Arizona republican., 1905-08-13
Curtis on the statehood Question.

Mir. William E. Curtis, the famous Washington correspondent of the Chi
 cago Record Herald. is sending from day to day to his paper from New
 Mexico some interesting observations upon conditions in that territory as he finds them. It will be remembered that MT. Curtis was at Prescott, this territory. a few weeks ago, and after visiting the coast he returned to New Mexico He is acknowledged to be one of the most intelligent newspaper Oriters in the country. and his genius for gathering great quantities Of ac- curate information within a short time enables him to write with better information on a new subject than can most men after a long study.
 Mir. Curtis latest letter deals with the joint statehood question. He has reached the conclusion that very few people in New Mexico really desire joint statehood with Arizona; that they consider the scheme unwise, but nearly all of them are quite willing tc accept that eventuality if nothing bet ter can be had. As was to be ex- pected. MT Curtis was quickly able to take the measure of MT. B. s. Roday, Arizona's most active enemy:
 MT. Rodey, who has been very much more active than anyone else in promoting the joint statehood proposi- tiOn, told me the other day that ev- erything was settled; that the terri tory committees of the senate and the house, the republican steering com mittee, Speaker Cannon and the presi- dent himself were all pledged to the passage of the Beveridge bill admit ting the two territories as one state; that the people of New Mexico were unanimous on the subject, and that the people of Arizona were coming around very rapidly. Sixty per cent of them. he declared, had already ex- pressed their assent, the other 40 per cent would be converted within the next few months, and by the time con gress assembled all the people in Ari- ZOna and New Mexico, figuratively speaking. would be marching down the aisle arm in arm to the marriage altar. Joint statehood leagues, Mir ROdey said, were being organized in every town and were educating pub lie sentiment to the advantages of joint statehood upon the basis pro posed by the senate committee, which includes a gift of 24,OOO,OOO acres of land by the federal government to the infant state, s5.OOO.OO0 in United States bonds as a school fund, and an appropriation of s15O,0O0 to pay the expenses of organization"
 MT. Curtis continues: Not one word of what MT. Rodey says is true Ia ic have been given by the president or the speaker or any one else in con- gress concerning the joint admission of Arizona and New Mexico. Some of the most influential men in New Mex leo, including Governor Otero, are de- termined in their opposition; public sentiment in this territory against joint statehood is increasing, and on the very day that MT. Rodey was giv- ing me this information a convention of delegates from every county and every political party in Arizona met at Phoenix and unanimously declared that they would never. never consent to the joint statehood bill. They pass ed resolutions appealing to the presi- dent to intervene in their behalf; they a remonstrance to be submit ted to congress, and appointed a com
 
 ginning of the session to enter their | most solem protest against joint state hood. There was not one dissenting voice in all Arizona. The people have | indorsed the declarations | of the speakers at the convention that | rather than be admitted jointly with | New Mexico Arizona had better re- main a territory forever.
 Governor Otero of New Mexico | may be considered the leader of the | i-joint-statehOod faction-if it may be called a faction-and his senti- | ments may be learned from his off l cial as well as his private utterances. | In his last report he said:
 There is no doubt that the great | of the people of New Mexico | are opposed to joining New Mexico | and Arizona into one commonwealth, 1 as is proposed by pending legislation. Even the small percentage who would | lcquiesce in such a consolidation pre- fer single and separate statehood for each territory. This is not due to any Innate anfmosity between the two ter 'itOries, but to the inherent differences m population, in legislation, in indus -ries, in contour, in ideals, and from m historic and ethnologic standpoint | not to mention that the consolida- ion of two cOmmonwealths like New Mexico and Arizona into one is un- Drecedented in American history
 'I have questioned nearly every person I have met in New Mexico on his subject, and with the exception )f MT. Rodey alone everybody has aken the same position as Governor DterO. Many denounce the joint statehood proposition in severe terms, IS an outrage offered to a helpless people by members of the United States senate, who do not know and 10 not care anything about conditions n this territory, but are willing to z pass the joint statehood bill in order