Marcus A. Smith - Joint Statehood Battle

Joint Statehood Battle

Smith was assigned to the committees on Indian Affairs, Mines and Mining, and Territories when the 57th United States Congress convened in December 1901, . Early in the first session he called for a storage dam to be built with federal funds along the Gila River arguing "This is an appropriation for the purpose of providing a large number of peaceful Indians along the Gila River, in Arizona, with a means of earning a living." While the request came true several months later with passage of the Newlands Reclamation Act, it did not mark a change in Smith's attitude towards Arizona's indigenous population as later the same day he stated "the best Apache I ever saw was the one who had spent four years in the penitentiary." Smith also requested additional mineral exploration be allowed on Indian lands.

Most of Smith's efforts during the term went towards Arizona's campaign for statehood. He joined with New Mexico Territorial Delegate Bernard Shandon Rodey and Oklahoma Territory Delegate Dennis Thomas Flynn to introduce an Omnibus statehood bill intended to grant statehood to the three territories. Governors Oakes Murphy of Arizona and Miguel Otero of New Mexico even went to Washington to give a joint appearance in support of the Omnibus bill. After receiving a favorable committee report the bill advanced to the full House in May 1902. On May 9, Representative Jesse Overstreet of Indiana introduced an amendment to the Omnibus bill that Arizona and New Mexico territories be combined and admitted as a single state named Montezuma. Smith quickly attacked the proposed amendment on the floor of the House, arguing that Arizona and New Mexico had separate histories, financial situations, capitol buildings, and legal systems and that the two territory's habitable regions were separated by physical barriers. He concluded by claiming the purpose of the amendment was to ensure defeat of the Omnibus bill. Smith's speech was sufficiently rousing that the Congressional Report shows it received "long continued applause." The effort Smith put into the speech then resulted in his collapse upon the House floor. After Smith was taken away, the amendment was rejected and the Omnibus bill approved by voice vote.

Physicians were initially concerned Smith had suffered a stroke but were able to determine this had not happened. The collapse instead appeared to have been caused by a lack of sleep the night before, caused by Smith's last minute lobbying efforts, and the exertion of his speech. After two weeks he was well enough to travel to Kentucky to continue his recuperation. Remembering the 1900 election, Smith's associates called upon him to make an early decision on whether he would run in 1902. Smith announced he would not run for reelection on May 29, 1902. During the election he campaigned for the Democratic nominee, John F. Wilson, but did so, as noted by the territorial press, with the "heartiness and alacrity with which the school boy rushes to take castor oil."

By the time Smith returned to work, the Omnibus bill had moved to the Senate and Senator Albert J. Beveridge of Indiana was leading the joint statehood efforts. In June 1902 Senator Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania had organized a coalition of Senate Democrats and a dozen Republicans large enough to ensure passage of the Omnibus bill. Beveridge instead prevented the bill from receiving a vote in the full Senate by a 6–4 party line vote in the United States Senate Committee on Territories.

After Congress adjourned on July 1, 1902, Smith visited Carlsbad, Bohemia for several weeks of rest and recovery. Soon after his return to the United States, Beveridge organized a congressional fact finding trip to Arizona searching for signs the territory was not ready for statehood. Accompanying Beveridge on the three day visit were Senators Henry E. Burnham of New Hampshire, William P. Dillingham of Vermont, and Henry Heitfeld of Idaho. The group was ojined by Senator Thomas R. Bard of California during their stop in Prescott. During the lame duck session in early 1903, Smith commented upon the trip, saying "I met the committee — I never could have overtaken it — at Phoenix and it remained one day ... and 'investigated' a police judge and some census enumerators, and had an interpreter with them scouting the town to see whether some Mexicans could be found who could not speak English and prove valuable witnesses for the purpose of the investigation." Hopes for passage of the Omnibus bill died as Senator Beveridge used parliamentary techniques to prevent the Omnibus bill receiving a Senate vote before the 57th Congress adjourned.

