Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1906-10-19

To the people Who tiFe On u* la
Vegas grant, nothing could fess'st 4"
mare injury than she placing of the
control u the grant IN the hands I'll
the pnllticiams~aama thla h Or" Essa
thing that h being attempted By =
fev aocaIled democrats. haeEesl ny
n few dIsgruntled howIsFs. who. bar.
ing no righteous claim 10 any NJ the
grant lands. hope Ia stir no sonic
hind of n rufnpus that viii enable
them IN set their greedy hands upon
some portion ~ the heritage that has
been confirmed by patent NJ the con
gress q the United States for the
benefit Of the whole people.
N win be Just m well for everyone
10 understand NJ the very outset thai
this attempt and NH attempts 10 force
the Las Vegas grant Into politics viii
prove hopeless. We hear some talk
Of the election NJ members Of the leg
islature who SHAH be pledged 10 work
for the passage of q law placing the
management Of the grant In the
hands Of the people. Az We have no
fore pointed out. no great harm can
BE- done by such a course. Why"
Because the Legislature has no pow.
Or whatsoever 10 remove the man.
agement of the grant from the hands
Of the district court.
When this grant was confirmed %
the town Of Lasvegas In 1850 10 came
under the ehaneery Jurisdiction of
tho district court. There In no ques.
tion about that whatsoever. The
matter has been decided again and
again IN connection with the land
grants OF the west. Until the survey
of this grant had been made. until
certain costs had been paid. and the
patent issued. the United States re-.
tanned. what was In effect. q lien up.
On the land.
When the patent was issued the
equitable Jurisdiction of the courts
over the Las Vegas grant remained.
Il was n Jurisdiction inherent In the
court M the court OF equity.
II Is a fact the district court Of the
Fourth. Judicial district exercised this
Jurisdiction before the law was pass.
cd by the Legislature relating 10 the
grant. II IL "a fact that the board of
trustees Of the town OF Las Vegas ad.
ministering the Las Vegas grant vas
appointed by the court before any
legislation was enacted. The act o;
the legislature merely confirmed the
action Of the court. Il conveyed no
new powers. neither could II. II IL
not In the power OF the Legislature 10
take away any OF the rights inherent
In a court Of equity. II Ia not In the
power OF the Legislature to interfere
In the management of the Las Vegas
grant.
Those who appeared In the demo
cratic convention yesterday and nd.
yocated the adoption OF a resolution
10 the eject that the trustees of the
Vegas grant should be elected by the
people are deserving Of little atten.
ton from either democrats or repub.
iicans. They have been loyal TO no
party; they have been unionists. In
dependents. socialists. who have done
more to disrupt the democratic party
In this county than all other influ.
enees combined, They seek the ne.it-
ieal ACKNOWLEDGMENT of a few aspiring
ones and II Is for this reason that
they seek TO make the Las Vegas
grant a rich graft for politicians to
fight over.
IT II were possible to take the ron.
trc! ~ the grant away fram the court
aud place IL In the hands of the poll
t%ieians. the people who have real in.
terests on the grant would not for a
moment consent Ia such o thing. As
Mr.. Feeder pointed out In his able ad.
dress to the convention yesterday,
one set Of trustees. elected BY politi-
cal methods at one election, would
hardly get down to business. and fair.
~ begin the administration of lands,
when another election would come on
and another set Of trustees would sue.
coed. very likely to undo much of the
work OF their predecessors. And
what havoc would soon be made a
the pr!ncely heritage II 1t were to be
administered according to political
methods, Moreover. as pointed out
In a previous article. how could a
board of trustees, elected by the PEG.
pie. give legal titles and settle con.
fiicting claims without the aid of the
court?
Attorney w. ]. Lucas. who led the
fight against the adoption of the res
olution In question. yesterday, point,
ed out that for more than twenty
years the ablest lawyers In New Mex.
leo had been attempting TO settle the
agal status Of the Las Vegas grant