Arizona republican., 1906-03-22
HOW MAP MAKERS
 BELITTLE THE WEST
Nr. s. E. Riser Again Takes Them to
 Task in the Record-Herald

couple of months ago he said in an in
 terview printed in The Republican i that he mad observed in this. his first | journey west of the Missouri river.
 that the map-makers of the United | States had drawn the western half of the country according to a smaller scale than the eastern half, so that one i could not realize the actual bigness of the western states and territories 1 without travelling over them. That was
 at first thought to be the observation of humorist. But MT. Riser was in l earnest. for in a recent issue of the
 Record Herald ne refers to the par uality of the map-malkers again:
 The railroad man is one of the req sons why the size Of the western part
 of our country is not appreciated by people who have never. seen it. Rail road maps, and especially those that are published by companies whose | lines lie east of the Mississippi river. 1 generally show the west. if they show
 IL at all. as drawn to a smaller scale | than that which is used for such states as. Michigan, Indiana. Ohio. | Pennsylvania. and New York As shown on the average railroad map. | Utah is about the size of Ohio. and Arizona corresponds in size with Vir- | ginia. Here are a few comparisons in the matter of size. Maine. the largest of the New England states. has an area of 33.0G0 square miles: California covers 156,O00 square miles of territo- ny. San Bernardino county. Cal, is as l big as Vermont and New Hampshire combined, and Coconino county. Ariz the county in which the greater part of the Grand Canyon is located, is as big as Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey. If it were possible to move the states of New York. Penn sylvania, and Maryland they might be set down inside of Arizona and there would still be room for Delaware. The area of New Mexico is greater than that of Illinois and Wisconsin, while Indiana and Michigan are only a little larger physically than Utah"
 Referring again 10 the magnificent distances of the west. Mir Riser says:
 When my son gets old enough to appreciate and remember the things he sees said a man who was a pas senger on train running from Ash Fork to Phoenix. Ariz., recently. I'm going to take him all over this big country of ours and show him what 1t really is. I've come to the cOuclu- sion that no man who has not traveled a good deal can be properly educated. and l predict that the time is coming when a year of traveling will consti- tute a regular part Of full college course. This is my first trip to the far west I've read a great deal about it and I've seen many pictures which are supposed to show the beauties and the wonders that are scattered through it. But I've found out that books and pictures, which are good enough in their way, can not give the impressions one gets from looking al the real thing.
 "I think nearly everybody in the east understands that most of our ter ritOry lies west of Chicago and St. Louis. There may be people in Bos- ton and New York who haven't learn this but, generally speaking. those Of us who have gone to school in the east or middle west know in a vague way that California is bigger than Maine and that New Mexico has more square miles of land than Connecticut. That. however, is about as far as we get in our Knowledge of this part of the country without coming here and seeing it. never realized before how foolish it is to expect any man who has not travelled much to have an ap- preciation of the needs or the ambi- tions Of people who do not inhabit the narrow zone within which his life has been spent. Here's a case that will show what l mean: I know the editor of a country newspaper back in Ohio He has never been 300 miles beyond the borders of ais native county. His neighbors regard ham as a pretty bright fellow, and he is fairly well in formed. Recently he has been writing some earnest editorials on this state
 hood question. Now, I haven't any de- sire to take up the cudgel in favor of either Arizona or New Mexico, and 1t doesn't make any difference which side ne is on; but what can man in his position know about conditions out here, and how is he to decide what will be best for these people?
 Some of the men we elect 10 con gree get out of their native states for the first time when they go to Wash ington How are such men able to vote intelligentIy on measures that will affect in different ways people wno live in widely separated parts of the country. We ought to have some sort of d law that would make it nee essary for a man to do about d years steady travelling and see every part of the United States before he could be- come eIegible to hold a public office