The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1878-11-21


for the ridiculous part he had enacted
He retired with his wife very passive
ly, vowing in his own mind never to
be caught in like scrape again.
NEW MEXICO.
What atEx.G0vern0r Axtell Saw and
Says of the Country and its Peo.
PIE.
Ex-Governor Axtell has recently
returned from New Mexico, and is
now living on a farm in Richfield,
6Summit county. He has lately been
interviewed by Cleveland Herald re-
porter to whom he did not express q
very hopeful view of the prospects of
heTerritory,a aud sees no nofoundatlonfor
it's future growth. Except in single
county bordering on Arizona and Old
Mexico, mining is not carried on ex-
tensively. No crops can be raised
without irrigation, aud this limits ag-
riculture to the cultivation of little
patches of grain and potatoes
along the borders of the
streams. Herding is moderately sue.
cessful. but it requires range of about
fifty acres to every animal. In some
parts of the Territory, sheep raising
has proved renumerative. There are
however, few natural advantages of
any kind to attract immigration, and
the native population, composed for
the most part of Mexicans, Indians,
and half breeds, manifest little capac-
ity for high civilization.
Gov. Axtell speaks of the Mexican
element as inferior in intellectual and
physical ability to the Pueblo Indians.
These people are miserably poor.
They live in mud huts, almost with
out furniture, are scantily clad, and
do not even provide themselves with
regular meals. Their scanty subsis-
tence is derived chiefly from the pro-
duct of little patches of corn and the
United States can there be found
white population so destitute of the
comforts of civilized life. They are
not increasing in numbers, owing to
the heavy mortality among the child
rem and the terrible ravages of the
smallpox. Last year nearly 5000
died from this disease. They refuse
to submit to vaccination and take no
measures to isolate the sick.
In all New Mexico there is not, ac-
cording to Gov. Axtell,a single bridge,
asylum or poor house, and there are
no schools except a few controlled by
Catholic priests. Such thing as pub
lie spirit or public sentiment does not
exist. The native children are bright
and active until they reach the age of
twelve or fourteen ycrrs and their men
tai growth seems arrested. The men
and Wenea-ao-not- capable of
prolonged or reg ular exertion of mind
or body. The territory has no manu-
features and nothing to sell to the out
side world except hides and wool. 1t
is largely dependent upon the govern
ment which disburses money with
both hands for the army and the In.
dian service, buying supplies at enor-
nous prices and enriching large class
of contractors and middle men. Were
it not for the steady stream of money
from the United States Treasury the
Territory would be in miserable
condition. Sante Fe is described as
cluster of mud huts built around
plaza and cathedral, and containing
about 5000 Inhabitants.
The poor results New Mexico ex-
hibits of three hundred years of ciyili-.
zation Gov. Axtell attributes to the
hopeless sterility of the country and
to the bad character of the population,
which is made up in large part of
the descendants of Spanish soldiers
and outcast Indian women. Thirty
years of good government and of po-
litical association with the United
States have not materially improved
the condition of the Territory, because
there are no resources to tempt tbith-
er an enterprising American popula.
ton. Gov. Axtell thinks the Pueblo
Indians the best element among the
native Inhabitants. They live in vil-
lagos of stone houses, are patient and
laborious, decently clad, chaste and
cleanly in their habits, mild and kind
ly in their dispositions, and seldom
commit crimes. A willingness to work
enables them to improve their condi-
ton and shows that they have in them
u foundation for higher civilization.
They number about 1900 and have
seventeen villages.
The general picture of New Mexico
given by Gov. Axtell is one of q vast
arid, mountainous regions, with a few
miserable scattered villages, some
mining resources half developed and
half-abandoned, and here and there
a grazing range covered with scanty
herbage-a region, in. a word, never
likely to be of much value to itself or
to the country at large.
HOW mucn OF tne EA-UoVcfHor
dismal view is to be traced to pique
at being removed from SO miserable a
place no one can know except by a
visit to New Mexico. That we would
scarcely adyise even for those who
may think Mr.. Axteli is spreading
it on"
. -
TATTOOING IN BURN IAH.
AT the mention of tattO ding, the