Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-05-01
WHAT NEW MEXICO CLAIMS.
An Inviting Picture Drawn by One Of
the Visiting Delegation.

the visiting Delegation.
"when it comes to 9 show down on natural or
artificial advantages neither Idaho nor
Wyoming has any age on New Mexico" said
Mr.. George II. Cross Of Santa Fe to . STAR re-
porter yesterday evening. Mr.. Cross is one OF
| the delegation Of thirty-seven New Mexicans
here intent not only on proving that the Gar
den OF Eden was located in New Mexico but
| also bent on pushing the territory into the
Union as a state. The delegsti which is
| headed by Gov. L. Bradford Price, has estab-
ished headquarters at 1112 street.
I'VE have population OF more than 175.000
and the taxable property amounts TO from $780,
| 100000 to $4,000 OO" he continued. Our
debt is less than 500, 900 and so easy Is the
| financial situation that we are buying in our
| securities. Taxes are low and .as a natural
sequence real estate is advancing steadily and
with gratifying rapidity. This advance is due
principally to irrigation enterprises, of which
more than sixty have been successfully estab-
llshed during the past year. We now have I'M
der irrigation nearly 900 600 acres, and when
spring time rolls around once more the area
of thoroughly irrigated land will be twice as
great"
HOME MARKEr.
Won't you soon be producing more than
you can consumer" asked the reporter.
mo danger of that" replied Mr.. Cross.
MlulnS camps are the DeSt markets any agrl-
culturlst could desire and there Is no scarcity
of those industrial centers in New Mexico. We
can grow almost anything you want to eat
There Is a great range of climate and all of il
Is good for something. So marked is the diff
ference that the governor has to declare two
'arbor' days. In the southern portion OF the
territory we plant trees on March /; in the
north we are just one month later performing
similar operation"
IRRIGATION.
"Wouldn't Maj. Powells irrigation scheme
help you?" queried the reporter.
mo, sir; we don't want it," and Mr.. Cross
looked as much like his name as he possibly
could Maj. Powelrs plan is thoroughly i'm
practicable. and if il was all right and feasible
would be unnecessary. Money is SO plentiful
that We can keep the irrigation up to the immi-
grafton without any trouble if Congress will
only grant the territory arid lands as it did
swamp lands to fourteen OF the states. II this
is done we will organize territorial irrigation
commission and go right ahead. People talk
about great deal of our land being worthless.
When was coming through Went Virginia /
heard a man offer to sell 10000 acres of land
for 10 cents an acre. Shaky as some of our
titles are, you cannot buy as cheaply as that
anywhere in New Mexico"
MINES, CATTLE AND SHEEP.
"What about your industries?"
"Our mines are in tip-top condition. never
on a boom Do you know that there is no
finer mutton than that which is raised in New
Mexico? The grasses are sweet and the meat
Is favored as no other can be. Immense ship
ments of the woolly creatures testify to popu-
lar appreciation Our beef cattle are also i'm
proving and we will ship 60O, 900 head of beef
steers this year"
Immigration increasingly"
"Yes, steadily; and the newcomers are good
people. They are mostly from the central west;
men who bettered their condition by leaving
the east and whose clear vision makes plain to
them still greater opportunities in the extreme
southwest. For years the territory has suf-
fered from misrepresentation. but at last the
people of the states have caught a glimpse Of
our growing greatness and now the best kind of
for them. IL New Mexico was populated as
thickly as is Connecticut $4,000, 900 people
would be within its borders
I'VE are not without railroad facilities More
than ! 800 miles Of road are now in operation
and the greater portion of 800 miles more will
be IN running order this summer"
LEARNING UNDER SOME DIFFICULTIES.
"How are your schools" queried the re-
porter.
our territorial competitors" was the reply
There are zoo public schools with 360teachers,
and IN these establishments English is the only
language taught The people are anxious to
learn En8nsn. 1nere are no 0fhclai text books
and when the youngsters first 90 to school
| they are very oddly equipped, but very
enthusiastic. have seen them come in with
patent medicine advertisements and almanaes
as primers. Some of them had newspapers
| copies OF THE New Mexican"-and in one lit
| tie school house saw bare-legged girl of
| thirteen or fourteen years endeavoring to spell
| her way through somewhat dilapidated six
| teen-page copy Of your EVENING STAR. There
were lots of pictures in tit was the history of
| a knight Templar eonclave-and the sloe-eyed
little Mexican varied the task of reading with
the pleasure Of picture-scanning."
THE FOREIGN POPULATION.
1.-THE foreign element in the territory is very
larger" suggested the reporter.
Nothing like as large as you probably sup
pose. There are 1000, 900 people in the United
| States who cannot speak the English language
| and our proportion of these is surprisingly
| small. Why, up in Wisconsin the percentage is
| much greater; there are large settlements
where German is the only language used. The
| native New Mexicans are anxious to learn, but
they have up to the past five years been too
| busily engaged defending themselves and their
homes from the attacks of hostile Indians to
pay much attention TO linguistic studies. Natu-
| rally there Is kindly feeling within them for
| their mother tongue, and they use it in their
| homes-at their tresides; but in the store. on
| the street and in a general way they are using
the Americanized Anglo-Saxon. They are
| Americans"
PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS.