Carrizozo news., August 13, 1909, Image 8

About Carrizozo news. (Carrizozo, N.M.) 1908-192?

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Against Removal of the County Scat.
The Carrizozo Chamber of
Commerce is now pleading with
the taxpayers to make for them a
town like Albuquerque, a town
like Koswell, a town like Alamo
gordo, etc.. They invite corre
spondence) and state that they
will do all in their power to lur
nish accurate information. Hut
let us see how these representa
tives of Carrizozo work to the
best interest of the taxpayers.
At the instigation of the boosters
of Carrizozo, Councilman Hewitt
made or sanctioned the passage
of Council Itil! No. ll'J. Sections
1 and 2 of this hill as given on
page 320 and J127 of the Sessions
Acts of l'JOH saddles upon the
taxpayers of Lincoln county
Si 1,000 in bonds bearing interest
lor 30 years, and transfers from
the northwestern portion of the
county a line tract of grazing
laud consisting of 270 square
miles in which there are several
large sheep and stockmen who
pay considerable taxes, to Socorro
county for 18 square miles of lava
bed of the mal pais country west
of the town of Oscuro, Now,
why did they make this wonder
ful trade exchanging 270 square
miles of line grazing country for
18 square miles of lava bed of the
mal pais and pay $11,000 besides?
Did Socorro oounty take over any
of our bonded indebtedness? No.
Why? Uecause the boosters of
Carrizozo were so anxious to add
on more territory to their south
and west, so as to make the town
appear more centrally located;
that saddling on the taxpayers a
bonded indebtedness or $11,001)
bearing 5 per cent interest for 30
years was of little or no conse
quence at all in their minds, lint
could we not as taxpayers have
kept our territory and spent the
$11,01)0 on good roads for the en
tire county to much better ad
vantage? Carrizozo will toll you
that by this trade we get the
taxes from about live or six miles
of railroad. The fact is that the
railroad ran in and out of old
boundary line of Lincoln county,
and such a wonderful trade as
this only settles the dispute be
tween Lincoln and Socorro cuun
tidS as to who ehnll collect the
tMct. lu the mean Una' tax
payers dance to the tune of $11,
000 bearing par coll t for 30
years. At the instigation of the
booster of Cerrisoso there was
further legislatbiu. Council bill
Ne tte, introduced by Councilman
Knrarro of the district containing
Scoorro county, and tnuctiouod
by Councilman Hewitt, was iu
ircihieed for the express purpose
of tfieeial legislation applicable
to Lincoln county, nml with the
purpose in view of making it pos
sible to hold an election and the
transference of the county seat at
the expense of the taxpayers
without the town of Carrizozo
having to put up 525,000 or S30,-
GOO for new buildings. Under
the provision of this bill, Com
missioners Taylor and Wiuglield,
wing the financial condition
of the county, and regardless of
the fct that they knew and had
presented to them, that the peti
tion had been fraudulently and
illegally signed, and further that
notwithstanding the fact that it
was presented to them Council
bill HO was illegal, that in the
course of its passage it had not
signed by either the speaker of
the house or the president of the
council, nor had been signed by
the governor; notwithstanding
all this Commissioners Winglield
and Taylor shoulder all the re
sponsibility and order an election
at an expense to taxpayers. Is it
any wonder that Lincoln county
is in an impoverished condition?
We are glad to know that we
have a governor who will not
sign every bill, no matter how it
ia engrossed, unless it is a bill
that is properly authenticated,
and we believe that the governor
knew that this bill was a scheme
of real estate owners of Carrizozo
and was not to the best interests
of Lincoln county where he once
lived. As to Commissioner Tay
lor he was legally disqualified as
a public o flicer from taking any
step in ordering an election, for
the reason that ic is well known
that Mr. Taylor has business in
terests in Carrizozo that will be
enhanced in value by his voting
and working for the town of Car
rizozo. One would hardly be
lieve that this same commission-
er, Mr. Taylor, reused to put
screens over six windows of the
county jail to prevent files, saws,
etc., from being handed to pris
oners from the outside, and that
Mr. Taylor when urged by Mr.
Wiuglield as to the necessity of
such screens gave as uu excuse,
"1 know that they are needed but
tlio county has not the mono)."
Still, notwithstanding thin iui
povurished condition of the conn
ty, Mr Taylor does not delay the
expense of an election by wailing
to 11 nil out from the judge his
opinion of the legality of he very
law under which he and Mr.
Wiuglield ordered thw oloctiou.
1 he paoplc will pit; for the ex
pense of this oloctiou, but wlion
the legality of this council bill is
carried to the suprume court an
it will be, the election will be
all for naught, no mntter whether
CnrriJiono wins the election or not.
