Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1905-12-13
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS
In the Chicago Record-Herald.) )

entertaining legislative feature of the coming session of Congress is not go- ing to be the railway rate bill, but the fight over the admission of the terri tories to the Union. In his message the President will recommend the pas sage of the Senate bill making two states out of four territories, notwith- standing the earnest protests that have been made against it by their inhabit- ants. He is evidently making this re- commendation on the theory that the new states will be "rotten boroughs, l" and that the fewer we have of them the better. He evidently expects that four bad men like "Bull" Andrews of New Mexico, who is now fighting for his liberty in Pittsburg, will be elected senators from the new states, and that it is better to have four such men than eight. But nobody has yet been able to explain why it is necessary to force Arizona and New Mexico into the Union together when an overwhelming majority of the population of both ter ritories are opposed to it.
 Senator Po-~-idge, who has charge of the bill, takes the ground that the inhabitants of the territories have mo- thing to say about the matter; that the constitution confers upon Congress the authority to make states whenever it likes, out of any material it has at hand, without reference to the wishes of those most interested. That respon- sibility, he says, must be exercised with view to the future, and not to the present, and Congress, and particularly his committee, by some power of div ination, is able to determine whet is best for the welfare of future immi- grants to the territories as well as for the present population.
 Nobody denies the claims of Okla homa, but the fitness of Indian Ter ritory for statehood is very much in doubt. The President and the com mittee will merge the two into a single state on the theory that the pop lation of the one will neutralize that of the other, but those who are most familiar with their political complex ion, are confident that MT. Beveridge and the Republican. senators will wake up some morning and find that they have increased the Democratic elec- toral vote and the strength of that party in both houses of Congress.
 A letter recently received from Mus kogee says: "We all believe over here that Oklahoma is more strongly De- mOcratic than Indian Territory, but the party leaders have whipped the Democrats into voting the Republican ticket until they get statehood. What a vindication for us malgned people on this side of the line if time does prove that we are more faithful to the Republican party than the people to whose interests we are compelled by Congress to yield everything. It fairly makes my blood boil to see the work ings of the system of misrepresentation, cajolery, and intimidation that has been used to prevent a real and true ex- pression of the hopes and desires of the people living in Indian Territory, but no factor has been so great in bringing about this condition as the fact that the President himself has declared for joint statehood'
 The people of Indian Territory and Oklahoma have practically settled down into submission to the will of the President a"d the Republican senators, but %, if ret 95, per cent of the popu- lation of Arizona and New Mexico will be heard from against joint state hood befor" Congress has time to pass the hill. Petitions will come from 10th territories. begging Congress not tc force joint statehood upon an unwill- i-T people. ard they must have their cfTect. Committees from both ter ritories will come to Washington shortly before the holidays to protest against the Beveridge bill. And you may he sure that nobody will come from either territory to ask its passage except a delegation from Albuquerque which hopes to he the joint capital, and some others who are personally interest ed.
 During the past summer several in fuential members of the House of Re presentatives have been down there to investigato the situation for them selves, ard every one of them has gone back convinced that neither New