Bisbee daily review., 1905-12-24

rlgntful representation in making Ine laws, or in choosing the executors of | the laws. is directly contrary to that fundameGtaldoctrine that the just DOW CTS of government must be derived from the consent of the governed. Ana 1t is no more unjust and no more in defensible to take away a right from a people without their consent. a right that they have heretofore exercised. than it is for the Federal Government. charged only with the temporary gov ernment of the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona, to by any or act
 make It impossible for the people of
 those Territories ever 10 have and CT
 joy rights guaranteed to States by the Constitution. For every purpose for
 which Congress may legislate for Ari-
 zona or New Mexico. except fer their
 temporary government, these Territo-
 ries must be regarded as States" Congress confessedly can Uake no law permanently affecting the people of
 either of these Territories concerning their local affairs. Any such law is
 instantly abrogated by the admission
 of the Territories into the Union.
 it should be borne in mind that the
 Federal Government is under treaty
 obligations to admit the Meucans who inhabited these Territories at the time
 Of the ccssion into the Union Congress
 certainly will not be 4ess consideratc
 of and just to those inhabitants of
 these Territories who were born citi-
 zens of the United States and have mi
 grated from other States. if is for this
 reason. if for 10 other, that the power
 tn rI
 ries is only temporary For more than
 forty years citizens of other states
 have migrated to Arizona attracted
 either by it's promise of seif-govern-
 ment its wealth of undevsloped re-
 sources or the salubI.Jy O it's climate.
 They have laboriously built up a Com mOnwealth. and whether it be great or
 contemptible, it has their allegiance.
 their loyalty. and their affection, and
 in 1t they have an abOunding self
 pride. A more patriotic people, a people more intensely fwerican. or
 more devoted 10 the great Union than are Arizonians, inhabits no State Or Territory within it's confines.
 l They ask most respectfully. but most earnestly. that no law shall be passed 1 by Congress which shall make Arizona
 a component part of any State without the consent of her people. Do not
 force a union upon her.
 Upon the floor of the Senate, a most distinguished presence. while the bill for joint statehood was under discus sion, an advocate of the passage of the bill gave utterance to the words of Lincoln that this is "a goverp.uent of the people, by the people, and for the people" If that bill had become law, or if like one, which is threaten ed and feared. should become a law, the condition established would render the apothegm incomplete. Such a law
 would make it possible. and I am con strained 10 say that I believe, inevita-
 ole. that if q constitution were adopted and State government established
 hereunder. it would be against the
 vote of an overwhelming majority of the voters of Arizona. In it's applica-
 tion then the phrase should stand: This is a government of the people of Arizona, by the people of New Mexi- co. for the people of Arizona
 Arizona yields ready assent to tem- pOrary government by the United States that is provided for by the treaty. possibly by the Constitution. and in any event it is a, necessary tenn porary expedient. But it is submitted that there is just cause for complaint if Congress should pass a law that permanently subjects Arizona to a gov ernment to which she does not assent.
 It is urged that the nation is inter ested in the question of the admission of Arizona to statehood. That is ob- vious. But a just naCion-the Ameri- can nation cannot have an interest to be subserved in subjecting Arizona to a Steate government against her consent: to compel her to accept a repugnant to her people and to be governed by laws i'll. or not at all, adapted to her genius of condi tions. The nation could not have an interest thal would justify that wrong. Many of those who advocated the pas sage of this bill upon the floors Of Congress deprecated the follies and mistakes that mar the history of the admission of many of the States. Those rollies and mistakes grew out of de- Darture from rules indicated by strict right and justice There are some suggestive similarities in the history Of this bill and the omnibus bill of 1850. The regulations of some very great men went upon the shoals then.
 The solution of the situation is easy. in consonance with every principle of justice. If Arizona possesses the quai- tiles necessary to the establishment and maintenance of a State govern ment. she should be admitted. If she does not. then she should not be ad- and her right should be held in abeyance until she does acquire them: and the question ought not 10 be determined by the question of the ad- mission or exclusion of the other Ter ritories. or any of them, any more .han in 1850 the admission of Califor- nia should have been made Co depend upon the organization of the Territo- ries of New Mexico and Utah. IT. again. b seems to Congress that the welfare of the nation would be better promoted by the iOinuTe of New Mex