Arizona republican., 1909-09-01
ACCEPTABLE ID THE PEOPLE
The Position on the Railway Commission Vacated for Busness Reasons by MT. Ely Was Filled Yesterday by Governor Sloan.

MT. J. F. Cleaveland, secretary to the governor, gave out the information last night that Governor Sloan. after a conference at Prescott in the afternoon with w. P. McNair Of Douglas. had decided to appoint MT. McNair to the position on the railway commission made vacant by the resignation or Sims Ely, which takes effect today.
 MT. McNair for nearly a year has been secretary of the chamber Of commerce at Douglas. Previous to taking that position he had held i'm portant employments for several years at Bisbee with the Fl PasO & South western railway. For many years he has been a recognized factor in busi- ness and political affairs of Cochise county. Before coming to Arizona he had been in the railroad service for several years iE Kansas. He is per haps 50 years of age, but looks young CT. He is modest and unasSuming and is we'll liked. It is believed that the governor could not well have selected d the people of the territory. His com mission will be issued today or to- morrow. and he will at once take up the duties of the office. It is expected that Secretary Bicknell will succeed to the chairmanship of the commission. made vacant by the resignation of MT. Ely.
 1t was impossible to learn last night whether MT McNair will stay in Douglas or come to Phoenix. The law creating the commission provides that the commissioners shall devote their time to the duties of the office" As originally considered, the bill read that the commissioners must give their whole time" to the duties of the of flee, but the legislature cut out the word whole" so that the proper legal construction of this language of the law is that the members must give to their duties so much of their time as is necessary to proper discharge of the duties It would seem practicable. therefore, for Mir. McNair to stay at Douglas and attend the regular and special meetings at Phoenix, as does Mir Stoneman, the other member. Some of his friends thought last night, however, that he would prefer to stay in Phoenix during his term of office.
 Mir McNair's present appointment places him in position which he missed last spring by a hair. As the inside facts as to the original appoint ments have never been published, they are worth telling now.
 As soon as it became evident that the legislature would pass the bill creating a railway commission, host of applicants appeared and Governor Kibby had some fifty of them under consideration. Several, if not all, of the commercial organizations of the territory, represented by delegates at a meeting in Phoenix. adopted reso- Iutions asking the governor to ap- point MT. McNair of Douglas and MT. Jones of Phoenix In the matter of MT. Jones the governor, after careful consideration, decided not to appoint him. He made no public statement of his reasons, but his intimate friends thought they understood the situation. Many people overlook the fact that our territorial form of government is practically a "One man government" The governor appoints all territorial officers and is held responsible at the national capital To do justice to him. self and to the public service he must surround himself with officers whom he can take into intimate conference at all times. It is almost impractical ble for him to have an important of ficer with whom he Is not on the best
 Ts had h1sa ported to Governor Kibby that Mir. Jones had indulged in severe criticism of the local officers of the United States reclamation service, a criticism which logically included the governor as one of the legal advisers of the ser vice It was also understood that MT Jones was more or less interested in presenting claims on behalf of various persons against the railroads for dam ages, etc. It was also understood that he had been discharged from the rail- road service at Prescott, and that whether just or otherwise-he held feeling of intense personal bitterness against certain railway officers-some of the men with whom the railway commissioners would have frequent oc- casion to confer as to rate matters. Under all these circumstances it was understood, the governor concluded that he would not appoint Jones.
 Undoubtedly another reason in the mind of Governor Kibbey for not ap- pointing Mir JOnes-a reason in itself controlling-was his feeling of great responsibility for the work of a new commission in a new field. He nat urally wished to have at least one per-