Arizona republican., 1905-01-16
PHoENIx, ARIz.. JANUARY 1s, 1905.
The rwenty-third Legislature.


 The Twenty third legislature of Arizona will convene today, with less than the usual amount of public in terest attaching to the proceedings. No partisan questions divide the people into hostile camps. and no burning issues" were before the public when the members were elected. They were elected because they happened to be democrats or republicans, or because of individual popularity.
 The chief reason, however. for un- concern is the prevalent belief that the membership of the Twenty third legis- lature is above the average Of inteIli- gence and integrity. There appears to be ground for this belief, but its correctness will be better demonstrat- ed when the session of sixty days has been brought to a close. It is unques- tionable that there are in each house strong men who cannot be controlled by selfish interests or made to play the demagogue for the sake of brief notoriety And in each house there is a sprinkling of legislative experience old timers who have served in former legislatures and whose counsel will be valuable in keeping the machine on the track.
 The first official act should be a me mortal to congress, protesting in tenn perate and dignified, but vigorous and unmistakable terms, against the pas sage of the Hamilton joint statehood bill. A properly worded memorial, bearing the signatures of the president of the council, the speaker of the house and the governor, cannot fail to be impressive when read from the clerks desk in the senate of the United States h order to meet the spacious argument that in passing the bill con-. gress will simply be giving a chance to the people to say whether they desire statehood or not under the terms pro- posed and that they can vote it down if they wish, the memorial should em- phasize the strong point made by Sen ator Bard-namely, that New Mexico has twice the voting strength of AriZ- ona, and the bill accordingly throttles the voice of this territory on the qUes- ton.
 Although opportunities for distiuc- tion may seem few to the legislators, the man who exhibits independence of character and originality well bal anced judgment and a determination to stand for the right through thick and thin, will have plenty of chances to distinguish himself, even in a mo- notonous session.
 And now, as for years past, there stands an open door for some member of the legislature to earn the lasting gratitude of the .people-by presenting Q solution of the penitentiary problem.
 The territorial prison is the chief item in the list of public expenses. Aside from the interest on the public debt, territorial taxes are devoted mostly to the maintenance of the pris- on. The penitentiary should be made supporting, if possible, although that is not the main consideration. No tOdy cares to have the location changed from Yuma. The big problem is to find employment for the convicts. Under the existing system-for which no remedy has been found-the pris- oners are maintained in weII-fed idle ness. The problem of convict labor is more or less bothersome in every state, but it has been settled to some extent everywhere except in Arizona.
 Conducted as it necessarily must be without additional legislation, the prison at Yuma has ceased to. serve It's purpose as a terror to criminals More than half the prisoners are Mex jeans, although Mexicans do not con stitute one-tenth of our population. And for the low class of Mexicans, i'm prisOnment without hard labor is no punishment The cost of running the criminal courts-now the biggest item in county expenses-and the cost of maintaining the prison would be great ly reduced, if Mexican criminals knew that term in the penitenuary meant hard work throughout their imprison ment. for crime would be Iessened all over the territory and the population of the prison would rapidly diminish.
 The state of Kansas has hit upon the happy expedient of establishing a pris- on factory for the manufacture of binding twine. There is a large mar ket for twine, and it's manufacture out side of Kansas is in the hands of a trust. Perhaps, however, the most feasible expedient in Arizona would be to employ the convicts in the building of roads throughout the territory. It is a subject which should engage the member of the legislature.