Albuquerque weekly citizen. (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1891-19??, 1903-01-31

70 80 a'aAN eNfa "u'Atn nv 'At'NA Ahlio
c MIA aud Colorado. and her vast treal
Il ure OF coal gives her the advantag
/. even over those favored regions.
b Tho character OF the population
!. seems 10 be a bugbcar to tn, unfriend
D " senators VINO recently locame IA
e mills' with tie territory. which i
+ much larger than New England an,
4, New York combined, in three days
T. Facts. however. should carry NOR,
weight than prejudices or unfounde,
J ISLANDERS
The people are loyal During the re
, bellion out Of a total population Of
Fl 80 SCI she sent 6.56l into the army. .
! larger percentage than any eastern
state; and the victory at Glorieta saw
ed the Pacific slope to the Union. In
the recent Spanish war no less than
.0S9 volunteers enlisted, Including
about $50 OF the Rough Riders. who
gained renown and made president
at San Juan hill
They are American. The foreign ele.
ment Is smaller In New Mexico than
anywhere else In the country. except
some parts Of south. Only IN per cent
of the population is foreign born. Idaho
has 81. Wyonming "a. Washington rs,
Montana 40. North Dakota As. Even
In the older states. New York and
Michigan have 26. Massachusetts 70.
Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Califor-
MIA. 30. and Minnesota SO per cent.
They are public. spirited. without
the slightest aid from the national gov
eminent they have built beautiful
capitol. a substantial penitentiary, an
insane asylum. university, agricultural
college. school of mines, normal uni
versity. normal school, military insti.
tute and blind asylum, and when the
capitol was destroyed by FIRE they
erected another. which is the object OF
general admiration. Besides these ter.
ritorial institutions they have erected
a multitude Of county and city build.
iEgs.
But to the uniformed the large
number of citizens OF Spanish descent
Is looked upon az grave misfortune.
II Is the possession OF that conserva.
tive element in connection with the
enterprising American from the east
which gives New Mexico her special
advantages as a self-governing com.
munity. Every one familiar with the
far west knows that the principal dan
ger In new sections arises from the un.
settled character OF much OF the popu.
lation. They are always looking for
some new place to which to migrate.
They are ready to vote for any amount
Of hnnda and ta.sfien end 20 their i-re-
sponsible acton Is principally due the
heavy indebtedness of SO many west
ern counties. The chief danger In
many new community comes from
this class Of men. and from the over
enthusiasm Of others who think that
life in the west is a continual boom.
But New Mexico runs no such risk.
She has a stable AID conservative ele-
ment in her native population. which
counteracts the danger. They are at.
tached to the soil and have no thought
OF leaving. They are naturally opposed
to rash schemes which involve extrava-
CANT expense. Mixed with the Jealous
American they form an admirable com.
bination.
Another objection raised against NJ
is illiteracy, Some years ago there |
may. have been force In this argument, |
but II has disappeared. In 40 respect |
A.
gress as In public education. Even un-
der the crude system which existed |
before the public school law OF 1891, |
the census showed that while the popu.
lation OF the territory increased 2S per |
cent during the decade from 1880 to |
1890. the number of children enrolled |
in the schools increased 2S3 per cent, !
or ten times as rapidly. During the |
last decade the gain has been equally |
gratifying. The school law OF 1891 |
gave a great impetus TO public educa-
tion, and the system Is now very salts. |
factory. The total enrolment of schol.
airs last year was 42.925. In this con-
nection | wish to state fact which |
may be a surprise. that New Mexico, |
with less than 100000 people, now sup.
ports more public institutions Of col
lege grade than any state east Of the
Alleghenles. She has the university, |
agricultural college, normal university. |
school OF mines and military institute. |
All these have fine buildings and are
credibly administered. Where 10
there any other community Of similar
population doing as much for higher
education?
Thus II will be seen that In every es-
sentlal particular New Mexico has
long passed the period where terri
torlal government was necessary or
iustihable. But for craftsmanship and
prejudice 4 wouls have been admitted
long ago.
The right OF self-government ought
not to depend on the political views
Of the people interested or on party
prejudices or exigencies. Yet we do
know that In practice these things do