Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1883-12-07
Villas OPINION.


T.
Northern Paper Corrccts thes Distin.
guished Democrat.
Grand Forks Herald.
The st. Paul Evening Journal in a
recent issue has The following:
"Col. w. T. Villas, in an interview with
the Journal, wired from Chicago, argues
against the admission of Dakota as
state. He makes the tenable point that
the territory cannot be admitted without
an enabling act. Nobody bnt lot of
self.seeklng politicians in the southern
part of the territory and the Yankton
ring ever expected statehood to be
secured in,spy. other way. The constitu.
tional dodge doseh't deceive anybody,
but it is being used asan argument to
defeat stat ehood by regular methods. MI.
Villas favors admitting the territory as
whole after an enabling act has been
secured"
Col. Vilasis leading democrat in his
native state, and man of such local in.
t1uence that he has more than once been
selected Is the leader of the forlorn hope
OF the democrats to certain immoIatiOn
upon the shrine of their political amhi.
tons. The people of Dakota will best
interpret Col. Villas opinions on
the subject of admission, by the
fact that he was the leading counsel
fot the capital commissioners III the quo
warrant0 proceedings in regard to the
capital location. Not being an migrate.
fal man, he not unnatura!Iy endorses the
views which governor Ordway holds on
the subject alluded to in the quotation
from the Journal. Col. Villas is too
clever man not to know that already
there have been seven states formed with
ready made constitutions OF their own
deyising, and whose claims to statehood
were recognized by congress without any
enabling act. The constitution itself
sets forth as the right of aRy sufficient
number of United States citizens in any
dlstrict-the territorial system was
adopted merely as measure of conven.
iencs-to be enrolled among the number
OF the states, endowed with
all the attributes OF state SOW
ereignty, and to be recognized
by representation in the congress of the
union on the same basis as the older
states. The fact is, simply, that Dakota
seeks admission at time when the po-
IliCnA lOICcb AI0 AlmOSt IN d COOQlGlO0 OF
deadlock. Our Just claims to statehood
are madefthe subject of treatment on the
groundeof political expediency, and not
Of Justice. An accidental democratic
majority in the house Of representatives
will not allow the admission of a state
which would be certain to cast its votes
in the electoral college next year on the
republican side. There can be no ques.
tion that, were the circumstances other
than they are, south Dakota would
be promptly admitted to the
union, and the constitution she has
adopted confirmed by congress. And
this will be the ultimate result. South
Dakota has the area, the population, the
wealth, md every other claim that justly
entities it to place among the states
and though it is hardly possible that
those claims will be recognized till after
the presidential election, it is as sure as
fate that they will be recognized. North
Dakota, if it can get rid of Ordway, and
secure an honest territorial government,
will be content to wait few years fo1
the horrors of statehood, but that dignity
will come to it whenever its claims come
up on their merits and are no longer
affected by the selfish interests of con.
tending factions at Washington.