Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1895-01-22
GRANT COUNTY AROUSED
Citizens and Tax Payers Make a State
ment Relative to the Florida
County Movement.

The citizens and Taxpayers of Grant
county held a very large and enthusiastic
meeting in Silver City last Saturday even
ing and entered an earnest protest
against the division of the county as pro-
posed by the Florida county bill, intro
duced into the council last week by the
delegation of Deming parties.
At this meeting committee of twelve,
consisting of the leading citizens and
tax payers OF the county, was appointed
to come to Santa Fe and oppose the di-
vision asked for in the Florida bill.
Several of the committeeman have al
ready arrived and the others will soon be
on hand.
These committeeman request the New
MEXICAN to publish the appended state
ment in response to the allegations set
forth in an interview which appeared in
these columns on Saturday with Col. P. R.
Smith, of Deming:
"Outside of Dsming there certainly ex-
lists a substantially unanimous feeling
that this is not the year to disturb county
lines In this territory, and especially
those of Grant county. The county is
just entering upon the new year under
the law passed during the session of 1898,
reducing the current expenses of the
county and with the hope that they will
be able during the next two years to pay
off some of its present indebtedness toits
officers, besides paying its current ex-
penses for the next two years without
greatly increasing it's tax rate, which is
now heavy burden-almost too heavy
to bear. The county has bonded in
debtedness of $218,500, on which it owes
interest for over eighteen months. This
indebtedness alone is over per cent on
its assessed valuation for 1894. Besides
its bonded indebtedness the county owes
fully $4,000. The Florida bill takes just
about one-half of it's taxable property
and that part from which the taxes are
most easily collected, namely: The rail-
road property of the county; the taxable
mining property and the cattle interests.
The county, in case of division, must still
be held responsible for the entire ipdebt-
edness of the county, and although the
new county may agree to assume its pro-
portion of the debt, the feeling among
the Taxpayers is universal that in view
of the fact that the new county of Florida
proposes to issue $4,000 new bonds for
court house and Jail purposes, that the
holders of the present Indebtedness will
suffer great if not total loss. The re-
sources in and around Deming spoken of
by the promoters of the Florida bill
scheme have been talked about for the
past six or eight years, but have never
materialized.
"The ill feeling, said by the promoters
of the Florida scheme, to exist between
Demlng and Silver City, only exists on
the part of the Deming schemers. So far
as Silver City is concerned the best of
feeling exists toward the Deming people.
There are to-day many. people residing
in Silver City who would gladly aid the
Deming people in every possible way to
develop any legitimate resources 1T may
possess. Whenever the different parties
nominate candidates from Deming they
always receive the full party vote in Sill
yer City. For instance, at the last No
vember election, the Democrats nomi-
mated their candidate for county treas
urer from Silver City, and he received
only the straight party vote, while the
Republican candidate was from Deming
and received the full Republican vote OF
that town and nearly all of the Demo.
cratic vote. Both candidates were con-
sidered equally competent men by all
parties. The people of Deming have
always been cheerfully awarded by the
voters of Grant county their full share in
the management of Its affairs. And they
certainly are responsible for their full
share in the Encouragement of its finan-
cial affairs. Whenever the taxpayers
feel sure they can regain and maintain
its financial credit and see their way clear
to meet all their just debts, past, present
and future, they will gladly give their
consent to have Demlng set off in a
separate town or county, but not until
then.
"Under the new law the expense oil
transportation of prisoners Is reduced to
cents per mile"