Arizona republican., 1899-03-04
MIR. BARNES TO MIR. HURLEY
Phoenix, March 3.

have read with great interest MT. Hurley's account of his woes, in The Republican. It seems scarcely neces- sary to answer his charges at any great length, but for general informa- tion, I will give one side of the story.
 In the first place he has made state ments in his article which are abso- lutely and undisputably false, and he knew it when he signed his name to the article
 He says l sWoTe cut a warrant and had him tried before jury and on the trial admitted that had never person ally inquired whether defendant had kept such a record. This is pure and unadulterated falsehood. I went to MT. Hurley and asked him if he kept such a book he said no he did not, and I so stated to the jury at the trial, So did MT. Harrison who followed mo on the stand. MT. Hurley escaped simply because he swore he was not slaughtering~ cattle, but bought his meat of the Phoenix Meat company 1 Members of the jury after the trial came to me and explained that but for that one fact the jury would have found him guilty, as there was no doubt in their minds that we prove1 our case, so far as no brand-book went
 MT. Hurley complains that I am
 
 up by himself solely to further the ends of clique Of local butchers, who, want to create a monopoly by act oE the legislature and keep out any com- petition in the butcher business in Phoenix.
 I am against it because every cattle man in Arizona is against it and a large number have written to me urg- ing me to leave no stone unturned t0 defeat it.
 MT. Hurley has hard fits because I used my position as chairman of the live stock board to pass certain bills that the cattle men had asked for, and defeat his bill that they had not asked for and didn't want
 1 have heard men in MT. HurIey's fix denOunce the officers enforcing laws be- fore this The Chicago anarchists said all sorts of ungent1emanly things i about the police that had them arrest 1 ed and indicted.
 Among other requirements of our eX- cellent stock law, is one that all butch CTS must keep book showing from | whom they have purchased their cattle | and the age, sex and colors of the ami | mals The object of this, is exactly the | same as that of requiring pawn br0k- CTS to keep a book showing from whom they received goods. So that parties tracing stolen cattle could examine these books and see if any of their cat tie had been slaughtered.
 The heaviest losses cattle owners have been suffering, have been butchers buying and slaught- ering stolen cattle and it would not be if, in trying to enforce the law and protect the stock men the members of the board should lose the friendship of some of the butchers.
 1 do not for a moment wish to imply . that every butcher is per-force a ras- cal.
 The experience of cattle men is, if l | may be excused for the paraphrase on MT Lincoln's famous saying. that | Some butchers are honest all the | time, some are honest part of tho,I time, but some butchers are never | honest any of the time"
 The requirement. of the law is not | impracticable nor impossible Outside | of three butchers of Phoenix, it i5 lived up to faithfully and fully by | nearly every butcher in the territory.
 Mr Pusch and MT. Etz of the house, and MT. Wolff of the council are each butchers in their towns and they keep . this book and make the report as re- Quired There is not a thing required of the butchers that is not necessary to protect the cattle raisers of Arizona, or that any honest, Well-meaning butcher should object to.
 And I say without fear of being sue cessfully contradicted that in all the territory there is not a place where a more careful watch should be kept of cattle slaughtered and shipped than right here in Phoenix, where cattle are sent to fatten on the alfalfa fields from every portion of the territory.
 The Maricopa Stock association at a recent meeting fully investigated this matter of the butchers reports. The association sent for me as chair man of the board and urged upon us \ the necessity of having these reports made, and if necessary, to arrest MT.