Arizona republican., 1900-11-06
THE LAST BIG GUN
Continued from First Page).


 for delegate in 1894 he promised. among other things, that if he were elected he would cause the waters of the Colo rado river to be diverted into the Salt river for the irrigation of this valley. Every one knows that no such promise was ever made, but that since the present irrigation agitation was begun Mir Webb has been the head and front of that form of insanity which con templates the diversion of the waters of the Colorado. Later on, Mir. Webb eulogized d Mark Smith as the savior of Arizona from the blight of the land grants, bu. this matter will be taken up under the head of Judge Baker, who was thus encouraged to subse- quently reiterate the same great un- truth and dwell upon it.
 Judge Bakers speech was begun with a tribute to the major portion of his audience, the women. He devot d the next half hour to an ingenious at tempt to create the masses and array them against the classes. Thus he was led by easy transition to the subject of trusts, in the course of which he proved that at least one trust was net a bad
 
 Bakers showing this organization gives employment to 25,OOO men, to whom are paid annually wages amount ing to $2O,OOOOOO, an average of more than $9OO. There was not one man in ten of Judge Bakers audience who re- ceives annually nearly so much. So what could it be to them, If the sue ceeding stagemsnt of Judge Baker We're true that profit of $50,00O,OOO was annually divided amJng the six men who have the courage and busi- ness capacity to give employment to 25,000 men at good wages?
 After an expression of sympathy with nhe Filipinos, Judge Baker devoted himself to the territory of Arizona and talked of statehood. He described how Governor Murphy had failed to secure it in his one term in congress opposed by a democratic president whose pro- nouncement against sage brush $ IT, ators with silver tendencies had long before become famous. Then in elo- queut language he recited uhe success with which Mark smith and in each of his five terms secured the admission of Ari- zonl. Many easternsrs unfamiliar with the facts were led to believe that Arizona is five states already and that if MT. Smith should be elected today it will be admitted for the sixth time. Continuing his recital of Mir. Smiths achievements, Judge Baker, following Mr. Webb's cue. entered upon the sub- iect of private land grants. Without Smith, he said, the great Peralta- R avis shadow upon Arizona would be permanent. He told the story of the great fraud, which in reality surpaSses in scheme and execution to the point of failure. Dumas story of the attempt of Aramis, the general of the Jesuits, to substitute the prison5r of the Bastile and afterward the Man in the Iron Mask for Louis XIV. Smith was given credit by Judge Baker for the frusJra- tion of the project.
 As q matter of fact and of well known local history, of which many later corners No the territory are not aware, MT. Smith opposed in congress the only thing that saved the Salt River valley, the creation of the court of private land claims. MT. Smith in his opposition. no doubt, acted hon. es'tly. A very considerable part of the residents of this valley and of the set tiers on all the grants in southern Ari- zona opposed the establishment of that court for no other reason. perhaps, than that the Camerons themselves claim ants, favored it. It was generally be- lieved that the court was designed for the confirmation of the grants, fraudu- lent and genuine.
 It is plain now that without tn p court which brought with it the az gressiveness of Matt c. Reynolds and the almost marvellous insight of Mallet Provost, the ingenious fraud of Rsavis would never have been discoV Vered. The supreme court was without tls- means of making the investigations which laid bare the H1rgeries of the archives in the cathedrals of Guadalajara and Seville. So if MT Smith could have had his way in congress, there would have been no land court, but there would almost certainly be a confirmed Peralta- -Reavis grant including the richest part of Arizona.
 Judge Baker spoke more briefly than on his last appearance in Phoenix, of the Yavapai bond matter He reiterated his former assertion that the funding of the bonds put a permanent burden upon the territory, but having stated that the Pima bonds were void he was estopped from declaring, as he did be- fore, that they, too would become a burden.
 Judge Bakers SD ech was disap- pointment to d part of his audience. those erotic souls who had come out to hear a repetition of those racy anecdotes and illustrations with which his former address had been illumi- mated. The judge quoted scripture in stead and related biblical stories. Half the crowd left midway in the address and hastily concluding, the judge ad-