Bisbee daily review., 1905-08-22
AN ALBUoUERCUE
 SAMPLE LIE.

IEllLtOnc dokAlS 1LAEltS A4 IEL4-E to pass the joint statehood bill are be- ling dis .-,uted for signatures all over Arizona Oy the sO-cailed "Anti-Joint Statehood League of Arizona"-an or ganization composed of about a score .of federal office holders at Phoenix. These fellows assume to speak for the people of Arizona, like the three tailors .of Tooley street. who commenced their statement with We. the people of Eng .land''-and this federal oficeholders' club IepI esents the people of Arizona in just about the same manner that the three tailors represented the peo- pie of England. Their action would be amusing were it not for the fact that it has one very serious feature: These petitions are sent to all the post masters in the Territory, and they are requested to post them up in conspicu- .ous places in their offices and call the attention of the people to them. This would be bad enough, because it asks the postmaster to do something which is in direct violation of the law of the United States, but on top of this comes the secret threat that unless the post master does as requested the governor of the Territory will see to it that he is removed from office!
 These facts should be laid before the President and the postmaster gen .eral. And there is no question about the truth of the statements, for many of the postmasters in that territory are in favor of joint statehood, and some of them have sent the petitions re ceived by them, together with the let ters of instruction" to the Joint Statehood League of New Mexico.
 This is a fair sample of the methods being employed by the federal office holders of Arizona to defeat statehood. and it ought to be thoroughly exposed. Albuquerque Journal.
 The above from the New Mexico organ of the joint-statehood boomers is made out of whole cloth, and the Journal knew that it was publishing a lie when it appeared. The petitions now being signed by the people of Ari- zona came as the result of an anti joint statehood convention held in Phoenix last spring; that meeting was the largest gathering of prominent men of Arizona which ever assembled in the Territory for any purpose. Its delegates were from every county, who travelled, some of them, hundreds of miles to join. in tie protest against the proposition to make one State of the two Territories of Arizona and New Mexico. At that convention resC- lutions were adopted by the Repub- lican Territorial committee as Q sepa- rate body, with a representative from every county, declaring against and eandaEzaiag tha ioint-statehood prog osition- A fully attended meeting of the Democratic Territorial committee adopted resolutions of a similar na-
 ure on the same day. After the meet ing of the political committees then there was held a great mass meeting of the representatives of the various commercial bodies of the Territory, at which even stronger resolutions were adopted in condemnation of the joint statehood bill.
 The postmasters of Arizona. like every other class of Arizona citizens, are opposed to joint statehood. Be- cause they have been commissioned as postmasters they have surrendered none of their rights as citizens of Arizona, and we have an abiding fa;tL that they are sufficiently loyal to Ari- zona to pay no attention to the big bluff contained in the above. The pc titions against the joint-statehccd were not mailed to the postmasters by those having the appointive power in the postofice department, but by
 the officers of the Arizona anti-joirt statehood league, and to intimate that the postmasters of Arizona were being threatened and coerced into a supper;
 of the opposition to joint-statehood is
 to brand them as traitors to Arizona
 dearest cause. There is not one of the lpostmasters in Arizona who would not
 gladly resign his position if by so d.
 ing he could guarantee to his fellow citizens immunity from the threatened
 curse of joint statehood.
 At the great anti-joint statehood
 convention held in Phoenix last spring
 the assertion was made that the people ! of Arizona were a practical uni!
 against joint statehood, and the peti
 tions now being signed throughout th'
 Territory will show that this asse-