Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1889-02-15
FRIDAY FEBRUARY Is.
THE HAxwI] IL GRANT QUESTION.

un writes a etter from the Maxwell
Land Grant cIbmpany's property to &
financial naper In Amsterdam. The letter
seems to have b zen written Tor The pur'
nose Of stirring {lp the Dutch bond hold
ers of the Maxwell company. 1t is full
of misstatementS and in some instances
downright falsefI oods. The letter contains
considerable per |sonsl abuse OF Mr. M. +
Pels, the manager OF the property. Ho"
ever. that phasej of the question we vii
not consider.
But there re statements IN the
letter calculated to injure New Mexico
These we will take up and discuss. We
do not PROPOSED to let any such go I'M
challenged.
In the first place the correspondent
complains that Pie company's manager
will not buy the improvements and cattle
of the old settlers at fair prices. There Is
no need of argument there. 1t is false
hood. simple and pure. The company
has bought and lis still buying improve
uents and cattld of the old settlers on
very fair terms and at very fair prices,
and is willing and ready to buy all such
offered. But Of course the company does
object to being swindled and made to
pay double the value of Improvements
and cattle. That is likely the place where
}. LIS shoe pinches.
Next J. H. objects to the stocking of
the grant with the company's cattle, and
predicts dire res ults to come from such a
proceeding. He says:
Is this in the Interest of the company?
Will this bring more settlers here when
thev see men killed off like mice and a
regular guerilla war is going on, so that
no one can be certain of his life and prop
ertv? That this war will come is the con-
rlusion of a great many cool-headed peo-
pie, who are good law-abiding citizens.
A middle way being impossible, all must
choose with or against the grant, and any
who doubts is taken for grant man,
with all the possibility OF receiving bull
let the minute he least expects it.
The correspondent evidently sees
ghosts. Let him hold himself peaceful.
In few months or probably weeks there
will be chief justice who will see law
and order and the mandates of the courts
enforced, and who will take good care
that the sheriff of Colfax county serves
writs when ordered to. Then there will
be an executive who will see that the
judicial branch of the territorial govern
ment has sufficient force at its command,
regardless Of the wishes of the sheriff of
Colfax county or the anti-grant Demo
cracy of Colfax county to command re-
spect Then and in that case, whenever
that old sinner McMains and his dupes
and the few political shysters interested
for the sake of gain and to blackmail the
grant company desire any fight, it will be
very one sided and short one, and will
not hurt the grant company nor the good
citizens Of Colfax county. But as far as
the paragraph quoted above is concerned,
it is simply falsehood number two. There
is no disposition amongst the settlers for
any fight or any killing for the present,
and We do not believe there will be here
after. But the strong arm Of the law will be
ready, and mind you, with IN honest, fear
less and honorable judge en- the bench in
the 4th judicial district land such one will
occupy that position before long, al die
order and lawlessness will be quickly
quelled.
The correspondent then says:
One more point you certainly have heard
about, the great irrigation schemes they
have now. Well, in the first place, the Yer
mejo ditch is nearly finished; but where
does the water have to come from for this
ditch? Men who have been living in
that part of the country for years declare
that it is perfect failure, because there
Is not water enough for this ditch, and all
the big plans about making q great farm
ing country around this ditch are very
nice on paper, but short time will show
that what is nice OH paper does not always
90 in reality. And the big Springer ditch
is pretty near the same. The results in
this case may be little more favorable,
but it will never be success for the
same reason-on account of an insufficient
quantity of water.
Another falsehood. The reports of
competent engineers show fully that
very careful examination Of the entire
ditch system on the Maxwell land grant
has been made, and except in years of uni
versal drought, the Gimarron and Vermeio
rivers can be depended upon for plenti-
full supply of water for the complete irri-
CATION Of the lands under the bitches.
Here however is the milk in the cocoa
nut:
But am getting too far away from the
point | wished to call your attention to.
AS said above, a war is as good as GER
tain in the near future. believe, how
ever, that it still can be avoided. Why |
not stop all these lawsuits and send
good competent man out amongst the
settlers to buy them out? Why not give
this man sufficient money to buy the
most of these men at once, before the
next term of court, and prevent a war? |
But will the Holland stockholders do
this?
OF course, why not give Mr.. Pels plenty
Of money! Of course, why not sell to the
Maxwell company improvements and cat
tie at fat prices? OF course, why not get
all the money one can out of the Dutch
t. A., MT hrrt anyone