Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-02-23
(By Staff correspondent.)

PHOENIX, Ariz, February 22.--
 Never before were such strong forces
 brought to bear on legislator as those
 against which Kean St. Charles fought i, when he was called upon to decide the fate of the Pace bill in the council Fri
 day morning. All the influences of the political leaders of the democratic party from Big Chief Dillon of Prescott down to the mere nincompoop of the ward politician were centered on the man from Mohave. The tactics used were to be condemned even had everyone con
 sidcred the opponents of the measure in the right. Threats were made that his
 business would be ruined, that his paper would be boycotted, and that he should never again be elected to any office in
 the territory. Kean St. Charles is rot
 and five children to support. These eff forts, together with belief that
 majority of his constituents were against the passage of the bill natur-
 ally placed him in deep hole. When St. Charles rose 10 make his speech
 everyone in the council chamber knew
 the fight he was fighting, and how much depended on bis decision. As St. Charles said on other occasions, he does
 not believe in playing to the galleries,
 but he thinks that the galleries are
 generally right, for they represent the
 common people, No doubt as he gazed
 at the sea of faces of women, and re-
 mcmbered his own wife who had re.
 mained at home, the desire to do what
 he honestly believed to be right, was
 uppermost in his mind, and he then dc cided to let the future take care of II
 self There is no doubt St. Charles,
 had he been q dishonest man, could to- day have been n much richer man. Be
 hind his convictions that were prompt- ing him how to vote, was the strength and loyalty of woman, his wife, who
 had pleaded with him not to heed the threats that had been made, and if nee assary they could starve together, but to vote for the bill. No one knows what a battle men sometimes have and what the cause of the victory. Herein m ethical question arises, should a law maker vote according to his constitu ents wishes, when his conscience die tates otherwise.
 , The consensus of opinion is that hy passing the Pace bill the legislature has strengthened the position of the democratic party. Had the council failed, the temperance crowd would have knifed the ticket in the next clcc ton. The republicans in the house did not think that the council would pass the measure, so they voted sOlidly for the bill, in order to throw the onerous task on the upper body of killing the bill by democratic majority. It was a clever political maneouver. Under majority rule Maricopa county will probably go dry in the next election. In this county the measure received its strongest and most determined support. It would have been political oblivion forever for Maricopa county legisla tor to have opposed the bin.
 As purely political measure the bill offered by Finley to oust J. J. Riggs from the board of control deserved to fail, say most of the honest legislators who are not hide bound. Moreover Riggs has been most accommodating and efficient citizen member of the board of control. Hampton was one of the men who fought against this sort of legislation. The bill to cut down the fees of the secretary of the territory will be fought briskly by the council, but the measure to put Lew Collins out of office by abolishing the job will amount to little in the long run. Col lins is already persona non grata to the administration, at least to Page and his days are numbered around the cap itol building.
 Webb made one of the most stirring speeches heard this session in the house, when the memorial to congress for an to dredge the Colorado | river for deep sea canal was up for Webb $ remarks on any subject are given more consideration | than any man in the house, though he | rules with an iron hand, there is mani fest a great degree of respect for his