Arizona republican., 1902-12-12
PHOENIX. ARIZONA, DEC. 12, 1902
Senator Beveridge's Indictment.

Senator Beveridge's Indictment.
 The oracle has spoken. The people of
 Arizona are not fit for statehood. AL
 bert Jeremiah Beveridge, distinguished
 senator in congress from the state of
 Indiana, hath said it. Really, we see
 but little occasion for Senator Quay to
 prolong the debate. Isn't the whole
 question settled by the dictum of the Indiana senator? This reminds us of a story. The venerable Senator Pettus of Alabama was speaking to a friend oi the great progress the country is mak- ing in sending to the senate a higher grade of statesmen in these days than formerly.
 well, sah," he said, tits this way: when we old senators are debatin some great question on which all of us are in doubt, and one of these young and new senatahs tells us that he knows all about tive believe him, sah. But. sah, when We are debatin' another SISal QuGSllOu llCA1 ho-, eAAN young senatah tells us that he knows all about that. too. and that all the rest of us are wrong. we get sort O suspicious, sah. And on the next day, sah, when we're debatin' still another great question, and the young senatah gets up and tells us that none of us knows what we are tallSin' about and that he knows all about tive conclude r-r- sr. l ltrA h
 According to Senator Beveridges re- port which accompanied his powerful speech to the senate,
 ''The educational progress of the ter ritory has been fair, and there is ? large percentage of refined people who have been attracted by the climate and by opportunities for adventure and en- terprise. But, while these clements are important and invaluable to the terri tory, and while their influence alto gether has formed an important factor, and will steadily grow, it cannot be truthfully said at present that they are in sufficient number to dominate the mass of the inhabitants of the ter ritory."
 The distinguished junior senator from Indiana is an able lawyer, and is ac- customed to weighing and analysing evidence. He came to Arizona under a self-imposed obligation to investigate the fitness of our people for statehood. Let us look at the evidence upon which he returns an indictment against ;t whole people-the evidence upon which he proclaims to the world that the people of Arizona are of an inferior citizenship and unfit to associate with their fellow citizens and relatives Of the United States of America on an equality in the sist-rhOod Of states. Burke once said that you cannot in- dict a whole people," but Senator Bev- eridge proves that the statesmanship or hundred years ago will not do for finds an indictment against the men and women of Arizona, takes his in- dictment into court where he is one Of the judges, and there as prosecuting attorney and judge combined, declares that for their sins and for their failure to measure up to the Indiana standard the aforesaid men and women of the aforesaid territory shall be condemned to another ten years of territorial bondage. But to the recital:
 This Is proved by the fact that the saloons and gambling establishments are by the statutes of the territory permitted openly to run by night and by day, on Sunday as well as week days. and an attempt to repeal this law has been futile.
 "The resources and development are | also too limited to entitle the territory | to statehood"
 The trembling culprits who have been | indicted by the distinguished young | might enter a demurrer to the first count. and show that. whereas all territorial statutes are subject to re- ' lSlOH anu Tepedl Dy congress, ana whereas congress has not seen fit to with liquor selling and gamb- ling, the crime should be viewed wi.h somewhat of the same leniency which 1as touched the saloons in the national capitol building and the senatorial poker rooms scattered around Wash ngton.
 The demurrer being overruled, a plea of guilty might be followed by argu- nent in mitigation. that in dealing with the evils of liquor selling and Arizona has met the issue.