El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-12-19
DEM0CRATsOPPOsE
THE CONSTITUTION
Convention Held at Santa Fe
Is a JOke-WaltOn Is
ENDORSED.

SdhId re, ~ NJ, Dec. 1S--1Ho
Democratic convention on Saturday
consisted of so men from 16 of the 26
counties in the territory These so men
had proxies representing 10 of the 272
delegates which were to have been
chosen. 1t is claimed that some of
them had selected themselves without
the formality of a convention.
The convention was in session from
o'clock in the afternoon to midnight
with a recess for supper. The resolu-
tions were adopted with a faint yea"
while a still fainter nay" was record
ed The whole thing was a demonstra
ton of how five or six men can DOM
mate an entire party that is in as deep
a trance as is the New Mexico Dem
ocracy-
But before the Democratic "hosts"
| went home, the conservatives had to
pay one more price for the unprece-
! denied moderation of the radicals.
| Napoleon" Walton was sent to Elba.
To make the dose palatable, however.
another conservative, W. c. McDon-
! aid, of Carrizozo, was elected to succeed
| him as chairman of the Democratic
| territorial central committee. and
| Summers Burkhart, of Albuquerque.
was retained as secretary. Already
| Bernadotte Jones has visions of a
| Coming Back from yElba" movement
no St. Helena But now to the story:
| E. c. de Baca, of East Las Vegas.
was chairman. and Eugenio Romero.
| of Mora, secretary. The cedentials
committee reported that there were no
contests However. it had wrangled
awhile over the knotty question
whether chairman W. B Walton could
cast the votes of Chaves and Eddy
counties, which had been entrusted TO
/ him. A recess was then taken until s
p. m, to permit the committee on
resolutions to formulate a platform.
This committee assigned the task to
subcommittee consisting of H. B. Fer
gusson, of Albuquerque; W. B. Walton.
of Silver City: ]. II. Paxton. of Las
Cruces; A. a. Jones. of Las Vegas,
and ]. H. Crist, of Monero
1t was after 10 D. m. when the report
was read to the sleepy convention. It
aroused no enthusiasm, there was no
nandclapping, and what is worse, it
aroEsed no opposition There was
moments silence. Then those in favor
of the resolutions were asked to say
aye" There We're half dozen faint
ayes Then the nays" were called
for and there were half a. dozen still
fainter nays" and the chairman de-
clared the resolutions carried How
ever, the resolutions were carefully
guarded; even the three Democratic |
newspapermen present were refused
copies Sunday was spent in still |
further whiting them down and pol |
ishing the rough edges. The resolu-
tons perform the seemingly impossible !
task of reconciling two irreconcilable |
positions, of riding two horses in the /
opposite directions at the same time. |
In that respect they are a masterpiece. |
The boundary Question
Then J. H Crist moved that the |
commftte on resolutions be authorized !
to draft a separate resolution on the /
boundary question 10 be sent delegats /
w H. Andrews, without reporting il
back to the convention.
Crist, in despair, finally withdrew
his resolution, but Isaac, Barth came
to the rescue and moved that a special
committee be appointed to draft a reso-
luton urging delegate Andrews to do
his utmost to preserve the rights of
New Mexico in the boundary dispute
with Texas The resolution went
through with a whoop
The Resolutions.
The resolutions declare that it is the
sense Of the delegates representing
the majority of the Democrats of New
Mexico" that they condemn the consti-
tuition for just Is reasons:
First because it is difficult to amend;
second, because of the expensive system
of judiciary provided and the power
number OF judges; third, because the
terms Of the judges are too long;
fourth, because the legislative provis-
ions are extravagant in that they pro-
vide for just twice the number of leg
islators under the, territorial system,
and that the salaries of the members
are increased; fifth, because the COM
pensation of the state officers is higher
than the services are worth; sixth. the
salaries and expenses of the corpora
ton commission are higher than is nee !
essary; seventh, because the burden of
taxation will be increase under state
government; eighth, because the board
of equalization consists entirely of
elected officers who may have cam
paign debts to pay and thus be under
obligation to the people and corpora.
lions whose taxes they are called upon
to fix; ninth, because the apportion-
ment for Legislative and judicial pur-
poses is inequitable; 10th, because it is
held that there is no limit on county :
or municipal Indebtedness; 18th, be- :
cause Of the absence of direct Iegisla-
ton, direct primaries and the advisory {
of United States senator's:
18th. because the constitution does not
provide for a corrupt practices act;
18th, and this is held to be the prize
joker, so few of the delegates know I
Just exactly what it means. The con-
is objected to in the 18th
place because of the manner of select Q
ing the lands granted by the United l
States does not comply with the terms z
Of the enabling act. This, it was held, S
would prevent the new state from ac- U
luiring' the lands so granted possibly S
for years, and thus deprive the state a
and its institutions from the revenue C
for this source t
For all these reasons the convention C
declared that it was for the best inter- f