Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-03-02
LET HISTORY ALONE.
Protest Against Changing Inscription on
Soldiers Monument on the Plaza-Per-
tinent Reasons Given for ALLOW ing
the Wording to Remain

To the Editor of the New Mexican.

As 1t Is.
To the Editor of the New Mexican.
The resolution provi ding for Il change
in the inscription of the historic soldiers
monument in the Plaza, ought certainly
to be defeated; and it is hoped by many
citizens that such will be the case when
the matter comes up in the council. 1t
is believed by many interested that the
passage of the same would be a cause of
severe criticism and misrepresentation
abroad.
In the first place it cannot be done.
OF course it is physically possible to
change the inscription, just as it is
possible to tear down the monument;
but | mean it can not be done with any
show of propriety or honesty. The monu-
ment was erected by the legislatures of
1S66-67, and '6S, each one of which
showed it's patriotism by making an
appropriation. This is publicly expressed
by the east side inscription Erected
by the people of New Mexico, through
their legislature of 1s66-7-s. May the
Union be perpetual They were so
exact about it as to prescribe the pre-
else language of the four inscriptions.
(see chapter XIV, laws of 1869 Now,
80 years afterwards, we cannot change
their language and yet have it appear
as their work.
But apart from this, look at the i'm
propriety. This is one of the historic
land marks of New Mexico. 1t has
been referred to hundreds of times as a
proof of the ardent loyalty of her peo-
pie. To mutilate it o is almost a
work of sacrilege. As we'll tear down
the palace, because it once belonged to
| the Spaniards. Some time Anglomania
| will arise and wish to erase from the
declaration of independence all allu-
sions to British tyranny. The patriotic
utterances of Patrick Henry and George
Washington must be cut to pieces wher-
ever they spoke earnestly of the enc
mics of their country. Every proclama-
ton of Lincoln must be revised and all
histories of the rebellion be suppressed.
The government publication of the
| Rebellion Record must instantly stop.
Suppose the authorities of Westminster
Abbey were to mutilate the monuments
Of the great departed, because some ex-
pressions did not suit the taste of a
~super-delicate dean. The whole world
would rise in revolt. Must we pull down
the statues in Washington of the great
generals who put down the rebellion,
and the noble naval monument at the
capitol entrance that commentaries
the victories of the Union sailors? Must
all the soldiers monuments throughout
the land be destroyed? The strongest
inscription that | know of on any of
them, is in Kentucky, to commemorate
the share taken by the loyal sons of that
state in quelling the rebellion, yet ever
in that state of fierce contention no one
has ever risen to object.
The loyalty of the New Mexico people
throughout the rebellion is n of the
stock arguments in every appeal for
statehood: and this monument has done
more to impress that loyalty upon the
whole country than dozens of speeches
or pamphlets. Let not the legislature
of 1899 be less patriotic than their
brethren of 1866, '67 and '6s.
In another way the proposed change
of good feeling between North and
South. The Cuban campaign has &C.
mented the fraternal sentiment and
obliterated differences. Nearly 40 years
have passed since the beginning of the
Rebellion, and the leaders whose
wretched ambition caused them to at
tempt to destroy the nation are no
longer among us. Those who remain
are the younger men who naturally fol-
lowed their elders and neighbors and
fought with rare devotion for what they
supposed to be right. No II now re-
joices more at their defeat than they do
themselves; and the generous nation
wishes only to remember their courage
and heroism.
But it cannot forget history or its debt
of gratitude to those who preserved it,;
and any attempt to tamper with these
will only serve to arous again the old
feeling so happily allayed.
COMMON SENSE.