Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1912-02-14
Statehood.

Statehood.
This is the day Of DAYS for Arr
IONA To-day the hopes Of wears. the
aspirations OF more than = quarter
century find their iruition in stat
hood Today the buds of hope burst
into fIH flower Of realization To-
day the sovereignty of more than
two hundred thousand people is
proclaimed To-day Arizona the last
Of the continental states. steps into
the union and thus completes the
"cean-to ocean chain Of sovereign
commemorative
Today the people of Arizona enter
upon a broader life They will pe
just the same people. with just the
same hopes and aspirations As they
had Yesterday. and vet there will he
difference. There viii be more IF
responsibility. more Of opportunity.
more Of that indefinable spirit nf
Americanism that ,aS made this
country great. II is well To- keep in
mind the truth that the material
gain. great A. it may be. Is only Il
small part Of the endowment 81
statehood. The real gain comes in
the full enjoyment Of the principle
Of self government
II is hoped and believed that th,.
people Of Arizona will govern them
selves wisely and we'll 1t is not
hoped they will not make mistakes:
and that IL not important. after all.
The truth of the matter * if We are
to make mista6es-and We will make
them just 50 surely as the sun
shines-the gist Of the matter * that.
if mistakes are to be made We should
rather make them ourselves than
have somebody else make them for
as. And if there is to lie glory
Of great achievement. We want that
too.
That is the glory of self govern
m"nt 1t is simply opportunity. The
government not as privilege but as
a right. They have asked il because
they are Americans and believe in
the American doctrine Of govern
ment by consent That is the sub |
stance Of the whole matter
This. then. is not only the day ri
T..ta.l
pOrtunity. Because Of the long fight |
made by the people Of Arizona for /
admission into the union. and be-
cause of the circumstances that have |
grown out of that fight Arizona oc-
cupies a peculiar position. The at
tention of the whole country has |
been attracted to this commonwealth.
The novel features that have been |
introduced into our fundamental law
are on trial and il it turns out that
the adoption Of those principles WAS
a wise act and one which makes for
the betterment and prosperity Of the
people Of this state, those principles
VIII nave received an impetus winch
will tend To secure their adoption
sooner or later by other states. Y.
on the other hand. the affairs &C
Arizona are not administered wisely
and If the results flowing from the
experiments which have been un-
derta6en here are disastrous, it is
not hard To see that the direct leg
islative program. at least the most
radical part Of il, will have received
setback that will be extremely dis
astrous to the cause Of insurgency.
There is no attempt here to say
whether this program is a wise pro-
gram. That is not the question.
Wise or not. the program is ours
and every fair minded citizen is dis
posed to give the new regime fair
chance and an untrammeied oppor-
tunity
The Republican purposes to sup
port every act of the democratic
administration which it believes wisel