When his term ended, Smith returned to private legal practice in Tucson. In February 1904, Smith went to Mexico City to defend his ownership interest of some mines in Sonora before the Supreme Court of Mexico As the election of 1904 approached, Wilson announced he would step down as Territorial Delegate. Smith accepted the Democratic nomination unopposed. During the campaign, Democratic newspapers that had once been solid Smith supporters gave him only tepid support. Republican newspapers in turn attacked Smith's past failures to secure statehood for the territory. The Republicans also attempted to label Smith as a supporter of the joint statehood movement. Voters did not agree with these claims and Smith won by the narrowest margin of his career.

In October 1905, Smith led a congressional delegation on a tour of the territory. The tour was hosted by a variety of railroad and mining interests within the territory and ended with a visit to the Grand Canyon. Following the trip the majority of the visiting delegates joined the opposition to the joint statehood effort. As the first session of the 59th United States Congress convened, Smith was assigned to Committees on Post Office and Post Roads, Public Lands, and Territories. Smith dealt primarily with statehood issues during the session but managed to obtain funding to build courthouses in Apache, Gila, Mohave, and Yuma counties.

Upon his return to Congress, Smith found the joint statehood battle largely as he had left it. Senator Bevridge was still working to create what he called "Arizona the Great". Meanwhile Senator Joseph B. Foraker of Ohio had replaced Senator Quay as the champion for an independent Arizona. On December 11, 1905, Foraker sponsored an amendment to a Senate statehood bill calling for Arizona and New Mexico to hold a referendum on the joint statehood proposal. The "Foraker amendment" was initially written by Smith and called for voters to answer the question "Shall Arizona and New Mexico be united to form one State?" The amendment furthermore required both territories to approve joint statehood or else the merger would be blocked. The amendment was passed into law on March 9, 1906.

In August 1906, Smith attended a joint meeting of the Democratic and Republican territorial committees where the two groups decided to work together to defeat the joint statehood proposal during the referendum. The next month Smith accepted his party's nomination for an eighth term in Congress. In the race for Territorial Delegate, both Smith and his Republican challenger strongly opposed joint statehood but Smith received the majority of the credit for leading the fight for an independent Arizona. As a result he won reelection. The joint statehood referendum in turn was defeated by the Arizona voters 16,265 to 3,141 while New Mexico voters cast 26,195 for and 14,735 against.

During the 60th United States Congress, Smith introduced bills to limit the amount of federal land set aside for military use, national forests, and Indian reservations. While the Progressive Era was well under way, Smith avoided taking a position on national level issues of the day. He instead continued the battle for Arizona statehood, introducing another statehood bill in January 1908.

When Smith returned from Washington D.C. in May 1908, the lack of the usual reception crowd indicated a decline in the Delegate's popularity. He however decided to still run for another term in office. Smith won his party's nomination but a challenge by Eugene Brady O'Neill resulted in a Democratic platform more reflective of the party's "Progressive" wing than Smith's "Old Guard" views. During his campaign Smith emphasized his contributions to defeating the joint statehood proposal, aid he had provided settlers in resolving land claims and his support of reclamation projects while denying he was controlled by corporate interests. Newspapers meanwhile criticized his nomination by claiming it had been made by "the machine" and not by the majority of party supporters. On October 10, 1908 Smith announced he had received a letter from William Jennings Bryan requesting he aid the Presidential nominee during a five state speaking tour. As a result of the request Smith was absent from the territory during most of the campaign. It was not until October 30 that Smith returned to Arizona, by which time speculation was flying the he had foreseen his coming defeat and had manufactured the letter as an excuse. With the hope that a Republican representative could gain statehood for Arizona after Smith's years of failure, many Democrats contributed to Smiths defeat by voting for Ralph Cameron.

Smith introduced his final statehood bill when the 60th United States Congress reconvened in December 1908. It failed as all it predecessors had. In February 1909, Representative Augustus O. Stanley of Kentucky gave a farewell speech for Smith that marked the territorial delegate's last day as a sitting member of the House of Representatives.