NEW MEXICO. 



545 



Creating a police force in the county-scat of each 

 county for the protection of lives and property. 



To provide for the organization of savings-bank and 

 trust associations. 



To authorize the boards of commissioners to re- 

 adjust assessments and taxes at any time before taxes 

 are paid. 



To authorize district courts to cancel uncollectable 

 taxes in certain cases. 



Adopting an official index of the compiled laws. 



Finances. On February 28 the indebtedness 

 of the Territory was as follows : Capitol bonds, 

 $200,000; Penitentiary bonds, $150,000; war- 

 rants outstanding, $174,891, making a total of 

 $524,891. The Legislature provided for the 

 isoue of $150,000 of 6-per-cent. bonds to 

 meet a part of these warrants, and such as 

 shall become payable during the next two 

 years. 



Public Buildings. The Territory has but t\vo 

 public buildings the State-House and a Peni- 

 tentiary authorized by the Legislative Assem- 

 bly of 1884, the first at a cost of $200,000 and 

 the second at $150,000. Five of the counties 

 have commodious court-houses and jails, those 

 of Bernalillo County erected at a cost of $97,- 

 000; San Miguel, $126,000; Socorro, $48,- 

 000 ; Santa. F6, $50,000 ; and Grant, $36,000. 



Assessment. The aggregate assessment of 

 taxable property for 1886 was $56,000,000. 

 That amount was increased by the assessment 

 for 1887 to $60,200,000. An exemption of 

 $300 is allowed to every tax-payer. The rate 

 of taxation fixed by statute i*, for Territorial 

 purposes, one half of one per cent. ; for county 

 purposes, one quarter of one per cent. ; and 

 for school purposes, from one quarter to one 

 third of one per cent., the amount to be deter- 

 mined by the school district. For all purposes 

 the rate of taxation is less than two per cent. 



Stock-Raising. The condition of the cattle 

 industry has, in some respects, declined. The 

 number of cattle returned on the last year's 

 (1886) assessment rolls is 916,940, and the 

 average assessed value for taxation is $12 a 

 head, aggregating $11,003,280. The wool- 

 clip for the year, so far as ascertainable, is 

 about 14,000,000 pounds, and the average price 

 per pound 15 cents. The number of sheep re- 

 turned at the last year's assessment is 1,702,- 

 287. Cattle and sheep constitute mainly the 

 stock industry of the Territory. There are, in 

 addition to sheep and cattle, 91,173 other do- 

 mestic animals, assessed at $1,278,147. The 

 cattle industry of the Territory is assuming 

 radically changed conditions from those that 

 have heretofore characterized it. The incom- 

 ing of agriculturists, and the devotion of an in- 

 creasing area year by year to agricultural prod- 

 uct, is gradually restricting the cattle-range, 

 and stockmen are finding themselves forced to 

 the ad option of different methods, more in keep- 

 ing witli the self-sustainine varied industries 

 of civilized communities. The system of great 

 ranches is gradually giving way to that of 

 small farms, and thus people, illustrating the 

 organizing forces of schools, churches, and the 

 VOL. xxvii. 35 A 



higher forms of civilized life, are taking the 

 place of nomadism peculiar to the cattle-range 

 of the frontier. 



Mining. The output of coal for the year is as 

 follows: 



The total value of precious metals mined 

 during the year is officially estimated at $3,- 

 850,000. 



Railroads. The only railroad construction 

 during the year is 38 miles of the Texas, Santa 

 F6 and Northern Narrow Gauge Eailroad 

 from Espafiola, in Rio Arriba County, the 

 temporary terminus of the Denver and Eio 

 Grande to Santa Fe\ and operated by the lat- 

 ter company, with a prospective continuance 

 southward to the town of Cerrillos, on the 

 line of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa F6. 

 The mileage of road operated by the latter 

 company, traversing ten of the fourteen coun- 

 ties, main line and branches, is 670. The 

 mileage of the Denver and Rio Grande in the 

 Territory is 156; of the Arizona and New 

 Mexico, narrow-gauge, from Lordsburg to the 

 Arizona line, 26 miles ; of the Southern Pacific, 

 from El Paso to the Arizona line, 160 miles ; 

 aggregate mileage of railroad in operation in 

 the Territory, 1,050, traversing twelve of the 

 fourteen counties. 



Indians. The Jicarilla band of the Apaches 

 have, during the past year, been removed from 

 the Mescalero Reservation in the southeast to 

 their former home in the northwest. This 

 band numbers about 700, all peaceable and 

 susceptible of civilization. 



There are some disorderly and turbulent ele- 

 ments among the Navajos, but, as a tribe, 

 they are orderly and self-sustaining, having 

 large herds of sheep and horses, and to some 

 extent successfully cultivate the land. They 

 derive considerable revenue from their wool- 

 product, which constitutes a not inconsidera- 

 ble portion of the wool-clip of the Territory. 

 The Navajos number about 21,000. 



The Pueblo Indians are making substantial 

 progress in education. Large numbers of 

 their children are at school on their reserva- 

 tion, and at Albuquerque and Santa Fe. They 

 are self-sustaining, and a simple, peaceable, 

 law-abiding people. They are made by the 

 law of Mexico citizens of that republic, and 

 came under the sovereignty of the United 

 States with all the rights of Mexican citizen- 

 ship. They hold their lands in fee ander pat- 

 ents from the General Government, and there- 

 fore occupy a status entirely different from 

 that of all other Indians. These conditions, it 

 is claimed, make them essentially citizens of 

 the United States and of the Territory, and 



