New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1917-03-16


billions of dollars, from the injurious
birds; should learn how to comba
Injurious insects. should learn thu
usefulness of medicinal plants, o
trees. should know why certain
animals are protected by law ant
become acquainted usually with the
great world of nature. So interested
was he that he offered to raise S.,
600 among his friends toward tht
project and embodied in the bill 9
provision that It would not be ef'
fective unless the 5000 was paic
over. In addition, he promised te
help get together the necessary col.
lections without cost to the State
To make it easy for the taxpayers
the bill provided for the use of q
building already owned by the
State. It all meant that with Charlie.
Springer behind the proposition that
the State would receive thousands
upon thousands of dollars from pri-
vate sources for the founding of a
great institution Of incalculable bene-
fit to the State and especially to
Santa Fe and Its school children
But the same sinister influence that
was suspected of opposing the Child
Welfare bill a'so opposed the Ma
tural History Museum and succeed
cd in killing the measure to the ir-
retrievable loss of the State and
especially of the Capital. Mr.. Spring
cr simply quit lobbying for it, for
he fe.t that II the State, and es-
pecially Santa Fe. did not want the
money and support of himself and
I friends for so. tinselfish and meritor-
ious an enterprise, he certainly would
not force it upon them.
Archaeological Bill.
Equally strange was the influence
that opposed House Bill No. w. rat
flying the change of the name of
the "St hooi of American Archaeolo-
gy" to its corporate name School
of American Research. The bill
finally passed both houses unani-
mousy and with record breaking
vote showing that there was no real
opposition to It from legislators.
Nevertheless. it had been chloroform-
ed thrice. The measure was draft
ed by Mr.. Frank Springer the pa
tron of the Museum of New Mexico
and New Mexico's most useful and
learned citizen. 1t changed but one
word in existing statutes. "Archae-
ology." to "Research". No reason
able man, it was thought, would
oppose it for one moment. It put
the School in the way of receiving
endownments from outside sources
and meant eventually that thous-
ands if not millions of dollars would
flow into New Mexico as end wv
ments for the schoo'. Yet, the bill
fingered in House Committee long
after measures introduced later had
been reported npon. Finally, it was
reported favorably by unanimous
vote Of the Comittee. 1t was placed
on the calendar, then upon the pre-
ferred calendar. There it remained
after bill upon bill reported upon
'ater was passed To all intents
and purpose the bill was dead. 1t
took hard lobbying by Supreme
Court Justice. by the Republican
party's most powerful leaders, by
friends of the School to get it upon
its passage and it then passed 43
to O. The friends of the School
thought its troubles were over. But
it disappeared in Committee. At
one O'Clock of the last morning ses-
sion friends OF the Schools finally
spotted it. The bill slumbred in
the pocket of the chairman of the
Committee. He said frankly and
brutally that it would remain there,
that it created another institution
which two years later would ask
for a hand-out from the State. It
took all the kings horses and all
the kings men to show this chair
man, that the bill created no new
institution. that the State could give
no money to it even if the State
wanted to. and that its purpose was
was merely to change the name OF
a meritorious institution that was
bringing large sums of money into
the state and was doing a world
OF good without cost to the State.
He finally let go and the bill went
through unanimously. But it was
lobbying that saved it.
Bar Association Bills
Thus it happened with the excel
lent code of simplified procedure
provided bv the State Bar Associa-
ton with the aid of the State
Supreme Court. Some twenty and
more bills were involved and the
best legal minds of the State had
worked upon them gratuitously.
They meant a large saving to llti-
giants, to tax PAYERS to courts. but
none of the bills would have be. /
come law but for the lobbying of
Reed Ho'loman and other men,
bers of the Ear Ass citation. No .
les slator had any parti:, ,r i"t'r1-t
n them and therefore they woul .
nave been permitted to Ne IT rook
al the power of the floor leaders
% get a hearing for them. Even as
t is. one of them died in the House
.fter passing the Senate in the very
asst hour of the session. 1t had
,een voted upon, had received all
,f the votes, but when these were
it was found that one vote
as lacking 70 make quorum. Had
he lobby seen to it that one mem
,cr had been brought in from the
mcking room. this excellent mea-
ure would nave become law. Who
I'll says that the lobby IS not neces'
AIRY and useful'
Prohibition and Suffrage
1t was the lobby that forced sub
MISSION of the Prohibition amend {
rent and action was eecTed so
a,ly in the session because It was ,
he most powerful lobby that ever I
lad made itself felt in the legisla- ,
ure. II included two supreme court {
Judges, the present and the late {
-overror. all the bosses OF both 8
ides with the exception of one, the :
and women's organiza-
ions and manv of the corDoratIon .