The border vidette., 1916-04-01
ANNOUNCEMENT.

To THE PEOPLE OF ARIZONA:
 On numerous occasions during the past several months I have been interrogated as to my in tentionS. relatives to the next campaign. To all such inquiries it was difficult, until recently. for me to give a direct and de ciSive answer for the reason that l had not fully determined in my own mind whether public eX: agencies would render it neces Sary or even advisable for me to again submit my candidacy to the will of the electorate. Frank ly, and in all sincerity, I did not court another gubernatorial con- test at the polls, nor did I, either by word or deed, invite situa- tion which leaves me scant choice in shaping my future course of action. But even while I still remained undecided, hop ing, in fact, that no imperative crisis would place me under ate for the governorShip In the 1916 primaries, that certain ele- ment of Arizona's body polite which is plainly retrospective, which is the antithesis of pro- gress, and which has sought with the utmost reSourcefulneSS since the veriest inception of Statehood, to pervert the func, tionS of government to personal aggrandizement, have left open to me only a single course which I can conscientiouSly pursue.
 To the sovereign people of Arizona in whose service, I, as Governor, have exercised such loyalty, ability and industry as I possess, I now announce that as Democracy's candidate for the governorship, subject to the primaries of the coming fall
 In making this decision. I hardly need disayow any mere ly personal desire to be retained in public office. However pro- found my appreciation of the honors and responsibilities al ready conferred upon me by the people of Arizona, and notwith- standing any honest pride that I may have taken in striving to fulfill my official obligations both faithfully and we'll, discern no appreciable personal element in the approaching campaign. On the contrary, l conceive the con- ing contest for all State offices to be one in which issues rather than personages will figure Condensed to sentence or two, the real predominant issue con sists of human rights, disposi- tion to progress, and majority rule, on the one side, and reac- tionaryism, predatory purpose and minority rule upon the other. Not that I would needlessly ar ray against one another any of the SO called social classes which are component parts of the body polltic. Such an alignment, even though a reality, must al ways be regarded with depreca- tion and regret by thoughtful citizens, but the issue, in this instance, was neither shaped nor determined by the people of Ari- zona as a whole. Rather has it acquired it's present formidab ble proportions through ill advised and oft-repeated attacks of a small minority upon the inherent right of self government which is guaranteed to a liberty loving people by the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Arizona.
 Time after time, during the past four years, and especially y during the last year, the snokes- men and newspapers employed or controlled by corporate wealth have inveighed against the grow ing independence of labor, the humane management of State institutions and the shaping of government in conformity with the needs of the proletariat They have cast the die; let the result be what it may-the peo- pie will determine.
 The civic and political values immediately at stake reach far beyond the present and are fraught with portentious possi- bilities for Arizonais. citizens of today and for posterity as well. Whether Arizona, loyal to her Constitution, shall continue