Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1899-03-08

first class counties seems to be big enough to induce good, competen, men to take it. The mileage system now in vogue could be dispensed with and in it's place 8 Salary--good and sufficient one-with the pay ment of actual expenses, would be fair and just alike 10 officials and taxpayers. But then ttere Is nc more possibility of :he present leg islsture enacting such law than there IS Tor secdring Senator Mur. phys endorsement to invite General Shafter to Phenix.
 The Pheni1 Herald makes astroug plea ID favor of abolishing the board of equalization. This is one of the most important boards in the terri- tory. It is only through such a board that the valuation of prop erty in the various counties of the territory can be made uniform. The motive for abolishing such a board, however, is apparent, as some of the counties can thereby escape their just proportion of territorial taxes. There seems to be a class of people in Nsricopa county who lie awake nights trying 10 devise schemes whereby they can obtain all the pos sible benefits out of the territorial government and the same time evsde the payment of their just proportion of taxes for the support of the government. The legislature will make the greatest blunder ever committed by an ArizoDa legislature if they abolish or curtail the powers of the board of equalization. They will see the result of their folly in less than two years, toO.
 The Pheui1 Gazette is violently opposed to the bill providing for compulsory vaccination and Is in- clined 10 ridicule it. There is another bill before the legislature providing for quars-'iuing small po1 patients but the Gazette has not a word to say against 1t. If small pox IS a disease of SD terrible a na- ture that s commonwealth is justi- fed in establishing laws 10 isolate patients from the rest of the world, we can see no inconsistency in en- acting laws to make citizens im- mune from 1t. Compulsory vaccl- nation laws are in force in many of the countries of the world and have been found to work perfectly satis- factory. In such countries the mortality from small po1 is reduced away below that of other countries where such laws are not in existence. An ounce of preventive IS worl b several pounds of cure in this case. The compulsory vaccination bill IS one of the best measures introduced in the legislature and should b,- come a law.
 Our contemporary excuses itself for its violent opposition to any re- trenchment in the matter of county expenditures, by quoting the ogir- ioAs of members of the board of supervisors ID the matter. Even a supervisor IS a fallible mortal like the rest of us. Each man ought to be able to form an opinion regard less of what others think. We GO not believe We are overstating fact by saying that for the past four years the income of the sherifs off, fee amounted to from S50,00O to S70,0OO, about three-fourths of which was pad by the tax payers of the county direct. These figures are estimated, not official. Our contemporary furnishes information which We have not been able to get, viz, the expenSe of the office, which IL places at 5000 per year, and We do not dispute the correctness o' these figures. The matter of 6gur- ing out the net salary is a very simple problem. Assuming the cor rectness Of the above figures it need not be necessary for one to go and ask some supervisor what he thinks about the matter in order Co enable him to form sn opinion.