by that great and pious railrogue, Mr. Baer, of Perm« J
sylvania and the Coal Trust. Wherefore Overlord Ripley visits his j
displeasure upon the turbulent peasantry and proposes to make j
them suffer for their presumption and ingratitude.. 'The people \
IMPERIAL VALLEY PREB3
are not giving the railroada a square deal," 'says Ripley. "They I
demand everything and are not willing to meet us half way in what i
is right and equitable. This sentiment is apparently as strong to- j
day as ever and as a result we are doing little in the way of new j
building or reconstruction. We are keeping up the standard of !
our line, but are not spending a dollar where it enn be avoided."
It is edifying to hear Ripley and his kind talk of a square deal
as due from the people to them. The Santa Fe got more than a
square deal from the people of California under false pretence of
being a competitor of the road that had been cinching them for
years. The people gave to the Santa Fe all that it asked and much
more than it had any good reason to expect, and the Santa Fe be
trayed them by secretly and unlawfully pooling with its supposed
rival, charging all the traffic would bear and dividing the plunder.
The people demand of the railroads only that they do business
openly and with reasonable fairness, and railroad managers who
show any disposition to recognize their obligations to the public
have little to complain of in the treatment accorded to them. In
some States, it is true, the people have hit hard blows in settling
the old accounts, but nowhere have they inflicted anything like the
damage they suffered for many years. The "peasantry" are apt
to be somewhat ungentle in their handling of the lord of the castle
that has extorted tribute from them when they get him in a corner.
Ripley, of the Santa Fe, is one of the few Bourbons of the rail
road dynasty that cannot get it through their heads that a new
order of things has come about. He still thinks of punishing the
public for daring to assert any rights or to be discontented in that
station of life in which the "trustees of Providence" have seen fit
to place them. It will be the fault of the Ripleys if the public be
comes weary of waiting for the railroads to reform their ways and
turns to actual public ownership as the final solution of the
problem.
WHEN THIEVES DO NOT FALL OUT.
Probably there is not a ruler in Europe who would have the
hardihood to deny that the deposed Sultan of Turkey is an unmiti
gated villain, a liar, thief, robber, murderer, coward. They all
know in their hearts that the satanic old man has been the pest of
the world from the day he went on the job, and that he was re
sponsible for the latest wholesale slaughter of his subjects. The
rulers of Europe kept Abdul Hamid on the throne, despite his gi
gantic crimes against humanity, for political reasons of their own,
and they are protecting him now in the enjoyment of the profits
of his villainy because they fear the precedent of permitting jus
tice, even in small measure, to be dealt to one of their class by the
! people.
Abdul Hamid wrung millions upon millions from the wretched
people of Turkey and cached the plunder in European banks. The
j new government of Turkey, set up by the people, seeks to recover
j the money for the use of those from whom it was stolen, and the
rulers of Europe stand solidly in defence of the great thief. The
' bank of England refuses to cash the demands of Turkey, and the
I monarchs of Europe threaten to intervene if the Turkish govern
| ment coerces Abdul into signing checks in its favor. All of them
i have planted piles of money in the bank of England in antici-
I 1 pation of being forced out of their jobs, and they sympathize with
I Abdul. In the language of their diplomatic drudges: "That such
jsums should be escheated, at a moment when the misfortune
against which it was intended to provide, should come, affords a
very unfortunate precedent."
: it is nothing to these "fathers of their people" that thousands
of women and children are starving in Turkey because Abdul
Hamid robbed them and murdered their husbands and fathers.
I They have no sympathy for the victims of Abdul Hamid's hideous
j misrule, but they are shocked in their immorals by the mere sug*
igestion that the old devil be deprived of any part of his blood
1 stained hoard.
The fear of precedent is .well-founded, and the instinct of the
i rulers of Europe to stand by the worst of their class is but natural.
I When even , the people of Turkey revolt against absolutism, no
i throne in Europe is quite safe.
Reports From Farmers
Who are using the New Standard Mower are coming in
thick and fast.
The Standard is cutting in the valley from Brawley
to Calexico. The only mower that has no neck weight
or side draft. The weight of the cutter bar is carried on
the drive wheels instead of the horses necks. High lift
on the inside shoe. Roller bearings and hard oil pitman
box. The only mower that can be adjusted in the field
with the aid of an ordinary 10-inch monkey wrench.
