The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-08
THE NEW MEXICAN SIDE or
STATEHOOD.

active In pOiitlo8 but STRIVING earnestly
to keep alive to the best interests Of his
community and OF his country, the present
struggle over the Statehood bill seems just
u little bit pitiful and a big bit nauseating.
In the first place the active management
of this bill, OF vital Importance to at least
a million American citizens and OF serious
moment to the whole nation, has been left
to a very talented young man who takes
nothing so seriously in the universe as
himself. Apparently, success has seemed
to him far moro important than impair
TALLY, and his colleagues, both those in
opposition and those in support, have not
thought it important or wen worth while
to combat this attitude, but have readily
fallen into line.
The Statehood bill ought to fail. because
1t has not been honestly and fairly pre-
sented upon Its merits, but has been Dol
stored up with specious argument, founded
upon Misrepresentation and misinforma-
ton. Why cannot our Senators and Rep
resentatives present this question fairly
and truthfullyP Upon what theory Of
craftsmanship Is 1t right to have made a
Senatorial Slamese twin OF the proposed
new States OF Okla homa and Arizona and
to decree that they cannot be separated
before translation into the heavenly king
dom of Statehood without putting both
indifferently in limbo? There Is no oppo-
sition to the admission Of Oklahoma. There
Is no doubt about her right. No Senator
dares challenge it. Is 1t not then an out
rage that already she should nave been
refused and that her chances should be
again put in jeopardy because OF an unholy
union with a bastard twin?
For there are two sides to the Statehood
question for Arizona and New Mexico:
two sides both for lis who live there and
for the nation at large. Therefore, let
every one who has the right have also the
opportunity to vote upon the merits Of the
case, in Congress and in the Territories.
The people Of the United States. through
their Representatives and Senators, have
the right, because they have the power,
to say that Arizona and New Mexico must
come in as one State or not at all. There
is a strong and legitimate argument against
too great representation in the Senate for
too small a population, provided We are
prepared to admit that in our theory OF
government population should have any
thing to do with the Senate.
1t is urged that it is easier to buy a small
State thar a large one To this it may be
replied it is easier to buy and control w
men than four. I presume it will not be
disputed that neither New Mexico nor
Arizona as n separate State could be any
less respectfully represented in the Senate
than are some other States Of truly mag
nifcent size and population. There Is a
strong argument with us in favor Of single
Statehood in that the cost OF government
would be less and there would be fewer
politicians to support. Our Senatorial
friends need not dwelfupon this argument;
their actions speak oud enough. West of
the Mississippi we need to be shown only
once.
The serious question with lis Is the great
size Of the proposed State: the inaccessi-
bility of great portions Of it; the difficulty
of comm unication and the lack Of homo
~geneousness in the population.
| live in southeastern New Mexico. I can
reach Chicago easier and only a few hours
later than I can reach Santa F&. The cost is
about the same. We Of eastern New Mexico
know nothing about the people Of Arizona
and they know nothing about us, and,
Judging from press indications, care con-
siderabS less. live in the Pecos Valley,
tle RTtdJ HIDtllCdH ettiltllltlll " lIV
Territory, where the population has been
doubling annually for several years. This
ts the part of the Territory hat Senator
Beveridge and his colleagues passed through
in the night. There are more than 100
OF irrigated farms, vineyards, the
greatest flowing artesian wells in America,
il not in the world; two great Government
irrigation pro ects. practically all OF this
growth being since 1901 and the promise
OF a population as dense as that of south
ern California, And Senator Beveridge
would not stop to look at it, lest his argu-
ment against the future growth of our
could not be based upon the
census Of 1900, in the face of the facts that
he and his colleagues would have to admit.
This is Senatorial justice to New Mexico!
No one knows what is the population OF
New Mexico to-day. This bill is based
the census of 1900, which is known to
be erroneous, and ia certainly worthless in
a growing community like QUIZ
They say we are unfit for single State
1000 because Of our Spanish speaking
population. and that joined with Arizona
the A~nglo-Saxon vote will predominant in
the new State. As l listen to the accent Of
Nelson l wonder If, were this
rule working in Minnesota, he would be
controlling the destiny of the Spanish
speaking American citizens of New Mexico.
l venture to say that there are many times
as many non-English speaking citizens in
Minnesota as there are in New Mexico
good citizens, too. But mark you! they
can trust the Anglo-Saxon to control the
new State, but they will not trust him to
make it. By means of this Spanish speak
ing vote, not fit for Statehood (Which is
false), they will force him to accept joint
Statehood; they will then appease him and
New Mexico by saddling Arizona's
debt equally over the State and by giving
within the old lines Of Arizona equal repre-
s~entation in Congress with that Of a popu-
lation twice as great, inhubiting the rest Of
the State.
Senator Nelson says there is no ground
for complaint about Arizona's debt, for each
Territory owes about the same amount,
300, oOO,O 900 Yes, but New Mexico's popu-
actually by the votes cast in 1904
Is to Arizona's as 2 to /; according to this
hill only as GO is to a.. which ia the ratio |