The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-02-26

the public. records of localities in
which Americans had control sig- |
nored. This .tcut-and-driede Snapshot
has greatly injured the territory and
curdled the usually sweet tempers of
it's ambitious. justiceloving residents
Scarcely more satisfactory vas the
'junket" of congressman, under the
leadership of Representatives Tawny
and Madden who bestowed barely a
glimpse on the manhood or the re
sources of the territory, and openly
that they were ION their
to Arizona to kook at a mine"
One canno help liking and admiring
this brave, patient people, n joining
with them in the loving toast, New
Mexico is all right" They are pursu-
ing the patriotic development of their
vast mineral and agricultural r%esourc-
es with a dignified indifference to tenn
porary misfortunes and obstacles that
is bound to triumph eventually. With
out eaumerating in detail these sourc-
es of wealth, it may illumine the sub
lect to say that in some portions of
the territory there are veins of lbitu-
minous coal forty eet IN thickness,
and that in other sections anthracite
and bituminous coal are simultaneous
Nv extracted from the same mine.
AS to Education.
The sweeping charge of wholesale
ignorance is not well founded, n is
a species OF Misrepresentation based
on the influx of negro and foreign
born coal miners, and the extence
within her borders of a large number
of Mexicans who, while they have not
acquired the English language, yet
read and write Spanish with ease.
According to the reports of the I'm
tied States commissioner of education
for 1900, New Mexico stood forty-sey-
enth in a column of fifty. for illitera-
cy. The proportion of illiterate pop
ulation above ten years of g in
New Mexico was 1872 per cent, while
the average for the whole United
States was about 10 per cent of the
entire population. Between 1896 INT
1900. however, the percentage of IL
literacy decreased from 44.5 to 1872
No one a live among he English
speaking settlers in New Mexico anu
tr%uthfully assert that their standard
of intelligence is low, while only a
''tenderfoot" would attempt to under
rate the intelligence of the average
American miner or prospectOr. Town
for town, gagged by population, New
Mexico claims to match the intellect
ual plane of Iowa, which is salt to be
the highest of any state in the union.
h Bar Association has just taken
preliminary steps toward straighten-
ing out harmonizing and codifying
the hodge-podge of territorial stat
utes and the governor has recommend
ed the enactment of new election laws
as a matter of urgent necessity. The
present election laws were enacted
piece-meal, commencing with the leg
i~slature of 1865, and afford almost I'M
limited opportunities for raud. One
of the most important of the COVER
lor's recommendations is for h Sc
iCSNAOh VI IL1p1lOldl 0lCSIloh OOo VS..
the judges of election now being ap-
pointed by partisan county commits
%sioners. Among other political re
forms advocated by the governor are
the appointment of c~hallengers at the
polls<by each county central commit
tee; personal registration, a system
of primary elections, ald the adopt
ion of the Australian ballot. On these
points the governor says: 1T is a
we'll known fact that under our pre-
sent system, while tAe nominating o
ventions r supposed to emanate
from the people, they are controlled
by a few. 8 And our present sys-
tenn of balloting in elections is open
to many abuses In some counties it
is reported that there were no print
ed ballots containing the names of
candidates for delegate to congress
nr for members of the legislature. In
others .stickers' were placed over the
names of the regular nominees on ev-
cry ballot before leaving the hands
of the county central committee"
Rich and Careless.
New Mexico is very rich-and cor
respondingly careless But despite
years of abuses by office holders, the
territory is in good condition finan-
cially. Its bonded debt, November 80
1904, was $3.50, 900, and on the same
date 1906 it was $S43, 900 a reduction
in two years of $1O7 900. The reduc-
ton during the last seven years ag-
gregated $407, 900. There are now in
various sinking funds sos, 900, leav-
ing a net debt of STAG, 900. Between
now and May L, 1908, there will fall
u current expense bonds to the
nmo,n+ 70 LIN nao -hh f.nd-