The herald., 1897-03-18

direction 80 made, purchase the said real
estate for the sum of $3.50. obtain the deed
made to the territory Of Arizona. which
latter sum was paid BY the said board with
out investigation a. to its real cost. or otner
inquiry pertaining thereto, and thus, BY
negligence on part Of the said purchasing
agent of the said board. and OF the board
itself. the territory was loser In this small
transaction the sum Of $3.50 which we , ne.
office OF the purchasing agent OF the Naii
board, and due care on the part of the Gull
board, would have prevented.
M'CORDS HARD LUCK.
OF course the Democratic legislature
was wise In keeping hands off and refus-
ing to confirm or deny the report of Its
own committee. In the same spirit Of
laissez faire wish history to record the
fact that have expressed no belief or
disbelief In the truth or the falsity of
these charges.
Nevertheless submit that the COVER
nor of Arizona should be even as
Caesars wife, and l recall the rule on
the New York daiies, which is that an
unlucky reporter shall be classed in the
same category as the unfaithful report
er. Unjust? Perhaps, but the New
York editors are looking for scoops"
and not for justice or pity. And the
theory they act on is correct. II man
is so unlucky as to fall down" on his
assignment he is OF no more use to a
wide-awake city editor than the man
who neglects his assignment.
II the charges against McCord are un-
true, then IL McCord poor unfortunate
fellow creature, and some OF us who
have seen hard luck in our day-before
we grew opulent out of newspaper liter
ature-can sympathize with him. But
IL isn't sympathy he's looking for just
now; it's the governorship Of the Treas
ure territory he's after
Perhaps he will not still be after II by
the time these lines are read, but ven-
ture to suggest that If Mr. McCord is so
unfortunate as to be accused of criminal
negligence once, 1t Is not at all unlikely
that his misfortune might cling to him
even after his anointment as governor
Therefore / vote mo" on the appoint
ment Of Myron H. McCord-simply be-
cause he's unlucky. And the good Lord
knows that Arizona has had her fill of
'unlucky'' governors. Think how ''un-
lucky" poor Mr.. Hughes was!
LEGISLATIVE HORSE PLAY.
Hughes hard luck follows him even to
this day. He is the editor of the Tucson
Star, and the other day, when the legis-
lature voted S72 to each of the other
morning papers in the territory, 1t took
a malicious delight in chopping his al
lowance to $36. That's hard luck enough
for any man.
Last week the assembly passed a bill
making 1t felony to publish newspa-
per In the territory. Yesterday the sem
ate passed Sol Barth's bill allowing an
interregnum OF ten years between each
session of the legislature OF course the
senate killed the newspaper bill and of
course the house will kill the Barth
measure. But some Of these fine days
there are four or five of them left yet
both the house and the senate may feel
in a frisky mood on the same day. and
the governor might also be frisky. and
then Arizona might gain a law that
wouldn't be so much of joke as 1t was
thought to be when the bill was first in
troduced.
The initiative and referendum house
bill has been killed in committee. The bill
to prevent minors and women from en-
tering drinking saloons died aborning
Two new apportionment bills-one in
each house-have been introduced, and
one In the senatsspr council has already
been done to dnxh. The new plan was.
and still u.s. t6Eive Maricopa county
one more member OF the assembly. This
would be only just. for both the assess
nent roll and the population would war
rant even three additional representa-
tives. But of course the outside counties
are Jealous of their own standing and
will vote 1t down.
THE FARMERS HARD LUCK.
Assemblyman Rogers has introduced
a bill to exempt ranch fences from taxa
ton. This is the plea he makes in behalf
Of his bill: THE law makes 1t necessary
for us to build expensive fences. 1t fines
us and Furnishes us If we do not fence in
our land. Then when we do fence our
lands down comes the assessor and tax
collector and fines us for obeying the
law. Evidently the law plays both ends
against the middle on the Arizona far
rIer, and on most other farmers as well.
He's fined for not fencing his land and
he's fined II he does fence 1t. The only
thing he can do Is to get down his lead
pencil and figure out which fine 1t is least
Improbable to pay; for. of course. the
legislature will not consent to exempt
his fences, and II 1t did the remainder
Of his personal property would only
have to bear heavier tax to make the
UP the difference.
For taxes must be raised, and so long
as men elect to collect them on the re-
of natural opportunities. 1t will make
but small difference to the farmer on
what particular part Of the sweat of
his brow the taxes are levied.
Verify the farmer plays in as hard
luck at all times as the politicians
sometimes do"
A BREEZE IN THE COUNCIL.
The railroad tax exemption bill has
finally passed both branches of the leg
islature, though not without an attempt
or the part of the traders to hold 1t out
and make 1t subject to a pocket veto.
At the last moment, Carpepter of Yuma
pulled the reins tightly and demanded
q show down from the enrolling commit
tee. This was done in open council meet
ing and 1t caused a sensation. The chair
man of the enrolling committee was
openly accused Of holding out the bill to
enforce a vote or two on the county
division measure. He denied 1t, but the
allegation was indorsed by the member
from Navajo, who declared that Ming
Rad made the threat openly. A test vote
came, and the council demanded a re-
port from Mr.. Ming instanter. Where
upon Ming marched down to the gov
ernor's Office and laid the bill on the
gubernatorial table just five minutes
before the expiration of the time during
which a bill may yet be passed over the
governors veto
The matter was hushed up then, and
Carpenter carried motion to expunge