Arizona republican., 1909-02-16
4 MESSAGE
 0F PROTEST The Last Strong Argument of
 Governor kibbey FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT The Reasons Why the Ari zona Rangers and the Public Examiners Office Should Be Permitted to Survive.
FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR. To the Council of the Twenty fifth
 Legislative Assembly of the Terri
 tory of Arizona:
 Our organic law provides that if the governor does not approve a bill that shall have passed the legislature. he shall return it with his objections tD the house in which it originated. I herewith return to your house the bill passed by the legislature entitled An Act Repeating the Act Estab fishing the Ranger Force of the Ter ritory of Arizona without my approval and state my objections thereto as follows:
 In the Message l addressed to the assembly on the second day of this session, I stated many reasons why that force should be retained. From those reasons so stated, there are, naturally and logically, inferrable at least some of the reasons for my ob- jections to this bill.
 l believe that the Ranger force was, and still believe that it is, one of the most efficient factors in our whole territorial government for the restraint of all kinds of lawlessness; not only that lawlessness that mani fests itself in those parts of our eX- tensive territory that are remote from the larger cities and towns, by deeds of violence and plunder, but, in very many of the smaller communities, that lawlessness that manifests it. self in the contemptuous disregard of our laws regulating the liquor traffic, the frequenting of saloons by minors and by lewd women, and by gambling. The history of lawless- ness in the territory before the establishment of the Ranger force, and the almost complete prevention of stage and train robbery, and the wholesale theft of range live stock since its establishment, should be re- garded as some proof of the effici- ency of the force. That the system of local cOnstabulary which we have now and which We had before the establishment of the Ranger force was not fully adapted to the sup pression of this kind of crime, is proved by the fact that the Ranger force was thought to be necessary, and that since it's establishment that class of crime has decreased surpris- ingly.
 am not criticizing generally our system of local constabulary and peace officers, though in too many instances it is wofully inefficient, and in too many instances it is more or less completely under the domina- tion of vicious men who defy the law and bring it into contempt. There are notable instances of this. Tn the files of my office, as well as in that of the captain of the Rangers, are very many just complaints. the truth of which have been fully es tablished, of the inefficiency of local officers to enforce the law.
 So generally believed by certain classes of violators of law is the sub serviency of certain local officers, that they have consistently, not only at this but at former sessions of the assembly, sought to encompass the abolition of the Ranger force.
 At the last session, as illustrative of this sentiment, certain influences yielded to the popular demand for legislation prohibiting public gam bling, upon a promise and with the expectation lndI the tNdHBeT IOICt should be abolished.
 It was asserted that if the Ranger force should be abolished that, in certain localities named, at least, the gamblers could make satisfactory ar engagement with the local officers to practically render the anti-gambling law imperative in those places. And so, too, has 1t been said as to the law prohibiting women from frequenting saloons.
 confess some surprise when l note men who favor the enforcement of the anti gambling law and the law forbidding women in saloons have joined their influence to abolish the only means We have in many places for the enforcement of those very laws. This inconsistent attitude of some of these men can only be accounted for by the political neces- sities imposed upon them, as I shall hereafter note.
 The evidence of the efficiency of the Ranger force is overwhelming and comes from nearly every source. Many sheriffs in the territory have testified in writing which is on file in my office, to the excellence of that service and to the good it has ac- complished in lines not within the ordinary scope of the duties of the sheriff or his deputies. I do not care to cucumber your record with recital at length of these letters they are on file and most of them were there before this bill was passed and were and are subject to the inspection of the members of the assembly or of any other persons who feel interested enough to know about them. I quote, however, from one of them, written, I wish to say, by a sheriff who is a democrat, as follows:
 T have found the Arizona Rangers ready and willing to assist me in the l capture of criminals whenever called