Bisbee daily review., 1903-02-18
DOINGS IN LEGISLATURE

EEOIOETl OiNE and that the cost of conducting tho office for the same time has beer s GOO. leaving only $1OOOO as the sun which Governor Brodie in his message said would meet the expenses of the territorial government. l.. O. Cowan mentarily stunned by the decreasing consequences of his bill. and Gus Will Hams, chairman of the committee which has it in charge. looked per pleXed, when copies of the report transmitted by the Governor were read by the clerks in open session. Mir Williams and other members of the House are lingering over the books ir 1 the secretary's office to determine the causes which led to a falling off in the fees since the retirement of MT. Stod dard's predecessor. The committee is making careful investigation of the business of incorporating for revenue only and the examination is so in volved in it's character that MT. Will Hams was not able to make his report last week as anticipated, but promises to furnish a comprehensive report sometime this week.
 | The fact that the equal suffrage bih passed the House occasioned no sur prise, and for once in the history of Arizona legislation, little surprise
 would follow the passage of the bil' by the council. Women stand far more
 chance of voting than they ever did before and all on account of the tradi- tions which say that the equal sui
 frage bill must pass the house at ev- cry session and must be killed in the
 council Perhaps the pitcher has gone to the well once too often. for the bill
 passed the House with the understand
 iLS that if would be defeated in the
 council. and now those members of the
 assembly opposed to the equal sui
 fTage. but equally opposed to going on record against it. find nothing funny
 up their sleeve to laugh at. It is the
 first piece of honest duplicity which 1 has been effected in many years, but the council has grown very tired of shOuldeTing the responsibility of re- jecting the petitions of the fair ones
 and it is admitted that the vote in the
 upper House will at least be a very close one. Every member of the coun- cil thus far stands uncommitted. but funnier things will happen in legisla-
 lures than the passage of a bill which
 had little or no encouragement at the start.
 The bi,l came up rather unexpected ly yesterday afternoon, and found most of the surprised members in their seats. It caught them just after a hearty dinner and when they felt more
 than usually liberal The committee
 report, signed by Cowan, Parr, Henry Webb, and Marian favored the pass age of the bill and a minority report
 was offered by Rowe and O'Connell. Speaker Powers took the floor and de liyered an address showing that he had been plunged into the deepest thought
 over the question of equal suffrage. He believed that the House was con i fronted by the gravest question that could possibly arise. The equal suf- ! frage bill proposed a substantial addi-
 ton to the voting population of Arizo- na and most of the voters would have | had no experience in territorial and | national affairs. Political lines would
 be broken and the old regime would be i disrupted Domestic and social life would be as much effected as the polit- ! ical world. The speaker said that he had entertained unfavorable views. . but after mature deliberation had be- come a convert to the doctrine of wO- | man suffrage. One of the chief bene- l fits of the innovation would be the ex- | plosion of party machinatfons and the i dethronement of those few men in each community who dominated public af- i fairs. It would be compatible with the 1 language of the declaration of | independence and it would be demo- cratic He describe dthe ascendency of woman from tn archaic stage of slav- cry to the pedestal of idolatry, and he believed that there should be a polit- i ical as well as a social, recognition of her equality. Mir. Powers believed that the enfranchisement of women would purify the political life of the territory. This was manifested by the fact that objections are raised, said he. by the politicians and the vic 1 ious class.
 MT. St. Charles Kean favored the 1 bill on constitutional grounds and on account Of his adherence to Bryanism which advanced the doctrine that all just governments derived their author ity from the consent of the governed. He linked the equal suffrage question ; with the free silver issue by charging iconoclasm to any Democrat who would offer a personal affront to William