Arizona republican., 1905-11-12
PHoENx, ARIZONA, NOV. 12, 1sO5
LesIie's Weekly on Joint Statehood.


 The late visit of Congressman J. A. Tawney and his associates to the ter ritories is already bearing good fruit. In advance of the opening of the fifty ninth congress, influential centers in the east have been informed of the true conditions in Arizona and New Mexico and the word which has been carried out of the territory is receiv ing full credit. We believe that this is the first disinterested, though not the first true testimony which has ever been offered in our behalf. We had tried to tell the world this long before, but it was not unnatural that anything we might have said about ourselves would have been more than offset by the report of the Beveridge committee which must have been sup posed to represent fairly the views which the senators formed. The pre- judice which the head of the commit tee entertained, while understood by us, could not have been comprehended by fair-minded persons in the east. They could have heard nothing of the manner in which the senatorial inves- tigation was conducted. The libelous character of the Beveridge report might have aroused a suspicion re- garding it's fairness, but there was the hign standing of the senators which precluded such a suspicion.
 Tba of rartU have already submitted a report. It is made individually by the members, all of whom agree, and it has been presented by the newspapers through out the country. It breathes of fair ness and is therefore impressive.
 The current Leslie's Weekly says of it: "The party of congressman wno have recently visited Arizona and New Mexico have come to the conclusion, it is said, that when these territories are admitted to the union, it should be as separate states and that admission in any case should be deferred for sev- eral years.
 Commenting on this finding, Les
 
 lieve to be a wise one, and entirely in the interest of the proposed states themselves. Joint statehood has been stoutly opposed from the beginning by the better class of citizens from both territories"
 Leslie's reference to "the better class of citizens" it should be borne in mind is suggested by the report of the members of the Tawney party, who took time in their travels through the territories to differentiate the classes of citizens who are on one side or the other of this joint statehood ques- tion.
 On what report, do MT. Beveridge and his press bureau base the state ment that only a corrupt and selfish class of citizens is opposing jointure? ?
 Leslies proceeds: No sound req son has ever been advanced why so vast an area as the two territories to- gether compose, with populations so variant in character, should be forced to combine as one state" No "Ari zona the Great" for Leslie's, which believes that "sucn a combination could only be fruitful of many polit- ical evils
 In conclusion, Leslie's says: with the irrigation projects already on foot and in prospect by the national gov ernment and the further development of the rich and extensive mineral re- sources of both territories, all the re- zion under consideration is certain to increase greatly in wealth and popula- tion within the next few years, and the statehood problem will then as- sume a very different phase from that which it now presents and can be set tied far more satisfactorily
 How different in tone and reason is the foregoing from late articles in Harper's and other members of the Beveridge press bureau, which, when reduced to their real meaning, urge that there is so much poverty, sedf- ishness and corruption in the two ter ritories that they should be damned together into one state, companions in misery and partners in unworthiness.