Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1904-01-14
A Business Question.

The Washington Post. which is read
every morning by every senator and
representative in Washington, dis
cusses the statehood question in this
temperate and sensible fashion:
The proposed admission of Arizona,
New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Indian
Territory is net a new question before
congress. Members of both the senate
and the house have for years been in
possession of the facts which furnish
the overwhelming reasons for admis-
sion. One by one the specious argu-
ments against statehood have been eX-
ploded, and, while the territories have
suffered by the delay. the advocates
Ct admission now have u case made out
that seems unanswerable, except by
the sole argument of political eXped-
iency The territories have been most
shabbily treated by the congress. Ok
lahoma, with a population of fully 800
OOO people, nearly all of them native
born Americans, has led the nation
Tor two years in railroad construction,
in the establishment and growth Ct
her banks, in the percentage Of in
crease in her postal business, in ev-
erything that demonstrates the pro-
gressiveness Of people and their
capacity COR elf-gOvernment. She
has a larger population than Vermont,
Delaware, New Hampshire, or Rhode
Island a percentage of illiteracy less
! than either OF those states. and a
greater percentage of native-born
population. New Mexico's showing is
but little less favorable. With pop
J ulation of about 300 600. her percentage
/ of native-born citizens is larger than
that of any eastern state. 1t is
| argued that a large percentage of her
people speak and write Spanish or
Mexican. While this argument is true.
! it is answered by the forcible argu-
ment that New Mexico has been a ter
ritory for half a century, and that her
citizens, whatever tongue they speak,
! are Americans, grounded in the prin-
| ciples of American government, de-
voted to American institutions, and
naturally more desirable as citizens
with full rights that the $4,000 for
, eign-born citizens of Pennsylvania
who are illiterate and utterly wanting
in the American spirit. New Mexico
is making rapid progress. She has
more coal than Pennsylvania, more
timber than any state in the union
any state in the union with the pos
sible exception Of Colorado, more cat
tie than any state in the union, more
undeveloped resources than any two
states. Her schools are fourishine
and remarkable advancement is being
shown in every line of progress.
Arizona. with = smaller population
than either of the other territories, has
shown remarkable strides in the last
few years. Her citizens are nearly al
Americah-born, educated, aggressive
and active, pioneers i'm the develop
ment of the great west.
The one great bar to development
of the territories lies in the fact tina
they have territorial forms Of govern
nsant. Many of the great money-hold
concerns in the east, probably a ma
jority of them, positively refuse L
make investments in territories, anC
this has caused delay, high rates C
interest and other handicaps in secur
ing funds for investment in the de
velopment of the rich resources of al
the territories. Back of all this is tn,
desire, which is amounting now to s.;
demand, of the people of tine terri
tories for home rule. They want tn,
right to select their own governing
officials, choose their own judges, name
the men who are to make their laws
levy and collect their taxes, just a.
the citizens of the states do. They
have tired of taxation without repre-
sentation. They want a fulfllment o
the pledges made in both republican
and democratic platforms. They wan
to be recognized as members of thu
national family instead of being treat
ed as wards or waits. They are en-
titled to full recognition of their per
fectly esta blished claims to statehood
and congress cannot, with any show o
justice or reason. longer deny them"
The Post makes an excellent poin
when it mentions that the great in