Albuquerque evening citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1905-1907, 1905-10-19

The special tram bearing
man James A. Tawney. OF Minnesota
and a party of nine other congress
men, who have been on a o of Ari
iona as guests Of large mining inter
ests of southern Arizona, arrived al
the local station at 10 o'clock this
morning and remained until 1880. A
committee from the local joint state
hood league was at the station tc
greet them.
8 On the arrival of the train the oc.
cupants made a dash for barber shops.
telegraph offices and curio stores. II
was only during the last thirty min.
utes of the step that the local commit.
tee found It's services needed. On
their visit to Albuquerque last week
the congressman had become quite
well acquainted with the down town
portion of the city, and they knew
just where they could find what was
wanted, whether il was a shave or a
blanket.
Congressman Tawney was found in
a barber shop and that gentleman con
tinued to observe the same discreet
silence that he. has maintained during
the whole of the trip. SO guarded has
Mr.. Tawney been in his speech while
on this trip that even the imaginative
Arizona press has been unable to OBJ
tain from him so much as a thread of
thought upon which to find an excuse
for an interview. And this morning
Mr.. Tawney continued to remain ST.
lent, but he did say, however, that
Mr.. Adams, of Wisconsin, would speak
for the whole party.
Congressman Adams Says, Wait.
Congressman H. G.. Adams, of Wis
consin, was found at the Benham In
dian Trading company's store, half
buried under a pile of Navajo blan-
kets and Pima Indian baskets, from
which he was making selections for
an Indian room he has at his home
at Madison. Wis. Mr.. Adams made
numerous speeches in southern Ari-
iona and he. apparently, was in good
training for the following interview:
Speaking for the entire party, we
have been delightfully."- and greatly in
structed by this trip. We were sur
prised by several things; first, by the
immense mineral wealth of Arizona,
which is in process of rapid develop
ment; by the very general distribu-
ton of that wealth, and by the char
acter of the Arizona cities and mining
towns. Instead of mining camps, we
found what might be called mining
cities. with all the Improvements of
modern cities, with a very general
respect for law among the people, and
a very efficient administration of law.
we have been greatly pleased with the
enterprise and intelligence which the
inhabitants of Arizona exhibit in
the attention which they have paid to
the building up Of their public school
system. The public schools of Ari.
IONA would be a credit to any eastern
state. We observed, also, a eonsidera,
BILE number of valleys, some of them
of vast extent, some of them partially
cultivated, a number of them capable
OF being made productive by irriga-
ton works, which are now either in
process of erection or are contemplate
ed.
Upon the question of joint state
hood with New Mexico, the people Of
Arizona seem to be almost a unit.
They are not only opposed to it, but
they are very enthusiastic and de-
termined in their opposition. 1t seem
ed to be the impression among a
large portion of the business men
and men in political life in Arizona
that the territory would make no eff
fort at the coming session of con-
gress to be admitted as an ~independ-
ent state.
Speaking only for myself, | would
say that the area, the natural re-
sources, the kind of government and
civilization and people that you have
in Arizona and New Mexico will war
rant naph AF thnra 4,.,gt1-t.z l.. L-...-
admitted into the Union as independ-
ent states, and / firmly believe that
1t is only a question of time when
both will be admitted. Both terri
tories are rapidly preparing them
selves for statehood by the develop
ment of their resources, the estab-
lisnment of public school systems, and
by constantly improving the admins
tration of justice. While it might be
my w opinion that these territor-
les should be admitted at this time
as independent states, it is undoubt-
eddy true that it would be difficult at
present to convince congress that this
should be done. We have ten mem
hers of congress in this party, but the
membership of the house and the
United States senate includes 476
men, the great majority Of whom have
never seen this country, know very lit
tie about it, and cannot be informed
in a short period by any ten men or
any fifty men.
Perhaps it would not he becoming
for any member of this party to make
suggestions to the people of Arizona
and New Mexico as to what their line
OF action should be with reference to
statehood, but it seems to me that If
| We're a resident of either territory,
the plan which would seem most rea-
sOnable and which / should endeavor
TO pursue, would be TO drop the ques-
ton of statehood for the time being
and wait for a little broader develop
ment and a little more time to in
struct the public judgment in order
that a winning fight might be made"
The people of these territories will
very naturally say in reply to this,
that they have waited a great many
years and that they are entitled to
statehood now. The reply to this. is,
in part, that within three years vast
areas of what is now called desert
land will become productive, and that
hey will then have an increase I'm
agricultural population, which is al
ways tae most permanent and fixed
IN its character. The members of
this party, Of course, have been more
Of Arizona than of New Mexico, but
NO. I'D H-.