Arizona republican., 1922-01-17
Petitioners and MsmoriaIists


Glancing casually over the pages of the Congress
siona Record of January g. under the head Of "peti
tons and memorials in the United States senate,
wye was arrested by two entries:
MR.. sHoRTRIDGE presented a memorial
OF sundry citizens of Chico, Calf, remon-
strating against the enactment of Senate
bill 194S, providing for compulsory Sunday
observance in the District of Columbia, which
referred to the Committee on the District
of Columbia
OH And:
MR.. MCLEAN presented memorial of
gss sundry members of Wadsworth Chapter,
isf Daughters of the American Revolution, of
% Middletown, Conn, protesting against the
proposed dispossesson of Mojave Apache
Indians from their reservation in the Verde
Valley, which referred to the Committee
Indian Affairs.
We curious to learn what possible interest
"sundry citizens" of the remote town of Chico, Cali
tornia, have in rather against Sunday obser-
vance in Washington. d. c.. and what "sundrey
bers" of Wadsworth Chapter d. A. r. of Middle
town. Connecticut know about the situation OF
small remnant of the Mohave- Apache Indians of
Arizona. But we marveling at the human
tendency to butt in.
AS to Sunday observance, most of favor that
to some extent, at least. If happen to have
special veneration for the Sabbath in Difference to
those who do 'venerate it, we observe it,
observance within reasonable limits.
Such legislation is not enacted or is not sup
posed to be enacted under religious impulse. 1t is
intended only the outrage of the sensibil
Z ties OF very large section Of our citizens just as
s's we laws against the public Of profane or
gribald language outrageous conduct in public
places offensive alike religious person and others
Of a normal way Of thinking
q AS to the situation of the Mohave- Apaches,
think we know what the "sundry members" Of the
Connecticut chapter suppose-that the Indians
about be dispossessed Of ancestral heritage,
Indians in all parts of the country have been, in
Connecticut as well. since white set foot
IN the country But for the tendency Of the whites
to supplant them, there would be Middletown,
Connecticut, now; there would have been
commonwealth Of white men in America; there
would never have been an American Revolution;
therefore there could have been Daughters Of it
and no wadsworth chapter
But the land along the Verde river, that is to
say, in the vicinity OF old Fort Mcdowell is more
the home of the Mohave-Apache than any other
section Of the country: That immediate country
within the settlement Arizona until within the last
generation was occupied by a military reservation.
Fort Mcdowell outpost used chiefly to guard
the feeble whites against the Apaches. Around the
fringe of the reservation a settlement of whites
established. When the post was abandoned
moved away, and there remained only some cattle
men.
1t is less than a generation ago that the govern
nent permitted few native Apaches to move in and
they have lived there precarously SINCE though
paratvey few have since resided there continuously.
We know of settled purpose to dispossess those
who there to make their condition any
worse than it has been.
We recall that about year ago pamphlet was
issued by organization, kindred to the Indian
Rights association. in which enumerated the
wrongs Of the Indians, among which was the
project for taking water from the Verde to supply
the city of Phoenix.
We may say. somewhat irrelevantly that so far
the citizens of Phoenix have consumed so little Of
the water of the Verde that the sharpest OF the
Mohave- Apaches cannot have detected the slightest
dimnution of the Indian supply.