Carrizozo bus also the nerve to
try to bully the taxpayers into
I the belief that unless they sue
jcuutl in carrying the election that
at next meeting of the legisla
ture that thev will cut the county
into two parts. Do not be wor
ried by any such bluff. Let us
consider how easy such a propo
sition will he. Look up the Santa
Fe papers of the last legislature
and the one preceding it and you
will find: An attempt was made
to divide Orant county and create
Pyramid county. Money was
spent freely but it was a failure.
An attempt was made to divide
Iiddy county and make, as good
a town as Artesia, the county
seat, but the p.muII was a failure.
An attempt was made to make
Clovis a county seat by taking a
portion of Roosevelt, Guadalupe
and Juny counties. Kesult fail
ure. Then, again, Carrizozo in
her attempt, in which she is
spending, and has been spending
money freely, has failure staring
her in the face.
Pile Chamber of Commerce of
Carrizozo lias uotcallc'd our 6150
offer for the investigation of the
county records. Mr. Ila'ey of
the Carrizozo News has backed
down and acknowledged his mis
take as brought out in the article
by Dr. Laws in the last issue of
the News and Outlook. Mr.
Haley has other mistakes to cor
rect and so we leave the blaO
offer open for further investiga-
examinc the records, and-on itu-'
count of time and space we make
them this offer, that Peter A.
Schmidt will meet Mr. Haley or
the Chamber of Commerce of Car
rizozo in joint debate before the
tax-payers and we have this to
say that Mr, Schmidt, who knows
the records, will show to you tax
payers, that either Mr. Haley
and the Chamber of Commerce
do not know the county's affairs
or are telling you deliberate lies.
So ns to save lime we will men
tion Capitan and Corona as meet
ing places. The county's affairs
arc in a deplorable condition and
the Carrizozo News which is own
ed by Mr. McDonald, and the edi
tor of which is but the mouth
piece of the Carrizozo boosters,
has been very loth to publish any
facts of the county that may he
unfavorable to the removal of
the county seat to Carrizozo.
Hut whatever the Carrizozo News
may publish in favor of removal
of the county seat and whatever
figures the Chamber ot Commerce
of Carrizozo may twist to meet
their needs, we, as tax-payers
know that our taxes are at pres
ent as high uv they should be;
we know also that new buildings
can not be erected without extra
expense and extra taxation; we
know also that the county's debts
lion of the records. The editor should not be prorated back four
of the Carrizozo News had lits
attention called to his misrepre
sentation of facts in his series of
articles and he had a chance to
correct them In two issues of his
paper before the appearance of
the article by Dr. Laws but he
did not do so until he saw that
he was going to be exposed
through the columns of the Out
look. Nor will he correct other
mistakes until he sees that his
political future is endangered.
The fact is that the Carrizozo
Chamber of Commerce does not
want the lax-payers to know the
whole truth and nothing but the
truth. Their reprchenativus have
offered Deputy Clerk of the coun
ty, Peter A. Schmidt, who jta a
rosult ol his work for the county
knows the records throughly,
hush money to keep bis mouth
shut, and the amount proposed
was a good round sum. Now
docs this look like the Chamber
of Comuiercu wants the. tax-pay
ers to know tue real tacts as
shown by the records of the coun
ty? Now, if Cnrrizoio denies
this statement wo arc ready and
prepared to publish some letters
to bear out our statements, and
when you, the tax-payers see the
.names signed to the letters you
will sae a light. I will state fur
ther that Mr. Schmidt is not the
only one Carrizozo has ligurcd to
; buy up. Now that Carrizozo
' will not taku the $150.00 olTer to
or live years before payment is
made; we know also that the
roads of the county should be put
in better condition and that the
commissioners should not juggle
with our road ami bridge funds.
We know also that there is no
getting away from the fact that
the county now owes $1W,(IOO.OO
with money for the redemption
of only one $1,000 00 bond and
that will leave $38,000. and that
with the 11,01)0 bonds that we
so accommodatingly took over
from Socorro county that will
make our indebtedness $40,000.
With $30,000 more bonds for now
buildings means $70,000 indebted
ness and this mean , regardless
or whal Mr. Haley may say re
lative to rent and interest, that
the tax-payers will pay out of
their funds over $100,000 before
she can pay out of debt and pay
for new buildings. Now, fullow
citizens we ask your consideration
of these facts and ask you to
work and vote with us. for the
best interest of Lincoln county.
Signed, Committee of Taxpay
ers of Lincoln county.
J. J. Akaqon, Chairman.
.1. W. Laws, Treasurer.
DoWilt's Little ISarly Kisors
are the famous little pillti, easy
to take, sale, sure and gentle.
Oet 13arly Kisers. They are the
bust pills made. We sail tiiein.
Sold by Ptulun's drug store.