Arizona republican., 1905-02-21
Why Should the Legislature be
 Afraid !?

Although a large majority of the members of each house of the Iegis- iature are heartily in favor of limiting the privilege of voting in this territory to citizens who. can read, there seems to be a controlling fear which holds necessary law.
 But why should they be afraid? And why should they be restrained from doing their manifest duty by a fear of what may happen to their political for tunes? No law is more clearly needed than an educational qualifca- tion for voters. That fact should be sufficient to overshadow all personal interest.
 We are referring, of course. to the ignorant Mexican vote. We speak in plain English. And discussing the question from the plane of the po- Htical interests of the legislators, what have they to fear from the Mexican vote in any event? It is a notorious fact that the Mexicans of the ignor- ant and migratory clasS-the class which should be denied the franchise do not vote unless they are paid for their votes. No matter what any mem Der does in this legislature. he cannot count on Mexican support hereafter unless he pays for 1t. The Mexican plays no favOrites. All Americans look alike to him on election day, and he votes for the side that pays him the most-and rays him last. Some of them receive no money, but their cor rupt leaders get money intended for them. Taking it as a whole, the Mex ican vote is controlled solely by mon ey. Any member of the legislature might devote his entire time to de- nouncing this evil and he could com mand the support of this element in the next campaign just the same, to the extent that he could outbfd his political opponent. And legislators with political ambitions should real ize that it would be much better for them to vote for the right and depend upon the unpurchasabIe vote to pro tect them.
 By advocating this needed legisla- tion, no member need fear that he will offend citizens of Spanish descent whose good will is worth having. No Anglo Saxon is offended when Iegisla- tion is directed against corrupt mem bers of his race. There is all the diff ference ina maginable between such prominent ArizOnians as Alfred Ruiz, Nabor Pacheco, Ramon Soto, and many other good men of the Spanish race, and the low class of mongrels and peons commonly called Mexicans. Race distinctions will never be raised in Arizona against such men as we have named. They are a credit to their Spanish blood and a credit to the territory.
 But there is a large Mexican element of the low class which properly has no place in our citizenship. It is an outrage that this element should be able to offset, vote for vote, the citi- zcas who are building up the territory and paying the taxes. We provide free public school system, at vast ex- pense, and we have a law which is supposed to be compulsory in requir- ing all children to be sent to school. But this element refuses to take ad- tio1. There are hundreds of voters whose grandfathers were made citizens by virtue of the treaty of GuadaloupeI Hidalgo and the Gadsden purchase. and they are not Americans any more than their grandparents were. They are as ignorant of the English Ian guage as their grandfathers were. Is it not intolerabIe that the third gen. eration should be as thoroughly un- American as the first? What sense or justice is there in giving the ballot to men who have not enough interest in our country and it's institutions to learn our language?
 One of the strongest arguments against our admission into the union is the large part played by low Mex jeans in our citizenship. New Mexico would have been admitted twenty years ago if it had not been for the permanently un-American character of her population. Arizona would be ele- vated immensely in eastern estimation if We would declare our purpose toI make this an exclusively American commonwealth.
 And there is nothing inherently un- just in an educational qualification. The suffrage is a privilege and not a right. Mexicans should be made to understand that they are welcome to