The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-06-09
III, Wrong and tho Right Way

The House mas rushed through, under
SUSPENSION of the rules. q bill to make New
Mexico n State of tho Union and another
bill to admit Arizona. This is rotten
borough legislation. quito as improper as
that of tho Fifty-ti-st Congress for the
admission OF Idaho and Wyoming.
Arizona hns fewer people than either
Idaho or Wyoming. and had not onc-half Of
the population required for Representa-
tive in Congress under the superintendent
based on the census OF 1890. New Mexico
Ind more people IN 1890 than Idaho and
Wyoming combined. and deserved admis-
sion more thun either. yet was herself far
below the new apportlonment bnsis.
There is n wise and practicable method of
admitting New Mexico and Arizona. with
out doing injustice to either. while saving
them from the rcpruach which has Justly
fallen on Ncvadn. Idaho and Wyoming OF
being rottrn-borough States. Let these two
Territories bc reunited Let Utah. rs part
OF the snmc plan. be divided by extending
southwark the boundary line between Idaho
ami Wyoming, giving the western part OF
Utah to Nevada and the eastern to Colorado.
Let the corner of Arizona north of tho
Colorado be set OF ut the same time to
Nevada az thus augmented from Utah.
Then we shall have tho Territorial problem
at tho Southwest solved, and Herewith the
gravest of tho many past errors in State
making romedicd.
We shall have Nevada redeemed. and
meriting for the first time in twenty-cight
years her two Senators and her Representa-
tive. We shall! have the Mormon question
a oil ,f ,n mol
dom being no possible source of alarm with
Utah thus divided and merged in tho
neighboring States. We shall have New
Mexico and Arizona brought into the Union
as n single strong State. instead of rs pair
OF weaklings They will enter the race well
equipped for competition with the very best
Of their young neighbors. instead of con-
tinung for years in tutelage, as constant
suppliants for the aid of Congress. They
will have but ono State Government to
support. and will be united us when they
were acquired from Mexico.
1t may be suggested that tho growth Of
their populations will soon cure the short
comings OF New Mexico and Arizona. But
the history of Nevada is a warning against
| any such assumption. That State. which
had 1926 people in 1880, could count only
45.76l in 1890; and although Arizona in
creased somewhat in that same period. still
there were actually years during the decude
in which her population fell off. New Mexico.
at her present rate OF growth. will In 1900 DO
far below the representative apportionment
| for that year. and Arizona will not reach
the current apportionmcnt until far along in
| the twentieth century. II ever at all.
| Let us have no more OF this rotten-bor-
| ough legislation. 1t began with Nevada.
was repeated in the division of Dakota. which
ought to have been admitted as n single
State. and again in the premature admis-
sion OF Montana. with its population still
far below the representative pportionment
II was fragrant in the admission OF Idaho
and Wyoming. and would eliminate in the
entrance OF New Mexico and Arizona on the
pending basis. Tho Senate should refuse
to concur in the two bills which the House
has Just passed. 1t should substitute
measures for uniting New Mexico and
Arizona and for dividing Utah in the way
we have described.