NEW MEXICO. 



NEW ORLEANS EXPOSITION. 573 



be obtained. It is believed that the yield in 

 1884 was much greater than ever before. 



Stock-Raising. There can not be fewer than 

 a million head of cattle in the Territory, and as 

 many sheep. The sheep are probably decreas- 

 ing in numbers. The great and continuous fall 

 of snow caused considerable loss in northern 

 parts of the Territory, and there is an irre- 

 pressible conflict between cattle and sheep 

 rancheros, which may, at not a very distant 

 day, drive the sheep business to the wall. 

 That cattle do not thrive on pastures occupied 

 by sheep, and that sheep are destructive to 

 grasses, are well-known facts. 



Financial. The assessment returns show an 

 increase in taxable property to the extent of 

 $4,000,000, and assessments do not by any 

 means embrace all the taxable property. The 

 increase in three years has been $16,000,000. 

 The law exempts railroad property, except 

 that of the Atlantic and Pacific, from taxation 

 for six years after the completion of the re- 

 spective roads. On March 1, 1886, at least 

 $4,000,000 of railroad property will be tax- 

 able, and the next year $4,000,000 more. 



The Legislative Assembly at the last session 

 authorized the construction of a penitentiary, 

 and the issue of the bonds of the Territory for 

 that purpose to an amount not exceeding 

 $150,000, payable ten years from date, with in- 

 terest at 7 per cent, per annum, payable semi- 

 annually. On the 1st day of July last $75,000 

 of the bonds were issued, and the board of 

 managers has directed that the remaining 

 $75,000 shall be issued on the first day of 

 January next. The law also imposes an annual 

 tax of one half mill on the dollar on the tax- 

 able property of the Territory, to pay the in- 

 terest on the bonds as it becomes due, and to 

 create a sinking fund to pay the principal. 



The Legislature also authorized the construc- 

 tion of a Capitol building, and the issue of 

 bonds for that purpose to the amount of 

 $200,000, payable twenty years from date, 

 with interest at 7 per cent, per annum, payable 

 semi-annually, and imposed a tax sufficient to 

 pay the interest for fifteen years, and thereafter 

 a larger tax to pay the principal of the bonds. 

 A tax of one third of a mill will be ample, 

 probably, for the next few years, to pay the 

 interest, and thereafter a smaller tax. The law 

 provides that $100,000 of the bonds shall be 

 issued this year and $100,000 next. 



Education. The Legislature also passed a 

 school law which is an improvement on any 

 the Territory has ever had. It imposes greater 

 restraints upon improper expenditure of the 

 school funds, and severe penalties for abuses 

 and neglect of duty on the part of school offi- 

 cers. There is also an increase of tax of one 

 half mill on the dollar for school purposes. 



Convicts. Convicts are now kept in the Kan- 

 sas Penitentiary, where 65 were in confinement 

 early in the year. The expense for mainte- 

 nance and transportation for the years 1882 and 

 1883 was $13,286.35. 



Irrigation. A large part of the lands of the 

 Territory are useless without irrigation, and 

 are not supplied with streams. The Governor 

 asks Congress to appropriate a liberal sum to 

 sink wells and build reservoirs. 



Election. The vote for delegate to Congress, 

 on November 4, resulted as follows : Demo- 

 cratic, 12,271 ; Republican, 9,930 ; bolting Re- 

 publican, 5,192. 



NEW ORLEANS EXPOSITION. The idea of a 

 general exposition of natural resources, indus- 

 tries, and arts in the southern part of the United 

 States was first broached in 1880. It was be- 

 lieved that such a display would do much to 

 bring to the attention of the world the capa- 

 bilities of the Southern States, and, by a com- 

 parison of their condition with that of the rest 

 of the country and of other countries, incite 

 their own people to more energetic efforts to 

 develop their resources. It was also regarded 

 as a means of bringing them into closer com- 

 mercial relations with the rest of the country, 

 and consequently into more harmonious politi- 

 cal and social relations. The quickening of 

 trade with other countries, especially those of 

 the Western Continent to the south of the 

 United States, was also one of the anticipated 

 effects. The exhibitions at Atlanta, Ga., and 

 Louisville, Ky., were too strictly local in their 

 character and limited in scope to serve the 

 desired purpose, and a great World's Fair in 

 the South continued to be a subject of discus- 

 sion and tentative e'ffort. In October, 1882, 

 the National Cotton-Planters' Association at 

 its annual meeting adopted a resolution that 

 the Exposition so much talked of should be 

 held in New Orleans, opening in 1884, as a 

 celebration of the centenary of the cotton in- 

 dustry of the country. The first record of 

 cotton as a factor in the foreign trade of the 

 United States appeared in the shipment in 

 1784 of six bags, amounting to about one bale, 

 from Charleston, S. C. This idea of a celebra- 

 tion of the cotton centenary was adopted, and 

 it was determined to make an exhibition of the 

 culture and manufacture of cotton, and the ma- 

 chinery used in its treatment, a conspicuous 

 feature of the proposed World's Fair. The 

 subject was brought before the Congress of 

 the United States at the session following the 

 action of the Planters' Association, and an act 

 was approved Feb. 10, 1883, incorporating the 

 World s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Ex- 

 position, giving it the sanction and encourage- 

 ment of the national Government, providing 

 for the appointment by the President of a 

 commissioner and alternate commissioner for 

 each State in the Union, authorizing the ap- 

 pointment of foreign representatives, providing 

 for the free admission of foreign exhibits, and 

 otherwise affording the legal encouragement 

 and privileges required. The definite location 

 of the Exposition was subsequently determined 

 upon. It was proposed at first to accord it to 

 the city that would make the highest bid to- 

 ward carrying out the scheme successfully, but 



