Message to the Congress on the Boundary Line Between the State of Texas and the Territory of New Mexico

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

The constitutional convention recently held in the Territory of New Mexico has submitted for acceptance or rejection the draft of a constitution to be voted upon by the voters of the proposed new State, which contains a clause purporting to fix the boundary line between New Mexico and Texas which may reasonably be construed to be different from the boundary lines heretofore legally run, marked, established, and ratified by the United States and the State of Texas, and under which claims might be set up and litigation instigated of an unnecessary and improper character. A joint resolution has been introduced in the House of Representatives for the purpose of authorizing the President of the United States and the State of Texas to mark the boundary lines between the State of Texas and the Territory or proposed State of New Mexico, or to reestablish and re-mark the boundary line heretofore established and marked; and to enact that any provision of the proposed constitution of New Mexico that in any way tends to annul or change the boundary lines between Texas and New Mexico shall be of no force or effect. I recommend the adoption of such joint resolution.

The act of June 5, 1858 (vol. 11, U. S. Stats., 310), "authorizing the President of the United States in conjunction with the State of Texas, to run and mark the boundary lines between the Territories of the United States and the State of Texas," under which a survey was made in 1859-60 by one John H. Clark, and in the act of Congress approved March 3, 1891 (vol. 26, U. S. Stats., 971), "the boundary line between said public land strip and Texas, and between Texas and New Mexico, established under the act of June fifth, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, is hereby confirmed," and a joint resolution was passed by the Legislature of Texas and became a law March 25, 1891, "confirming the location of the boundary line established by the United States commission between No Man's Land and Texas, and Texas and New Mexico under the act of Congress of June 5, 1858." (Laws of Texas, 1891, p. 193, Resolutions.)

The Committee on Indian Affairs, in its report of May 2, 1910 (No. 1250, 61st Cong., 2d sess.), recommended a joint resolution in the fourth section of which appears the following:

Provided, That the part of a line run and marked by monument along the thirty-second parallel of north latitude, and that part of the line run and marked along the one hundred and third degree of longitude west of Greenwich, the same being the east and west and north and south lines between Texas and New Mexico, and run by authority of act of Congress approved June fifth, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, and known as the Clark lines, and that part of the line along the parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes of north latitude, forming the north boundary line of the Panhandle of Texas, and which said parts of said lines have been confirmed by acts of Congress of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, shall remain the true boundary lines of Texas and Oklahoma and the Territory of New Mexico: Provided further, That it shall be the duty of the commissioners appointed under this act to re-mark said old Clark monuments and lines where they can be found and identified.

The lines referred to in the paragraph above are the same as contained in the proposed joint resolution above referred to.

Under the act of Congress approved June 20, 1910, "An act to enable the people of New Mexico to form a constitution and State government and be admitted into the Union," etc. (vol. 36, U. S. Stats., 557), section 4 provides that when a constitution has been duly ratified by the people of New Mexico, a certified copy of the same shall be submitted to the President of the United States, and in section 5 it provides that after certain elections shall have been held and the result certified to the President of the United States, the President shall immediately issue his proclamation, upon which the proposed State of New Mexico shall be deemed admitted by Congress into the Union, by virtue of said act of June 20, 1910. The required acts have not taken place and therefore to all intents and purposes the proposed State of New Mexico is still a Territory and under the control of Congress.

As the boundary line between Texas and New Mexico is established under the act of June 5, 1858, and confirmed by Congress under the act of March 3, 1891, and ratified by the State of Texas, March 25, 1891, and as the Territory of New Mexico has not up to the present time fulfilled all the requirements under the act of June 20, 1910, for admission to the Union, there is no reason why the joint resolution should not be adopted as above provided, and I recommend the adoption of such resolution for the purpose of conferring indisputable authority upon the President in conjunction with the State of Texas to reestablish and re-mark a boundary already established and confirmed by Congress and the State of Texas.

WILLIAM H. TAFT.

The White House, December 21, 1910.