El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-03-26
LEGISLATURE WAS
4 REAL SUCCESS
Deming Man Declares New
Mexico Legislature Ac-
complished Good Work.


Taken as a whole and viewed from
the angle Of constructive lawmaking,
tho second session of the New Mexico
Legislature was a success. said state
senator c. J. Laughren, Of the shoe
string district who was here Thursday
on his way home from santa Re 70
Deming, the best town OF its size In
the world" he declares
State senator Laughren was elected
as a Republican in Democratic dis
tricr. the famous "shoestring" District
composed Of Grant, luna, Sierr9 and
SOcOrro counties. He was elected with
out serious opposition in spite OF the
fact that he refused to make a cam
paign and insisted that he could not
afford to take the place for business
reasons
But they came to me and said: Look
here c. 7. if you don't run who in h
are We going TO get who viii be the
kind Of a man we want up at santa
Ee, he said with a laugh Thursday
afternoon What kind Of an argu-
ment could make against such an ar
Eunenl as mat ana told them IhaL,
II they could stand II I could and
would accept If elected but would not
make the race.
County Unit Law
But that has nothing to do with the
legislature for I believe that is what
people down in this part Of the coun-
Try are interested in since the legisla-
Iure closed. Politics and laWmaking
are compromises and there were some
good measures which should have been
passed which were lost and there were
other bad laws which were killed so il
is an equal break and I am satisfied
Win the results One Of the most i'm
portant measures. I think is the coun-
Y unit school bill. As a member Of the
CoAllnlLLee on education had occasion
TO assist this measure in the making.
and / take considerable pride in nv
part IN its formation But il was Louis
g 1l1eld. state senator from Guadalupe
ana my roommate "a Santa Fe, who
deserves much Of the credit for this
measure and he made its passage pos
sible.
Prohibition Problem.
Prohibition is a delicate question to
uiscuss and the only comment I have
70 make on this subject is that, when
ever so percent Of the states decide,
by local option that they want prohi-
bition. then I believe it viii be time
70 take II up as a statewide matter.
Until that time I am not in favor Of al
loving prohibition 10 interfere with
the business measures which are needed
so badly in our state.
The Smith-Leaver extension measure
IS another which has vitality interested
our section Of the stare. 1t VIII give
with the federal and state aid, $500 600
Tor extension work in agriculture. This
IS OF particular interest to me since
my own Luna county was the first
county in the state to adopt the county
agent plan OF extension work The
results have been wonderful and It has
been the greatest aid 10 the settlers
OF Luna county, especially the native
ranchers who have been shown how
TO plant, how TO market and what crops
are best TO produce.
The Bursum tax commission law
VIII put S100,000.00O more on the tax
rolls Of the state and the burden Of
taxation viii be equally distributed.
This commission is empowered to 20
INTO the various counties and study the
tax assessment problems and go over
the tax rolls and cooperate with the
commissioner and the assessor to set
all OF the taxable property on the rolls
This means that the big land owner and
property owner viii pay the same pro-
portionate share Of the burdens Of the
state as the small man with only a little
property.
The public monies bill and the bank
ing bill are two others that are sure
to prove Of benefit. Had the state such
q banking bill when this Las Cruces
bank matter came up the results would
not have been the same as they We're
without such legislation This law is
based on the federal law and I consider
q great legislative step in advance for
the state"