Arizona republican., 1905-11-26
PHOENIX, ARIZONA, NOV. 26, 1905.
A Joint Stateht oi "Argument. "

In all that has been said or writer by those who are endeavoring to se- cure joint statehood, not single req sonable argument has been offered. II is true that a great many foolish req sons have been put forward and some extremely silly, sentimental ones Lately, though, we have observ- ed that the jointure people have not been trying to show that any one would be benefited by joint statehood, but that the big corporations would be hurt; that the corrupt and selfish interests would suffer. Their argument has dwindled down to this: "The many of us ought to endure joint statehood because it will punish the few
 The Albuquerque Journal the other day thought it had found a tender spot on the Santa Fe Pacific and pre- scented the following reason why there should be immediate jointure:
 "The old Atlantic and Pacific rail- road received a larger land grant than any other railroad in the United States-every alternate section for twenty miles on either side of the line The Santa Fe company is the success sor to the Atlantic and Pacific. and of course takes proper interest in the matter of how to dispose of that inn mense land grant to the best of ad- vantage. It has discovered that a greater part of the land is practically worthless for ordinary purposes, but e government by setting it apart for forest reserves can make it promise a value to generations that have not yet appeared upon the stage-and of course the general government has to look out for posterity. For every acre which the company surrendered to the government for this purpose, under land scrip which it can locate on any acre of government land, anywhere. and thus great quantities of the worthless lands of the grant between Albuquerque and Needles were ex- changed for scrip and can be turned into highly valuable lands in the Pecos valley, and other garden spots of the country. The company has millions of acres of this scrip and wants time to locate it. That's a mighty nice thing, and no business man in this business age will blame the railroad company for liking it. A large part of this poor land has been swapped to the government for good land, but, as we have said, there is still a vast acreage to be located, and the railroad lawyers think this will take about three years. Then when all the good lands have been made safe the com pany will allow the territory to come in. and the new state can locate its twenty-four million acres on the mal- pals! That is a fair sample of the reasons for delay in the case. There are many others, but they are all of the same character, and all have the same meaning, which is walt till we get fixed Please excuse us. Our coming in may be delayed three years or even longer by the forces which are working against us, but the Morn ing Journal will endeavor in the mean time to show the people what those forces are. and what personal inter ests actuate them.'
 To all of this the Santa Fe New Mexican administers the following simple and effective puncture:
 "As if the admission of the territory to statehood could possibly have any effect on the railroads in the lieu se- lection of scrip! Such rot is too silly to be seriously considered by any person of sound mind. Why should the railroads bother themselves about selecting lieu lands when they can find an immediate market for all their scrip at from five to ten dollars an acre? The faster the country settles up. the more prosperity the territory 
 mand for scrip and naturally the more valuable it becomes. What influence or bearing can statehood or no state hood have on forest reserves already created? None whatever. The Albu- querque Journal as usual in one of it's hysterical spells of anxiety to bolster its pet joint statehood scheme which has become a dead issue, and a part and portion of the historical relic of a shortlived fad cherished by a few dis gruntled would-be office holders, de- liberately misrepresents the facts and all logical conclusions which could be reasonably deducted therefrom. The people are dead on and the wild curves of the gangsters' sheet will fool ynhndU