New Mexico's Quest for Statehood, 1846-1912

XVI. The Constitutional Convention of 1910

after New Mexico's enabling act had been signed into law, citizens of the territory began preparations for the election of delegates to a constitutional convention, which according to the act was to be held not less than sixty nor more than ninety days after passage of the bill. On June 29,1910, Governor Mills issued a proclamation calling for an election on September 6, 1910. One hundred delegates would be chosen from the twenty-six counties in accordance with an apportionment made by the governor, chief justice, and secretary on June 28, based upon the vote cast for delegate to Congress in igoS.1 Neither the Democratic nor Republican party held a state convention to advise delegates on how they should vote or what features should be incorporated into the new instrument. There was a significant move to have a nonpartisan convention. "There is but one primary issue envolved [sic] in this election—that is the CONSTITUTION. All other issues are secondary . . . "2 The Non-Partisan Voters' League ofBernalillo County was launched, pictured by one unfriendly newspaper as having a platform of sixteen articles "advocating initiative, referendum and other Socialist doctrines/'3 Despite good intentions, nonpartisanship went the way of all such movements in a two-party democracy. The dominant Republican party refused to agree to a proposal by the Democratic central committee to have a nonpartisan convention. Moreover, they were alleged to have "audaciously" proclaimed their purpose to have a Republican constitutional convention to frame a Republican constitution.4 The Las Cruces 272 SIXTEEN The Constitutional Convention oj 1Q10 LMOST IMMEDIATELY A THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1910 273 Citizen ridiculed such charges of arbitrary conduct on the part of territorial Republicans. "We don't seem to hear any sharp shrill shrieks for nonpartizanship [sic] from the Democratic counties. What piffle!"5 Rival party tickets soon appeared in a majority of the counties.6 The overshadowingissue in most of these contests was whether direct legislation in the form of initiative, referendum, and recall should be written into the constitution. The continual debates on this subject were often similarto one between Elias S. Stover, a former lieutenant governor of Kansas, and Francis E. Wood, an attorney, held at the Young Men's Republican Club in Albuquerque. Stover defended the new techniques of direct democracy while counselor Wood called the initiative the "destroyer of all law."7 Not merely a local issue, direct legislation was one of the key reforms of the Progressive movement. Pioneered in states such as Oregon, Wisconsin, and South Dakota, direct legislation found particular acceptance in the West as manystate constitutions in this areaunderwent amendment. New Mexico and Arizona, as the last contiguous continental territories to be admitted, had new constitutions to formulate, and consequently these territories were real battlegrounds for the great political issuesof the day. Harvey Fergusson, a man swept by the mood of the times, was leader of the fight for direct legislation in the territories. Praising a speech on this subject by Senator Jonathan Bourne,Jr., progressiveRepublican from Oregon, he wrote a correspondent: "It is a most useful document for the widest possible circulation in New Mexico at this important juncture,for the reason that Oregon is a republican state,—our constitution[al] convention , I fear, under the probable apportionment soon to be announced, being republican . . . ." Fergusson was pessimistic that "certain elements " of the Republican party would gain control. "They may dish us out such a constitution that we shall, as honest and good citizens, have no alternative but to fight it."8 If only the nativepeople would appreciate the overshadowing importance of the referendum to them as a race, Fergusson wrote a Spanish-speaking citizen. It would be "a shield and protection " to them. He warned that future legislatures might attempt to disfranchise New Mexico's Spanish population.9 The territorial Republican party apparently wasnoncommittal on many of the important political and social issuesof the day. A platform adopted by the party in Dona Ana County declared itself for direct primaries, restriction of corporations, purity of the ballot, wise educational provisions , the safeguarding of school lands and school funds, "and the submission to a vote of the people of the question of whether or not initiative and referendum, statewide prohibition or local option[,] shall be engrafted upon and made a part of the Constitution." In other words, 274 NEW MEXICO'S QUEST FOR STATEHOOD direct legislation and prohibition, the two...