Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1890-10-08
AN OPEN LETTER.


 To James K Lowry, Candidate for
 Sheriff of Yavapai County, Arizona:
 SIR:-YouT selection as one of the two candidates for the office of sheriff of Sayspai county, has induced me as cltizen and well-wisheT of that county to recall to your attention certain of your oflcial acts while member of the teTrl- sorlal board oi equalization and ask for an explanation of the same. In doing ibis. do so regardless of the political afbhauon of either of us. do II merely as an individual. and do 1t now before the campaign has opened, Tn order that you may have am le tune to make what ever defence you may deem most meat and proper. You will remember that early i'd 1889 you received and accepted from C. Meyer Zulics, then governor, sn appointment as member of the terri 1orisl board of equalization, to represent tue northern district of AriEona-con- slstIsg of tue counties of Mohase, Yava- pai and Apache. h doing so, you be- came, as l, were, the representative oi the taxpayers of those counties. You were the man selected 10 see that even
 handed justice was done to all classes; that no man or set of men should be favored in the matter of taxation more than another. To the miner, the merchant. the stockman, the rancher, as well as 10 the corporations os northern Arizona; and especially to those of Yay- i apal county, you were to act justly--un- moved by fear or favor. Dld you do thiss No From the outsetyou con- stituted yourself the champion of the railroad corporations of northern Ari- zona-and especially these of Yavapai county-by doing everything in your power to favor them al the expense of the men who you nov ask to eject you to the highest office in your county. You were railroad henchmen. . man to do their bidding, no matter al what cost to your fellow citizens. Let the records of your county show how well you did this. In June. 1889, when you entered on the dcties of your efhce the
 assessments against the three railroads of Yayapai connty-tbe Atlantic & Pa cihc, the Prescott < Arizona Central and tbe Central Arizona railway
 amounted 10 Si,oSos54 So-or over one third the taxable property of the county. h August, 1889, less than three months 1 after, the assessments against these rail- roads were reduced by your actiou-a' | your were the cnlS man on the beard 1 from notbern Arizona--to Sr,SIo,oI<. Against this reduction you never pro-
 tested. On the contrary you favored Ii by voting aye. Yet you must have
 known by doing so you reduced the taS
 roll of Yavapsi county S47o,a4o.So. on
 which the taxes for 1889 would have amounted to SI4.Io7.ae. You saved that amount to the millionaire owners of these railroads, by making the labor ing men of favapai county pay 1t. One road alone, the Prescott and Arizona Central, you assessed for less than the subsidy that Yavapai county had given
 to build it. h the face of this record you now ask your fellow citizens of Yava pal county 10 elect you to the office oi
 sheriff and assessor to position where you can pursue the same fsvorIt-
 ism to corporations that has already l saved them thousands of dollars, pos, ton for which your own party in con.
 sention fer this very favoritism 10 corpo
 ratiens has so often repudisted you. What have you te sayf Let us hear from you If you have any explanation ts effer ID regards to your action in the past. in Ysvapai county today there are m0nopolistic corporations who contro hundreds of thousands of acres of land
 who monopolize the timber, the water and the ranges Of onr county, yet vhc by such men as J5a, shirk and throw on the individual taxpayer the burden oI
 taxes which they, themselves, should IT justice bear. As in the past you have favored them, can you offer any reason why you will not do so in the future II it were worth while year ago te betray
 the men whom you now ask 10 support you fer efflce for the benefit of eastern
 millionaIres, is there any reason why you
 will not do it year hence5 Hoping tC
 hear frem you, am
 Very respectfully, k. ;. CLARK.