Santa Fe daily New Mexican., 1896-10-17
CatrOn's Black Bond Record.

CatrOn's Black Bond Record.
The details of Mr.. Catron's abortive at
tempt to saddle Santa Fe and Grant
counties and Silver City with the pay
ment of over $522,5oo of illegally issued
railroad aid bonds will be found on
pages 6,5l9 to 6,524 of No. IA, issued
June l, 1896, of Vol. 2S, Congressional
Record. There will be found the capitol
bond act with the amendments by which
the Brce-Coler illegal bonds mentioned
were sought to be legallzed, the letter of
May 30, 1895, of Mr.. Catron to Hon w.
@. Owens, who had charge of the bill in
the house of representatives, urging the
passage of those amendments; and there
also will be found some of the newspaper
comments of the territorial press criti-
cizing Catron's action in supporting the
passage of those amendments and the full
report of the debate in congress upon the
bill and its Brice-C Coler attachments.
A perusal of this debate so printed
shows that Mr.. Catron's letter of the Goth
of MAY last and the other active support
which he gave against the interests of his
const .tuerts in this and Grant county
was NE principal afgurnvnt S6d ~usein
support of the advocates of the passage
of these amendments, in fact, 1t would
seem by
THE PAGES OF THE RECORD
referred to that the members of the
house generally regarded it as something
not to be believed that a delegate in con-
gress from a territory, though guided by
his personal interest only, regardless of
the duty he owed his constituents, would
represent in congress that such constit-
uents desired the legalizing of these lille
gally issued bonds unless such state.
ment was unequivocally true; and this
sentiment seems to have been we'll ex-
pressed in this debate (page 6,525 Con-
gressional Record above mentloned) by
the Hon. Mr.. Lacy, of Iowa, who there
said:
"The delegate from New Mexico (Mr.
Catron) asks that these bonds be vail.
dated.' II am not inclined to
accept mere newspaper statement as
against the solemn declaration of the
gentleman who represents the territory.
If he is perpetrating fraud upon his
constituents in asking us to validate
these bonds, his constituents will notify
him of that fact next November. He
takes his political life in his hands when
he asks us to validate these bonds"
What oral assurance Mr.. Catron may
have made to Mr.. Lacy or other members
of congress does not appear in the report
of this debate, but Catron's letter of the
Both of May last is alone sufficient, for in it
he declares over his signature that he had
"made inquiries Of many of the tax-pay-
ers of the county since these amendments
came up for action and they say that they
are in favor of the passage Of the bill
with these amendments" This atste-
ment and whatever else Catron did to in
duce congress to believe that the county
of Santa Fe favored the passage of those
amendments was certainly
MOST aLARINa srEo1NEN
of the class of fraud upon his oonstitu-
ents in this county, mentioned by the
Hon. NJ. Lacy in that debate. II was not
only true, but Mr.. Catron knew it to bs
true when he wrote that letter and long
before that time, that his effort to legal
ize those bonds was an effort to thwart
the earnest and openly expressed wishes
of ninety-nine one-hundreths of the tax
payers not only of this but Of Grant coun-
ty. Early in March, 1896, this county sent
Gov. Thornton as it's agent to congress
to defeat the passage of those amend
ments and from that source Mr.. Catron
learned the unbounded and almost uni
versal disapproval Of his course ON that
subject by the taxpayers of Santa Fe
county. And with little or no trouble
Mr.. Catron might then have known and
he undoubtedly did then know that the
necessity Of sending Gov. Thornton to
Warrington as the representative OF Han-
ia Fe county for that purpose was the
general belief of its tax x.psyers that, in
that matter they could not rely upon Mr..
Catron, New Mexico's delegate, and that
he was then and in the future would be
found arrayed against them and using his
"brains and energy" to their injury and
for tbs benefit Of the Brioe-Coler syndi-
cate. How amply their belief was justi-
fled BY Mr.. Catron's subsequent course,
needs no better proof than the record of
the debate in congress mentioned.
On May IL, 1896, whom the suspicion Of
Mr.. Ostron's intention to sacrifice the in
terests of the tax payers of this county
to the interest Of his clieats, the Colers,
had become conviction, the Board OF
Trade Of Santa Fe, the members of which
pay more than
youR-r1yrHs OF THE rAxns OF THIS couN-
TT,
held we'll attended meeting and by reso-
luton directed telegram 10 its name TO