Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1899-01-25
JIG. MARTIN. Editor and Proprietor
GOVERNOR MURPHYs MESSAGE

GOVERNOR MURPHY'S MESSAGE
 The message delivered by Gov ernor Murphy .1 the Legislature IS one Uf the ablest, most comprehen- sive and practical documents ever delivered by 6 governor to sn Ari-
 zona legislature. It doee not consist
 of plstitudes and generalitiess but enters right into the discussion of
 the live issues affecting the territory. > After compGmentiEg AriZoDs's vol unteer soldiers who went to Cuba,
 and giving history of the financial condition of the territory it branches
 out on the subject of taxation and
 revenue which he charscterizes and
 correctly so, as the greatest problem
 which confronts them. On this sub ject Governor Murphy expresses the following views:
 "All property subject by law to taxation should be assessed. l con- tend that if all the property in the territory subject to taxation were assessed st a proper valuation, the people who now bear the burdens of goverDment-wkich are unequslly distributed-would pay less than they do under present conditions. Some kinds of property are spe- officially exempt bylaw, and whether or not the policy which authorized the exemption was wise. the law and the contract is none the less binding upon the territory and must be ac- cePted. But a comparatively small proportion of the personal property in the territory is taxed. Under our system, money, securities, jewelry. valvable household furniture and a large amount of personal property of every nature and description es- cspes taxation altogether. To ac- cuse an honorable citizen of perjury who does not pay taxes upon hIs personal property would be ex tremely harsh, but 8 large majority of our cItizeas are uHQuestiUnab.y guilty of constructive perjury-not intentionally so, but when a blank statement is handed to them by an assessor upon which to list their tax able property, and st the bottom of which is an oath which they must slgn, they are guilty of constructive perjury, if they do not list all their taxable property. The small real | estate owner, the farmer, the grazer with 8 small band of cattle or sheep, cannot escape; they must pay, and frequently upon greater values than their property will sell for, but the wealthy cattle or sheep owners, with large droves grazing upon un- taxed public domain, do not always return to the assessor all of their property. The great corporations and the wealthy mine owners too often evade bearing their just pro portion of the cost Of maintaining the government which protects them. Simple justice, nothing more, demands the equitable Spportion- ment of taxes.
 "lf railroads increase in value, if their traffic becomes greater sad their earnings larger, if their stock is valued higher upon the stock eI- change, based upon legitimate values, then there is no good re ason why their valuation for the purposes | of taxation should not be increased. It will not be contanded that these values are stationary"
 h regard to the assessment of mines he says:
 "Either the profits of mines or proper value upon dividend-paying mines should also be assessed. There can be no possible justifca- ton for permitting great producing mines to escape contributing to the revenues of the territory. It is ire quently stated that mines worth | $I00.OO0OOO in Arizona, and which pay interest to their owners on that amount, do not pay taxes upon valuation for all their property, real and personal. of s20O0,OO0. This is wrong, and in no way can the prop osiiion be defended that great riches in gold, copper, and silver dug from Arizona ground and distributed as dividends in the east.and in Europe should not be taxed in some form in the territory.
 "The subject should be- treated fairly and in the proper spirit, aud no extreme or unreasonable meas ures adopted, and it is believed that if this class of property can be reach ed justly, without resor.ing to In- quisitorisl procedure, the weslthy mine owners of the territory will see the justice of paying fair tax upon their properties or profits.
 No kind of property should es- cape taxation, unless specifically exempted by law, and [ assert, with out fes- of successful contradiction, that if all the property in Arizona which should be taxed were assessed and properly valued, the rate of tax stion would be lower here than in a majority of the most prosperous states"
 He favors the. retention of the board Of control but recommends that it be constituted differently than at present. He fsvors the election q its members by the peo- pie If it were practical, but such 6 thing is not permissible under the organic act. The same is also the case with the board of equalization. E In reference to the board of con- i