The Arizona sentinel., 1901-02-27
TWENEY-FIRST LEGISLATURE
All Interesting Resume of Arizona Legislative Proceedings During
 the Past Week.
Special Correspondence Arizona Sentinel.

My last letter to the SENTINEL
 was scarcely mailed before the
 bill carrying the appropriation
 for the enlargement and repair
 of the territorial prison was
 taken up by the house aud pass
 ed, notwithstanding the predica-
 ment 1t had got into. And this
 is but one instance of the cratic
 character of that body; nobody
 can foretell an h0ur ahead what
 it is going to dO-it doesn't know itself. Though the bill
 creating a commission to select
 a location for a new prison was
 supposed to have been laid on the shelf for a second time last Thursday, by a vote of II ayes
 to l3 nays: it is yet in a danger
 OuS attitude, and is liable to be sprung in another form.
 Since my last something of a
 sensation has been created by
 the attempt of the council, or
 rather few of it's members, to investigate certain printing of the reports of the various off
 cials of the territory, for which
 Auditor C.. W. VickerS drew his
 warrants. From that start it
 has developed into what pro- poses to be an investigation of the auditors books and accounts and business generally, including
 the board of control. Those
 who know anything of the cir
 cumStanceS under which the printing of these reports was done, and who know the care
 with which Auditor Vickers has conducted his affairs and his du-
 ties as a member of the board of
 control, have a very positive feeling that the whole thing is a piece of political demagoguery
 and no party is so expert in that
 as the one now controlling the legislature; nor has that party a more cOnsummate dema- gOgue in it's ranks than the pro- moters of this investigation, " which does not mean to inveSti-
 gate. An honest investigation will not be summed by the terri tOrial officials; but when prose-
 cuted with blare of trumpets
 and an attempt to besmirch a mans character before d single fact is developed by evidence, of course arouSes the keenest an tagOnism. Public nOn-partisan
 opinion will force the "inveSti- gatiOn" out of existence or into decent lines before it is over.
 A somewhat remarkable at tempt was made at the end of last week in the lower house to cripple the efficiency of the code road law by an effort to cut out all provisions for a road poll tax. The attack was led by Geer of Yavapai and supported by Ivy of MaricOpa and one or two Oth- CTS whose democracy IS rank with pOpulism, agrarianism, SO cialism and that sort of isms. The contest covered a cOnSidera- ble portion of two days, and the code law was finally adopted without change, or with some change for the better; but it did not stay passed. Todaya a mo- tiOn to reconsider was carried and the bill was taken out and recOmmitted to the judiciary committee. Just what is going to happen to it, and when, is a problem the future only can solve.
 The bullion tax bill was forced to the surface toward the close of last week and the house pro- ceeded to a discussion of it: or rather the friends of the bill pro- ceeded to the discussion of it, while it's enemies simply danced around it brandished their tom ahaWks and yelled. Not a sin gle cOgent reason was given against it's becoming a law, while there were many reasOns given why it should. But it was this way: Some of the members of the house comprising two diff ferent crowds, one apprehensive of county division, are looking for bills hourly that shall pro- vide for the dismemberment of their counties; those people did not want a bullion tax to operate over them aS a fulcTum. Then that bullion tax bill was useful, very useful in putting the prison location bill into the coal hole and keeping the board of equali- zatiOn intact. Ii had performed it's part of the service and per formed it well, and it were dan gerOus to allow it to lie around loose longer; so they sat down on it; twenty of them perched themselves on it's body and pressed the wind out of it, and i now they furtively watch the corpse to see that it don't get up and walk and the President of the Council stands behind the |.