In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

TWELVE A.New Era in 1896 came a new political era in New Mexico. Much influence and power slipped from the hands of the Old Guard, still called by its enemies the Santa Fe Ring. An even more severe blow to the Ring and the status quo came when on June 2, 1897, President McKinley unexpectedly appointed Miguel Otero the new territorial governor.1 Otero, thirty-eight years old and a native-born New Mexican, caused new tensions to divide Ring members and their opponents. The Republican party had been for years almost the private domain of Tom Catron, but now the stubborn Otero fought Catron bitterly with important consequences for the statehood movement. As territorial delegate, Harvey Fergusson's one handicap was that he went to Washington as a Democrat during a Republican year. For all his eloquence and integrity, his chances for achievingsomething as substantial as statehood were next to nothing. However, the new delegate was loyal to the cause and did what he could to accomplish this end. In his maiden speech before the House, he asked for wool protection and at the same time justified New Mexico's plea for statehood. Noting that hides were placed on the free list while leather wasgiven protection, Fergusson urged justice for the "nearly 200,000 people" of New Mexico, who could not enforce their demand by a vote, because they were denied what they were entitled to as "a matter of justiceaswell asa matter of law, under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, admission to the sisterhood of states . . . ."2 Fergusson attempted to act upon these words by introducing two enabling 192 ITH FERGUSSON'S VICTORY W A NEW ERA 193 acts3 during his two-year term in Congress. Although the bills for statehood bore no fruit, he did secure passageof two significant laws. The first of these was a measure which would permanently locate the capital of the territory at Santa Fe. This was enacted to eliminate the "demoralizing effort" in everylegislature to move the capital elsewhere.4 The second was the famous land law which paved the way for New Mexico's admission into the Union. The land measure was called the Fergusson Act and was introduced by him on February 16,1898. According to the original terms of the bill, the Territory of New Mexico would receive immediately, before admission, sections 2, 16, 32, and 36 of every township for educational purposes. In addition, 100,000 acres of land would be granted for educational and other public institutions. Ordinarily such grants wereconferred only upon the achievement of statehood, but it was argued that the operations of the recently created Court of Private Land Claims had opened for public entry thousands of acres of land on Spanish and Mexican grants which would be quickly taken if the school system were not provided for immediately. The bill was submitted to the Committee on Public Lands which reported it favorably to the House with two major amendments, one of which cut the land allotment in half, granting only 2 sections from each township, and the other lowered the grant of 100,000 acres to 50,000. Iowa Congressman John F. Lacey, a member of the Public Lands Committee, said that because New Mexico had not been admitted, an injustice had been done to the people who for many years had been deprived of the usual grants given a territory upon achieving statehood. He also referred to the recent cases decided by the land court, claiming that the vast acreage released from litigation would be swallowed up and nothing would be left for the territory but desert land unless the bill were enacted. Fergusson was given credit for originating the proposal that took as its guide the enabling act of Utah, which had been proclaimed a state in 1896. Because of its aridity, Utah had enacted a four-sectionland grant system to provide financial support for its educational system. According to Lacey, it was the committee that suggested Fergusson should scale down his proposal for New Mexico to about one-half the land granted Utah and reserve the remainder until admission. Although Lacey favored the bill, his speech belittled New Mexico's educational progress. The territory's slownessin raisingeducational standards was given as a reason for the feeling on both sides of the House that it wasquite improbable that statehood would be granted soon. New Mexico 's representative disliked any aspersions of this kind and spoke proudly of the public school...

Share