Albuquerque evening citizen., 1906-08-23

puDllSuluS III ATlLOnd, III tne news |
papers which they own or control, a |
lot of falsehoods about New Mexico
and its people, hoping thus to fill the
minds OF the voters of Arizona with
prejudice, so tlat they will not listen
to reason on the subject of jointure.
You are being told that the people
of New Mexico are "Mexicans" and
"Greasers, (even that offensive term
being used), and illiterate, and that
| they all speak Spanish and that they
are corrupt, and that the territory and
its counues are bankrupt that the
territory las nothing modern in it,
that it has no schools, churches or
civilization, but that it is a benighted
| backward, foreign country which II
| would be an outrage to tack onto
civilized Arizona. OF course, only the
uniformed listen to such falsehood
and slander. Let me tell you some
thing about New Mexico. and as Il
have made life study of 1t and have
lived there quarter of a century,
| travelled over it, and had to get these
facts to show TO congress, it will be
admitted llat | ought to know the
truth. New Mexico has about twice
| the population of Arizona. 1t has
about three hundred and fifty thous-
and people. OF this number slightly
over two hundred thousand are peo-
pie from the states and their de-
scendants. that is, Americans" so
called. Something near one hundred
and fifty thousand are American citi-
zens of Spanish descent. These citi-
zens, save few in the extreme south
ern end of the territory. are not the
seml-civilized poems or half-breed In
dians who largely people northwest
ern Mexico, south of Arizona, and
thousands of whom have drifted up
into Arizona, but the largest per cent
of them are descendants of the orig
inal conquistadores. Most of them,
certainly every one of them less than
5S years of age, is a born American
citizen because New Mexico has been
under our flag since 1916, and hence
these citizens of Spanish descent
have never known any government
but that of territorial form of gov.
ernment under the United States flag.
More than half of them speak Eng
lish, as well as Spanish, and there is
hardly anybody in the territory but
wnat can speak some English. There
are twenty-five counties in the
TERRITORY, and only IN nine counties is
the majority of the people of Spanish
!, descent. In those nine counties
: Spanish is the prevailing language
in the towns and villages, but, of
course, thousands of people also speak
|, English there. In the other sixteen
counties Spanish Is seldom heard at
all, and an interpreter in the courts
is never necessary, save once in a
while, when a Spanish witness hap
pens to be called The county rec
ords and the district court records
and proceedings and the probate
court proceedings are all kept in Eng
lish in every county all over the ter
ritory. New Mexico now has more
than two and one-half millions of dol
lars invested in educational institu-
tions and school buildings. 1t has a
fine lot of public buildings, 1t possess
es fine capitol, penitentiary, an in
sane asylum, a. school of mines, an
agricultural college, two immense nor
NAL schools, a great university, a
, miners hospital, reform school, a
T deaf and dumb asylum, FIVE or six
, great hospitals, military institute,
as big as the University, and in some
: OF its larger cities it has from one to
six great common and high schools
= that are equal to those in the city of
} Boston. 1t has churches of all de-
nominations in the cities and a church
: in every hamlet from one end of the
: territory to the other. In most of
r the American towns and in some OF
the native towns, instead of the
church being the most important
: building, it is now coming to pass tnat
the school house is the most con-
( spicuous. The territory collects and
spends for education ever year in one
, way and another more than a million
: collars. lt has seventy-hve thous,
and school children to Arizona S
I thirty thousand, a larger proportion
! attend school in New Mexico than do
In Arizona. 1t simply amuses the
people of New Mexico to hear the
3 people from Arizona boast of their
r superior civilization and their super.
1 lor institutions over New Mexico
r We all admit and admire Arizona S
civilization ana progress but We do
2 not consider it superior to our own.
r | have OF necessity looked up a good
many things about Arizona so as to
present the facts TO congress in the
i SiSoI H6Hl lOG StdleHOO0 tndt | nave
( made, and think know more about
, Arizona than thousands OF its own
} citizens do who have never looked
: over the matter. Let me tell you a
5 few of the facts. Arizona has today
not to exceed hundred and seventy.
hye thousand people in population
= DO not be astUnished if tell you that
! more than a quarter of its citizens
are of Spanish decent. If you doubt
thls take your great registers for
every county in Arizona They con
tain the names of voters only, and II
: you count the Spanish names you will
ma that they run from five per cent
) In some counties TO as high as sixty
p per cent Spanish in others, the latter
e or course. being in those counties
bordering on New Mexico. A citizen
OF Arizona and myself did that last
winter so as to get the date for a
senator to use in a speech. You have
: several newspapers published in
) spanish in Arizona. Right in the city
OF PhoenlX as late as last January
the Board of Health found it neces.
sary 10 publish health ordinance in
English and Spanish, and one of the
big placards was exhibited last win
Ter on the fioJI of the United States
senate during the debate. This Is
nothing against Arizona; these citi,
} Zens are Jus' as good as ANYBODY
- else, and | am only telling you Just 10
, show yOu that citizens of Spanjsh Ge-
scent do injury TO no country, and