The Arizona sentinel., 1897-02-06
CONVICT LABOR CONTRACT.
ME. IVES CRITICIZES GOVERNOR
 FRANKLIN'S DIFFERENCES.
He Says IL Is Not True That the Ex- ecutiOn of the Contract Would Cost the Territory a Heavy Sum. His pOipf

| Governor Franklin attacked the pro-
 posed convict labor contract between
 the Territory and the State of Arizona Improvement company A reporter for the Republican yesterday talked
 with Mir. Eugene s. Ives, president of the Improvement company, with re- ference to the governors utterances.
 ''I read the digest of the message in the Republican" said MT. Ives, (which said that the governor devoted con siderable space to the contract. What did he say about it?"
 "He argued" replied the reporter, "that it's execution would impose upon the Territory large additional ex- pense for extra guards, and generally denounced it as a fraud. Have you anything to say on the subjec5?"
 'sI find it difficult to believe the governor thinks so badly of it," replied Mir. Ives. "The office of auditor is the most important under his ad- ministration. No conscientious gov ernor, and Governor Franklin and his friends claim that he is a very con- scientious man, would keep in so re- sponsible an office man in whose integrity and efficiency he had not complete confidence, certainly not a man who, in his official capacity, had co-operated in a great fraud upon the Territory. MT. Leitch signed the con- tract, and the fact that he Is one of
 the few, if not the only one of Gov ernor Hughes's appOintees retained by Governor Franklin, is strong proof that the governor does not believe
 this contract to be so very vicious"
 "What have you to say about the governors statement that the execu- ton of the contract would impose a heavy expenditure upon the Territory
 for extra guards?"
 "Simply that the statement is not true. Allegations to 'tlris effect were made in the answer which the attorney general interposed to our petition for -mandamus. I have heard that the governor and his friends have indulged ih good deal of talk of this character on street corners. l was averse to trying law suit in that way. 1 pre- ferred to say contract until the trial should take place. l, of course, anticipated that the governor would produce his proofs at the trial and establish, before the proper tribunal, these rather loosely made statements and charges. To my utter amaze ment the attorney general abandoned this feature of his defense on the trial. He did not offer a scintilla of evidence. He did not produce a single witness. If he had, we were prepared to prove by practical and experienced con tractors, who had worked convict labor for years in other states that the con- tract could be executed at less cost to the Territory than the present cost of maintaining the same prisoners in the prison.
 "A hundred prisoners can be guarded on an open plain with half the guards necessary for the same prisoners with in walls and buildings which offer op- portunities for concealment and es- cape. We had given this matter very thorough investigation but the gov ernor was too shrewd to give us an op- portunity to dispr0ve of record these various statements of his. He offered no evidence to support his assertions and rested his case upon the technical point that the remedy which we sought, namely, mandamus against the superintendent of prisons, was not the proper one. When the appeal from Judge Bakers decision to the supreme court was taken the claim | that the contract was unfair and un- just was abandoned. The validity and fairness of the contract was not referred to in the assignment of errors. The only ground assigned upon the appeal was that the remedy of man damus was not a proper one and that the legislature had no authority to make the poor prisoners work any how.
 q am surprised that the governor should have continued His attack in | his message to the legislature. The matter is now in the hands of the iu- dicial department of the Territory. think it highly uhbecoming under the that the executive should attempt to try the merits in any other place than the supreme court where the case has been finally submitted and is now under advise ment
 q think the contract a good one for the Territory. It Is estimated that it will cost over million dollars to build the canal. Of this cost not one fifth will be labor. When constructed the