The copper era., 1911-03-10
ARIZONA DELEGATION
 SNUBS CAMERON
Only a Portion of the Delegation Went so Far as to Pay Visit
 to Mir. CamerOn'S Office.
Special to the Era.)


 have made little progress. It was a matter of comment that the dele gation acted independent of Delegate Cameron, although there is no ques tion but that MT. Cameron wodld have given them every aid possible, had not the body made it a point to steer clear of the Arizona Repres- entatlve. Only a portion of the de- legation went so far as to pay visit to MT. Cameron's office, a most un- usual proceeding in view of the fact that every other delegation, and practically every visitor from the Territory has recognized the office of their Delegate as Arizona head quarters. It is also the more strange that the visitors should have acted as they did, in view of the fact known to everybody in Washington that Delegate Cameron has never let up for a moment since coming to Con- gress, to advance the interests of Statehood. A few months ago Ari-
 
 who had secured for them their enabling act, after all previous at- tempts had failed, Then came the adoption of constitution distasteful to the Administration; but still Ralph Cameron continued to work in the face of the tremendous opposition the action of his territory had pro- duced. Everyone here knows how he kept free of the factional entangle ments that followed, and took the case of his people time and again to the President, to Sena tors and Con gressmen, hoping always against hope that Arizona might still gain statehood. Tn his straightforward way ke told the people of Arizona before the constitutional election that the constitution would not be D. proved, but when he did this he knew that his very action was against bis individual interests. But he was true to the trust that had been reposed in him. The constitution was adopted, as everyone knew it would be, and now the partisan spirit of the people responsible for ArizOna's predicanent has been emphasized by an attempt to ignore their Delegate, who has ac- complished more in term of syste matic, practical work for Arizona, than these men who are here can ever expect to att, The Washing ton attitude may dawn on. the Terri tory after while, and whether that position is right or wrong, there is no question but that it exists. The con dition was not of the Delegates mak- ing, and the stone wall is too high to climb. There is not a newspa per man in Washington that did not know long ago that Arizona had taken step backward in that matter of statehood, and those who have be come acquainted with the slight the Arizona delegation have attempted towards Mir. Cameron, are wondering why such short-sighted partisanship should be indulged in by men supposed to represent the best interest ot great community. Surely MT. Cam eron has earned applause rather than his own people, and had Arizona followed the warning that came from their representative and sought his advice, he would have unquestionably been able to secure for his people their cherished ambition of state hood. It may De added that the de legation has accomplished nothing absolutely nothing. As for Mir. Cam eron he has accepted the judgment of his people, and is doing everything possible to bring about the approval of the Constitution in an orderly way. He is ready to make any move to pull Arizona through and still hopes against the worst. The suggestion has been advanced that if approvaI fails, that the ena abling act may pos sibly be saved, and if this is possible Arizona can have another try at get ting into the union. Meanwhile statehood hangs high and dry.
 The Committee on Territories has concluded it's sessions, and one of the bills that died in committee was that for the S4OO,OOO bond issue for the sewer system of Phoenix. The Com mittee took up the matter and ascer tained that the assessed valuation of the city was 5000, I33 54, and that the present indebtedness is S55S, foo. The proposed issue of bonds would bring the indebtedness up to nearly ten per cent. of the assessed valuation, and the Committee refused to recom- mend the bill, giving as their reason that the people had just adopted q constitution in which article nine section eight, fixed the maximum bonded indebtedness of any muui cipality at not to exceed nine per cent. The Committee held that it should not, in this case, go beyond so recent a popular expression as to bond indebtedness matters iu the Territory, and it will therefore be necessary for Phoenix to reduce its bond issue.