Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-10-11
PREHISTORIC ARIZONA.
A PROTEST AGAINST THE PILLAGE
 OF RUINS.
Valuable Relics Should be Retained at Home--The PropFiety Suggested of Having in Arizona a Terri
 toriaI Museum of
 Archaeology.
Tempe Corr. Phenix Republican


 While such undertakings as Professor Lumholts Is about to carry out among our ancient mounds are in every sense laudable from a scientific point of view, to an Arizonan there are other consider ations connected with the matter widely different from the impersonal, unsenti- mental ones of science. It is the pride and province of science to be abstract, unemotiOnal unsympathetic,- careless alike of pain and joy considering nOth- ing but truth. The various arch8ologists who have enriched themselves among our mounds, or who may do so in the future, in all probability take no more interest in the welfare honor or celebrity of our Territory than Is necessary to obtain the cordial cooperation of the inhabitants in the wholesale pilfering of its scientific treasures.
 It is true that their collections will al ways be labeled "t'rom Arizona, but only for the sake of that accuracy which science demands from all her votaries.
 The indisputable result of such methods Is to remove from the sight and con sciousne55 of the people specimens which might be made a silent, but very active force in the educational interests-ef the Territory. The coming will make this more apparent, perhaps, but even at the present time it Is clearly seen, by a little thought, that the idea of our mystic pre- decessors, obtained from a scattering axe or skull Is necessarily circumscnbed, and vastly inferior to that which would be produced by a thorough and orderly array of such relics as should exemplify the daily life of our extinct races. Some where ln the worlds museums flew but arch8ologlsts can name the place) there are such collections but when the native of Arizona or the stranger within his gates wishes to obtain a glimpse into our misty past, he must be content with such an eye-opener as broken axe or a frag- ment of smashed pottery. Yes" in the near future we will answer the eager in- quirer, ''there was race that flourished and fell in Arizona long before the pres ent complacent savage arrived and If you doubt 1t l can show you the holes dug by the scientists who carried away the relics. They kindly left us the holes, and around them you can still pick up fragments of ancient utensils"
 Our careless inactivity would be ex- cusable if the mounds were subject only to the disintegrating effects of weather, for remains that have lasted untold ages can last q little longer. but the collectors shovel and the farmers plough produce more disintegration in an hour than rain and wind ill century The barrier of desert has hitherto powerfully aided Ill preserving the mounds from the cupidity of the rehc-hunter, but even that pro lection has nearly disappeared.
 Furthermore of late years there has sprung up desultory trade in the relics of this unknown people, which some day will surely be organized by an enterpFis- ing dealer, for there are thousands of museums, public and private, that de mand such goods, and more thousands of curiosity hunters willing to pay well for an ornament which made beautiful Fin the world before the flood" It will not do to urge the inexhaustibility of the supply, lneXhaqstibllity WAS the argu- ment that destroyed our game and burned our forests. No treasure is too great for prodigaity to dissipate. The best of our ancient relics are going now, the remain der will follow soon.
 The interest felt Ly all students of the history of mankind, preserved for us in their works, takes to itself a peculiar in tensity when their eyes turn toward the whilom American desert. The reason Is simple. Nowhere else on earth has the higher life of the stone age left behind such multiplicity Of signs from which to deduoe the story of the longest period of mans history. In other lands, storms. winds water and frosts have combined to destroy the traces of the instructive grop- ing of mans blinded intellect. The con stapt action of climatic influences relied down the homes and the great rivers have covered dwellings and dwellers in tho H1rly11acC nf flofF .Ja-D1.i4, p,,{ rainfall of Arizona is slight, cold in the southern portion rarely reaches the freez- ing point, and the sunshine does not de stroy. The climate of Arizona has pre- served for us the almost complete re- mains of s unique life, as the climate of Italy preserved for degenerate age the arts of ancient Greece, and shall we allow the petty Napoleons of science to rob Rome of her heritage for the sake of some obscure but cOvetOus Paris? It would be much more in accordance with the genius ot far-slghted policy to take the present opportunity of enrching the Territory with such museum of antiquities as the rest of the world working together could never hope to equal
 The cost of obtaining such collection would fall far below. the present market value of the things obtained, so that from financial standpoint the investment would be a safe one
 Aside from its financial value, the ed 4GauQn6l and historical importance of such collection cannot be overestimated. It is a safe and wise attitude of mind which claims Arizona for Arizonans-no for New York, England, or Caffre-land
 Alohave pemooFats.
 
 The democratic convention of Mohave county made the following nominations
 Council, Foster H. Dennis.