Albuquerque evening citizen., 1907-04-25
AND WHAT SORT OF A
BOOSTER IS
THIS?
r. W. Hddden of Albuquerque
Makes Dirty Attack Upon
General F. j. Torrance.
Is FIT SUBJECT FOR
CAN" AS A kNOCkER

II the Boosters club, standing as
II claims to stand for the upDuildinS
of New Mexico, and~Albuquerque in
particular, continues to longer toler-
ate as a member one, X. W. Had
den, who makes Albuquerque his
home when not elsewhere, then IL
certainly ought to change the name
of the organization.
Aided by the Pittsburg Gazette, of
Pittsburg, Pa, and the Albuquerque
morning paper, this man Hadden
breaks into print ia one of the most
cowardly andss fsls0 attacks upon
General Francis j. Torrance who
has never been mixed up in ques-
tionable enterprise and who has al
ready invested In New Mexico, two
million dollars of his own money in
enterprises, the value OF which can
not be estimated in the upbuilding of
the territory This man Hadden at
tempts TO implicate General Tor
rance in the political miX-up OF pres
ent days i'm New Mexico and to fur
ther brand him as dishonest i'm con-
neCtion with the sale of lands by the
territory to the Pennsy-Vania Devel-
opment company, is nothing short of
criminal libel and should be treated
so. Who is Hadden? What has he
ever done for New Mexico? Is the
petty mining promotion scheme, to
his daily bread, legitimate enter
prise2 Does any one know where he
came from or where he is going?
on the other hand General Tor
rance is one of the most prominent
and respected men i'm Pennsylvania
today He is head OF the state board
of public charities of that state, and
he has gone through all Of the po-
litical battles Of Pennsylvania and not
one of his acts, political, financial or
private, has ever been called into
question. who is this upstart, that
can openly brand General Torrance
as dishonest i'm the face Of his rec
ord?
Hadden presumcs upon the fact
that he has been appointed ny the
late governor. Hagerman. to a petty
office, that OF New Mexico delegate
to good roads convention in Pitts
burg, 10 lambast one of the men who
has done more for the upbulding OF
this territory than any individual in
vestor New Mexico has ever known.
He charges that the transfer of ter
Titorial lands to the Pennsylvania
Development company was a fraud
pure and simple and puts himself
upon the pedestal Of knowing the ins
and outs of all New Mexico transac-
tions and affairs. As a matter OF
fact he knows nothing about the ter
ritory except what he learned
through a short and uneventful res
idence in this city
The transfer of lands To the com
pany in question, has been agitated
before. General Torrance had moth
ing whatever to do with the acquir-
ing of the lands.
The deal was clean open and above
board and was mace under exactly
the same conditions under which
something like 10000 acres of other
territorial lands were sold through
the office of the commissioner of
public lands of the territory. There
can be absolutely no charge of dis
honesty in connection with this
transaction, alleged with justice.
The sale of those iands was taken
up and passed upon by federal au-
thorities and duly authorized. The
only question about the deal, at all
irregular, was the right Of the gov
ernOr to place the seal of the public
land commissioner upon the deeds
and deliver them TO the company,
without the knowledge of the said
commissioner. That in no way con-
cerncd the purchasers. 1t was
matter for the governor TO explain
and which ne could not explain, ap-
parently to the satisfaction Of the
president and secretary Of the inter-
iOr. II was of no moment to General
Torrance.
The general is now preparing TO
invest in New Mexico several more
millions. VIII ne relish an upstart
of the Hadden variety, branding him
dishonest without knowing whereof
he speaks
A few more boosters Of the Hadden
variety and the club Of hat name
will be changed to Knockers" II
looks and with Justice, tina, Hadden
was a dt subject for the can" Of
which he speaks with such utter ig-
norance Of the matters under as
cussion II is up TO the Boosters.