the parties entitled thereto, all such public monies in its hands upon lawful demand made therefor and will whenever thereunto required by law, pay over to the state treasurer such monies. The surety on such bond shall be a surety company authorized to do business under the laws of the state and such bond shall be approved as to form by the Attorney General and as to the sufficiency by the Governor, State Treasurer and Secretary of State. JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 15. S.J.R. PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT OF [TO] SECTION ONE OF ARTICLE FIVE Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of New Mexico: ARTICLE V. Section 1. The executive department shall consist of a governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer, attorney-general, superintendent of public instruction and Commissioner or [of] public lands, who shall be elected for the term of two years beginning on the first day of January next after their election. Such officers shall, after having served two consecutive terms, be ineligible to hold any state office for two years thereafter. The officers of the executive department except th lieutenantgovernor, shall during their terms of office, reside and keep the public records, books, papers and seals of office at the seat of government. JOINT MEMORIALS. JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 1. [ASKING THAT FORT WINGATE BE CEDED TO NEW MEXICO.] H. J. M. No. 2; Approved March 14, 1913. TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED: Your petitioners, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of New Mexico, respectfully pray that the abandoned military reservation known as "Fort Wingate," situate in the County of McKinley and State of New Mexico, be granted and ceded to the State of New Mexico; Therefore, RESOLVED that a copy of this Memorial be forwarded to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honorable Thomas B. Catron and Honorable Albert B. Fall, Senators from New Mexico, and to Honorable George Curry and Honorable H. B. Fergusson, members of Congress from the State of New Mexico. JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 2 MEMORALIZING THE PRESIDENT AND THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO ENACT JUST AND APPROPRIATE HOMESTEAD AND FOREST RESERVE LAWS FOR THE ARID REGIONS, AND TO ADMINISTER THEM WITH DUE REGARD TO THE RIGHTS OF ACTUAL SETTLERS AND ASKING FOR THE RESTORATION TO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN OF CER TAIN LANDS IN NEW MEXICO. H. J. M. No. 1; Filed March 17, 1913. WHEREAS, President-elect Woodrow Wilson in a public address before the Chicago Association of Commerce at Chicago, January 11, 1913, announced as follows: "Natural resources must be conserved and also used for the common good." "Until the business men of America make up their mind both to husband and to administer, as if for others as well as for their own profit, the natural resources of the country, some of the questions ahead of us will be immensely difficult of solution. When the government at Washington undertakes in the future to develop a policy of this sort, the first thing it must know is the state of mind, psychology of the men that it is dealing with. That attitude must be declared open and transparent. Do you not see that it is your responsibility, not mine? I shall sit there and try to preside over the matter, but I shall know what to do only as I can judge the men I am dealing with. The moment their purpose is declared to be for the general interest and shown by their procedure to be for the general interest then the whole atmosphere of suspicion will be dissipated and the. government will come to a normal relation with the citizens of the United States." "This country is not going to grow rich in the future by the efforts of the men who already have got in. It is going to grow rich by the efforts of the men who have not yet got in. It is a truism to say that it is going to get rich by the efforts of the future generations after this generation is gone. The next generation is now struggling for a foothold, and the next generation finds it extremely difficult to get a foothold." WHEREAS, the National Homestead Act, passed by the thirtyseventh Congress, May 20, 1862, and going into effect on and after January 1, 1863, entitled: "An Act to secure homesteads to actual settlers on the Public Domain, to-wit: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled: "That any person who is the head of a family or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United States and who has never borne arms against the United States government or given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and after the first of January, 1863, be entitled to enter one quarter section or a less quantity of unappropriated public lands: PROVIDED, That any person owning and residing on land may, under the provisions of this Act, enter other land lying contiguous to his or her land, which shall not, with the land so already owned, and occupied, exceed in the aggregate one hundred and sixty acres" and, WHEREAS, the sentiment and spirit expressed by Presidentelect Woodrow Wilson in the above language, is in true harmony and accord with the evident object and purpose of the original homestead law of 1862; and in keeping with an enlightened and comprehensive understanding of what is meant by true and proper conservation of our natural resources and unalterably opposed to all forms of injustice and abuse towards the pioneers and early settlers, who would undergo the hardships of establishing homes on the public domain and transforming the desert into gardens and orchards, making possible thousands of prosperous and happy homes for the people, and WHEREAS, our Federal Land Policy, as administered by, and through the Interior Department of the United States, to that area or section, situate west of the one-hundredth meridian of west longitude, and known and designated as the arid regions of the United States, has, for years, been one of gross ignorance of actual conditions existing in said regions, and has been almost continually mismanaged by commissioned, incapable and incompetent subordinates, whose attempt to serve the public can best be described as inane, effete, academic, impractical, inequitable, unjust, farcical, humiliating, degrading and insulting to our citizens, and subversive of the public good, and WHEREAS, large forest reserves have been created within New Mexico over seventy per cent of which contain no forests or merchantable timber, whatever, but for the use and pasturage upon which the owners of sheep and cattle in the immediate vicinity are charged heavy rentals, which places them at a great disadvantage in competition with other such stock raisers who enjoy the privileges of free range, and WHEREAS, other large areas have been withdrawn from settlement for the purpose of classification as to whether or not it is coal, oil or mineral land, and such classification delayed from time to time by the Interior Department thus preventing the occupa tion and settlement of the land under the Homestead and Desert Land Laws, except in a restricted and unsatisfactory manner, and preventing the settlement of larger areas of land, and WHEREAS, all of these reservations and withdrawals have greatly retarded the development of New Mexico by preventing the residents and people of said State from securing the wood and pasturage which they have employed for generations; preventing the settlement of the State and the building of homes to a large extent, and has restrained the development of the State in its agricultural, horticultural, and other industries, and, WHEREAS, large areas of land are withdrawn as part of reclamation projects which are not necessary, to, but which has been determined will not become a part of such projects, and the settlement and reclamation of such withdrawals thereby prevented, and, WHEREAS, New Mexico's opportunity for expansion is grievously vexed and burdened by the present Federal Land Policy, and practically all of the agricultural and grazing lands of some counties, particularly of San Juan and Rio Arriba, are occupied with National Forests and unwise withdrawals of lands from the Public Domains under one pretense or another, thus preventing settlement and the development of the State's resources, and, WHEREAS, your memorialists thoroughly and completely agree with President-elect Woodrow Wilson, in his expressed attitude, as to what should be the policy of the government towards reclamation, conservation and home-steading the arid regions of the west, and in restoring the spirit of the original Homestead Law of 1862, and in guaranteeing justice and fair treatment to the humblest pioneer and homesteader, NOW THEREFORE, your memorialists respectfully but earnestly pray for the passage of an Act by Congress, prohibiting the further withdrawal of the lands of New Mexico for any purpose whatever, and respectfully request the immediate restoration of all lands embraced within the several forest reservations of New Mexico which do not contain merchantable timber or are necessary to the administration of such reservations. respectfully request the immediate classification of lands now withdrawn for coal, oil or other minerals pending classification, and the opening to entry of such portions as are found not to contain coal, oil or minerals. |