Williams news., 1904-12-31
PROVISIONS OF
 STATEHOOD BILL

~NO' sAAo~o eAS PAODAAAey O~ S~AN passage of the joint statehood bill is greater than ever, it is interest ing to note the principal provisions of the measure as it passed the house.
 Section 19 provides that "the in- habitants of all that part of the area of the United States now con- stituting the territories of Arizona and New Mexico, as at present de- scribed, may become the state of Arizona, as hereinafter provided" :"
 Section 20 is comprehensive. It provides that all the qualified cleo tors of the two territories, respec- lively, shall be entitled to vote for and choose delegates to form con- stitutional convention for said ter ritories. The convention is to se- lect no delegates, seventy of whom shall be elected from New Mexico and forty from Arizona. The gov ernor, chief justice and secretary of each territory are to apportion the delegates for the same "as nearly as may be equitable among the several counties thereof" in accord ance with the census of 1900. Thir. ty days after the approval of the bill by the president, the governor of each territory shall issue proc lamation ordering an election of delegates to the constitutional con- vention. The election of delegates must take. place on the tenth Tues ,ay after the approval of the act. ln other words, the election for delegates to the constitutional con vention will be held about three months after congress passes the bill.s There must be a general reg istration of voters.
 Section 21 provides that the del egates to the constitutional conven- tion shall meet at Santa Fe on the fifth Monday after their election They are not to receive compensa- tion for more than sixty days of service in the convention. The con- vention must form a constitution, republican in form, which shall con- tain these provisions:
 First-That perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured, and that no inhabitant ot the state shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religious worship; and that polygamous marriages are forever prohibited.
 Second-That the people inhab- iting the proposed state do agree and declare that they forever dis claim all right and title to the un- appropriated and ungranted public lands lying within the boundaries thereof and to all land owned or held by Indians. The paragraph goes into detail as to the manner in which the rights of the Indians must be protected.
 Third-That all debts of the territories of Arizona and New Mexico are to be assumed and paid by the state.
 Fourth-There must be provis- ion for the establishment and main- tenance of system of public schools, free from sectarial control and conducted in English; al- though the teaching of other lam guages is not prohibited in the pub lie schools.
 Fifth-That the state shall never enact any law abridging or restrict ing the right of suffrage Ion ac- count of race, color or previous condition of servitude, or on ac- count of any other conditions or qualifications save and except on account of illiteracy, minority, sex, conviction of felony, mental condi- tion, or residence"
 Sixth-That the capital of the state shall be at Santa Fe, and shall not be changed therefrom until 1910. After that year the location tion of the capital may be perma- popflu 6voJ hx, mo ;or;tu yofo