ARTICLE XVI.—Miscellaneous.

SEC. 1. In addition to the State University, the Agricultural College, the Asylum for the Insane, and the School of Mines already established by law in the Territory of New Mexico, one or more State normal schools shall be provided for.

SEC. 2. Public institutions may be established by law for the maintenance, care, and instruction of deaf and dumb, blind, or indigent sick persons, orphans, or paupers; and whenever any such institution shall have been so established and put in operation, no other institution for the same purpose shall receive any aid or support from public funds; but until such institutions are so established and put in operation, provision may be made by law for the maintenance, care, and instruction of such persons by individuals or in other institutions. Such aid and support shall be under the inspection of proper officers appointed for that purpose, and every such individual or other institution shall make itemized annual reports concerning such aid and support to the governor for the information of the legislature.

SEC. 3. Public money or property shall never be used or appropriated for private purposes, nor for the aid or support of any institution not under the absolute control of the State, except for the time as in the foregoing section mentioned.

SEC. 4. The compensation of no officer shall be by law increased or diminished after his election or during his term of office.

SEC. 5. All officers who are by law charged with the duty of collecting fees for services which are to be paid into any public fund shall collect the same in advance, and shall be responsible for any loss resulting from a failure so to do. SEC. 6. Except as otherwise provided in this constitution, every officer, unless sooner removed according to law, shall hold his office during the term for which he shall have been elected or appointed. and until his successor shall be duly qualified. SEC. 7. Each officer elected or appointed to office under the authority of this constitution shall take and subscribe an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States and of this State, and to faithfully discharge the duties of his office, which oath or affirmation shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state.

ARTICLE XVII.-Amendments.

SEC. 1. Amendments to this constitution may be proposed in either branch of the legislature, and if the same shall be agreed to by two-thirds of all the members elected to the two houses, voting separately, such proposed amendments shall, with the ayes and nays thereon, be entered upon their journals, and it shall be the duty of the legislature to submit such amendments to the electors of the State at the next general election, and cause the same to be published without delay for at least six consecutive weeks prior to said election in not less than one newspaper of general circulation (if there be such newspaper) published in each county, and if the majority of the electors shall ratify the same, such amendments shall become a part of this constitution.

SEC. 2. If more than one amendment is proposed, they shall be submitted in such manner that the electors shall vote for or against each of them separately. SEC. 3. Whenever two-thirds of the members elected to each branch of the legislature shall deem it necessary to call a convention to revise or amend this constitution, they shall recommend the electors to vote at the next general election for or against the convention, and if a majority of all the electors voting at such election shall have voted for a convention, the legislature at its next session shall provide by law for calling the same, and such convention shall consist of a number of members not less than double the number of senators at that time in the legislature. The legislature shall prescribe the manner of voting for said convention. SEC. 4. Any constitution adopted by such convention shall not take effect until it has been submitted to and ratified by the people.

SEC. 5. Nothing in this article contained shall be construed to authorize any amendment or revision or repeal of any article or section of this constitution, which by its terms is made irrevocable, except as therein provided.

ARTICLE XVIII.-Compact with the United States.

SEC. 1. The State of New Mexico is an inseparable part of the Federal Union and the Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land.

SEC. 2. The legal debts and liabilities of the Territory of New Mexico shall be assumed and paid by this State.

SEC. 3. Perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured, and no inhabitant of this State shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or

her mode of religious worship, nor shall any preference be given by law to any religious establishment. No religious test shall be required for any office or for any vote at any election; nor shall any person be incompetent to testify on account of his or her opinions on matters of religious belief, nor be questioned in any court touching such opinions so as to affect the weight of his or her testimony.

SEC. 4. The people inhabiting this State do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within the boundaries thereof, and to all lands lying within said limits owned or held by any Indian or Indian tribes, and that until the title thereto shall have been extinguished by the United States the same shall be and remain subject to the disposition of the United States, and said Indian lands shall remain under the absolute jurisdiction and control of the Congress of the United States; that the lands or other property belonging to citizens of the United States residing without the State shall never be taxed at a higher rate than the lands or other property belonging to residents thereof; that no taxes shall be imposed by the State on lands or property therein belonging to or which may hereafter be purchased by the United States or reserved for its use. But nothing herein shall preclude the State from taxing as other lands are taxed any lands owned or held by any Indian who has severed his tribal relations, and has obtained from the United States or from any person or source a title thereto by patent or other grant, save and except such lands as have been or may be granted to any Indian or Indians under any act of Congress containing a provision exempting the lands thus taxed from taxation; but all such lands shall be exempt from taxation by this State so long and to such extent as such act of Congress may prescribe.

SEC. 5. Provision shall be made for the establishment and maintenance of a system of public schools, which shall be open to all the children of this State and free from sectarian control, and no other or different schools shall receive any aid or support from the public treasury.

SEC. 6. The ordinances and provisions in this article contained are hereby declared to be irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of this State.

SCHEDULE AND ORDINANCE.

SEC. 1. All writs, actions, prosecutions, claims, liabilities, and obligations in favor of or against the Territory of New Mexico and all rights of individuals and bodies corporate shall continue as if no change had taken place in this government; and all process which may before the organization of the judicial department under this constitution be issued under the authority of the Territory of New Mexico shall be as valid as if issued in the name of the State.

SEC. 2. All property and rights of the Territory and of the several counties, subdivisions, and political bodies corporate of or in the Territory, including fines, penalties, forfeitures, debts, claims. and recognizances, obligations, and other undertakings heretofore taken or which may be taken before the organization of the judicial department under this constitution, to or for the use of the Territory of New Mexico or any county, subdivision, or political body corporate, officer or otherwise, to or for the public, shall inure to the State or remain to the county, local subdivision, corporation, officer, or public, as the case may be, as if the change of government had not been made, and may be sued for and recovered accordingly. All criminal prosecutions and penal actions which have arisen or may arise before the organization of the judicial department under this constitution, and which shall then be pending, may be prosecuted to judgment and execution in the name of the State.

SEC. 3. All crimes and misdemeanors committed against the Territory of New Mexico shall be punished by the State as they might have been punished by the Territory if the change of government had not been made.

SEC. 4. All laws in force in the Territory of New Mexico when this constitution takes effect which are not repugnant to this constitution shall remain in force until they expire by their limitation or be altered or repealed by the legislature. SEC. 5. This constitution shall take effect and be in full force immediately upon the admission of New Mexico as a State.

SEC. 6. All officers who may be holding their offices and appointments in the Territory of New Mexico under the authority of the United States or under the authority of said Territory at the time of the admission of New Mexico as a State shall continue to hold and exercise their respective offices and appointments until superseded by the State authorities under this constitution.

SEC. 7. All cases pending in the supreme court of the Territory of New Mexico, except cases arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States, shall be removed into the supreme court hereby created, to be there heard and determined

as though originally brought up to that court from the district court of the State: and if any such case is remanded for further or other proceedings it shall be sent back to the district court of the State for the county in the district court for which, under the Territorial form of government, the original judgment or decree was entered.

SEC. 8. The district court for each county is declared to be a successor to and a continuation of the district court established in such county by the Territorial legislature, and all pending suits, matters, and proceedings, both civil and criminal, shall be tried, heard, and determined by the new court hereby established, and the files. dockets, and other records shall be continuous and unbroken.

SEC. 9. The probate court for each county shall be a continuation of the probate court under the Territorial government, and the record and files thereof shall be continuous and unbroken.

SEC. 10. Until otherwise provided by law, the seals now in use by the supreme. district, and probate courts of the Territory are hereby declared to be the seals of the supreme, district, and probate courts, respectively, of the State.

SEC. 11. This constitution shall be submitted for adoption or rejection to a vote of the electors qualified by law to vote at all elections in the Territory of New Mexico at a special election to be held at the same time as the general election, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. A. D. 1830. unless the Congress of the United States shall sooner pass an enabling act for the Territory of New Mexico. in which case, unless the time for an election is fixed in said act, this constitution shall be submitted to the people at an election to be held within ninety days after the passage of such act, to be called by a proclamation of the governor of the Territory of New Mexico, such proclamation to be issued not less than forty days before the day of the election. Said election shall be conducted in all respects in the manner provided by the laws of the Territory for general elections, and the returns thereof shall be made and canvassed in the same manner and by the same authority as provided in cases of general elections, and abstracts of such returns duly certified shall be transmitted to the board of canvassers, which said board of canvassers shall consist of the governor and secretary of the Territory and the president of this convention. Said board shall canvass the votes so returned and certify the same and declare the result of said election in the same manner as is required by law for the election of a delegate in Congress.

At the said election all ballots which may be cast in favor of the constitution shall have written or printed on them the words "For the constitution," and all ballots which may be cast against the constitution shall have written or printed on them the words "Against the constitution," and such ballots shall be counted for or against the constitution accordingly.

Said board of canvassers shall also make and file with the secretary of the Territory a certificate setting forth the number of votes cast for the constitution and the number cast against it, and shall also file a certificate certifying whether the said constitution has been ratified by a majority of all the votes cast for or against it or not, copies of which certificate shall be forwarded by the secretary of the Territory, duly certified by him, one to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and another to the President of the Senate of the Congress of the United States: and said secretary shall also forward along with each of said certificates, and attach thereto, a duly certified copy of this constitution.

SEC. 12. Immediately upon the admission of the Territory as a State the governor of the Territory, or in case of his absence or failure to act, the secretary of the Territory, or in case of his absence or failure to act, the president of this convention, shall issue a proclamation, which shall be published and a copy thereof mailed to the chairman of the board of county commissioners of each county, calling an election by the people of all State, district, county, precinct, and other officers created and made elective by this constitution, and fixing a day for such election, which shall not be less than forty days after the date of such proclamation nor more than ninety days after the admission of the Territory as a State.

SEC. 13. The board of county commissioners of the several counties shall thereupon order such election for said day, and shall cause notice thereof to be given in the manner and for the length of time provided by the laws of the Territory in cases of general election for Delegate to Congress and county and other officers. Every qualified elector of the Territory at the date of said election shall be entitled to vote thereat. Said election shall be conducted in all respects in the same manner as provided by the laws of the Territory for general elections, and the returns thereof shall be made and canvassed in the same manner and by the same authority as provided in cases of such general elections, but returns for all State and district officers and members of the legislature shall be made to the canvassing board herein provided for.