Show Vl eleni Eni eri hunu dUnT OF or SELF government est EXT the amie question quo qui stion of bf the colora union roust dence over all other questions quest loni ioni which contemplate the welfare of our one territory for it is the most far reaching of sli all sil others having in view not only oar present but our future interest because of the supreme importance of this subject it becomes all those bose t who ho have any influence in public sentiment to exert it in ili such stich a way as to secure the result contemplated it is certainly no time to remain silent while those who aril arif are ild devising fin unfriendly friendly legislation it ahe ate N so active in beeking seeking to accomplish their purpose T r r win in a former articie article we briefly referred to the strength and development w which is secured to a state by tho exer exercise eise else of 0 its ita functions as A a boio self sus sua tain ing jbv this is a consideration which Is easily understood because it touches the material interests of the people but every on one i e ought to be capable of appreciating apPrise lating the argument that appeals to something higher than ones love of material good and so when we speak of the right of government self as something osben bially desirable in itself we ought to feel that we verily stand on vantage ground when we present our plea to be a recognized as one of the soven ele elp h states there is no idea BO so p peculiarly american as the night right of belt self governs nent plent there is nothing about which the citizen is 18 so sensitive the least infringement is Js resented at once as a usurpation of bf power so prominent is the place which it holds in the minds of many earnest and honest men that it seems to conflict with every sensible view of the true relation which the federal and state governments hold to each other this right being known and admitted as the foundation principle of our institutions it is natural that the first thought should be to assert it whenever and wherever it may seem to be denied without sufficient cause for the can mind must admit that this right like every other buch auch as personal liberty for example may be justly abridged when ills it Is abused and the interests of a community are injured by its unlimited exercise no demand then can be felt to be more imperative by a citizen of a territory which possesses intelligence and every other possible qualification for self government than that he hd and his fellow citizens should be allowed to enjoy their right as an in dependent and sovereign people within the meaning of the constitution he must be quite destitute of t the e spirit which distinguishes the amer amen american can oan people who will pae passively occupy the place of ofa subject when be he possesses the qualities which fit nit him to administer his own affairs he hab haa not the sense of independence and seif self sufficiency which characterized the first citizens of this region while it was wa s yet unknown as a separate territory they felt in that early time that even the government of kansas was not entitled to sovereignty over a people for whose interests it could not properly legislate and so the settlements of the plains here and elsewhere governed themselves by laws which were enacted by the people of each settlement we are not indulging in any mere were sentiment when we speak of this abstract right of self government as a thing la in which colorado Is interested as a principle it is not simply a fond idea to which we are devoted and which has become significant to us ua by reason of our fo republican education edd edo catton cation it is essentially ae senti ally an inalienable right belonging to all men as their thein natural inheritance if men have hays been so long robbed of olt git it that they not only do not appreciate the loss and have become ignorant of its value and importance but are also indifferent to it as something to be contended for then we are furnished with the strongest possible argument for persistently asserting our claim as as citizens cit fzens of colorado on this ground alone to be fully endowed with the privileges of an independent government t denver lenter tribune |