Las Vegas free press. (East Las Vegas, N.M.) 1891-1???, 1892-04-02

What this community wants above
all things, we think, is the settling
up of the lands of the Las Vegas
grant, and 90 per cent Of the disin-
,erested per@ons residing upon it be-
iieve that the United States is the
'gency best adapted to this purpose.
It ha~ all the machinery and its edict
- by the people regarded as law.
Through it the lands are bound to
I've distributed without Partially or
Iavoritism, aud the poor stand upon
an equal footing with the rich. If
these lands are settled up in tracts
IF l60 acres, as theV will be when the
grant is thrown open to. settlement,
who would not prefer to trust to the
combined capital and energy of the
numerous settlers to develop and put
water upon them rather than to the
private means of the aristocratic few?
If settled up, too, in this way, who is
30 blind as not to see the thousand
fold greater advantages the town
would thus derive from il2 The rail-
Dad would then come not Decause of
I've large bonusit would receive direct
from the town, but because there
could then be something to come
nr in the business ol the town aud
h, settled condition of the country
rln or through which it would pass.
Ne would certainly get a railroad in
his manner much earlier than we
'ruId possibly hope to obtain one by
he litigation which "Citizen" sug
gests. If large holdings of land are
ssential to great prosperity. why is 1t
hat grant. cursed New Mexico has
jagged so far behind? Colorado and
,ther states in the arid region had
but few, if any, grants compared
10 our territory. Their lands were
all doled out by the government in
90 acre tracts, and yet their devel-
ppment has been marvellous. AT our
very doors, even, those sections are
settling up most rapidly where the
argest areas of government land are
10 be found.
Hitherto, Mr. Millheiser and his CO.
,diutors have ridiculed the idea of
he town being able to sell and dis
pose of the lands of the grant, even
though il should obtain decision in
it's favor. They have always MAIN
tained that the town could not man.
age the grant, and that If, after get
ting it, it attempted to do so, its
course would be fraught with almost
endless contention.
Why, then, this change of heart
now, since the government has
,tepped in, and why this unbonnded
love of Mr.. Mllheiser for the town,
aud of Citizen" for Millheiser, that
mis- advice and direction il to be pur-
,ued? We think the reason is but
too apparent! If MiIlheiser can in
veigle the town into fight with the
government, and the town gets from
the government the entire area of
the grant, it would be 50 much easier
for him afterwards to bring suit
against the town, and harass it into
the settlement or compromise which
so long has been the burden of the
enemy's song. 1t is quite apparent
that Millheiser and his associates do
not court any fight with the govern
ment, for he and they well know that
as against the government his claim
would not for moment be tolerated.
The claim Of the town of Las Vegas
he knows TO be the strong claim, and
the only claim that can, with any
prospect of success, contest with the
government for the entire area of the
grant. lie and his friends are shrewd
enough to see that with the govern
ment there will be no compromise,
and no surrender of its rights, except
by a judgment of the highest court
in the land. But it is not so with
the town of Las Vegas. While the
government is strong and tenacious
of its rights, the town is weak and
compromising. A compromise can
only be secured through the town,
aud, to be of any value to the indi-
vidual claimants, the town must first
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