Arizona republican., 1905-11-21
PHoEN1x, ARIZONA, NOV. 21, 1905
Pumpkins and Pioneers.

Rodgers at Tucson Wednesday the
 Oasis man saw on exhibition a splen- did pumpkin raised without irrigation upon the ranch owned by his brother, in the Canailla region, on the west slope of the Huacnuca mountains, on the eastern edge of Santa Cruz county. The doctor states that they have a crop of the succulent and delicious calabash that exceeds two tons in weight. They range from fifty to sev- enty-five pounds each. Now, here's a pointer: To ship his pumpkins from Elgin station to Tucson the Southern Pacific charges Doctor Rodgers $1.50 per hundred. It is such things as that from a bitter joint-statehood opponent to an enthusiastic advocate of joint re."-Nogales Oasis.
 Thus Col. Allen T. Bird presents a new and unexpected, and We trust, the last phase of the statehood controver- sy by the introduction of the pumpkin issue, leaving the outcome of the struggle in nubibus, after the anti believe that the fight was as good as won.
 Col. Bird Is the Butcher who at the eleventh and critical hour is bringing up Dr. Rodgers cohort of pumpkins to convert rout into victory and create a new waterloo.
 The presence of that horde of pump kins in Santa Cruz county was unsus- pected by us who thought we had only Senator Beveridge, Col. Bird and Governor Hughes to fight. This dis closure by the Oasis explains what has hitherto been an unexplainable situa- tion at Tucson where it has been re- ported there was a nucleus of joint statehood sentiment The fact is the malcontents constituting the nucleus were merely mad with pumpkin hunger, "agin the gov ernment,' ready to plunge into joint statehood or indulge in any oth- CT unreasoning or revolutionary pro- ceeding. Truly, whom the gods would destroy they first deprive of pumpkins.
 Those of us who are trying to avert joint statehood have no wish to re- press the pumpkin industry of Santa Cruz which according to Col. Bird is in very flourishing though somewhat congested condition. It may be true. as we are led to infer from the Oasis impassioned appeal for the free movement of the pumpkin that if joint statehood should prevail the whole rugged front of the Huachucas would be festooned by the now decumbent vines of the pumpkin, which, having been given by an act of congress room to grow, would spread itself and rise to it's newly made opportunity. The precipitous walls of the canyons in the Canailla region would hang thick with golden, glinting globules lighting up the cavernOus recesses until there would be pumpkins to throw at the birds. All this we may admit but we must at the same time submit that pumpkins are not everything
 We yield to no man in our admira- tion for the pumpkin (which Col. Bird erroneously confounds with the cala- bash, much inferior bird and of less brilliant plumage) but we have other ambitions in this life than pumpkins Our territorial identity must be pre- served, at the expense, if need be, of the pumpkin industry. Joint statehood as we have contended would certainly stunt our material growth beyond the power of pumpkins to repair. Nay, we will not sell our birthright for a mess of pumpkins.
 We appreciate the fond relation which has ever existed between pion- eers and pumpkins; we know that Tucson is a hotbed of pioneers, just as we are informed by Col. Bird that the western slope of the Huachucas is a hotbed of pumpkins. We would desire that an easy connection between these pioneers and pumpkins might be es- tablished, but never by the breaking down of the political boundary be- tween Arizona and New Mexico. It is far better that the pioneers should go to bed pumpkinless than that our territorial integrity should be lost.
 It cannot be doubted that this pumpkin issue so suddenly projected by Col. Bird will have an influence on the result of the contest. But in all fairness he ought not to have withheld it until almost the last moment. We sus- pect that ne had it concealed in his sleeve all along for an internal use in the statehood debate into which he sought to inveigle Col. Wilson, who can now thank his preoccupation, his God and the anti-joint statehood 1aaQl1p fOr de1ivaranpa