Arizona weekly miner., 1876-05-12
. PETITION TO THE sEc.Y OF WAR.

reference to the payment of contractors Tn Arizona for supplies furnished the various departments of Government that now en- barrass the people and withhold their just dues, rendering money scarce and times hard when there is really no necessity for it. At that time the business men of Prescott petitioned the Sccre tary of War for the es- tablishment of a Government Depository at Prescott and that funds be placed therein in sufficient amount to anticipate and meet the necessities of the Service in this part of the Territory, in order to avoid the disap- pointments and annoyances under which the people then labored and are still sub- ject to.
 That petition is as full of meaning to- day as it was then, with the exception of the clause relating to insecurity on account of Indians, and that with reference to pay ment being made in San Francisco, which has not been found effective, for the reason that the Chief Quartermaster of the Di- vision there has established a rule that
 
 is to ascertain how much money Arizona is entitled to during the year; this sum is di- vided by twelve, and each month ose- twelfth of the years appropriation is placed to Arizona's credit, whereas the supplies are nearly all furnished in two or three months and the contractors are obliged to wait for their pay in monthly driblets throughout the year. Here is the petition, which sets the matter forth in a clearer light than we can write it:
 PRESCOTT, A. T., January ?, 1873.
 To the HOn. " IT. Be,kaap, Secretary cf War:
 The undersigned business houses, doing business in Northern Arizona, would most respectfully represent:
 That it often occurs that for two, three, and even four months the Chief Quarter master of this Military Department is wholly or in part without funds with which to pay off Government liabilities, such as are continually arising on contracts for wood, grain, hay, freights, etc.;
 That the undersigned, either as contract ors themselves or by reason of customary and even necessary allowances to such con- tractors are often compelled to await pay ments until such delay and disappointment becomes burdensome in the extreme-par- alyzing business at home and at the same time injuring their credit in cities where their wholesale purchases are made; that as high as the amount of near $i0O, 900 of Gov ernment indebtedness las at one time been borne by the business men of Northern | AriZOna-at a time, too, when claims for | merchandise, etc, were pressing from | abroad and local trade, by reason of the ex- l treme scarcity of money, at a complete stand still
 That the business men of Arizona have | comparatively small capital, and that bur dens which might readily be borne by the | more wealthy and heavier operators in our large commercial cities are utterly ruinous to them.
 The undersigned would furthermore most respectfully represent that of late all monies to the credit of the Chief Quartermaster of the department have been deposited at the town of Tucson-a town near three hun- dred miles south of this place, near the s. nora line; that we have little and practi- cally no business with that remote part of the Territory; that the roads are notori- ously unsafe by reason of repeated Indian depredations, and that the mails are both slow and insecure; that Q. M. cheeks paya- ble only at Tucson can only be used in pay ment of our indebtedness in San Fran cisco and New York by submitting to an enormous discount-wholesale dealers in those cities not wishing to take the risk of forwarding said checks by mail through so unsafe country for collection.
 Wherefore we would most respectfully request that you would cause monies to be placed to the credit of this Department at such regular intervals that business men and may with reasonable certainty anticipate the payment of. the Governments liabilities, and that said monies be placed at Prescott, or in case thlt Is not regular and practicable, at San Francisco, as formerly, where the same may be available for busi- ness purposes without ruinous discount.
 The undersigned take the liberty of ad- iressing you the above communication, knowing tn it is not In accordance with he wishes of the Government, either direct y or indirectly, through its neglect, to bring distress upon any of its citizens, and fully md confidently trusting that we have but o make known our grievances to secure peedy and pefmi inent remedy for them.
 Rodenberg X Co.,, Melvin & Foster, Ed ward Kerr, Henry W. Fleury, J. H. Nc Iandless T. Otto, Jackson X Tompkins, Hewitt & Bartlett, Ed. W. Wells, Miller ''os., C. C. Bean, Levi Bashford, C. P. lead X Co.,, Herbert Bowers, Jacob Gold tein, M. Wolf, Geo D. Kendall, Campbell , Buffum, Lewis X. Stevens, Allen & White, /. H. Nation & O.. Henry A. Bigelow, ohn Raible, Barnett < B.ocip W. B. Hei- ngs & Co. Wormser < Wertheimer R. c lnanh.in E Cnrr,nll e A LII. h c