Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1902-12-20
THE STATEHOOD REPORT.

No lawyer ever wrote a brief more
one sided and partial to the cause he
advocated than the report of the ma
jority of the senate committee on ter
ritories in opposition to the admission
of New Mexico and Arizona, says the
Denver Republican.
Its whole tone shows it to be a spec
ial plea against statehood, an argu-
ment based upon the most u~nfriendly
presentation of evidence that could be
made.
For instance, in discussing the pres
ence Of a Spanish speaking population
and under the sub-head: Children
Tend to Relapse Into Spanish" the
following statement is made:
"Of all schools (save probably the
high schools at Albuquerque and East
Las Vegas n the purely American
towns of Carlsbad. Roswell and Ro-
wan) the children at play during the
recess or going home from school
speak Spanish instead Of English.
when the children finish their
school career. or leave school for good,
their tendency is to relapse into the
Spanish. that being the language in
their homes and in the affairs Of daily
life"
There are towns (some even when
surrounded by heavily predominant
American conditions and influences,
such as Las Vegas.) where the signs
at grocery stores. meat markets and
all mercantile establishments are
printed exclusively in Spanish"
The evident purpose of this is to
create the impression that the "Ameri-
can" population of the territory is nu-
m%ericaliy SO small and 50 weak in in
fluence that it can find a parallel only
in the American colonies" that exist
in Germany, Francs and other nom
English speaking countries. The only
qualification is found in another para
graph and under a different heading
in which it is said that the remain
der Of the 1875 1910 people in New Mex
leo are called in that territory 'Ameri-
cans as contradistinguished from the
class above spoken of, who are there
termed 'Mexicans.'"
But this does not appear from the
statement quoted. for observe that the
language used is "of all schools (save
probably the high schools at Albu-
querque and East Las Vegas. and the
purely American towns of Carlsbad,
Roswell and Rowan" 1t ignores the
fact that probably the whole town of
Albuquerque is American. Before the
advent of the railroad there was an old
Mexican town called Albuquerque
about a mile from where the railroad
station was substantially built. After
the railroad came. a new town was
built around the station. 1t is a dis
tinctly American community. and al
though some Mexicans reside in the
old town, the latter has fallen into de
cay and plays almost no part IN the
life of the community. To represent
that the school children in the gram
mar schools of Albuquerque habituall,
speak Spanish during recess and OF
l heir way home from school is simpl!
absurd. They do not do it, and yet thu
l committee conveys the impressiontha
this is true of all the schools except
probably, the high schools.
This part of the report also give
} the impression that the only purel,
American towns are Carlsbad. Roswell
and Rowan. 1t ignores the existence
Of Silver City, Deming, Georgetown
Hillsboro, Ration, Springer, Gallup
Pennington and other places scatter
t ed through the territory that are a
o American as any other towns in tn
{ United States outside those southern
o states in which there is practically n
o foreign born population at all.
y AS for the declaration that there ar
d towns where all the business sign
are printed Exclusively in Spanish,
e it is simply not true, unless its appl
s cation is confined to a few little 'pls
n zas" or villages that are inhabited i
d the main by Mexicans. But to say tina
: this is true of Las Vegas, Ration, Sar
ia Fe, Albuquerque, Silver City, La
Cruces, Socorro or any other tow
! worth taking into consideration, it
absolutely contrary to the truth tha
, 1t is almost sufficient to brand the ell
/ tire report as a gross misrepresentf
. ton of the facts. The existence OF
large number Of daily papers-to sa
nothing of the weeklies-printed
English is a demonstration of the III
truthfulness of the statement that e'
en- In towns surrounded by heavily pre-
dominant American conditions and IL
huences" the signs. oil "all mercantil
establishments" are printed "exclui
lively in Spanish"
1t is exceedingly unfortunate, apal
from the question of statehood. tha
SO gross a Misrepresentation of cond
tions in New Mexico has been mad
under the authority of a senate con
mittee report. 1t may take years fo
New Mexico to recover from the slal
der.