Bisbee daily review., 1904-09-29
THE MAIN ISSUE-YES.

nfAtN
 Hon. B. A. Fowler, in his Prescott speech, accepting the Republican nomination for Congress, said:
 T accept the gage of battle thrown | down by the Democrats. Statehood is the paramount issue. and if We can not win on that issue alone We GO not deserve to w.n."
 It is true that the statehood ques- ! tion in every political campaign in Arizona has been an issue. In years gone by when the campaign opened both Democratic and Republl- can candidates could point with pride and satisfaction to the National plat forms of their respective parties and there read the promises of single statehood. Arizona had nothing to fear on this score at the hands of either political party in the campaigns of the past. and the Democrats and Republicans voted their honest po- litical opinions without fear or favor The statehood question is still an is sue. but an entirely different issue in the campaign of 1904.
 There has been a change in the at titude of one of the political parties regarding the question of statehood. That change came about in 1903, when the Republican leaders on the floor of the Senate, who had control of the Congressional machinery, re- fused to allow the single statehood bill, passed by Mark Smith through the lower House. to come to a vote. This change of heart on the part of the Republican party was further ex- emplified in December last when a joint statehood bill, framed by the he publicans, and passed by them under whip and spur, was railroaded through the House in the face of protest on the part of every citizen of Arizona This change of opinion was again made manifest at the Republican con- vention in Chicago held in June of this year when the National Republi- can party refused to declare in favor of single statehood for the territories and stood on their previous congress sional record.
 The Republicans of Arizona have de clared for single statehood. We be | lieve they are sincere in that declara
 tion, but the National Republican par
 ty has already passed on this question They have gone on record. and there
 is no Republican in Arizona big
 enough in eloquence or deeds. tc
 change that policy once decided upoI
 and dictated by the powerful Theo
 dore L
 i Mir. Fowler has accepted the issue
 of statehood as the paramount issue in this campaign, and ados: ''If w
 can not win on that issue alone. we d not deserve to win"
 In the name of common sense and de cency, does the Republican cand4dat
 for Congress in this territory expec the people of Arizona to endorse tn
 joint statehood issue as exemplifiet
 by the acts of the Republican party il Congress and silently endorsed il their national platform adopted a Chicago?
 There is an issue of statehood il , this campaign, and the lines are close l ly drawn. The Republican party 0 5 the United States. of which the Rt | publican party of Arizona is part an - parcel, has declared for joint state : hood The Democratic party has re t mained true to the faith and stand today where it has always stood i l favor of the rights to American cit F zens guaranteed them under the COT - stitution. As an evidence of goo { faith when the joint statehood bill c : the Republican party was up in tn D House of Representative at the las ,- session, every Democrat on that foo e voted against the iniquitous measure el That party stands today the defende
 of the rights of this territory, and tn
 people of Arizona know their friends ,- Mir. Fowler is doomed to defeat on tn Q statehood issue. His party has ruir 3 ed any chance of election he migh . have had, and as the representative , his party in this territory, the Reput r lican candidate deserves defeat.