Simplicity, strength and durability combined with
light draft are things we are demonstrating every day.
Come in and let us "show" you.
THE EMERSON ALFALFA RAKE is right behind
the Standard mower. Ten foot rake with twenty-six,
half inch teeth and the best and heaviest frame ever put
into a rake. ■
See it and be convinced and converted.
Delta Implement Co.
EL CENTRO HOLTVILLE
nm m T Arrangements
IViOney tO JLOJUI have been made
J by which H. C
GRISWOLD will loan money on improved ranches.
Write or call at his office, Hotel Oregon Block,
EL CENTRO, CALIFORNIA.
NEW. SUMMER HATS
i
Straw. Felt. John B. Stetson
Sombreros. Turtle-Back, and
Sun Shields. All kinds from
20c to $850
* >
We "are making 'a specialty of
Hats this week.
Meserve's
Cldthing House
El Centro California
The El Centro National Bank
STILL CONTINUES TO GROW AND THE PEOPLE OF EL CENTRO FUL-
LY APPRECIATE THE UNEXCELLED BANKING FACILITIES THAT
THIS INSTITUTION HAS RENDERED THE COMMUNITY WHILE THE-
BULK OF THE PEOPLE'S FUNDS WERE TIED UP IN THE VALLEY
STATE BANK; THEY ALSO FULLY REALIZE WHAT IT WOULD HAVE:
MEANT TO THIS TOWN AND THE VALLEY IN GENERAL HAD THERE
BEEN NO BANK HERE AT THE TIME THE VALLEY STATE BANK
WAB CLOSED. IT IS THE COMMON REMARK THAT WE ARE THE!
RIGHT KIND OF BANKERS IN THE RIGHT PLACE AND EXACTLY
AT THE RIGHT TIME. WE BEG TO THANK THE PEOPLE FOR THE
GENEROUS PATRONAGE AND ASSURE THEM THAT THEIR CONFI-
DENCE WILL NEVER BE BETRAYED.
YOURB TRULY, . I
, F. B. FULLER, President. '
Sewer Cotinectioris
HAVE YOUR SEWER CONNECTIONS MADE BY SKILLED
PLUMBERS IN A WORKMANLIKE MANNER. ■
WE ARE FULLY PREPARED TO DO THIS WORK AND CAN
GUARANTEE A SATISFACTORY AND SANITARY JOB AT A
VERY REASONABLE PRICE.
PLUMBING OF ALL KINDS. NOTHING TOO BIG FOB US TO
HANDLE.
BATH TUBB, LAVATORIES, CLOSETS, WATER AND SEWER.
PIPE. ALL WORK GUARANTEED TO CONFORM TO PLUMBING
LAWS.
Wltniati Plwt-nbittg Co.
BROADWAY, BETWEEN FOURTH AND FIFTH STREETS.
lOraniTA 9aa<l Ra<l TVaac large Sredlingi for otcJvirJ planting. Eureka Lnnom, Pomelo*. A
f> pliijr Tree,. Acacias, Rows, cfc Southland Nurseries. F. H. Uufarow. Prop., Pasadena Gafifoma.
J. a. OrutebteM R. B. WooUolk
Crutchfield & Woolfolk
WHOLESALE COMMISSION MERCHANTS
Car Lot Distributors and
Growers' Marketing: Agents
21st and Perm Aye. Pittsburgh Pa.
F. O. B. Transit dale a*4 Olstribvtlni Agents. «pMl«t-
l*ts In Marketing All Kind* of Finite and Vegetables.
W« Will Guarantee You Bamt Results.
Okt In Touch With Us. '
t
BRANCH HOUSES
Ntw Vw* Chlcaeo Cfnctnmtl W— lilngten
Ideal Mountain Resort
Warner Hot Springs
While enjoying your vacation restore your health.
Free camping. Curative Waters, and a Beautiful Moun-
tain Resort,
Good Rooms and Board
at Moderate Rates
■ I ' :
The only resort in San Diego County with its own
I<Te Plant, Dairy and Garden. New Tennis and Croquet
Grounds. Pine Ball room freo for aIL
Take road via Carriso Greek and San Felipi.
Saturday, May 15, 1909.