Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1901-11-13
GRAND JURY'S
 REPORT.
They Find the Public Offices in Prime Condition and Have Only Words of Praise for the Officials Occupying Them.
A Lengthy Dissertation on the Social EWI, in Which They Argue that the Best Interests of the Community Lies in Ignoring the Law.

The grand jury submitted its fina report late Saturday evening and wal discharged from further service They reported having examined seventy six witnesses in the investi gation of thirty one cases and re turned twenty one indictments. The indictments returned were: perjury, 4; assault with deadly weapon, 5 murder, 8; embezzlement, 6; robbery l; obtaining money under false pre- lenses, l; assault to commit murder, l.
 It extended a vote of thanks to the district attorney for the comprehen- sive and concise manner in which all cases were presented, and commend ed also most strongly the conduct of his office as having been conducted in all respects for the best interests of the people.
 Favorable reports were made of all county officials and among the re- commendations made by them which if carried into execution will entail an expense of several thousand dollars on the taxpayers, were the remodel ing of thetreasurer's office by putting in metal railing, buying new fur niture, purchase of typewriter and reshelving of the offices The erection of separate building with fire proof vault for the recorder. That connection with the city sewer be made with the court house, bath room provided for prisoners and closets placed in the building and the frame building on the plaza be removed.
 In reference to the judges charge to them, concerning houses of ill fame the report is quite exhaustive and is as follows:
 The grand jury have given earnest consideration to that portion of the charge of the court relating to houses of ill fame and lewd women, conducting their places within cer- tain distances from public buildings, with view to perform their duties in the premises for the best interests of the county, and have reached the conclusion that the interests of the taxpayers and lawabiding people of the county demand that no action be taken by the grand jury. The regu- lation or suppression of the so-called social evil" has been question that has vexed every civilized community since civilization existed. Attempts to entirely do away with this evil have always failed and must always fail, so long as human nature remains as it is. The only method that has ever given any sort of satisfaction is to regulate this evil by confining houses of prostitution and prostitutes to certain limits, easy of police super vision, and thus reduce the evil to a minimum by preventing women of evil repute from coming in contact with respectable element of society and from plying their vocation in the immediate vicinity of respectable families. When So confined, it has been demonstrated that the most sat isfactory results were obtained, the respectable portions of cities and towns have been kept free from dis reputable characters, and the num- Der of violations of the criminal stat utes have been reduced to a far less number than by any other method. Attempts have been frequently made in various communities to break up houses of i'll fame, with the inevita- ble result of scattering their inmates among the respectable portions of the community, and the examble thus set before the younger generations and the evils attending have been far greater than under system of req sonable regulation. In the various communities of this county, houses of prostitution and women of question able character have always been con fined to certain localities, apart from the residence and business portion of the community, thus preventing them from coming in contact with those who does not seek their company, keeping the young people as free as possible from the vicious influences surrounding places of that character, and enab- ling small number of police officers to keep order. This is illustrated by the fact that of the large number of criminal cases brought before the present grand jury, not one arose in a place of that character. While more or less disorder is inseparable from houses of i'll fame, yet under the pres ent methods of supervision it is re- duced as much as possible, and the remoteness of houses of ill fame from the resident portions of towns pre- vents the respectable portion of the community from being disturbed by it, while the nearness of such places to the centers of towns enables peace officers to exercise constant supervis- ion and prevents the commission of crimes. Prosecutions of houses and people of ill fame would result in one of two things either the inmates of those houses would be scattered among the respectable portion of the community and the resulting evil would be far greater than now existing or they would be driven to distance beyond the confines of town. and the opportunities for the commission of crimes and consequently the number of crimes committed would largely increase, and the number of peace officers necessary to maintain order