The Arizona sentinel., 1895-03-09

The manufacture of these articles can in no wise compete with free labor, and the market is close at hand with rapid and cheap trans
 portatlon. There are @ great many other ways in which prison ex-
 penses could be reduced, the length of this article will not per = init of mentioning,
 The above mentioned papers an imadvert upon the climate of Yuma, and sentimentally bring in the humanity dodge. The record S of the territorial prison will show, that, in point of health, the con victs confined therein have suffered less than in any penitentiary of the United States. The prison is a cooler habitation than any other in
 Yuma, and there are lot of good citizens in this town who spend their summer months here. The legislature might pass an Act, on the score of humanity, appro- priating sufficient money to take us all to the seashore, during the
 heated term.
 We would suggest Prescott, but there is altogether too much in fuenza, dyphtheria, phneumonia,
 bedbugs and other epidemics pre- valeut there, which Yuma is en- tirely free from. Nothing like humanity when you deal with convicts. The Journal Miner states that they are of so little value, that the present prison buildings do not appear in the re- port of the Prison Commission. Why should they when their cost of construction has been reported upon, and vouchers rendered, every -quarter and every year, At all events they cost $250,000 and it will cost more than that to dupli- cate them at Prescott. This sum in addition to transportation of prisoners and other expenses, the tax payers will have to pay as the first cost of removal.
 The proposition to put the con- victs to polishing Yavapai onyx has been tried here, butit resulted in nothing but an advertisement of Bucky O'NiePs mine. Yavapai onyx is not onyx either, but a specie of marable, ornamental to an extent but of no lasting quality. The Courier threatens the mem bers of the legislature with the wrath of the Yavapai miners, to be visited upon them in case they fail to pass the prison removal bill, but it seems to us that the miners of the territory will bear with but little patience the weight.of measure that, according to the Prescott papers, will result in putting them in competition with convict labor.
 The bill before the legislature proposes an annual tax of one mill on the dollar valuation of taxable property, for the payment of ex- penses of removal and construction of another prison. According to the report of the governor for the year 1894, the total valuation of taxable property within the Ter ritory during that year was the sum of $27,O61,974.96. 1.-the bill passes, the taxpayers of the terri tory will have to pay, in round numbers, annually the sum of $3O,OO0 in addition to the present running expenses of the prison. At that rate, this tax would have to be paid for a period of over eight years, in order to construct buildings of the capacity of the present ones.
 Under these conditions of affairs we ask the members of the pres ent legislature to pause and think hard before they fasten this in- creased taxation upon an already over -burdened people, tax, the greater weight of which will fall upon our southern counties. The new railroad just constructed, con- meeting Prescott and Phoenix, will not bear any portion of the burden as it is exempt from taxation for twenty years. The Prescott Courier states, tearfully, that old Yavapai is the mother of all the other coun- ties. If so, she must be in her dotage to demand SC costly a pres ent from her children.