The Arizona sentinel., 1906-08-22
UNION OF ARIZONA AND NEW
 MEXICO.

ly, fairly ard sensibly. Its re-
 marks are applicable at this time and the New Mexican be- lieves they are of such import and so we'll adapted to the situa- tionthat they should receive the most extensive possible circula- tion in the Sunshine Territory and in Arizona. That this may
 be done, the editorial is given herewith. The Republican says that President Roosevelt wrote strong letter when in a commu- nication to Mark A. Rodgers, of Tucson, Arizona, he advocated the union of New Mexico and Arizona and their admission as one state. He expressed the opinion-and presumably he knows what eastern sentiment on this subject is-that should statehood be rejected now, Ari- zona would be compelled to wait many years before securing ac- mission into the Union. He add ed in this connection that should it be admitted at some later date it probably then would be in union with New Mexico. If it is to be union with New Mexico ultimately in any event, surely it were better to accept it now and thus secure statehood at once.
 There is hard y anything what ever to be said against the union of these two territories as one state except what may be asso- ciated more or less closely with the ambitions of politicians Some persons may say that since with two states there would be four United States senators in stead of only two, it would be better to wait and secure Sepa- rate statehood than to sacrifice all hope of getting the two addi- tional senators by accepting joint statehood now. But this is an argument winch appeals more to the hopes and the ambitions of politicians than to the sober thought and common sense of people who recognize that to send senators to Washington is by no means all that is to be gained by the erection of a state government.
 What statehood means above all else is local self government, independence in domestic affairs. The right of the people to make their own constitution, enact their own laws, to elect their own public officials without iE- terference from any outside source is of inestimable value to a community of American citi zens. Men of foreign birth may not grasp this; they may neither appreciate nor understand it. But it comes home to an Ameri- can with irresistible force.
 This right of selfgovernment must, in order to bear full fruit, be something more than the ory. It must conditions of vigor and strength which enable the people to achieve what independ ent, progressive enterprlslng people desire to achieve. It is little better than worthless when, for lack of strength on the part of the community, it cannot be ! fully exercised.
 For years Nevada was so weak by reason of the sparseness of it's population that it could ac- complish little or nothing that a strong state would desire to do. For instance in the reclamation of it's arid lands 1t was almost en- tirely dependent upon the work of the reclamatiun service of the government, whereas the people of Colorado and sev eral other arid states have done an enormous amount of reclama ton work on their own account. We may add that what the recla nation service will achieve in Colorado will be but a small part of the total reclamation work done in this state.
 Standing alone, Arizona would be a feeble state like Nevada,