Bisbee daily review., 1906-09-06
Wh0t r10rR Snnith DidinCOnqreS
| OF THE PUBLIC RECORD OF ARIZONA'S ABLE DEL
 EGATE, COVERING A PERIOD OF SIXTEEN YEA RS, l AND SOME OF THE BILLS PASSED THROUGH HIS

| Few public officials have had the op- I portunity and good fortune to so en- | dear themselves in the hearts of their ! constituents as did Mark Smith in the | last session of congress when he, with | out even a vote in the body, succeed 1 ed, by the aid of the democratic con | gressmen and senators, in defeating
 the joint statehood bill over the de- l termined efforts of the national admin | istration to make one state of Arizona and New Mexico without giving the people of Arizona the right to say yes or no on the proposition. If Mark Smith had never done a single thing | during his sixteen years in congress as the representative of this territory, the services he rendered in the last
 session would be sufficient to repay Arizona ten fold for all the favors of the past. This is the almost universal sentiment of AriZona's people and when Mark Smith is nominated again the convention today 1t will be
 by the unanimous vote Of the demo cratic party and the act will receive the applause of hundreds of republi- cans in every section of the territory who know the worth of Mark Smith in Washington and believe in reward ing duty well done.
 But it was not only in the present
 congress that Mark Smith made a
 good record: he has always been equal to every emergency in looking
 to the welfare and protecting the in tsrcsts of Arizona and AriZonans in thc national law making body.
 NIT. Smith was first elected to the fftieth congress, 1sS7-1SSS. and the January following his election Mark Smith introduced house bill e166 to develop the water resources of Ari- zona and to provide for the reclama- ton of the desert land within our ter ritory. Our delegate worked hard to secure the passage of the measure but it being one of the very first irrigation bills public sentiment was against him. yet he is credited with making | one of the best and most forcible | speeches on the measure that was heard that session. h the same month | be introduced and passed bill re- ducins the White Mountain Apache | reservation and secured title for the | settlers in the town of McClelland, l thus saving many early settlers their homes. During the same session of congress he introduced and passed a bill giving Arizona an additional jus tice of the supreme court, which all attorneys will testify was very much l needed in the administration Of jus tee in this territory. Later he intro duced a bill to forfeit the Algondis land grant in Yuma and upon the showing made by Mark Smith Of this gigantic swindle this grant was de- clared fraudulent and opened up to public settlement. He passed meas ure permitting estray cattle to be re- 1 turned from Mexico to the United States without payment of duty-this | bill saved hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cattlemen of Arizona. He secured by act of congress a title to the lands occupied by the settlers oi. the Fort Lowell reservation near Tucson.
 He introduced bill No. 7079 and sub- i seouently obtained relief for the set tiers on forfeited land grants, who had paid double the minimum price for the land, thus saving large sums of money for the settler. He intro l duced a bill for, and finally had a pro- vision passed. compelling the govern ment to try in its own courts al h. dians accused of crime, thus making a great saving to the taxpayers Of Arizona He also passed provision requiring the government to repay to the various counties of Arizona all monies paid out in Indian cases and induced the government to assume and pay all costs to the territory and counties for the maintenance of In- dian prisoners, thus another large saw ing was made to the taxpayers. He passed a bill for the relief of John Marion of Prescott, who by drought had defaulted a large sum of money on a wild hay contract with the gov ernment He passed bill giving the right of way for the Gila Valley. Globe & Northern railroad across the Apache reservation vetoed by Presi- dent Cleveland on the ground that the bill did not provide for getting the
 What is to become of the spelling