The Florence tribune., 1900-03-10
STANDS UP FOR ARIZONA.
Hon. ]. F. Wilson Calls Down an Iowa Con
 eressman,

being under discussion, our Delegate to Congress made his maiden speech in the House. He said
 Mir. Chairman, 1t had not been my purpose to take part in this discussion until long after its beginning and even now shall pass no comment on the legal phases of the subject, so ably presented by the respective sides; neither shall I attempt to pass judg- ment on the merit of the bill itself.
 As to whether or not the pending measure is recurrence to that class of legislation bearing on people in American dominion aud subject to American jurisdiction, and which carries with it the harsh burden of taxation without representation, which drove the fathers of this great Union into revolution against the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain, am con tent to leave to what has already been so ably said and will be said hereafter on that subject.
 My dear sir, should not now bother this House fer demand for time were it not because of the fact that my Ter ritory and it's conditions. in the course of this debate, have been so gravely misrepresented.
 Tine gentleman from Iowa Mir. Laceyl in discussing the pending bill, as shown by the reporters notes and will be in the Record, called forth and said the following:
 Is my friend from Tennessee Mir. Rich ardsonl, the leader of the minority side of this House-I would be glad to have his atten- tion-is my friend from Tennessee ready to tax the peo pie of Tennessee to pay the ex- penses of governing the island of Puerto Rico?
 Mir. Richardson. Yes; as quickly as would do SO in the case of Arizona aud New Mexico. Mir. L acey. Yes; but Arizona and New Mex ico pay internal-revenue taxes. Arizona is a barren country. Arizona is. perhaps, the most unf ortunate of all of our possessions, so far as her obligations to the hand of nature are concerned. But Puerto Rico. little Puerto Rico. about the size of the Congressional district which 1t is my hoHor to represent. with $500 square miles of ter ritory, has population of 100000 people and In her case we are confronted with a different proposition from that of legislat- ing for future State that Is at present sparsely populated, or scarcely populated at all.
 This statement imputes to that Ter ritory barrenness to degree that divorces it from obligation to Natures hand; not only that, but, by indiree- tion, in that statement turks a mean ing that it is barren country-valu- less, sparsely populated, scarcely popu- lated at all.
 My dear sir, with reference to that Territory, that statement SD positively made concerning it, and coming from a member of Congress of ten years ex- perience, is an exhibition of lack ot information concerning it that is absolutely inexeusable.
 It is such misrepresentation which, if relied on, can not but lead to injury, and this can not permit to pass with out challenge.
 Let me give to the gentleman. to the House and to the country only few facts known to exist concerning tha, Territory.
 Arizona is broad land on the sun set side of the continent containing over 1l3,000 square miles, with 72, ,792,- 320 acres of land.
 In it is enc of the largest and most boUnteous mineral belts the eye oi man ever beheld. This belt contains all of the precious metals and extends from Utah and Nevada on the north west to the Republic of Mexico on the southeast, in extent over 100 miles ir length and nearly 100 miles in width. covering an area of nearly 3O,0OO, ,00( acres.
 This vast mineral belt is growing rapidly in development. Its output is increasing every year, so that now the annual output is about as follows: Copper. pounds loo. .0Oo oO Gold .S5, ,750, ,00l .S1, $50 S3 Lead. .S53l. .o0l
 The sum total in value being near $25,000,0 900 annually, and yet ths development has scarcely begun.
 My dear sir, this one vast item O wealth--its output, as it now is-to say nothing of it's growth, would, in ter years, totalize 8 sufficient amount oi treasure to pay for, at fair price, g sufficient area of tillable land to equa in extent the whole of the State from whence the gentleman comes.
 But we do not stop with minera alone. While we have about 40,000,. GOO of acres grazing lands, we have the largest body of tillable la nd in th' known world. l have reference now to the great Gila and Salt River valleyi combined. These lands lie in on, great arabic plain. They are al susceptible to reclamation and tht