Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1891-10-07

ne Sdlllofuid teSisAotuic shoui'
 pass law for the protection of its
 policemen and their property. Cali
 fornia criminals seem to have no re-
 spect whatever for the rights of of
 fcers. To escape from them is a
 common every day occurrence but
 for one to escape on & policemans
 horse is carrying the joke a little too
 far and something should be done to
 prevent a repetition of such indig-
 mites.
 The JOURNAL MINER does not agree
 with Goveror Murphy's estimate of
 the actual value of property in this
 territory. According to the assess
 ment roll it is placed at Ss,270.-
 4eS.2S, while he estimates 1t at E0,-
 0O0,O0O. There is no doubt but the
 assessed value is small, although
 the lssupervisors of this county
 crowded it up to all that it would
 reasonably stand, and in many cases,
 particularly in city property, the
 assessed value is greater than the
 actual value. There is considerable
 property in Prescott that the own CTS would be more than willing to
 part with at the assessed value, and
 in other cases the board of equali-
 ration assessed property at higher
 value than it had recently been sold for. What is true of Yavapai is equally true of Coconino county, in regard to the assessment, and if by any just and reasonable valuation, the assessment roll of the territory can be increased to S70,0O0,O00, the southern part of the territory is shirking their fair share of the ter
 ritory's expense.
 Our contemporary says that "a
 few extremely partisan republican papers denounce the Constitutional Convention because it is democratic, with precisely the same reason that
 the maddened bull in the arena charges the flag because it is red" It then adds that ''the Constitution of Arizona, as framed by the present convention, should be handed down to posterity as the handiwork and hard-work of representative Arizo- mans, simply Arizonans." The req son advanced for its adoption, it will be seen, has about as much red flag logic in it as the reason assigned for the alleged opposition to it. We desire to correct the impression, however, that republican papers de- nounce it. Neither republican nor democratic papers have seen enough of it yet to denounee or endorse it with any show of reason. The JoURNAL-MrSER has opposed the in- sertion of certain proposed articles in it, but whether they have been in it or not is not yet known. It has also urged the inser- ton of other articles in it, which it is safe to say the democratic ma jority has not had the courage to incorporate in the instrument. So far as endorsing or opposing the Constitution is concerned, We will wait until a copy of it is received and read before passing Judgment on it.
 The Tucson Citizen takes the same view expressd by the JOURNAL MINER on the question of submit ting a test oath clause in the con to a vote of the people, as will be seen from the following: The act which provides for the con stitutional convention also provides a loophole through which the dem ocratic majority can creep on issues they lack the courage to force. It provides that while the constitu- tion may be submitted as a whole, any article therein may be submit mitted separately to the people. With this provision in force there is no reason why the test oath" should not be adopted by the convention and submitted separately. All the iemagogueryhnd claptrap harangues that ''the people do not want it," would be done away with and the responsibility of its adoption or re- lection would be upon the people. where of right it belongs. If the democratic majority have any con fidence in their own statements that the adoption of the test oath would be obnoxious to Arizonans, let them prove their sincerity by submitting 1t to their constituency. If the democratic majority will make good their non-partisan boast, they will nnhesitatingly adopt this provision. We greatly fear, however, that their as to the wants of the people are no deeper than the windy used against the adoption ,f this just and meritorious measure. Let the people be the judges.
 Our esteemed contemporary of Mohave county says that "the JoURNAL-MINER, of Prescott, howls | about our heavy indebtedness but neglects to state that this indebted ness was incurred under the admin | istration of imported officials" Assuming that it was, this fact does not diminish the debt by the frac- tion oi cent. Neither does it do away with the further fact that, even with the enormous rate of taxation now Tn force of from three and one half to four per cent, the territory