The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-03-18
Special to The Daily Record.

Santa Fe, N. NJ, Mar. 1S.-Eight
weeks of the 37th Legislative Assem-
bly, have passed into history. During
these eight weeks the opponents of
the Governor did not score a single
point in the fight on the chief execu-
| tive Of New Mexico.
When the appropriation bill was
passed on Tuesday of last week, with
| a number of riders attached the disci-
| pies of Bursum thought they had the
| Governor on the run. 1t was announc-
| ed that there were seven votes for
| the bill in the council and that it
would be put through at once. No
time was lost in getting the bill into
| the council, but that body has been
| in no hurry to pass it. The bill was
not reached, il the regular order of
| business, in order to have it referred
to a committee on the day it was
brought into the council and when
it was reached it became apparent
TO any one with half an eye that
there was trouble ahead for it. The
motion of Dalies to take it up in COM
mittee of the whole failed of passing
by a vote of to 4, and it was sent
to a committee which is not in favor
of tacking riders, which have no mer-
it, to the appropriation bill simply
is more than probable that the coun-
Gil committee will report a council
substitute for the bill rather than re-
port the house bill with amendments.
The report of the committee may be
ready this afternoon, but probably it
will not be made until tomorrow, as
this is an important bill, and there
is more to consider than the desires
of the various boards which are seek
@
the Territorial treasury is to be taken
into consideration and the appropria-
lions are to be kept within such linn
its as will not require an additional
levy for Territorial purposes over
that of last year The bill, as it pass
ed the house, would nave either de-
pleted the treasury or would have re-
quired an additional levy to raise
funds to meet the appropriations.
Since the appropriation bill was
sent to the council some of the riders
have been passed in an amended
form. Among these is the printing
bill This bill, as amended, provides
that the secretary shall make con
tracts for one year with the publish |
er or publishers of some paper or pa
pers in the Territory for the public
printing. The bill as originally intro |
duced, provided for a -three-year con
tract with the publisher of some dai- |
~ newspaper. The amended bill
sounds a little better than the origi- |
nal bill and, inasmuch as the contract
period is shortened, it is to be pre-
ferred to the original bill. The provis-
ion that the secretary shall let the |
contract is the vicious part of the
bill, and no one doubts for moment
as to where the printing would be
done
The bill passed the council by a |
vote of s to 4, Duncan, Miera Sar-
gent and SulZer voting no. Some sur
rrise has been expressed on account
of the fact that Cameron voted for
the passage of the bill It had been
supposed all along that Cameron fav-
ored the passage of a bill providing
for the letting of the Territorial print
ing to the lowest bidder which. it is
admitted, would save the Territory a
large sum annually in the matter of
the public printing, which has here
tofore been one of the fruitful sources
of a revenue for the machine.
1t may now be definitely stated
that there will be no constitutional
convention held in New Mexico this
year. House Bill No. 172, introduced
by Baca, was tabled indefinitely By
the house, and thus the last hope of
the advocates of the policy of fram-
i1g a constitution was cruelty dashed
to the ground 1t has been argued that
the formation and adoption of a con
stitution for the proposed state of
New Mexico would hasten the ad-
mission of the Territory, but it is
surmised that the members of the
house concluded that if some person, |
opposed to statehood. should furnish
few copies of the Journal of the |
house and copies of some of the bills
introduced at this session there
would be little hope for statehood for
New Mexico for the next forty years. |
An educational bill was passed by |
the house last week which, il passed |
by the council, and it now seems pro-
bable that it will pass that body, is |
an improvement over the present laws
covering the ground. There were sew
era1 amendments made to the bill as |
drawn by the leading educators of |
the Territory, one of the most impor- |
tant being the method of choosing the |
superintendenjs. The original bill pro- |
vided that the superintendents were
to be selected by the board OF educa-
ton, and the Territory was to be d. |
vided into districts. This provision