Albuquerque weekly citizen. (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1891-19??, 1902-12-27

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 tsomo 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 10
create the impression that the "Ameri.
can" population OF the territory is nu-
mericaliy so small and so weak In In
fiuence that II can find n parallel only
in the American colonies" that exist
IN Germany. Franco and other non-
English speaking countries. The only
qualification Is found in another para
graph and under a different heading
IN which II IN said that the remain.
der OF the 1880 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 tsave
probably The high schools ut Albu.
queTqao and East Las Vegas. and the
rnrely American towns of Carlsbad
Roswell and Rowan" II 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 q mile from whore the railroad
station was substantially built. After
tho railroad came. a new town was
built around the station. II Is Il 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 habitually
speak Spanish during recess and on
heir way home from school Is simply
absurd. They do not do 1t. ard yet the
committee conveys the impression that
this is true of all the schools except,
probably. the high schools
This part of the report also gives
the impression that the only purely
American towns are CARLSBAD. Roswell
and Rowan. II ignores the existence
of Silver City. Deming, Georgetown.
flillsboro. Ration, Springer. Gallup.
Pennington and other places scatter
ed through the territory that are as
American as any other towns in the
United States outside those southern
states In which there is practically no
foreign born population at all.
AS for the declaration that there are
towns where all the business signs
are printed Exclusively in Spanish
1t Is simply not true. unless rs appli-
cation Is confined to a few little "pla-
Gas" or villages that are inhabited in
the main by Moxicans. But to say that
this is true of Las Vegas, Ration. San
Ia F'e. Albuquerque, Silver City. Las
Cruces, Socorro or any other town
worth taking into consideration. II Is
absolutely contrary to the truth that
II Is almos, sufficient to brand the en-
tire report as a gross misrepresenta-
ton Of the facts. The existence or a
large number Of daily papers--to say
nothing Of the weeklies-printed in
English is a demonstration Of the un-
truthfulness of the statement that ev-
en- in towns surrounded by heavily pre-
dominant American conditions and in
fuences" the signs on "all mercantile
establishments" are printed "exclus-
lively in Spanish"
1t is exceedingly unfortunate, apart
from the question of statehood. that
so gross a misrepresentation OF condi-
lions In New Mexico has been made
under the authority of senate COM
mittee report II may take years for
New Mexico to recover from the sian
/ dor.