Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1902-05-14
An Open Letter.

Editor Journal Mineri
 Any one who has read the Prescott Courier for the past few years has been obliged to read a great deal about" bond boodlers, ""ta1less toots, "poor taxpayers" 'dear people, , down trodden laboring men," etc.
 etc.-all clumsily expressed it is true
 but if mans imagination was far reaching enough one could almost see
 the tears dropping from the editors
 eyes while he labored with the great questions, as he views them, affecting the welfare of the citizens of this ter ritory; and when added to the i'm
 mense responsibilities he has assumed at times when offering suggestions to the national administration. his bur den has certainly been heavy. But what have you seen in the Courier about the valuable franchises recently given away by the city council of
 Prescotti Electric light and street railway franchises, worth many thou sands of dollars, with privileges that should never be granted any con- pany or individual under any circum- stances, have recently been granted without first giving those represent ing interests to be affected an oppor- tunitv to be heard-and not a word of protest offered on the part of the Courier, who poses as the watch dog" of Yavapai county treasury, as well as the city's treasury.
 ask every property owner in Pres colt to read the street railway fran chise carefully, and be prepared to sign petition protesting against such wholesale disposition of the city's property-if, ill their judgment, an error has been committed in grant ing said franchise. If any ;citizen of Prescott is to have a valuable fran chise for nothing, no more deserving man can be found than F. L. Wright as the beneficiary, but no such street railway franchise as the one recently given, should be given, or even sold, to any one. It is not expected that Mir. Wright will personally hold for himself the franchise recently ob- tained. It will, as a natural conse- quence, soon pass to a corporation, it having been conspicuously pro- vided in the ordinance for just such a transfer.
 An electric road from Whipple through Prescott to the south and west, over some designated route, would undoubtedly be good thing, under proper restrictions. l hardly think it is going to be desirable to run freight trains on Montezuma, Gurley and Cortez streets, such as is possible under the franchise. If it is desirable Gas I am in hopes it will prove to bel to have an electric line out to Groom Creek, for the purpose of carrying freight and passengers, it seems to be more to the towns inter est to limit this freight traffic to some particular route, say through Granite street.
 I am inclined to believe that franchise could be framed that should be reasonably acceptable to any one wishing to build street railway in Prescott, and at the same time give to the city some sort of consideration | and protection. It is time enough to l grant such a franchise when the, party asking for it is ready to proceed ! to work. Under the existing fran chise, nothing is required to be done before the expiration of one year, and | two years thereafter are given in which to complete one mile. The right is also granted to lay a double track, and in fact do most anything they see fit with the streets of Pres colt. It is claimed that ihis franchise is not exclusive, but il is just the same to all in,ents aad purposes. Once company gets legitimate possession of the streets. it is not likely that the same privilege will I2 given to any ore else, ot that any ui..: alGe would want 1t.
 What has the Journal Miner tn say ,i 'hi~ subject?
 Ot course l expect that the Courier