The copper era., 1901-10-10
Tucson Citizen.


 and became world power'' reference
 has been made frequently in public
 prints and on the platform to the earl
 fer acquisition of territory which
 carried our flag from Canada to Mexico
 and from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
 Among these is the Gadsden Purchase, and almost everyone speaks of it with
 familiarity. Tucson, and much oi Southern Arizona, is i,cated in the Gadsden purchase. It is highly pro bable, however. that few if any, who so glibly refer to this purchase know much about it. Man.sRLtandard en- ! cyclopedias make no mention either of Minister Gadsden or his purchase, ,' and those who do notice it give only the barest outline of diplomatic in- 1 cident which in its time was quite as widely discussed and was quite as im- portant as the acquisition of the Phil ippine islands.
 Up to date it is the only affair of the kind in which the United States has been one of the contracting parties, and which cost the ruler of the other country his place at the head of tho government. This property, although 45, 535 square miles in extent, cost the United States Government $l0,00O, ,00O, two-thirds as much as the great Louis jana Purchase, of many times that amount of the territASy, made 50 years before, and half AAkN,ch as the Phil ippine Islands. cost ney 50 years later.
 After the Mexican War, when the United States had succeeded to part of the Mexican territory, in addition to having its rights to Texas fully ac- knowledged, it was thought desirable to have a definite boundary line estab. lished and to acquire little more ter ritOry for the purpose of rounding out "ringfense," so to speak. At least that was the official statement of the situation. Under the treaty of Guada- loupe Hidalgo, which closed the Mexi- can War, the United States bound it. self to restrain maraudins bands of h. dians from crossing the Mexican bound ary and raiding the Mexican hidalgos and ranches. But the country was scarsely settled, the Indians were num- erous and the trnnns few, and frequent- Iy the Reds made raids Into the MeAI- can country, murdering and plundering at will, and escaping over the border line. Naturally bills for damages soon began to accumulate and presently Mexico had an account estimated at S3O, 100000 or S4O,OOO. GOO. It was al- legged at the time that President Fill more had negotiated with view to compromising with Mexico for from 7,OOO, ,OOO to s16, 6,OOO,OOO
 Santa Ana was still virtually dictator of Mexico. He was desperately hal d up and the United States had money, so negotiations were commenced with a view to transferring the money into the pockets of the Mexican govern ment, and the land to the sovereignty of the United States. The land com prised in the Gadsden Purchase has about the same area as Pennsylvania. It is now part of Southern New Mexico and Arizona and was and still is re- garded as largely desert land. While it is probably that this purchase, like that of Alaska, was made for purposes other than merely the acquisition of territory, it is scarcely possible that the charges in circulation at the time could be sustained by an impartial in- vestigation. Some said it was to be order to have new lands in which slavery could be extended. and with a view of eventually establishing Southern Confectionery, while, on the other hand, it was charged the nego- tiatiOns were inspired and supported by mining and land speculators suppos- ed to be interested in this territory because of the alleged richness of its mines. The latter Ge5e said to be in- terested in the Garay a,A Sloo grants. Both of these assumptions are rejected by conservative historians.
 The treaty was negotiated by James Gadsden, of South Carolina, Minister to Mexico. He had served with some distinction in the army. and was known as an upright, honorable man. When the subject came up in the House of Representatives it was charged that Gadsden's instructions authorized him to offer only sl0,OOo, 900 for the terri tory in question, and that amount was all he did offer at first, but, it was said, a Pennsylvanian named Ward, as a secret emissary of the land spectators and of the Government, visited Mir Gadsden and informed him he was authorized to offer s20,OOO, 900. Mir. Gadsden declined to believe his oral statement, and it was alleged Mir. Ward presented documentary evidence to support his words. This caused Mir. Gadsden to double his offer, and it was accepted. When the treaty was pre- seuted to the Senate, however, it promptly reduced the amount to the original sum-sl0, ,000. .0O0-which was accepted by Mexico. The treaty was signed on December 30, 1858, and was to be invalid if the payment of s7,OOO- 900 was not made or authorized by June 30, yet it was not until the last week in June that the House took up the ap-