Mohave County miner., 1902-05-24
Arizona's Delegate Tells Mrs. James
a Few Things.

Inc Ioiowing Is copy of the letter
Of Mark Smith to Mrs. James, o,
New York:
DEAR MADAM: A remarkable lette,
-igned by you as president of the
Nomen's Board of Home Missions O,
The Presbyterian church. has been sent
presumably by you, to many members
Of congress, the purpose being to in.
tluence those gentlemen to withhold
their support from the bill of the
house for the admission of the terri.
tories of Arizona and New Mexico to
the union OF states. You do not hesi.
tate to do this, knowing at the time
that those gentlemen had every one
been pledged by the solemn promises
of their respective national platforms
to the support of the measure. But a
little thing like that does not seem to
trouble you, whose high self i'm posed
duty Is, avowedly, to teach lessons of
truth, honor and integrity to those
whom you call exceptional" people.
am, dear madam, deeply grieved
to see the name of the grand old Pres
byterian church, around which nv
early memories tenderly linger, de.
graded TO the humiliating business of
causeless Wholesale slander of a peo.
pie OF a great territory like Arizona.
The church itself, / know, had no hand
in this I .couit Tho rraat IA. - :.
God fearing people of completely in
this wanton action of your board.
Otherwise, | would find it pursuing
paths against which it had warned nv
feet. am panied to see good women,
like You and your associates, so un-
mindful OF the charity and justice
which you openly profess as to deliber.
ately say OF Arizona that "there we're
too few people in proportion to the en-.
tire population who are sufficiently
intelligent to exercise the duties of
citizenship" am sorry on your ac-
count that you said this. The least
investigation through any informed
source would surely have saved you
from this reckless statement. When
did your most estimable and chari-
table board get into this statehood
business anyway IL your acts are
not ultra wires, the scope of business
under your charter is much wider than
its name would indicate TO the init
lated.
Returning TO your charge: The fact
is that, excluding reservation Indians,
who are nor, and cannot become citi-
zens, Arizona has the best generally
educated POPULATION in the United
States. The people pay more per
capita for educational and charitable
purpose than any congressional dis
trict in your state or in any other state
of the union. Education is com pull |
sorry. We have code of laws as good
in themselves and fully as we'll
executed as any state that has enjoyed |
self government for century. The
large body of our people came when
fally grown from different states of the |
union. They knew the duties Of citi |
zensbip, All well as your board can |
possibly know the lesson, and they /
have attended to those duties with
modesty and propriety which | am
justified III commending as an exam
pie for your emulation.
"You confess that yonr information
comes from your teachers who are at
work among exceptional people, mean
ing, | presume, the Indians. If con.
tact with the Indians is going to have
this effect on them, the sooner you get
them away the better for all concerned.
From alleged information from 'ex
ceptionar people through exceptional
teachers you fling out under the ban
ner and badge of the church 'excep
tionaI statements, hurtful tJ an up.
right, honest, self-dependent, self re-
specting people, when one week of SEN
sible investigation would have repelled
the charge. But you say we are un-
worthy of q place in the union. Ia an
swer, / assert that among the voters of
your district there is more ignorance
aud illiterscy than in mine, and there
are more sin, iniquity and shameless
crime committed daily within sight of
your church spire than all Arizona
suffers in u year. And yet you and
yours sit in judgment ON US and ignor-