Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1910-12-16


every convention Of the Two great
parties, have passed resolutions ask
ing for statehood. Il has been an
issue In every campaign, Then why
in the name Of common sense should
We qnibble or hesitate, when the
thing so long sought, is at our door
The issue, as 10 what the constitution
should contain as between the repub-
lican and democratic parties was
made and wen defined, in the cam
palgn for election Of delegates to the
constitutional convention.
The result was the election Of ~
repubucans and 20 democrats. ANY
one who Kept up with the proceed
inEg Of the convention during its ses-
zion, is fuzzy satisfied that the
ground was wen fought over. and
The Measure as put forth, q very lib
eral compromise. 1t Ii the work and
concensuB Of opinion, not only Of the
majority politically, but Of the ma
iority Of the convention, for in the
end, n%inety-one Of the ono hundred
members gave 1t their endorsement,
and only seven oppose, two being
absent.
i think New Mexico has been sadly
misreprescnted Mt home rs well aa
abroad on more than one occasion.
These catch phrases, 50 often used
by offlcc-seeking politicians. about
the gang" the ring" I corpora
TONS" "the trusts the interests,
and the railroads" are aptly Illus
trated by an expression of our late
friend honest Jerry Simpson when he
said railroads were useful In more
than one way to get In on
| do not believe all these charges,
| they are not borne by facts or results,
I tk4OIr Mon N4avtgA h4o Eaqn hnn-
estly and well governed in the past.
II viii compare favorably with any
| state IN the Union. | think II Will be
| equally so under statehood. There
are those who make the same
charges as TO Chaves county when
the records show that the people
know, it's affairs have been well and
honestly conducted. II is the same
as TO the affairs of the city OF RIOS
well.
I give this as on illustration. That
when you bring this thing close TO
home and sift II out, II is usually an
cxaGgerRtion. A case OF the three
black crows.
However, | think the day not far
distant when this kind of "muckfak-
ing ~nolitics Is doomed, When the
demagogue and the political CRATER
who attempt such will get the an
Client hen fruit where he should.
When the hypocrite can not success
fully say (whilc taking a drink in the
back room with the fellows who
started the inspiration in the aud
ienoe). wasn't that the dope Ito
hand cute" The people are going
To- vote their Judgment ana not sentl-
ment.
AS 10 tho constitution, | think the
ultimate Judgment viii be that II Is q
good ono. the members Of the con-
y~pntion were, as q whole, able II
broad men. and did their work we'll,
ana IN a spirit Of fairness and liber-
atty,
do not think we should support
the constitution with faint praise, or
condemn II for the emissions. There
are those among us who would
amend the Bible II the opportunity
offered. and who do amend the ten
commandments 10 their liking So il
Ia beyond the range OF possibility 70
get an instrument to suit all. II
seems to me the "omission' argu-
mont is the weakest of all. That is
not the question before us. We have
solely to DO with what the proposed
constitution contains. What II does
not contain is an after consideration
In years to come,
We should judge II there Is any,
thing vicious or radically wrong and
II not, assuming that we are all TOT
statehood, then we should vote for II.
II can be amended / fear too cas-
ilv. for | am one who does not be-
lieve IN contracts that are easily
amended or broken, for after all TINS
ia n contract between h people. IN
buslneHs Il IN our experience that
contracts that are loose and easy TO
hrenk or change often lead To dis
order. Might as we'll argue that
marriage contract should be easy to
amend.
The principal objection seems to
be the lands. The fear that IL these
are offered for sale, that somebody
will steal them. understand that
Immediately upon being admitted az
"A state we get about eight million
acres for schools u other purposes.
OF course, without statehood, we get
no lands. so | am at q loss TO un-
dcrstnnd how We can lose by TINS,
unless some arch ~grnfter gets OIL
with the whole thing IN tn" event OF
statehood. This is out of tho CUES
ton for tho act OF o0nsr"ss says
these lands to be selected cannot be
sold for less than So per acre In
western New Mexico and IS In cast.
crn New Mexico ana then when sold
must be 20 the highest bidder. just
10 show our good fnith In this, TO
those ON tho west side of A~lbuauer-
aue and SANTA Fo who contend thai
these rich lands 60 be selected in
eastern New Mexico, VIII be stolen
we will stand back and give them
the first bid. and we will give them
Il year of grace to make up their
minds about II, Il is an a~hsurditS
Those lands cannot be sold at the
price mentioned. We know this with
the example Of Texas, having similar
and adjoining lands selling at 81 per
acre on forty years time AZ ) per
cent. However these lands can be,
and viii be leased. and together with
the present income npu lAads noN
owned by the territory which ! un-
dcrstand is over one hundred thou.
sitnd dollars Tor the public school
fund. win Increase the income from
leased lands To nearly a half million
DECLARE per annum, This income viii
much more than offset the additional
AtF ountains s. Elsewhere