The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 95, July 1991 - April, 1992 Page: 355
598 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Lake Brownwood
cation, generally protested granting power rights superior to domestic
and irrigation rights, or both, the great majority directly attacked the
Syndicate Power rights. For example, the Brady Chamber of Com-
merce, using a form common in the resolutions, resolved that it "vig-
orously protests against the claims made by the Syndicate Power Com-
pany, and hereby expresses the opinion that the development and
enforcement of the water rights, claimed by said company, would sub-
vert the best interests of the people living in the semi-arid portion of
this watershed ...."13
A WTCC call for a mass meeting in support of Brownwood con-
tinued the focus on the Syndicate Power Company. The call requested
all persons in Texas interested in the conservation of flood waters, par-
ticularly those along the upper stretches of the Colorado, Trinity, and
Brazos rivers, to meet at Abilene on August 18, 1927. The call stated:
"If [the Syndicate Power Company] succeeds in establishing its claims,
then a real menace to the people of West Texas and Texas exists." T. U.
Taylor, dean of the engineering department at the University of Texas
and a former water power proponent, accepted his invitation to the
WTCC meeting with the following statement:
I do not overestimate it when I say that the liberties and life of the West Texas
farmer are in jeopardy. If a power company whose bondholders, living in Wall
Street, can have prior right to a farmer along the creeks in West Texas, then it
seems to me that life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness are dead."
The rhetoric aimed at Syndicate Power became increasingly ven-
omous at the meeting. Dean Taylor, U.S. congressman Thomas Blan-
ton, and state senator Walter C. Woodward attacked Syndicate Power
before all three members of the board and 293 others from fifty-four
West Texas communities."' Blanton accused the board and the Brown
'3Letters of support include Merkel Chamber of Commerce to State Board of Water Engi-
neers, June 30, 1927, Chilhicothe Chamber of Commerce to State Board of Water Engineers,
June 30, 1927, and Stanton Chamber of Commerce to State Board of Water Engineers, July 8,
1927, Application No. 1085 file (TWC). Resolution of Big Spring Chamber of Commerce, Aug
20, 1927, ibid.; Resolution of the San Angelo Board of City Development, June 29, 1927, ibid
Direct attacks on Syndicate Power rights Include Resolution of San Saba Chamber of Com-
merce, July 7, 1927, Undated resolution of Kimble County Chamber of Commerce, Resolution
of Scurry County Chamber of Commerce, Aug. 8, 1927, Resolution of Winters Chamber of
Commerce dated Aug. 4, 1927, Resolution of Goldthwaite Chamber of Commerce, July 11,
1927, Resolution of Coleman Chamber of Commerce, July 23, 1927, Undated resolution of
Mason Chamber of Commerce, Resolution of Ballinger Chamber of Commerce, July 25, 1927,
Resolution of Midland Chamber of Commerce, July 1927, and Resolution of Fredericksburg
Chamber of Commerce, July 22, 1927, ibid Resolution of the Brady Chamber of Commerce,
July 11, 1927 (quotation), Ibid
"4Austin Statesman, Aug. 3, 1927; Abilene Eveing 7Tzmes, Aug. 1 , 1927 (1st quotation); '1' U.
Taylor to R W Haynle, Aug. 8, 1927 (2nd quotation), Application No 1085 file (TWC)
15Austin Statesman, Aug 18, 1927, Abilene Evenng Times, Aug 17, i8, i927, Homer D
Wade to John A. Norris, Aug. 20o, 1927, Governors' Papers: Dan M. Moody (Archives Division,
Texas State Library, Austin, cited hereafter as TSL)355
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 95, July 1991 - April, 1992, periodical, 1992; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117153/m1/415/: accessed May 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.