Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1889-03-02
THE TERRITORIES.
Ek-Gov. Sheldon on Admission - Local
GOvernmcnt-Its Advantages.

Meeting Ex-Gov. l.. A. Sheldon to-day,
q representative of the New MEXICAN
asked his opinion on the admission of the
territories to statehood The governor
said his views on the subject he thought
we're pretty we'll known, but that he had,
since travelling through the west, reached
some conclusions touching the policy OF
admission that he wouldn't mind speak
ing Of. He said as o matter of right all
the territories should be accorded the
privilege of state government. He made
but one exception and that was Utah, and
his objections to that territory were not
on religious grounds but because of the
lustful institutions which majority OF
the people there connect with their reli-
zion. ut is in accord with the funda-
mental principles of our institutions that
the people shall govern themselves" said
Gov. Sheldon. "No one has a right to
presume that the people of any terri
tory will enact bad laws or fail
10 enact good ones. If either
should happen, in any case it is no
more than what has occurred in new and
old states alike. Sooner or later, and not
very late when free from violence and
fraud, the people correct all mistakes. A
child falls and bumps its nose good
many times in learning to walk, but that
Is no reason why the effort to walk should
No Lo rTbapo ;e, L,,t S,,,ootio,,
that is at all pertinent in deciding whether
Il territory should become state. 1t is
whether the population and property are
sufficient to insure responsible and eff
cient government without too-much of q
burden OF taxation. The question of poll
tics should not be considered at all, and
it never was made question until the
idea arose OF preserving an equilib-
rum in the United States
senate between free and slave states. 1t
would be better for the United States to
get rid of all matters of local government
and get them absolutely in the hands of
the people. The same is true of the pub
lie lands. If they were in private owner
ship they would be put to use and devel
oped, and subjected to taxation, and the
government would have no bother with
them. Land monopoly, of course, is ex-
ceedingly Objectionable, the most objec-
tionable of any kind of monopoly, be-
cause it deprives men of the occupation
and use Of an element of nature which is
essential to individual independence and
happiness and public prosperity. Butthere
never was serious danger OF land monop-
oily in this country, because the laws Of
descent and distribution divide lands on
the decease OF each generation. Crushing
land monopoly can nowhere be perpe-
tuated unless by law, as in Great Britain,
where the principle of primogeniture pre-
walls. There are now no large landed es-
tates in the nation outside of the cities, ex'
cept such as were acquired before the
passage of the homestead law, or which
grew up under Spanish and Mexican
grants or under the land laws Of Texas,
or have survived slavery. But two Of
the great estates acquired in
The past have been trans
mitted to the third generation from the
acquisitors unimpaired All others have
been broken into fragments or have been
immensely reduced even in the hands OF
the children OF the Acquisition, or have alb.
solutely disappeared in the hands of the
grand children.
SIN the admission OF states there has
been no rule as to the number of people
necessary. Michigan admitted with a
little over 10000 people, and Nevada with
less than 10000. There has been a gen
eral idea that there should be people
enough to entitle the state to one repre-
sentative, which would seem to he d
reasonable rule, but in the greater num-
Der of cases the new states have not had
as many people as that. The question as
to population, with reference to that rule,
can hardly be raised in connection with
any of the territories, for nearly all Of
them have as many or more
than that ratio. I have no fears
of retogression or non-prOgressive
state government. A great impulse OF
the American people is in favor of pro-
erosion and public sentiment will very
soon override all obstructiveness and
stimulate spirit Of advancement. What
we want is free and honest ballot, and
that will settle everything in this country.
The great Thomas Jefferson, who was the
first Republican president of the United
States, stated the rule that error of opin'
ion may be safely tolerated when reason
is left free to combat it."