The copper era., 1908-01-16
THE LONE STAR OF ARIZONA.
Southwestern Opportunities and State
hood for Arizona.

few had statehood thrust upon them.
Last year Arizona declined to be
thrust, when the process called for a
union with a foreign territory under
a single star.
Oklahoma found her affinity in the
person of her stalwart Indian neigh
Dor and the two entered the union as
one state. New Mexico sees clear
way before her, and the outlook is
for Arizona to remain a lonesome
territory or to proudly place her own
star upon the flag.
Such is beyond doubt the will of
her people. Until the star can take
its place upon the azure of our ban
ner, it will remain in the care of
grand people. AS a territory, Ari-
zona is rich No amount of imported
federal supervision has held her in
serious check. There have been
questions in the national congress of
great moment to the nation, in the
decision of which the whole west
would have liked the aid of Arizona.
There are obstacles to her own pros
perity which she will never overcome
until her own people rule. But still
she is grand. From the marvellous
canyon in the north, southwark
through the great pine forests, past
Prescott, Mayer, Jerome and the
Bradshaw mountains, with their
wealth of gold and copper, past Globe
will its metal and the Salt and ella
rivers with their setting of green
! fields and shaded groves of fruit,
down into the southern deserts where
the surplus wealth of the world is
buried a thousand feet below the sur
face-from north to south, the terri
tory is all magnificent. In Phoenix,
Morenci, Tombstone, Douglas. Bis
bee, Nogales, Tucson, Clifton, Solo,
monville and in thirty more rushing,
growing, prospering western cities
the American language is spoken,
clothes like those of civilized human
beings are worn, tall-spired churches
stand on many street corners, schools
and colleges exist and are patronized
by sturdy American boys and dainty
little girls who can trace their line
age back to the proudest families of
old Virginia or the proudest of Pill
grim danes. The carrying of fire.
arms is prohibited and the saloons
are closed on Sunday. Burdened
with the care of the invalid of half
the English-speaking world, they are
still a people hospitable in the true
old western way. From the mines of
Arizona comes a steady flow of gold
to sustain American commerce and d
supply of trade metals without which
eastern enterprise would languish.
Her fields are not so broad as the
fields of Illinois, but her harvest is
rich and her produce helps to feed
other than her own people.
In time of peace her men add more
to the wealth of the world in proper
tion to their numbers than the men
of any state. In time of war a
larger proportion of her men volun-
teered than the proportionate yolun-
teer and militia force of any state.
The statesmen, who stand in the
way of admission when Arizona
knocks at the door are the men whose
public position depends, and ever
must depend, on the votes of the
self-exiled from the serfdom of
Europe. The congressman who repre-
sents the Jungle in the stockyards
district has for his constituents a
people whose language is Label, whose
religion is the superstition of twenty
centuries of ignorance, whose politi-
cal ideas were gained in the realm of
the car or under the riotous rule of
the Austro- Hungarian combination.
Yet this congressman may be depend
ed upon to vote that the people of
Arizona are not yet ready for state
hood-Arizona or the Philippine
islands, which ever happens to be up
for consideration.
, New York City congressman calmly
declare Arizona incompetent, and go
! back and boast of it to constituents
who never had an ancestor who could
read or write. An Indiana senator,
|
I tVincennes, where the freedom of the
west was won by heroic men, used an
interpreter to talk to the people of
Phoenix, because he could not under
stand Spanish! The effect of the
translations thus obtained is said to
have had startling effect upon some
of the intelligent members of the
4 caucus.
h Arizona rightly declines to pledge
her heart to either of the political
parties. She will not put her state
hood in pawn before she gets it.
Within her borders, proud southern
families meet the sturdy men of the
north on common ground and unite
with them in single hearted devotion
to Arizona.
The entire west joins in the demand
that Arizona enter into the councils
of the nation. Politicians with their
ear to the ground will do well not to
mistake the meaning of the rumbling