Arizona republican., 1905-03-24
FIR. AND MRS. FOWLER KOnE
Fir. Fowler's Pleasant but Busy So
 jOurn at the Capitol.

Mir. and Mrs. B. A. Fowler returned
 to Phoenix yesterday morning from
 Los Angeles, where Mrs. Fowler has
 been for an extended visit with her father and mother. and where Mr Fowler has been for the last two
 weeks. Both are looking well and feel ing well and glad to be home again.
 MT Fowler, as most Phoenix people
 know, has been in Washington the
 greater part of the time since he left
 here last November. He went there rather unexpectedly and circumstances combined to lengthen his stay far be-
 yond his expectation. He went from
 here to Fl Paso to attend the annual
 meeting of the National Irrigation Congress and from there went to Chi cago on a business matter that he expected would only detain him a
 short time. However. he was persuad-
 ed to go from there to Washington in the furtherance of a private matter that concerned a Chicago friend and had scarcely arrived when the state hood matter began to take precedence as an issue in the senate. Senator Beveridge invited him to appear before the senate committee on territories,
 which he did in the interest of Arizona, opposing MT Beveridge's favorite measure. The atmosphere between them became somewhat torrid for a
 time but MT. Beveridge later on gen erously recognized the earnest convic- lions of MT. Fowler in the stand he was
 taking and his ability as fighter. and they parted good friends except on the
 statehood issue. The result of all this
 was that Mir. Fowler became very
 much interested in the statehood fight
 for the sake of the personal interest of himself and bis Arizona friends, and resolved to stay in Washington
 until he saw the end of it. He worked in his own way, according to his own judgment, as a private citizen and
 among the members of his own party. In this connection MT. Fowler said
 he was very much surprised and very
 much disappointed to learn that the Arizona legislature had refused to take advantage of the only opportunity that had ever presented itself to give the people a chance to express themselves
 as a whole on the straight statehood
 question by a yes and no ballot. He
 referred of course to the election bill passed by the lower house at the sug-
 gestion of Governor Kibbey and held
 up in the council on the advice of dem
 ocratic politicians. If the people had
 been given this opportunity, and exer-
 cised it as almost everybody believes they would have done, congress would have been presented with an anti jointure argument at Its next session
 that 1t could not easily have refused to recognize.
 During all this time in Washington MT. Fowler was in no way neglecting the interests of the Water Users asso- citation as he was keeping in close touch with everything in the reclama-
 tion service headquarters that could in any way affect either the Salt River valley or any other association simi- larly situated. There was nothing of special or particular importance at home that demanded his presence and
 he felt that he could do more for his country in Washington than he could at home just at that time, even though
 he had not been sent there and that
 was his only reason for staying away so long.