Arizona republican., 1902-12-25
PHoENIX. ARIZONA. DEC. g. 1902
Senator Dillingham's Speech.

The speech of Senator Dillingham; Of Vermont against the omnibus bill was delivered on Monday and Tuesday, De oember I5 and 16. The senator having withheld hs remarks for revision. tlIey appear in the Congressional Record O. Friday. -ecember 19. It Is evident that the senator from Vermont would like to be fair but his speech throughout shows a pI ejudice against Arizona enf New Mexico, and a lack of information concerning them, notwithstanding the he deals so largely with statistics. This, however, i5 one of the chief mistakes made by all the opponents of admission they consistently adhere to the con sus of 1900. although it has been shown over and over again that that census does not do justice to the territories in the matter of population, and they stubbornly ( fuse to consider the great advancement made since the census was taken.
 Senator Dillingham; naively confesseS q want of informa tion on his part in these words:
 We met in Chicago. We made our trip from that point. We occupied h days in doing so. We visited every town it was possible to visit during that time: we could not visit all be- cause of the great distances we had to travel. I NEVER BEFORE REAL HEED THE SIZE OF THESE TERRI TORIES, or the distances that must be travelled between towns"
 Although two days were consumed in the delivery of the speech Senator Dil- lingham follows closely the lines laid down in the report made by Senator Beveridge, and he offers no new argu- ments against admission. Summarized. his arguments are:
 l. New Mexico and Arizona are Of such vast area that the population pc, square mile is insignificant:
 2. Their growth has been slow, and there is nothing to indicate that prog ress will be more rapid in the future. CAnd yet, for the decade preceding th, last census the population of Arizona increased 100 per cent. and New Mexico even more.)
 3. The Mexican element in New Mex leo is too large.
 4. Both territories are in the arid region, and must depend upon irrIga- tion.
 ,. But small area, proportionately, is irrigated.
 E t-;ei alI markable evidences of prosperity and civilization, but the inference Is that the territories have no other commu- mites worth considering.
 [. Some day, the mines now in oper. ation may play out.
 8. The committee may be mistaken in its conclusions, but any subsequent congress can remedy the error and ad- init the territories to statehood.
 The senator compliments in the high est terms the citizens who appeared before the committee, and he admits that Governor Brodie, Judge Kibbey, MT. B. A. Fowler and MT. Frank M Murphy made a strong showing in be- inAA OA Al iNOhnb Odl pllCS lildl ll is necessary to discount their state ments more or less because of their en- thusiasm. He lays great stress, as does the committee report. upon the statement made by MT. Fowler that ne | had been unable for a number of years to irrigate a portion of his great ranch; but care seems to be taken to ignore | the fact so strongly presented by MT. l Fowler that water storage for this | valley will completely transform the | situation. The senator alludes, 1t IS true, to the changes which will be wrought by increasing the water sup ply, but he returns again and again % ! the argument that under the most fa- | Vorable circumstances a large part or | the territory must remain uncultivateC. | "a perfectly obvious fact, and one | which in no degree weakens the argu- | ment for admission. It appears. indeed, | that the opponents of the bill consider they have made out an unimpeachable | case when they point to the vast area | of country which must forever remain | desert. It goes for nothing, apparently, | that there are other portions which | will sustain millions of people
 Senator Dillingham's speech as | printed bristles with interruptions made by other senators, and it is re- freshing to note that most of the in terruptions were by senators who hao an excellent understanding of the s1tu- ation.. For instance, this colloquy: