Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1907-01-23
THE MESSAGE.


left little that affects the territory IN
touched. 1t was for the most part
an argument in favor Of his views
rather than a revelation of them for
they were already pretty clearly un-
derstood.
On the subject of gambling he is
quite pronounced as he also is concern
ing the regulation of saloons. As he
says, there is nothing 20 be said in
favor of gambling. Leaving out entire
~ the matter of immortality, the time
has come when, in Arizona, public
gambling must give way before a SEN
timent which has slowly and irresistibly
spread over the country. Gambling
and the unregulated saloon have their
places in every frontier community
but Arizona is no longer on the from
tier. So as We have said, leaving out
the question of morality with respect
20 gambling, the Sunday saloon and
the female saloon singer. whatever they
might have been they are now all con-
trary to public policy. They stand in
the way of the builders of a commun-
ity and the investors in it.
That section Of the message relating
10 territorial finances is of historical
interest and We do not think the show
ing quite warrants the rather gloomy
view the governor takes of the volume
of the bonded Indebtedness. a public
debt is not necessarily a burden but
some times a sign that there has been !
building for the future. We believe |
that Lord Chancellor SOmers discover |
ed that; at any rate he was the first
to act upon the idea when he laid the /
foundation for the English Consolidat- |
ed Debt.
A considerable part of our territorial
debt represents expenditures for which |
no full return could be expected within 1
the life Of those who made them. They /
were building for another generation |
which will be better able with the in /
creased wealth of the territory, to dis !
charge the Indebtedness. If the bene- |
fits which are to be derived from these 4
expenditures had been paid for by tax
alton, the burden would have rested .
wholly upon the generation which re- !
ceives the least share OF them.
The governors recommendation for a /
tax levy, however, TO create a redemp- /
ton fund with which to retire $4,000 |
of per cent bonds Of 1888 is a wise
and business like one.
The message as had been expected,
finds that ever present problem in tax
alton, the difficulty Of adjustment. if
not satisfactorily to all, at least equit-
ably to all. The most serious fault
found with all assessment and taxation
systems is not that the tax is too heavy
but that all can not agree how the bur
den should be distributed. The message
does not directly point a way out of the
difficulty but suggests choice Of ways
which may be tried, all looking to an
increased assessment Of the mines.
This question Of the relation Of the
mining assessments to the assessments
Of all other kinds OF property has al
ways produced more or less friction in
mining states and territories for a
time. But it has been invariably and
fairly solved. It was a debatable sub
ject in Colorado i'm the early days of
mining but it is 50 no longer. For
some years law has been in operation
there which is entirely satisfactory to
mine owners and equally so to other
tax payers.
We believe that mining men Of Ari-
iona themselves would willingly CO.
operate with the governor and the
legislature in any plan which
would promise an equitable as
sessment. We know that ninety per
cent of them in this territory desire an
equal distribution of the burden among
themselves and that if they could Sc
cure such an equitable system they
would raise no objections to an addi-
tional share Of the aggregate assessment
of all taxable property in the territory
Men engaged in one class Of industry
are less concerned about inequalities
which exist as between themselves and
men in some other line Of activity
than they are about inequalities which
exist among themselves alone.
The message which is in part a COM
pilation OF the reports OF territorial
officials to the governor sets forth a |