Daily Arizona silver belt., 1908-09-13
CRASHING AT A STRAW

 defect, and it is certainly making the most possible from this sin of omission in its campaign for the election of Cam eron.
 It asserts in two-column, double slat- ted measure that Mir. Smith has failed in securing government appropriations to cover the cost of the construction of federal buildings in the towns and cities of Arizona.
 MT. Smith has failed in this under taking for the sole reason that repub- hcan congress said no. That the dele gate presented the proposition and worked for it's consummation not even the Journal Miner will deny, and if that paper is disposed to be truthful it could tell it's readers that in addition to the addition to the adverse attitude of a republican congress MT. Smith.was con fronted with another obstacle almost as great.
 If there is one city in Arizona in need of federal building, that city is Phoe- nix, and there is some question regard ing the necessities of Phoenix in this matter. But let that be as it may, the rson;<,t fs;+,, hoe hao,, o,,& xx,;&h ;&s %o,x, line for many years, and possibly could have secured the prize had it not been for the "butting in'' of Prescott and Tucson. If United States buildings are not to be erected in our town, said Pres colt and Tucson, federal building shall not be erected in Phoenix, and bang, bang, went the hammers of the knockers. Confronted with the jealousy and spirit of envy, Delegate Smith found the sledding mighty rough. In spite of this opposition he has succeeded in securing an appropriation for Phoe. nix and building will soon be going up in that city. These are the facts as far as federal buildings in Arizona are con. cerned. The Journal Miner is apparent ly unmindful of the fact that the bills for these structures are footed by the people, and that the money does not come from mysterious vault hidden away in the treasury at Washington supplied by some invisible and un- known hand.
 But while on this subject let us com, pare Arizona's fate with that of more pretentious commonwealths. North Da. kota, with population considerably greater than Arizona and represented in the national legislature by two repub. lican senators and two republican con. gressmen working hand in hand with the powers that be, has one federal building of modest cost and very tame architecture located in the city of Far. go. The United States court holds ses. sions in four cities in that state, and more business is disposed of at any one of these four city sessions than in the combined federal courts of Arizona The real necessity for the promiscuous scattering of United States buildings in North Dakota has not been made ap parent to the government, and for that reason, and the same reason is applica. ble to Arizona, only one federal build. ing is found within the state. Condi. tions are exactly the same in South Da. kota. There isn't a federal building in tho republican state of Nevada. Mon. tana has two. Idaho has one.
 Necessity governs expenditures of this kind, liberal apparently as has been the government in the past. Think of itl Los Angeles, city of more than S0o,ooo people, secured during the past eighteen months, an appropriation for federal building, and construction is now in progress.
 These appropriations were made, how. ever, when surplus ruled in the United States treasury. Republican extrava- gance has long ago wiped out this sur plus and daily growing deficit of startling proportions now confronts the people. If Arizona was represented in congress by hundred grafters of Bru- tus cunning, they'd have very uphill work in securing, at this time, an ap. propriation for federal building for any city in Arizona, and Prescott would be among the last they would try for.