Bisbee daily review. [volume] (Bisbee, Ariz.) 1901-1971, 1910-02-18
PRESS COMMENT
SENATORIAL OUTRAGE

two territories OF magnificent natura
endowments. living IN towns and O
farms that the above the average
grade of American towns and farms.
/ with school systems also above the
average. with five thousand miles of
railroads and all the mechanical ao-
cessories of modern civilization in its
! moreambitious and successful phas-
es-these people are excluded from
the full heritage Of citizenship. and
their great commonwealth have been
kept uncovered OF their rightful sove-
reignty, for no reason in the world
that rises above the level OF ordinary
ward politics.
Arizona and New Mexico have been
held under pro-consular rule. such as
Rome administered upon foreign pro
| vinces, because of a senatorial ma
jolity in Washington that has insist
/ ed upon regarding the making OF
states as a mere detail Of the bust
ness of making senators.
| The need of electing senators by
direct popular vote is never more ap-
parent than when looked at in the
/ light of this senatorial outrage upon
the southwest territories. over and
over again the House has passed
statehood bills-and the senate has
tossed them CONTEMPORARY aside.
The proposal To weld these two
very independent and characteristic
commonwealth into a single state
lacked sincerity as it lacked sense.
II was invented to kill time.
The boundary between Arizona
and New Mexico is demarked by ma
ture. They are separated by the
backbone OF the Continental Divide.
New Mexico drains to the Atlantic,
Arizona to the Pacific.
| The notion that they are not
ready" for statehood has its basis Cd
ly in Ignorance and misrepresenta
ton. Everybody who knows any
thing about the matter knows that
not a dozen states have ever been
added to the original thirteen that
were much more than half as fit as
these.
No intelligent man can travel
through the Southwest territories
seeing them with their own eyes.
without discovering the imposture of
the pretense that they are undercivi-
lized. More more than a decade the
Hearst newspapers have held II
among their special objects of devo-
ton to puncture that present lie The
carrying of a trainload OF senators
and representatives through the ter.
ritories In the autumn OF 1903, as the
guests of Mr.. Hearst. was only an In
cident Of a long campaign OF ocular
demonstration.
The Eastern visitor of Tucson.
Phoenix or Albuquerque is forced 10
admit that these towns have more
of the conveniences and elegancies
of modern life and higher civic
temper than most OF their sister cit
les of like size on the Atlantic slope
or in the middle West. Local pre-
objections aside. they are better TO
look at or to live in.
The theory that this Southwest
country is only a desert is fatty abb
surd. Arizona has more land actual
ly under ditch or irrigabie than the
whole area OF some eastern states
and it contains an unbroken forest as
big as Indiana.
More than fifty thousand home
steads have been taken up in New
Mexico within the last three years
and there are three million acres of
land under cultivation there.
Altogether. with Mr. Taft fresh
from visit to the territories, and
Nth Senator Beyeridge row clothed
aud in his right mind on this subject
we may expect that in the present
session of congress the long-dravp
disappointment of Arizona and New
Mexico will be brought to an end.
II is inconceivable that any honest
interest or any respectable argument
can oppose the bill OF separate state
hood
A poll OF congress taken with great
care recently showed both Houses OF
congress to be Overwhelmingly fav-
orable to this measure. Sixty-seven
Of the ninety-two senators put them
selves on record for separate state
hood-and 242 of the 3Ss representa-
lives were eouaIIv emphatfc