Arizona republican., 1899-03-17
PHRNlx. MARCH IT. 1899.
REPUTATION BEATEN.

The cOuQcll or the IWeuIl0lh AOoA0i''
 tive assembly stands convicted of an
 attempt to repudiate an honest debt
 incurred by the territory. In the face
 of the law which directs the sec
 retary of the territory to advertise for
 bids and let contracts for printing the
 biennial reports of the territorial off cers, it deliberately disaEowed the act of the secretary in complying with this law and refused to pay one cent of the indebtedness thus created. A concise
 story of the councils dishonest pro- redure yesterday is presented else can. That the council failed in it's attempt to defraud the publishers Of the money they had honestly earned is due to the refusal of the house to be a party to the disreputable scheme. The house stood like stone wall in defiance of the repudiators. Not until the attorney general of the territory gave his official opinion that the claims of the publishers were just and collectible, and the auditor of the ter ritory had declared his intention to issue warrants for the sums due the appropriation bill to stand as agreed to by the council. The appropriation bill would not have gone to the gov ernor but for this mantle of protection thrown about the publishers by the house. Several times the bill was at the point of death. Although the coun- cil succeeded in keeping the appropria- tions for the publishers out of the bill its victory was barren by reason of the houses action.
 Every member of the coun- cil who voted against this appropria- tion was discredited by the pre- ceedings in the house. Their pres1- dent, Morris Goldwater, who had been at the head of the repudiation move ment, was obliged to make the humil- iating statement in explaining his final vote that the house had only per mitted the bill to pass by exacting promise that the publishers would be paid. It was a sorry spectacle MT. Goldwater presented Only an hour or two earlier he had concluded a speech of self laudation with the declaration that 'the democrat from Yavapai is as brave as the republican from Yuma" (meaning Carpenter) and that at pre- cisely F o'clock he would adjourn the council sine die, regardless of the status of the appropriation bill. MT. Gold water didn't possess the nerve to carry out this threat. He thought to bluff the house into capitulating, and when he found the bluff wouldn't work he became plain, ordinary everyday re- pudiationist again and kept his eyes away from the clock.
 MT. Goldwater's attitude toward this particular appropriation has disgusted every man who believes in honesty and | deceney in legislation. He made no effort to discuss the measure on it's | merits. A business man himself he refused to recognize the fact that the | firms named in the bill have equally | as good standing as himself in this ] community. In his eyes they were fOr eration. A speech which he delivered | yesterday afternoon in the council 1 chamber was filled with unjust allu- sions to the press of the territory. It | was characteristically inconsistent In one breath he acknowledged that the | legislature had been well treated by the | newspapers, denounced those that had | indulged in honest criticism. ard then put the entire press in the attitude of groveling time-serveTs. It was ,he speech of a demagogue. In posing as one with lofty ideals Mir. Goldwater got far beyond his depth. There were many in the chamber who knew that | he had been the head and front of more than one arrangement" which | had tied up desirable measure. There | was the capitol appropriation bill. for | instance. It passed the house and went | to the council, where it slumbered. | Why? Because MT. Goldwater was |