Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-07-28
STATEHOOD BILL INTRODUCED BY CAMERON

and which, 1t IS hoped, will become law early in the next session. The provisions of the bill are of tremendous interest to the. citizens of the terri tory, and the Silver Belt is one of the very few newspapers in Arizona to print the full text of the bill:
 Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States in congress assembled, That the inhabitants of all that part of the area of the United States now constituting the territory of Arizona, as at present described, may become the state of Arizona. as hereinafter proviedd.
 See l. That all the qualified cleo tors of said territory are hereby au- thorized 10 vote for and choose dele gates to form convention for said territory. The aforesaid convention shall consist of fifty-two delegates; and the governor, chief justice and secre- tary of said territory shall apportion the delegates to be thus elected, as nearly as may be, equitably among the several counties thereof in accordance with the voting population as shown by the vote cast at the election for dele gate to congress in said territory in 1908.
 Suffrage Qualifications
 A qualified elector within the mean ing of this section shall be any male citizen of the United States of the age of q years, who will have resided ta the territory six months next preced- ing the date fixed for the election of Aal tas tn m futi tion as herein provided for, and in the county within which he claims his vote for thirty days and whose name is or shall have been enrolled on the great register of said county, and who shall not be an idiot or insane person or who shall not have been convicted of a felony and not pardoned. Within ten days after the issuance of the gov ernor's proclamation ordering the cleo tion of delegates to the constitutional convention, as herein provided, the board of supervisors of each county of the. territory shall meet and authorize and require reorganization of the qualified electors of said county: Pro. vided, however, that there need not be re-registration of the qualified elect ors whose names appear on the great register of said county for the year 1908, but all such names, together with such as may be registered under the provisions of this section, shall consti- tute the great register of said county and be used at each of the elections herein provided for; and so far as the same is consistent with the provisions of this act, such registration, as also the making up, printing, distribution, and use of such great register, shall in all respects conform to and be gov erned by the provisions of Chapter III |, Title Twenty, Revised Statutes of Ari- zona, 1901.
 Calling of Election
 The governor of said territory shall, within thirty days after the approval of this act, by proclamation in which the aforesaid apportionment of dele gates to the convention shall be fully specified and announced, order an cleo tion of the delegates aforesaid in said territory on a day designated by him in said proclamation, within sixty days after the approval of this act Such election for delegates shall be conduct ed, the returns made, and the certiti cates of persons elected to such eonven tion issued, as near as may be, in the same manner as is prescribed by the laws of said territory regulating cleo tions therein of members of the legis lature; and the penal provisions of said laws are hereby made applicable to the election herein provided for; and said convention when so called to order and organized shall be the sole judge of the election and qualifications of ii, own members. Persons possessing, at the respective times for voting, the qualifications hereinbefore prescribed tor voters at the aforesaid election of delegates, shall be entitled to vote on the ratification or rejection of the con stitution formed by said convention when said constitution shall be submit ted to the people of said territory here under, and at the election of all of ficers whose election shall be provided for by the constitution and to take place at the same time as the first election of the representative in con. gress, under such rules and regulations as said convention may prescribe, not in conflict with this act.
 Meeting of Delegates
 Sec. 3. That the delegates to the convention thus elected shall meet in the hall of the house of representatives in the capital of the territory of Ari zona, at l2 o'clock noon on the third Monday after their election and they shall not receive compensation for more than sixty days of service; after organization they shall declare on be half of the people of said proposed state that they adopt the constitution of the United States, whereupon the said convention shall be, and is here by, authorized to form constitution and state government for said proposed state. The constitution shall be re- publican in form, and make no account of race or color, exceT lndias nos. taxed, and shall not repugnant to the constitution of the United States and the principles of the Declaration of Independence. And said eonven- tion shall provide, by ordinance ire. vocable without the consent of the United States and the people of said state
 Constitutional Provisions
 First. That perfect toleration of re- fgious sentiment snall be secured spd I