Arizona republican., 1911-03-21

extraordinary progress I have seen Governor Kibbey has spoken Of my se- curing the passage of the irrigation act. Fortunately. I knew the west, | from the great plains to the Rockies, and I did all I could for the sake of our country in getting the passage of the act
 I want to congratulate you on the public spirit you are showing in this valley. and the way you are working together I just came over that great bridge, and it is fine to think how the i citizens gave each a dollar SD that it might be possible, and we see what it is possible to accomplish by working together for a common end. The problem of our future is in keep ing that magnificent spirit of initiative, which has made the pioneer people suc- cessful in the past, and joining to it the power and ability to use the collective power Of the people to achieve com mon purpose.
 Now. friends, Governor Kibbey has spoken of me in regard to statehood. I thank the governor for what he said. and he has expressed it exactly as would have expressed il. l have not got anything to take back. When Ok lahoma and the Indian Territory want ed to come jn as one state. it made it possible to bring them in as one state. I hoped that Arizona and New Mexico would see fit to come in to- gether. but they did not. and it was their affair, and I did my best to get them in as one state.
 ARIZONA'S RIGHT.
 "I regret that Arizona was not ad- mitted to Statehood by the last con gress. and I trust that the next con gress will without fail admit it. The objections to admitting it I regard as without warrant of justice Appar- ently these objections have beeH chiefly or entirely due to the fact that Arizona has adopted in it's con stitution the referendum, initiative and recall. I do not aafee with the form in which Arizona has adopted the recall. especially as regards the judiciary; but while l regret that Ari- ZOna should have adopted the recall in this fashion, I not merely admit, but insist, that this is a matter purely for Arizona's own decision, and that neither the opinion of myself nor of any other outsider on the subject has the slightest bearing on Arizona's right to the privileges of Statehood. What the views of New York and Texas upon the question may be has nothing whatever to do with Arizona's right to its own views. It is difficult for me to discuss seriously the asser- ton that the adoption of the initia- tive. referendum, and recall, make a form of government which is not re- publican. Switzerland has adopted all three. and to say that Switzerland is not a republic is simply a contradic- ton in terms Surely no one can expect to be taken seriously if he asserts that oregon or California in its forms of government is not as ab- solutely republican as Connecticut, or Pennsylvania, or Mississippi This being so, there can be no ground for refusing to admit a territory to state hood when its proposed constitution does not essentially differ from the actual constitutions of certain states already within the Union.
 INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM.
 The principles of the initiative and referendum may or may not be adapted to the needs of given state under given conditions -I believe that they are useful in some communities and not in oth- ers--but to deny a territory the right of statehood because it has adopted these principles. is as wrong as to say that Vermont should not be a state because its governmental system is based upon the principle of the town meeting If the constitution of the
 IOvhtinued on Pase Four.J