Estancia news-herald. [volume] (Estancia, Torrance County, N.M.) 1912-19??, 1919-01-30
LEGISLATIVE NOTES
Democratic Publicity Bureau)

SIoIiC hcNlucIo VI DOIH IHe DeIldt
and the House of Representatives ex
erted every effort possible last weel
in behalf of the stockmen of the stat,
when they went on record supporting
memorial to the Regional Director
of Railways, asking that the periot
of half rate freight charge of ship
ments of feed be extended. In view
Of the fact that the period of the hall
rate freight charge had about ex
pired and realizing that the danger
of great loss to the stock-raising in.
terests of the state still prevailed in
nearly every portion of the state,
Democratic members of both houses
sought prompt action upon the situa-
ton. The result of the memorial to
the Regional Director of Railways is
that the half rate freight charge upon
all shipments of feed into the state,
will be extended sixty days, or in 9th
er words, beyond the time when there
is any danger of loss to the stockmen
of New Mexico. R. G. Bryant, Demo-
cratic senator from Roosevelt county
was member of the committee to
communicate New Mexico's apprecia-
tion to the Director of Railways at
Washington.
Realizing the burden of taxation
which, has been cast upon the shoul-
ders of the tax payers of the state,
and the many demands for money in
cident to all war activities, the Demo-
cratic members of both the upper
and lower houses of the state legisla-
ture have gone on record as opposing
many of the requests for large appro-
priations which would bring immi-
nent danger of a collapse of CONNER
cial activity of the state. The Demo-
cratic state organization has sounded
warning through the legislators of
the party that New Mexico must not
be further burdened with additional
taxation which seems imminently
certain to accrue through certain ap-
preparations which have been asked
of the legislature.
Many appropriations will be asked
of this legislature for purposes which
are non-essential at this time and
which may be dispensed with in view
of the strain of taxation under which
the state is now laboring. Opposition
to these unnecessary appropriations
has found incipiency in the DEM
ocratic ranks of both houses.
Holding that it is the Amer:caniza-
ton and not the Latinization of New
Mexico for which the citizenship of
the state should strive, Democratic
members of both houses of the fourth
state legislature will no doubt oppose
strongly the governors plan of COM
pulsory teaching of Spanish in all the
schools of the state. Granting that
the communities in the state where
Spanish is spoken largely, should
have teachers of dual lingual attain
ments, which is already the contem-
plation of the law, it is not felt by
Democratic legislators that Spanish
should be placed on an. equal footing
with the English language in the
states schools, where the objective it
would seem from all educational
points of view is higher degree of
development of English as CONNER
cial and educational factor. 1t is not
through the Spanish but through the
English language that the state may
hope to hold its "place in the sun"
among the other states of the union,
according to Democratic legislators
at the state capitol.
Representative F. L. Mehlhop, the
Democratic whip, showed that he,
too, is pledged to economy in the
state administration when a discus
sion arose on Thursday relative to
furnishing the members of the lower
house with copies of the New Mexico
statutes. A resolution had been pre-
pared and introduced by Major W.
H. H. Lewellyn and Isidoro Armijo,
giving each member Of both houses a
copy of the codified laws of 1915 and
of the session laws of 1917. 1t was
stated by the speaker that this would
cost the state about $500, but Mehl-
hop was on his feet at once with
telegram from the house that pub
fishes the book, quoting a price that
would have cut the figure quoted by
the speaker to little less than half,
In the ensuing wrangle over the mat
ter the resolution was tabled indefl-
nitely, and this hoary perquislte OF
the legislators was cut off, for this
year at least.
That the constitution of the state
means nothing to some of our legisla-
tors was admitted last Thursday
when Dan Padilla, representative of
Bernalillo county, INDUCED in a tilt
with Speaker Sedillo over the read
ing of the bills that had been intro
duced in Spanish. Mr.. Padilla con-
tended that the titles of the bills
should be read twice in Spanish as
we'll as in English, but the speaker
pointed out that the constitution only
called for the English reading, and
that the Spanish version was added