Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1892-11-01
The Truth Conccrning CairOn's Rec
ord on the school Law

AAANA
ord Of the school LAW
To the Editor Of the Sanio Fc SUI.
BLOOMFIELD, N. NJ, Oct IL, '92.
For the last month / have no.
ticed in the republican press of
the territory, aud more particular
ly in the New Mexican, repeated
assertions as TO the records and
journals Of both the House and
Council Of the Goth Assembly in
regard TO important sections of
the school law passed in 1891. i
wish to point out to the public the
fact that House bill No. SO, the
~so-callcd school law, in Sec. 36,
provides: 1T shall be illegal for
any person TO vote at any election
who has not yet paid the poll tax
for the current year, and said pay
ment must be made, in case Of n
general election, n day previous
to such election day" This vas
the original bill as passed by the
House Jan. q, 1891, and by the
Council Feb. 4th, 1891. Vide
House and Council journals.
It was deemed wise to make GER
dain amendments to the above bill
10y further Legislation, rather than
to allow it to suffer the fate of the
1Kistler bill in the Council of 1889.
For that reason a conference of
. two committees on education
Il in Mr.. Catron's Office on the
ening Of Feb. IL, 1891, and the
general provisions of the first FIVE
sections of Chap. n, s. Laws of
1891, were agreed upon. Mr.. Cat
ron himself recommended and
urged the adoption of section 4,
which provides that sin case of a
general election, the poll tax shall
be paid at least sixty days previous
to such election day" That this
amendment acts to the advantage
of those candidates provided with
a liberal campaign fund no one
can doubt, and no one al doubt
Mr.. Catron's motive i'll securing
its adoption.
Parenthetically, it might be of
interest to the public to know that
the conference committee after
recommending the first five sec
tions of Chap. n, left Mr. Catron
to introduce this bill in the Coun-
ell with the favorable report agreed
upon. Mr.. Catron, however, could
not resist the tempting opportuni-
ty to tack on his favorite amend
ment, reducing the district levy
from 5 to 3 mills, and to secure its
consideration 10y the Council under
the mask of a favorable conference
report. The Council journal Of
Feb. 13, 1891, pege 176 -17S shows
that this bill was introduced by
Mr.. Catron and handled by HIM
clear through, and further the
journal shows that it passed by
the votes Of Messrs. Catron, Con.
%treras, Mills, Perez, Santistevan
Valdez, Vigil, and Mr.. President
Mr.. Richardson and Mr.. Slower
the two champions in the Council
of school Legislation, were forced
by this covert attempt on the par
of Mr.. Catron to deprive the schOo
districts Of the mean of raising
adequate funds, to vote against
bill which contained certain othe.
desirable if not necessary legisla
ton. Fortunately in the Hous'
this curtailing amendment wa
promptly disposed of by the sub
stitution of another bill, omittinl
Mr.. Catron's amendment and ad
ding the sections of Chap. n
which provide for the maintenance
Of schools in cities and towns.
While the journals of the As
sembly are restricted to the recon
of what ~transpires while in sessio
aud omit necessarily the proceed
ings Of the two bodies while actin
as q committee Of the whole, never
theless the unwritten record rc
mains and MS the Council chambt
was un%pleasantly crowded on tn
afternoon of Feb. 4th, 1891, III
New Mexican and its subordinate
will labor in vain TO convince Oh
reading public that the action
Messrs. Catron, Perea, Jaramill
and Santisteyan was anything bl
hostile to the passage of Houi
bill No Sour present scho
law-as evidenced by the nttemp
ed passage of some ten or twel'