Graham guardian., 1895-05-25
THE LAW ENDORSED.

EDITOR GUARDIAN:-To the peo-
pie, the tax payer, the new classifi-
cation and salary bill, enacted by
the last legislature of Arizona, has
very many features to recommend
it, and not least among those things
is the feature that puts the COM
pensation Of officers on a basis
somewhat like that which individ-
uals in unofficial pursuits can OBJ
tain for services very like those
rendered by the officers affected by
this law.
1t contains an element of justice
to the public which has not here
tofore entered into the laws regu-
lating official compensation. In
the case Of this county it was not
known until within very short
time prior to the late election that
Graham county was or would be
first class county, and therefore
the compensation of the officials
raised accordingly. By what
might appropriately be termed an
accident it was found that there
were by the returns of the register
ing officers over fifteen hundred
qualified voters in the county, and
the officers suddenly became en-
titled to the increased pay attach
ed to first class county for dong
the business, less in volume than
former years, but such was then
the law and it was accepted.
However all things contained the
principle by which inequalities are
removed, and extremes are made
to meet, and the new classification
law has adjusted the harsh injustice
which had fallen on the property
of the county by not only taking
into consideration these things but
has gone further and seems to have
taken into consideration the great
depression Of business Of all kinds
and to have adjusted the compensa-
ton of county officers to something
like the pay which would be en-
titled commensurate for like serv-
ices un-off1cal in their character,
and in doing so have relieved the
tax payers of a very considerable
burden and started the counties,
debt ridden like Graham, towards
the point where they may catch
up with their obligations.
Officers may say, and with some
seeming fairness too, that, at the
time of their election the salaries
of their several offices were then
fixed and that in contemplation of
such fixed salaries they accepted"
the offices and that to change such
salaries under such circumstances
after their election is matter Of
bad faith towards them. Such an
argument overlooks the fact that
the incumbent of an Office does not
hold it by contract and that it is
entirely within the purview of the
powers of the legislature not only
to reduce the salary but to legislate
any one or all officers out of Office.
Such arguments also over look an
other very vital matter and that is
that in the legislature, for the time
being, is lodged all the powers of
the people, and that its action ex-
cept so far as it is restrained by
the organic law is the highest re-
preventative of omnipotence among
human institutions.
This classification law has met
the demand on the part of the peo-
pie who largely out number the
office holders, of a much needed re-
form, and so far no voice Of the
people has been raised against it,
while the cry from the Office hold
ers is almost universal that there
are such latent and insurmount-
able Irregularities in the inception
and passage of the law through the
different stages required that it is
incapable of enforcement, and that
it only has to be called in question
in the courts in order to subject
the people to the demands of those
whose "feed" has been regulated at
the peoples expense.
The state is composed of three
coordinate branches, the Execu-
tive, Legislative and Judicial, each
with their appropriate functions.
When the Legislative has expressed
it's action and the same has received
the approval of the Executive, the
evidence of such joint action is the
enrolled law in the archives Of the
Office of the Secretary of the Ter
ritory, and it becomes the duty of
the Judicial to enforce the law, not
to make it, though in some states
it has been held that the courts
''can go behind the records" to see
that the other coordinate branches
of the government have done their
duty, while the better view seems
to be that the highest evidence ofl
such action is the enrolled and ap-
proved law as it appears in the
Secretary's Office, signed by the
officers Of the respective |