Arizona republican., 1910-08-07
PHoENIx, ARIZONA. AUG. 2. 1910
Tn. Disadvantages of a Record.

Less than twenty years ago dele gates purporting to represent the peo- pie of Arizona met in constitutional convention" and framed constitu- tion which was offered to congress with an application for the admission Of the territory as a state.
 That constitution was a freak It made Arizona laughing stock throughout the nation. The territory, notwithstanding the great progress since made in every line, notwith- standing the high character of our citizenship, notwithstanding the high average of education and intelligence, cause of that constitution.
 A distinct memory of that cOnstitu- ton was the controlling factor which led congress and the president of the United States to include in the en- abling act passed last June a pro- vision that the proposed constitutions of Arizona and New Mexico must be submitted to the president and con gress for approval, and that without this approval admission would be de- nied.
 Had it not been for the memory of that constitution, and had it not been for foolish legislation recently en- acted in this territory which tended to confirm the belief that Arizona could not be trusted to avoid silly extremes. it is altogether likely that there would have been no disposition to retain control of the situation at Washington.
 One of the pieces of foolish legisla- ton to which we refer was the par tisan action of the late legislature in passing a so-called educational quail fication Iaw'-passing it twice over the governors veto-which on the face of it was a palpable effort to abolish free elections and give con trol to partisan election boards, and a palpable effort to repudiate sa- cred treaty between the United States and Mexico.
 Another piece of foolish legislation was the abolition of the law psovid- ing for a public examiner of county accounts-passed because the incum- bent of the office was a republican . It had been seen, also. that the very latest legislature elected here had shown itself so supinely subservient to political bosses that it had sur rendered ali its rights and accepted dictation from a committee of out siders called the "caucus"
 We repeat had it not been for the lively memory of our freak constitu- tion. and had it not been for the rec ord made by the latest legislature elected. there would have been no requirement. for a submission of our constitution to Washington. in sll probability, notwithstanding that such procedure IS SliiCN the practice which prevailed in the admission of territories until recent years
 In the face of the suspicion which prevails at the national capital as to Arizona's readiness for the responsi- bilities of self government, loud chorus is going up from many quar- ters of the territory in favor of an- other freak constitutions constitu- ton. we mean, which will be looked upon at Washington as a freak, and which if adopted here will certainly be rejected there.
 The dominant note in this chorus is: We don't care what they think at Washington They won't dare re- ject our constitution"
 Such statements betoken a close approach to insanity. They will cheerfulIy dare to reject the consti- tuition if it does not meet their ap- proval.