Arizona citizen., 1877-01-06
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.
The Message of Governor 4. IF. K. Stafford to the Ninth Legislative Assembly Of the Territory of Ar izOna

I 0 IzOna.
 GENTLEMEN OF THE COUNCH. AM
 HoUsE OF REFRESHMENTS - IT compliance with custom and law , now communicate to you such sugges 5 tiOns and information as seem proper 10 enable you to proceed intelligently - with your legislative business. Since [, the last Legislature convened, the pop
 ulatiOn, wealth and industries of the , Territory have rapidly increased l peace and order have in the main beer preserved, and the outlook for future
 advancement has at no period of Oul
 history been so encouraging. It there s fore devolves upon you, with renewed force, tO foster with Jealous care every |, material interest, to enforce the mOst , rigid economy, to harmOniZe all con
 flictng interests and to work in unison to advance every part of the Territory always remembering that each section is part of the whole, and as each part
 is injured or improved the whole is . delayed or advanced.
 EDUCATION.
 The education of the rising genera
 ton has kept steady pace with the in crease of population and wealth. For
 detailed information on this subject l
 refer you to my reports to the Board of Education, copies of which will be laid
 before you. According to the census
 taken in May, 1876, there are in the
 Territory, between the ages of six and
 twenty-one years, 2955 children, of
 whom 1491 are boys and 1464 are girls,
 showing an increase over the year pre-
 vious of AT. Of the number, 1l51 have
 attended school and 1450 were returned
 as able to read and write, making an increase of 542 who can read and write over the return of the previous year This is a very marked and gratifying decline in illiteracy, and from the pres ent efficiency and prosperity of the School System a continued or even greater decline in illiteracy may conf dently be expected.
 ! The financial reports from the seve- ral counties of receipts and disburse- ments for school purposes for 1876 are not completed up to the close of the year, hence 1 am not able at this time to report the same, but will, as soon as received, lay them before you. The ] total receipts from all sources for school purposes during the year 1S15 were l S2S, 15992, making an increase of S5,- y26.60 over the combined receipts for l the two years previous. The disburse- ments were $24, 15196, being all in creased expenditure over that of the | two previous years of $3,940j0. This large increase of revenue has been found necessary to supply the constant | demand for new schools, the number of these having increased from nine, as reported two wears ago, to nineteen, and the same ratio for increased school 1 facilities may be looked for in the flu ture as the country is developed and
 populated.
 4 tax of thirty-five cents on each one ] hundred dollars is levied and collected
 on all the taxable property in each of the counties of the Territory for school I purposes, and a tax of fifteen cents on each one hundred dollars is collected and paid into the Territorial Treasury for like purpose. It Is believed that the revenue referred to will be found
 sufficient to maintain the School Sys-
 tenn and provide for the constantly in- I creasing demands upon it. After
 watching carefully the present school
 law during the past two years, am of
 the opinion that in the main it meets
 the requirements as well as any law
 that can be devIsed. School laws, of l all others, should be changed as sel-
 dom as possible, and for various reasons, of which l shall mention.
 First: Nearly all the people have more or less duties to perform under the law, and sudden Ur arbitrary changes are ! liable to confuse. Second: When a law operates well changes are danger ous and rarely beneficial In view of ] these facts 1 would only recommend the law to be so changed as to provide that a census of the school children shall be taken biennially instead of annually, and that the school year close December 1j, instead of Decem- Der 31. By the latter change reports from the several counties can be for warded to the Superintendent of Pub lie Instruction in time to incorporate them in reports to the Legislature at the commencement of the session. The people of the Territory are so strongly attached to our Public School System and so cheerfully contribute the re- uuIred means to maintain 1t, that 1t Is hardly necessary for me to admOnish you to guard well this sacred trust that is now confided to your fostering care. At home and abroad the action of pre- viOus Legislatures Tn enacting laws toI establish and sustain free schools, where the rich and the poor alike can obtain the rud;ments of an education, has been looked upon with admiration. Hundreds of boys and girls within cur domain give grateful thanks to those | who have provided the means by which their young minds have been enllght-I ened. and they themselves are being preDared for lives of usefulness. The thousands more who are following on look to you with confident hope that while in your hands no blow shall be given that will injuriously affect their interests. The school room Is pecu- liarlv an American institution. It Is organized and kept free from sectarlan or political influences, the pupil Is given the rudiments of an education at least, and given also good moral in struction. In this way those of all creeds and political views can meet on an equal footing, with no word spoken or taught that can in the least, bias or influence them, and by this association each one learns to respect and love the other. regardless of religious or pollti- cal differences. When they are called upon the stage of action they will carry with them the remembrance ot theT school association. and this will pre- clude the possibility of such intoler ance, in consequence of an honest diff ference of opinion, as might result lt|