Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-01-17
LET US KEEP THE RECORD STRAIGHT.

We wish again to discuss the Land Office with
YOU gentle reader. We want to be absolutely fair
with you and perfectly unbiased toward the Land
Office officials. So we will start with the admis-
sion, for the purpose of this discussion, that no
official of the Land Office has been guilty of either
dishonesty favoritism.
Let go step farther and forget entirely for
the present who the commissioner is, or who his
assistants We do not need to care. for we
are making no charges against them in what
follows
All right then! The decks cleared for us
to discuss the matter, free from prejudice. We
assang no individuals and you, therefore
have occasion to defend any.
If your neighbor had died, leaving minor chill
dren and estate and had named you as their
guardian, you would feel that very sacred duty
to surround the care of the estate with every pos
sible Safeguard rested upon you, wouldn't you?
If the estate very large (say for instance
$685. ,000) you would surround yourself with the
most competent and the wisest advisers you could
obtain wouldn't you? The assistants you selected
to look after different departments would neces-
sarily be qualified for their jobs you would not
hire them. But, even If competent you would not
leave hem to exercise discretion matters in
volving tens of thousands of dollars. There duties
would be entirely administrative. You and your
advisers would settle all matters requiring judg-
ment or determining policy. You would make
a set of rules to govern your employees so that
they would know just what they were permitted
to do and how they were to do it. IT, through
your negligence, any of the money belonging to
these babies lost you would feel very guilty
If employe stole any of the money, through
your lax methods of administration, you would
feel at fault You would try to secure the services
of honest employees. but you would have examiners
hol,> In
by watching them. If you failed to do all of these
, things the courts ought to remove you-and doubt
less would.
Now have in our minds standard of con-
duct for a trustee of a sacred trust
You such trustee. if you arc voter in
New Mexico. You are even more truly such
trustee il you member of the legislature
for you have then been clothed with authority to
act now. But if you are a voter you are respon-
sble and have duty to help force action The
government turned to you (pease do not
dodge your responsibility land worth S50,00OO 900
and told you it trust fund for the children
of New Mexico The government did not say this
land was political plaything. 1t did not say it
for the benefit of the cattlemen or the sheep,
1t specifically said it was in trust. 1t said
SO in the Enabling Act and you accepted it as
such in your Constitution and assumed all Of the
obligations which go with it, Your moral re-
sponsiby is complete.
How have the men and women of New Mexico
acquitted themselves of that responsibility: If they
have done less than their best to protect this trust
the people of the state have been guilty of great
moral wrong Let us see
They provided for agent to represent them
in handling this trust. They call him Land Com
missioner OF ten western states New Mexico is
the only which does not consider it necessary
IN mt he control vast hands
Of board of its wisest men, New Mexico has
but one. 1t does not say he must be COM
potent expert. 1t can be anyone who happens to
be chosen And pay him the magnificent
salary of $4,000 per year to manage $50, 600, 600
estate. Just have employed a good
honest, plain "cow- man." who knows nothing of
the mysteries of bookkeeping and record keeping
and we leave the management Of the $50, 900, 900
OF our children's trust funds to him. He admits
that he is in maze too intricate for him and
that he does not understand much that is going
on around him.
Is it not perfectly apparent that board of
great wisdom and experience should outline the
policy and supervise the administration of great
trust? Is it not equally apparent that this board
should be free from political other influences
and should do what the good of the trust requires
instead of what some powerful influence wants
done? a.
The employment of certain inferior officials is
authorized by law at a ridicuiously low salary.
So vast is the volume Of business that no COM