Arizona republican., 1899-01-18

general character, whose duties anC functions pervade the whole territory they can confer the appointing rowe, upon anybody else but the governor and council"
 The act above referred to as confer , ring powers upon the legislature Of the
 territory of Utah by the organic act of
 said territory. is substantially the same
 as our organic act on this subject, as Twill be seen from sec 1851, which is as follows:
 '+The legislative power of this terri
 tory extends to all rightful subjects of
 legislation not inconsistent with the
 constitution and laws of the United States; but 70 law shall be passed in Iterfering with the primary disposal Of
 soil; no tax shall bc imposed upon the property of the United States, nor shall
 the lands or ether property of non residents be taxed higher than the lands or property of residents
 I am therefore clearly of the opinion that it would not be cCmpotent or legal for the Twentieth legislative assembly
 to create districts from which could be elected members Of the board of control or members Of the territorial board of
 equalization; and that the legislature
 has no power to create such districts for the purpose of making these offices
 elective as district officers, either the board of equalization or board Of con trol. Yours very respectfully,
 CHARLES F. AINSWORTH.
 Attorney-General.
 From the foregoing it is clearly ap
 parent that the legislature has no pow
 CT to create districts from which to elect members of the board of control and of the board of equalization, or any
 other officers whose duties relate to and are connected with the territorial government In other words, territor- ial officers cannot be legally elected from districts.
 In reference to the board of equaliza- tion, it has been, suggested that the present law should be so amended as to make the board consist of twelve mem bers, each the chairman Of a county board of supervisors. This proposition is met by the same legal obstacles as the other. County Oncers are elective, and their duties pertain to the county in which they reside, and the members of the territorial board Of equalization must, under the law, be appointed. The legislature unQUestionably has power to abolish the board altogether, or to so amend the law as to circumscribe the duties and restrict the power of the members. The board Of equalization assesses railroads and equalizes values as between counties. Should the duty of assessing be taken away, the board would still have the power to equalize and could adjust values, no matter how they were assessed; therefore, nothing would be gained by taking away the power of the board to assess. If the 1 board should be abolished altogether and no way provided to equalize values as between counties, a very unsatisfac- | tory and chaotic state would soon eX- ist; each county would naturally seek | to protect it's own interests whether | the taxes for the maintenance of terri tOrial institutions and government | were fairly distributed or not.
 The chief objection to the existing | law seems to be that the board of | equalization assesses railroads, and il | is charged that this kind of property | has not been properly valued, and that each county should have the right to | assess the roads within it's confines. Even if this were authorized, equaliZa- tion would be necessary, and the as- sessments would be controlled by the equalizing power, which is conceded by all thinking citizens to be necessary. 1 believe the present law a wise one and as good as can be devised, so long as the organic restrictions of terri torial government exist; and if there has been fault, it has been in the exc cutiOn of the law and not in the law It. self It would be far more preferable to me if the members of these boards were elective, so that the people could b be responsible for the agents they se- feet. The most embarrassing and try ing responsibility connected with the z executive office Is the distribution of lt and the appointment of worthy and capable citizens as public servants. The people are not always appreciative Of the difficulties attend ] Ing the selection of their official agents. and oYer-Zealous pdrtisans are often too prone to mislead by incorrect as- $ of both law and fact. ]
 TERRITORIAL PRISON.
 This most expensive institution Is now being conducted ably and as eco- s ironically as the conditions surround ( ng it will permit. |
 By reference to the report of the t it will be seen tha. dur ( ng the last half of 1898 many extraor- I linary expenditures were actually nec- I sssary because the equipment Of the t prison, clothing, iceiding, etc, had been [ permitted to become improperly re- iuced. Very much Of the increased ex- | ,ense of conducting the ilstitutio1 dur C ng 1897 and 1898 is directly charge s eDle 10 Uhe opefatl-A or Lne sQ-cAIled IIT prison ccptract' Of which so much | .as been said and written and with t he conditions of which the people | Ire familiar. In my judgment, this i ontract operates as a gross imposition lpon the taxpayers, in that, under it's V erms, the territory must clothe and h ,uard the convicts while at work at t distance from the prison; which not c nly increases the expense of main a enance, but affords opportunities of a scape, and pursuit and efforts at re- apture are always heavily expensive. D During the year next preceding Che ap- h ointment ef the present superinten V lent more eepyiets escaped from the b lpnitpD 5nE no !,