Cochise review., 1901-01-26
GOVERNORS MESSAGE
Read in Person Before the legislature
 on Monday. A Surprise.

The Governor, in person, read ms biennial message at two o'clock Tues day afternoon to the two houses gath cred in the assembly chamber, as is usual. The occasion was made one of social importance and the floor as well as the gallery was crowded.
 The message, delivered in the direct, forceful, non-oratorical manner that distinguishes Governor Murphy's pub lie utterances had a number of features far at variance with the usual stereo- typed messages of the territory's executives.
 Perhaps the most revolutionary of the recommendations contained was one that counseled the enactment of a high-license law, through which com munities might be authorized to vote whether or not licenses shall be grant ed therein. 'I do not believe that pro- hibition prohibits" the Governor an nounced, land legislation in advance of public opinion is never enforced. The same is true of gambling and games of chance and recommend the repeal of the law now on our statute books licensing gambling and that municipal governments be invested with authority to fix penalties and reg ulate their occupations. It may be a long time before the people will de- mand Uhe suppression of gambling in Arizona but it is proper nov to stop giving notice to the world through our statutes that it is authorized by law"
 One of the strongest sections of the message concerned the territorial prison at Yuma The conditions at Yuma are declared to be verging on the intolerable. The Governor de- clared it the duty of the legislature to order the construction of a new and modern prison, capable of containing at least 300 inmates. The location he leaves to the wisdom of the legislature, but it should be at some point where a sentence at hard labor may be enforced with degree of profit to the territory. The recommendation of Territorial Auditor Vickcrs that seperate main tenance tax should be provided in the prison is concerred in.
 The Governor calls for more strin- ent investigation of personal property schedules and stated that the great corporations and the wealthy mine owners too often evade bearing their just proportion of the cost of main
 
 them. If the value of railroads rise on the market there is no reason why the valuation for the purposes of taxation should not be raised. The contention made by the railroads that they would pay more per mile than in states where the rates of taxation is lower would be removed if a fuller assessment of prop erty were had throughout the terri tory. Either the profits of mines or proper value upon dividend paying mines should be assessed. "There is no possible justification in permitting great producing mines to escape con tributing to the revenues of the terri tory. It is frequently stated that mines worth $100,000,000 in Arizona, and which pay interest to their owners on that amount, do not pay taxes on a valuation for all their property, real and personal of $2,000,000. This is wrong and in no way can the proposi- tion be defended that great riches in gold, silver and copper dug from Ari- zona ground and distributed in divi- in the east and in Europe should not b taxed in some form within the terri tory. The Governor recommends that Boards of Equalization be vested within the power to assess mines, as we'll as railroads. Assessors should be the best men on the county official lists and should be most liberally paid for their services.
 The question of conflicting range rights especially concerning the re- lations between the sheep owner and catteman, is given extensive consider ation. The Governor states: "It is manifestly unjust for droves of sheep which have grazed undisturbed upon their ranges in the northern part of the territory the greater part of the year, to be driven south during the short winter months in such manner as to invade and destroy in large de- gree cattle ranges, whether they are merely possessory or titled. It is equally unfair and unjust for the cattle graZers of the south to interfere with and try to destroy the sheep industry of the north. This question" continues the Governor. lis likely to become more acute under the evident policy of the government to create forest re- seserves, with the object, it is thought, of excluding grazing, for the better protection of tree life and water SUD- ply. Should these reserves be ex- tended in the northern part of the ter ritOry and new ones created in the ! southern foothills of the Bradshaw mountains and the Verde and Salt River basins, as hear is contemplated, and grazing excluded within these areas, the interests of both the cattle | and sheep men will, in my judgment, be seriously affected, and the question of range rights will become still more difficult of solution, and in this respect there seems to be ap apparent conflict |