Arizona republican., 1899-01-30
CURBING THE PRESS
An Incident Calling for Dictionary
 Revision.

The observations Of most of the ter EritoriaI papers upon the action of the
 Legislature in discarding a time hon 3ored. or rather a time dishonOred, | practice of being held up for subscrip- tions to every daily and weekly publi- cation in the territory, are not calcu- lated to rebound to the credit Of Ari- zona Journalism The conduct of the legislature was described by Phoenix paper at the time as an attempt ito curb the press.'' and it even went so far as to calumniate the offending leg islators by accusing them of having been created by the papers, thus laying the members open to a charge of filial irgratitude The cry has teen taken up far and wide and the legislature has been ruthlessly exposed to the scorn Of a considerable Fart of the press of Arizona As the taxpayers and the bulk of the constituents Of the legis- tors have not memorialized the members on the subiect of subscribing for these papers at the public expense the legislature is withstanding these journalistic assaults with provoking eQuanimity.
 Taxpayers who have expressed them
 
 the legislature for it's indifference to the unmerited taffy or measured criti- cisms of the press. They believe that if the legislature desires the one or wants to avoid the other it should pay the bribe out of it's private pocket and not out Of the already OverbuIdened territorial treasury.
 But this article was not intended as a discussion of the merits of the case. It has only to do with the expression, ''cuIb ping the press" The press is not the only territorial institution which will have a grievance against the leg islature. It is safe to say that that body will not buy boots and shoes, clothing, dry goods, or drugs of all the stores in Arizona and pay for them by an appropriation at the end of the term. It remains to be seen if the stores will rise up and accuse the Twentieth legislative assembly witk having conSpired to restrict commerce. While many of the members may not in a private capacity shun places where strong drink is sold, it is hardly prob able that they will establish a Iegis- lative bar bill and discharge it by an item in the general appropriation measure. If they do not, nobody eX- poets that the Wine and Spirit Gazette or any other organ of the liquor trade will hint that the legislature is working in the interest of prohibition. Curbing the press. The subscription lists of the papers which have joined in this accusation against the legislature range from perhaps 200 to 600; say an av- craze of 400. There are 10000 900 pea- pie in the United States. There are therefore 69,996,OO0 1ngrates in this country engaged in cu1'bing these self same whining journals It is a wonder that the papers can withstand this tre- mendous conspiracy to curb them.
 A new meaning of the word "curb" has been evolved out of this legislative incident. A and B are merchants: C Is 2 householder who buys his goods Of ID and at the same time is engaged in curbing A and B.. Therefore let the dictionaries of the future be revised to read: "TO curb " tr pr. curb peri. curDed, part, curbed-to neglect or re- fuse to patrpnize; to trade elsewhere or not at allI
 Amid the wall of many, but not all Arizona journals, it is pleasant to hear this sensible and independent note sung by the Florence Tribune: ,FTbe