Bisbee daily review., 1904-12-24

no attempt was ever made to merge one into another before admission un- til now. Is it any wonder that Arizo- uans should protest now against the passage of the joint statehood bill which destroys all tie rights of Ari- zona to self government which was guaranteed by all former precedent when the territory was cut from New Mexico.
 When Arizona was created into territory it was because of the impas- sable mountain ranges which divided Arizona from New Mexico; since then railroad building has brought the peo. pie of the territories into closer touch, and the fact remains that a state made to include both territories would be
 unwieldy and could not be success
 fully or economically administered.
 The very fact that the two govern
 ments are to be merged into one will
 cause spirit of sectional feeling and
 jealousy which create condition un-
 der which it will be impossible to have
 a government behind which a united
 and harmonious people will stand and
 uphold.
 According to the rules laid down
 and followed by our national govern.
 ment in the admission of territories to statehood in the past Arizona is now entitled to be admitted to the union as a separate and independent state. The pioneers of these territories have en- dured tue hardships and dangers of pioneer life with the understanding that Arizona would some day be given the right to form state government of their own and be allowed to control. for this they have fought the Apache Indian into submission to the indus trial ways of the white man; for this they have reclaimed the desert valleys by taking the water from the streams and spreading it over the most fertile land upcn which the sun shone; for this they have searched the mountains for the discovery of the seams of gold, silver and copper which encircle them; for this they developed a copper indus try second to but two states in the union; for this they have invited and promoted citizenship which for en- ergy and intelligence, morality and bravery cannot be counted as second to any people on the earth. And for all these years of toll and struggle and danger in the work of fitting Arizona for statehood we are now offered the opportunity to join New Mexico in statehood and lose our political iden- tity; lose our right to self govern. ment; lose our handsome capital at Phoenix; lose our magnific ent univer sity at Tucson; lose our school laws; lose our election law and return to the raw hide" election laws ofNew Mex leo, whereby votes can be purchased or voters driven to tine polls and made 10 deliver the goods" under the eye of the boss or the nan who is buying their votes.
 With all this to come upon us with the passage of the joint statehood bill there should be the greatest effort in Arizona to prevent it. Our people are practically united in opposition to the merger bill and this opposition should be made known in Washington in every way possible. Governor Brodie, B. <. Fowler, Col. J. F. Wilson and Mark Smith will all be in Washington when congress meets after the holi days to combat the statehood proposi- ton which is to be pushd in the senate by Beveridge, of Irdaua. These are representative men of the dominant political parties in Arizona, but their presence alone is not sufficient enpha- sis of the prevailing opposition in this