The Arizona sentinel., 1911-01-26
"OnIy Themselves to BIame''

citizens of Arizona who look for ward with such optimism to the ratification of their constitution and the speedy admission of their state to the sisterhood of cOm- monwealths are either ignorant of the grotesque provisions of that remarkable document as il comes from the hands of the constitution mongers or they are singularly fatuous in their idea of what constitution should be. The Oklahcma constitution, which was vigorously attacked by Mr. Taft before the admission of the forty sixth state, is quite "reactionary'in comparison with the Arizona instrument, which, as somebody felicitously says, "reads like set of resolutions adopted at a Sunday afternoon socialistic mass meeting"
 Some of the provisions of the Arizona constitution are the fol lowing: The initiative, referen dun and recall, so dear to the populiStic and sOclalistic beart: the amendment of the conStitu- tion by 8 majority vote of the people on petition of 15 per cent of the voters; direct primaries for United States senator's; phys ical valuation of railroads; and a choice assortment of other pet political fads, most of which have either never been tried, or, when tried, have proved failures
 The fiippancy with which so many people are eager to amend the constitution of the United States IS being reflected in these fantastic provisions which de- part so radically from the or. ganic instruments of states that have progressed for scores of years along the lines of conserv- atiye advancement. There seems to be on the part of the radical politicians no sense of the' sol emn character of a state conSti- tutiOn-an instrument which in it's way is quite as much a palla- dium and bulwark of popular T liberty as the immortal document of the nation itself, which for a dozen decades and more has been conceded the greatest constitu, 1 Cional document the world has ever known-aS nearly an in spired instrument as the mind of man has evolved. A constitu. tion, state or federal, is the last place for embodying the passing vagaries and chimeras of wild, eyed political faddists. Dema- gogic politicians, playing to the grand stand of popular preju- dice, never lose an opportunity of making the constitutions of new states experiments instead of Repositories of the experience of the nations accumulated his tory. Issues and iSms concocted overnight are old enough for them to thrust into document which is to be the organic law ot millions of people for genera
 tions to come, to be wisely amended only after the most pa triotic and seasoned deliberation, not slashed and mangled at the behest of one out of every seven voters in the state. Oklahoma ought to serve as a warning, but the Oklahoma constitution seems to be serving as model for the demagogues and faddists in Ari' zona, and also in New Mexico, where the democrats are seeking to undo the wise work of the republican majority. The peo- pie of these two territories will have only themselves to blame if statehood is delayed by the adoption of constitutions which are repugnant to the sober judg- ment of those to whom the en- abling act wisely committed a restraining authority.
 
 Saves Two Lives.
 IL