The Holbrook news., 1921-02-11
THE REYNOLDS SYSTEM

branch in Holbrook last December it was a revelation to a great many residents of Navajo county and the entire southwest that there really existed a Reynolds system.
 It is generally agreed among the depositors that the Reynolds outfit in New Mexico was behind the Hol- brook State, and certain develop ments since it's closing have more than substantiated this belief.
 The home office of the system has always remained in New Mexico and Governor Mechem, the present governor, is the first governor of New Mexico in twenty years that has not carried the insignia of the sys- tenn.
 Although the hopefuls of the younger generation dream of politi- cal power, such as was wielded by Uncle Josh and Uncle Jeff, the god of gold no longer rules in the po- litical maneuvers of the southwest and men and women are coming in to their own-and the financial and political Reynolds System is about to reap the harvest that was plant ed by an avaricious and selfish pa ternity.
 A definition of the Reynolds sys- tenn is not necessary in New Mexico where it dominated and ruled with an iron hand before statehood-when carpet bag judges ruled the courts and the system made and unmade governors and legislatures at will.
 Otero was mediocre clerk in the Reynolds bank in Los Vegas when he was landed in the governors chair as the dummy of the system, and a Reynolds as secretary to keep his hat on straight-and with his ap- pointment began the systematic sacking of the territory-and it was the high handed manner in which the territory was footed by the sys- tenn that caused the people of New Mexico to rise up and demand state hood as the only salvation from the ravages of political pirates that had become drunk with power and waxed rich with plunder
 During the Otero administration the Reynolds system controlled every appointive office, every commission, every court in the territory and al- most, but not quite, every news paper published within its borders.
 Bribery, cajolery, intimidation and ignorance in public officials was the rule and not the exception. Politi- cal scandals and crime by subordin- ate employees of the system in the public institutions were covered up and encouraged by the system until the voice of the oppressed factions became so loud that it was heard across the continent-and then came statehood-a reaction and the people came into their own, but not until the election of Gov. Mechem last November was the contaminating in- fiuence of the Reynolds outfit en- tirely removed from the destinies of New Mexico.
 Ex-Governor Larazollo, then practicing attorney in Las Vegas, who was asked to enter as an attor- ney in semi-politicaI case in which the Reynolds outfit was embroiIed said to the writer: q have politi- cal ambitions in-New Mexico, and it would be suicide for me to oppose the powers that control the terri tory, but my heart is with you in your endeavor to crush the viper that is coiled around the territory"
 It was under this system of pill lage and plunder that the foundation for the systems fortune was laid and even unto the second generation the characteristics of the foxy old pioneers break through in spots but the need of new blood is apparent.
 The system is the controlling fac tor in three of the largest financial institutions in the southwest Las Vegas, Fl Paso and Albuquerque.
 With the inauguration of state hood the system and its henchmen were forced to Hay off the rough stuff in New Mexico, and on the 18th of this month in the superior court of this county will begin the unravelling of the systems financial machinations in Arizona-where unit of the system went broke, so far as the depositors were con- cerned, on a watered stock of S2O,- GOO, with liabilities of over S2OO,OOO.
 In this trial will very probably be shown the hidden hand of the sys- tem-a legitimate offspring of the system will be arraigned on a crim- inal charge, and along with him will come the real culprits that used him as a tool to loot the depositors of the Holbrook State Bank and carry to the home office the spells of their i'll gotten gains.
 Who will say there is not a sys-- tenn?
 There may be some characteristic of the system of which they are not very proud, and these will be laid bare by the reports of the special investigators that have uncovered