Arizona republican., 1908-02-26

l
 portunity to honor him. He is an old ! friend of Judge Taft-they were born | in the same locality of Ohio at about
 the same time. Judge Taft is known i to be AriZona's loyal friend. All | through the jointure campaign Taft
 was opposed to joining the territories, | although he was precluded by his po-
 sition from saying anything except privately. And Judge Sloan. as Ari-
 zOna's instructed ambassador. could
 not fail to De pleased to have the priv
 ilege of voting for Taft. Nor is the position Of clean handed delegate to a national convention inconsistent in the slightest degree with the high position held by Judge Sloan. when such an honor comes, as it comes to him. wholly unsolicited and without effort
 on his part.
 One of the highest functions sof
 American citizenship is 10 choose the chief magistrate of the nation. And strange as the thought may be to Mir.
 Adams-the duty of choosing the can
 didate for president would seem to be i more properly allotted to our very
 best citizens, rather than to profess sional politicians who have no higher conception of the issues or the day ' than to believe that the vital uues-
 ton is that of a traffic in offices Knowing all of these things, the governor or course has been glad to say to all inquiring republicans that he approves the idea of sending Judge Sloan as one of our delegates to Chi
 cagO.
 As to sending any other judge as d delegate, Mir. Adams knows far more about that than does anybody connect
 ed with the governors office-if he
 knows anything Of it at all The
 thought has rot been seriously enter
 tainer in any quarter, SO far as I
 knc cw-notwithstanding the high place
 which all of the judges deservedly
 hold in the regard of the people
 As to Governor Kibbey's interest ii,
 politics. and the charge that he Is no.
 a politician, I suppose he would ad-
 init both charges. But whether he
 would have it so or not. the masses
 of the party insist on regarding the governor as the leader of the party In
 the territory. IL was so under Gov ernor Murphy. the same under Cover nor Brodie, and is the same under Governor Kibbey. Republicans from every place in the territory write 10 him for advice Gnd counsel More oyer, the governors office Is a politi- cal office-the fact has to be admitted, and the party always will so look at it.
 Mir. Adams worries over the activi- ty of officeholders will not arouse any sympathy. Such wor- ries are part of the age-old crusade of the officeseekers against the office holders. MT. Adams already holds an important office-chairman of the ter ritOrial fair commission-put he wants something better. And as to the pro- prieties in the premises, he has been and will continue to be. at full liber- ty, like any other officehOlder, to take any attitude toward the territorial con- vention that he cooses.
 But perhaps he had in mind merely the activity or federal officeholders. and believes that territorial office holders alone should have voice in affairs? Still, his own record as postmaster of Phoenix, when he tried actively and repeatedly-and I believe. ! with uniform failure-to lead the re- publican party of Maricopa county. l and for two years of which term he was also chairman of the territorial 1 committee and managed Governor Murphy's campaign for congress, 1 would lead one to believe there was a time when he thought it was all right for federal officeholders to mix in pol itics.
 Indeed, it is my recollection that dur 1 ing most of the time he has lived here | MT. Adams has either held office or ! has been seeking office. He has been mayor and postmaster, and is fair | commissioner He has wanted to be | governor, United States marshal, and i Of the board of equalization i understand that he now aspires to Dt, | delegate to Chicago, and national com l and aspires to be gover- | nor. And looking over a memorandum | of local political events for dozen | years, a record, chiefly of victories by | others. l note frequently that U. c. | Adams also ran." So that activity in | politics, and officeholding, as an ob- jectiopable proposition, would seem tol have come to him as a late revelation.
 His assertion that the people of Ari- zona are denied home rule, by reason of the appointment of one third of | their offiCeholders from abroad. is ! worth looking into. If true, it would | be serious. What are the facts?
 There are fourteen federal offices in the territory G. e.. offices filed by presidential appointmen). plus some 2SO postoffices. There is a clerk of the district court in each county. appointed by the judge of that district. There are some fifty offices filled by ap- pointment oi the governor. This makes total of 357 offices. If one third of this total number. as repre- sented by MT. Adams, have been ap-