Las Vegas optic., 1911-08-31
LARRAZOLO GIVES COGENT REASONS FOR
RENOUNCING ALLEGIANCE TO DEMOCRATIC
PARTY AND BECOMING REPUBLICAN

pIeNiOuS SleCliOu, Dul we WOu INC
counties of Colfax and Torrance. and
retained Guadalupe and Rio Arriba,
all of them strong republican counties;
besides. the republican majorities in
nearly all of the other republican
counties were materially reduced; as
whole, we maintained the ground
that we had gained in 1906 in the re-
publican strongholds of the territory,
and the election would have been won
if the eastern democratic counties
had but given the head of the ticket
the same support that they gave to
the balance of the ticket. But how
was it there? Eddy county gave
majority of 6S4 for the head of the
ticket, while the average majority for
all other candidates was 966. The
average majority for the local ticket
in Roosevelt county was 1903, while
the head of the ticket carried the
county by only 765. Chaves county
only gave a majority of 562, as
against one of $40 in the elections of
1906. In consequence of this, the
election was lost by the narrow mar
gin of 36S votes, and thus one more
defeat was added to the many that
we had sustained uninterruptedly
since 1898. After this election, in
January, 1909, the contest pending
upon the election of 1906, was heard
by the proper committee of congress.
1t is needless to say that the defeat
which 1 had just suffered in the terri
tory greatly weakened whatever
chance 1 might have had OF winning
my fight in that contest. In this con-
nection I wish to remark that the
house committee on elections that
heard my contest consisted of nine
members, six republicans and three
democrats; during the course of the
hearings, which lasted two days, l
met all the republican members of the
committee, but only met one of the
democratic members, the Honorable
William E. Tou Velle, of Ohio, the
other two gentlemen never attended
any of the sittings; never met them.
The republican majority of the COM
mittee, as was very naturally to be
expected, made their report, uphold
ing the election of the republican
candidate, but the democratic minor
ity, notwithstanding the uncontra-
dicted proof of my election, did not
even file protest against the major
ity report.
Following the unlocked for result
of the election of 1908, and the unjus-
tifiable conduct of the democratic mi
nority of the congressional committee
on elections that heard my case, many
of our democrats went into the re-
publican ranks, others left the terri
tory, while several prominent and
active party workers declared that
they would retire from active partici-
patton in politics. But let me pursue
this review of events little farther.
Pursuant to the act of congress of
June goth, 1910, providing for the ad-
mission of the territories of New
Mexico and Arizona to statehood, the
constitutional convention met at San
ia Fe on the 9rd day of October, A.
d. 1910, and what did we see there?
Nine counties in New Mexico are un-
disputedly democratic, and had an ag-
gregate representation of rs members
in that convention, but among them
there was not one of the native ele-
ment of our electorate, in spite Of the
fact that many thousands of them re-
side in those counties. What is the
logical deduction to be drawn from
these circumstances? And does such
conduct manifest any disposition to
fraternize and to do equal justice to
all? The facts speak for themselves
and furnish the undisguised answer
to the question. On the other hand,
the representation from the republi-
can counties in the constitutional
convention was made up of all ele-
ments of our mixed population. The
foregoing circumstances added to
many others which would be exceed
ingly unpleasant and vexatious to
enumerate, have forced upon me the
humiliating conviction that, in the
democratic party of New Mexico,
there exists an element of intolerance
that should not be. countenancedi or
encouraged, because it, tends directly
to the destruction of that feeling of
harmony and good fellowship among
us all so essential to our happiness
and material prosperity. That that
element is not in the majority in the
party, | sincerely believe, but am
afraid that it is strong enough, even
now, to make it's pernicious tend
encies felt inside and outside of the
party; it certainly makes me appre-
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