Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1896-12-19

are still under the erroneous impression
that the old conditions pertaining to
land still obtain, and that the possibility
of expensive litigation, if no more, still
hangs, like keen edged sword, OYER the
head of every man who owns an acre of
land in the territory The following ar
ticle, for the benefit of the uninitiated.
aims to correct this impression, and to
give, with a review of past conditions,
specific information relative to the new
order of things, which insures to every
settler title as perfect as guarantee
from the United States government can
make it.
A greater part of the best land in
New Mexico, embracing all of the fertile
valleys and much of the upland, good for
agricultural purposes, is claimed as por-
tions of extensive grants, made by Mex
leo or Spain previous to the treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo. This treaty ex-
pressly guaranteed these titles, and in
order to ascertain the extent and valid
ity of such grants within the newly &C
quired territory congress turned the
matter over to the surveyor general of
the territory, who was to report back to
congress from time to time. upon these
titles as they came before him, with rec
concentrations for disposal of the
same. The volume of business was
found to be too large for anything like
an adequate examination, and the propo-
sition, on the whole, turned out to be
entirely impracticable.
1t was in December, 1858, that con-
gress passed it's first contirmatory act,
by which we're confirmed the titles to
five grants. In June, 1o60, thirty one
grants were confirmed. This method,
however, was entirely too slow to satisfy
those interested.
Previous to 1870 congress had acted
upon only forty. four grants, and during
the next decade it acted upon only one
grant. For nearly twenty years the peo-
pie of New Mexico begged for some
other method of adjudication that should
be speedy and just to all parties con-
cerned. And then people wonder why
development in New Mexico has been
so slow.
At length the president, in his mes
sage to congress. December LIST, 1889,
called attention to the necessity for
prompt trial and final adjustment of
all claims based upon Mexican grants"
The meeting of congress was followed
by the introduction of a bill creating
land court, fathered by Hon. Antonio
Joseph, delegate from the territory of
New Mexico.
This bill became law and was signed
by the president March 3rd, 1891. The
court was organized at Denver July LIST,
1891, and it has met semi -annually since
that time. The members of the court
are as follows: Hon. Joseph r. Reed,
chief justice, Iowa; associate justices.
Hon. Thomas G. Fuller. North Carolina;
Hon. Wilbur F. Stone, Colorado; Hon.
VIM. w. Murray, Tennessee; Hon. Henry
G. Sluss, Kansas. Its officers are Matt G.
United States attorney; w. HI.
Pope, assistant; James H. Reeder,
clerk; Thomas B. Baldwin, deputy
clerk for Colorado; Ireneo L. Chaves,
deputy clerk for New Mexico; Eu-
sebio Chacon. interpreter; w. j. Nc
Pherson, stenographer, and Edward l..
Hall, marshal.
The court gained the confidence of
the people from the start, and thus far
have done excellent work, which proves
the new method of adjudication entirely
satisfactory to the people at large.