Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1892-02-24
Tha Mnhare County Miner. i,

gate. Our contemporary copies
 the article in recent issue
 and we rather suspect approves of
 the concealed warning which it con
 tains. Marcus is now serving his
 third term, each and every one of
 which have been "Mark"-ed by a
 masterly inactivity rarely equaled in
 a public official. It is true that be-
 tween his periodical excursions of
 "Au-reel'-ing a fishing line, our
 delegate has introduced a number
 of bills, and on few occasions has
 appeared before committees and
 talked for an hour or so, but so far
 as heard from very few of his bills
 have ever became laws. His last
 campaign was made solely on the
 strenghth of "the bills l introduced"
 But will a northern Arizona demo
 crat get the nomination' 1t is an
 open secret that favorite demo
 cratic son of Prescott permitted the
 nomination to slip away from his
 grasp two years ago. That he could
 then have laid Mir. Smith away on
 the political shelf, where he should
 have been placed at the expiration of
 his first term. Will his party give
 him the nomination this year which
 he virtually declined two years agof
 The last democratic legislature of this territory demonstrated that the party is not to be trusted in legis- lating on financial affairs. Prior to the passage of the expense fund law by that body the finances ofthe several counties in the territory were in reasonably fair condition, so far as county warrants were concerned. While the rate of interest which was allowed on warrants was rather hi h, ten per cent, it offered an induce ment for their purchase by which they were maintained at very nearly their face value. Parties who fur nished the county anything were paid for their work in warrants and being able to realize nearly par for them were satisfied. The expense fund law prohibits the issuing of warrants and everything must he paid for now in cash. The county saves but little in the operation, while its creditors are losers by the operation if the county has not the funds on hand to pay its bills. A due bill even,or no other evidence of indebtedness can be issued which can be negotiated by the creditor. This county will soon again be called upon to face the inconvenience of the law and be compelled 10 stand of its creditors. The supervisors ''hope to be able to meet the ex- penses of the present quarter" but from April lst until October 1st, or even later, they are unable to see where the money can be obtained to meet current expenses with. This contingency does not arise from the fact that the county is in bad con dition financially but the county is placed in the condition of being app bankrupt just from the operation of poor law.
 An exchange says that the num- Der of murders in this country last year amounted to 1906, or ,6O6 more than in 1890, and 3,S39 more than in 1889. The executions in 1891 num- bered only 123, of which P took place in the north and 96 in the south. That is, one murder in AS received capital punishment. Dur ing the same period the lynchings which outraged instead of avenged the law numbered 195, or 6S more than in any previous year. The Iynchings all occurred in the south. It is becoming too apparent that human life is held at too low an es- innate from the constantly increas-
 ing number of murders. Arizona has for the past several years enjoy sd a good reputation as law abid-
 ng country, as it has been long .ime since lynching has been in iulgedi in here. At the rate things nave been going a resort to lynch
 is inevitable, and those whose luty it is, judges and juries, to pro- ;ect society, should carefully con- iider the question. During the past rear in this county, one man who as cold-blooded mur- Ter as has ever been perpetrated escaped with two years entence. Two others equally cold ,looded and unjustifiable were ,iven a life sentence, which in Ari- ;ona in the past has meant on the Iverage less than five years. Dur ng the same time three or four nurderers, who should have paid the penalty of their crimes on the gal ows have been turned loose on the again. There is no use n disgusting the facts, or of at to suppress them that hese actions are severely criticised y the people, and human nature loes not differ in Arizona from 'ther places. It was failure to ob- ain justice in the courts that in luced the prominent citizens of | louisiana to head a mob and go to | he jail Tn New Orleans and shoot | town without mercy nearly a dozen # men accused of murder, and their 'ct was applauded throughout the ntire country. While mob law is O be deplored, and cannot be ap- proved except in extreme cases. the people of Arizona are no better nor my worse than those of other sec ions, and when justice fails in her
 tlax, ,ra i,,s& o. II