504 



NEW MEXICO. 



taught. According to the reports of county su- 

 perintendents made on Oct. 1, 1891, there were 

 then 523 school districts in the Territory, em- 

 ploying 308 male and 179 female teachers. The 

 total enrollment was 14,011 males and 8,588 fe- 

 males, and the average attendance 9,062 males 

 and 5,373 females. The total school population 

 was 44,775, and the total revenue for school pur- 

 poses for the year preceding $147,830.05. There 

 are about 5,000 pupils in the private schools of 

 the Territory. 



Penitentiary. In the Penitentiary at Santa 

 Fe there were 143 Territorial prisoners on July 

 1, 1891 ; 85 were received during the year fol- 

 lowing, and 91 discharged, leaving 137 remain- 

 ing on July 1, 1892. At the former date there 

 were 21 United States prisoners in the Peniten- 

 tiary ; 28 were received during the year, and 33 

 discharged, leaving 16. 



Capitol. On the evening of May 12 the 

 greater part of the Capitol building at Santa 

 Fe was destroyed by a fire which was undoubt- 

 edly of incendiary origin. Nearly all the furni- 

 ture, public documents, and archives were saved. 

 The building was erected in 1885 at a cost of 

 $250,000, and the loss to the Territory will be 

 over $200,000, there being no insurance. 



Territorial Institutions. The Territorial 

 University, at Albuquerque, was opened in the 

 summer for a short session of normal instruc- 

 tion, and is now entering upon its more regular 

 work. The cost of the building, improvement 

 of grounds, etc., was $32,672. 



The School of Mines, at Socorro. has completed 

 its laboratory building. To secure its erection 

 the directors were compelled not only to use all 

 the funds on hand, but to pledge the future re- 

 ceipts from the annual appropriations for some 

 time in advance. The institution receives only 

 one fifth of a mill of Territorial taxation, yield- 

 ing about $7,500 a year. 



The Legislature of 1891 authorized the issue 

 of $25,000 in Territorial bonds to aid in the con- 

 struction of an insane asylum. The proceeds of 

 these bonds were $25,244, and to this was added 

 $16,906 received from taxes. The cost of the 

 building, including fencing, well, etc., was $38,- 

 378. It is now ready for use. 



The Agricultural College was the first of the 

 Territorial institutions to begin operations, and 

 is in a flourishing condition. The passage of the 

 Morrill act in 1890 brought to it $15,000 for the 

 fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, $16,000 for the 

 next year, $17,000 for the next, and so on until 

 the sum shall reach $25.000 a year. This is to 

 be in addition to the $15,000 that is regularly 

 received for the experiment station, and smaller 

 sums for specific work. Thus the amount of 

 United States money received this year was over 

 $33,000. 



Coal. Coal-mining is carried on extensively 

 at Blossburg, near Raton ; at Amargo, in llio 

 Arriba County ; at Gallup ; at Cerrillos ; and 

 to a smaller extent in other localities. The 

 mines at Carthage, extensively worked for many 

 years, are almost entirely closed, and many build- 

 ings have been moved to Cerrillos. The latter 

 has become the most important point in this 

 business in the Southwest. The owners of the 

 great coal tracts in the vicinity have com- 

 bined all interests, and in connection with the 



Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Com- 

 pany are building many miles of branch rail- 

 road to connect the various mines with the main 

 line. 



Metals. Since 1890 the production of silver 

 in the Territory has decreased 23'7 per cent., and 

 the production of lead 17'9 per cent. During 

 the same period there has been an increase of 28 

 per cent, in the gold production. Tin has been 

 identified in Grant County, and the deposits of 

 alumina on the Gila, in the same county, are be- 

 ing explored. While silver has reached the low- 

 est price in its annals, frequent discoveries of 

 silver-ore bodies have been made during the 

 year, as well as of copper, zinc, and lead. 



Land Court. This court, established by act 

 of Congress for passing upon disputed land titles 

 in New Mexico, Arizona, and adjacent States, 

 was organized at Denver, July 1, 1891, and its 

 first session for the transaction of business in the 

 Territory was opened at Santa Fe, Dec. 1, 1891. 

 Subsequent sessions have been held, beginning 

 March 1, 1892, and Aug. 15, 1892. The mem- 

 bers of the court are as follow : Hon. Joseph R. 

 Reed, Chief Justice, Iowa. Associate Justices : 

 Hon. Thomas C. Fuller, North Carolina ; Hon. 

 Wilbur S. Stone, Colorado; Hon. William W. 

 Murray, Tennessee ; Hon. Henry C. Sluss, Kan- 

 sas. Up to Sept. 1, 1892, a total of 34 claims 

 to land in the Territory had been filed in this 

 court. 



Statehood. At the opening of the last ses- 

 sion of Congress in December, 1891, Delegate 

 Joseph introduced an enabling act for the Ter- 

 ritory, which was generally satisfactory to the 

 people. This passed the House of Representa- 

 tives on June 6, 1892. On arriving in the Sen- 

 ate it was referred to the Committee on Terri- 

 tories, and it remained in that committee almost 

 to the end of the session. Finally it was re- 

 ported with several amendments, which were 

 considered illiberal and unfair. No action has 

 yet been taken by the Senate. 



World's Fair. On account of the small sum 

 available, the World's Fair commissioners repre- 

 senting the Territory have united with the com- 

 missioners from Arizona and Oklahoma in erect- 

 ing a building at Chicago to be used by the three 

 Territories jointly. Under the Territorial law. 

 not more than $12,000 will be raised for the use 

 of the commissioners. 



Political. On April 14, the Republicans, in 

 convention at Silver City, selected delegates to 

 the national nominating convention at Minne- 

 apolis, and a few weeks later a Democratic con- 

 vention made choice of delegates to the Chicago 

 convention. On Aug. 25 a second convention 

 of Republicans was held at Las Vegas, at which 

 Thomas B. Catron was nominated for Delegate 

 to Congress, and a platform was adopted which 

 included the following: 



We favor an honest dollar, and unqualifiedly favor 

 the full remonetization of silver ; and we also refer 

 with satisfaction to the effort of President Harrison 

 to secure the same through an international confer- 

 ence. 



We condemn in the most unmeasured terms the 

 action of the Democratic Administration, in 1887, in 

 the driving away, by the passage of the anti-alien 

 law, from this and other Territories, all investments 

 of foreign capital. 



The people of this Territory possess the intelligence, 



