Arizona republican., 1902-03-04

We reproduced yesterday an editorial from the Philadelphia Ledger on the
 statehood ques ion, THREE which was typical of NEW the position of the nar- STATES. row and selfish element
 in the east that is hos tile to the admission of Arizona and her sister territories into the union. Below, We reprint an editorial from the St. Louis Globe Democrat, which expresses the views of the enlightened people of the states.
 There is a chance that three states will be added to the roll of the forty five before the end of the present con- gress. The house committee on terri tories has, by unanimous vate, di- rected a favorable report to be made on the bills for the admission of Okla homa, New Mexico and Arizona to statehood. The Oklahoma bill has al- ready been reported and the others will be reported in a few days. The action of the committee shows that the bills are likely to pass the house without serious opposition.
 A fight will probably take place against some of these bills in the sen ate, but the chances are that all of them will pass. The advocates of all three measures have whatever strength can come from union. There is no valid reason for opposing New Mex ico's appeal for statehood, and of course Oklahoma won the right to admission several years ago. though she is the youngest of the three. New Mexico had a population of about 194, 900 in 1900, which is about the number required for a representative in con gresS from the states. She has been a territory for over half an century. Oklahoma had 39S.000 inhabitants in 1900. or enough to entitle her to two votes in the house of representatives, though she has been territory for only a dozen years.
 Arizona is the smallest of all the ter ritories. having only 122, GOO population at the time the census was taken two years ago. As her growth in the de cade, however. was 105 per cent, the chances are that she in the neighbor- hood of 190,000 people now. The out | look for all these territories is bright. This is particularly true of Oklahoma. As the silver issue has been shelved for good there will be but little incen- tive for opposition to the admission of | these territories. Partisan reasons may sway some votes, and this may delay the admission of some of the three. Oklahoma. even with the new accessions made to her population in | 1901, is likely to be carried by the re- publicans, though the democrats have l the better chance in both Arizona and | New Mexico. Counting four electoral votes for Oklahoma and three each for the other two territories, the demo- crats would gain two votes for presi- dent by the admission of the three territories, yet this will hardly be suf- | ficient to give them the election. LeaV- ing partisanship aside altogether there is no good reason to oppose the admis- sion of any of these territories.
 If any republicans are opposing the admission of the territories because they fear that the democratic strength in the senate will be increased. their attitude does little credit to their in telligence. Each of the three terri tories is good fighting ground for the republican party. The citizenship of Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma is American through and through-it is the best. While Oklahoma in it's set clement drew largely on Kansas. Colo rado. Nebraska. Missouri. Arkansas and Texas the Kansans predominated, and most of them were of republican antecedants. Since the subsistence of the free silver wave and the death of populism. the tendency of Oklahoma is steadily toward increased republican strength. Arizona and New Mexico having been settled to a great extent by immigrants from the southern states, the democratic ticket has gen orally prevailed because the citizens voted with the party with which they and' their fathers had been affiliated. But year by year the republican party has gained. The republican policies are more popular now in both terri tories than ever before. Aside from the small bourbon element. the peo- pie have no sympathy with the anti expansion ''anti-prosperity' and anti progressive policy of the demo- cratic party. Many democrats vote