Arizona weekly citizen., 1884-11-01

ment was in time or out of tune. MT. Hughes introduced a bill entitled an act to ald Tn the construction of capitol buildings, etc" It was the of a lottery scheme, under the auspices of what he styled the Arizona Development Company" What the Arizona Development Com pany may have been, or what its func- tions were or by whom composed. does rot appear. This was indeed, a bright hnaucial scheme, yet strange as 1t may seem, it did not succeed, and the money 1t was expected to bring into fine Terri tory's exchequer never made its appear ance and no capitol has been built.
 Mir. Hughes also introduced and secured the passage of a bill Council Bill No. 19) eutitle sn "act to authorize a loan of the faith and credit If the
 Territory to construct e wagon road from the city of Tucson in the county of
 Pima to Globe City in the county Of Pinal, and Sl0,0O0 was appropriated for the purpose. Now, while we do not question the motives of Mr. Hughes in introducing and securing the passage of this bill, it is a well known fact, that 1t practically resulted in a scheme to squander jus. that amount of the
 public funds of the Territory. The con- tract for budding the road was let to one
 Wiley, a sporting man of this city
 who after a fashion built what
 vas called a road, up the Arivaipa can yOn, which was never passable for loaded wagons, and which was entirely
 swept away by the first freshet, reuder- ing 1t worthless for any purpose what ever.
 Mr. Hughes next introduced what he styled 'an act 10 restrict gambling" but
 which was in reality to give 8 monopoly of the gambling business into the hands Of one or two persons ID eacn town. by the enoImIty of the tax charged. Sec ton of the law referred to provided that:
 The amount to be paid to the Sheriff for n quarterly license shall be five hun dred u"llars, and all licenses issued shall
 be dated and commence from the first day Of January, April, July and Octo- ter.
 This law, which exacted S2,OOO a year f the privilege of carrying on gam bling succeeded in what it was intended for. and the one or two men who were able to pay the license tax monopolized the business in Tucson and other towns, until the w became so unpopular that a subsequent legislature had to repeal It.
 NIT. Hughes also introduced other bills for the contraction of wagon roads in other portions of the Territory, which may, so far as We know, have turned out better, or worse. than his Arivaipa road The bills Mir. Hughes introduced and which passed, drew from the public funds of the Territory 9 for every one th.t NIT. Bean's did. He says Nr. Bean just three bills. and DO more. Now, 1t would have been much better for Mir. Hughes, and others who sat m the legislature of Arizona, fl tley had introduced and secured the pass age of one good bill where they have introduced half dozen worthless and loosely constructed bills which Wili now have to be revised or repealed alto Cether.
 Already the necessity exists for a com mission to C dify the imperfectly drawn and in many instances trashy laws of Arlzona. It will now cost the Terri tory from s15,OO0 to S20,OOO to go over the so-called laws of Arlzona, revise them and make a code that will be of use to the people and not contradict it. self in every other act. The incOmpe- ent men who occasionally get into our egislature and introduce measures by without any knowledge of what constitutes law, will III the end 'ost the people ten times as much as ,ood men who know what to do and how Q do il. We submit the question to Le electors of Pima, Pinal, Gila, Co., 'hise and Graham counties. whether 1t S not best to send a competent man Ike C. C. Stephens 10 represent us m be council, than a man like Fred Iughes who deals in glIttering general tles. without any correct conception of yBGt constitutes laws. He may mean yell, but Is he competent? This Is the | question you will have to decide at the l ,clls next Tuesday, and you should not | nake mistake. Stephens is a lawyer l f ability, who knows what Is needed | nd has the capacity and necessary | to fill the office.