Weekly journal-miner., 1909-02-17
RANGER FORGE HAS STRONG FRIEND
 IN KIBBEY
Governor VetOeS Measure That Would Drop
 Service

al council. It read:
 To the Council of tine Twenty fifth
 Legislative Assembly of the Territory
 of Arizona:
 Our Organic Law provides that if
 the governor do not approve bill that shall have passed the Legislature
 he shall return it with his objections to the house in which it originated.
 1 herewith return to your House
 the bill passed by the Legislature en-
 titled "An Act Repeating the Act
 Establishing the Ranger Force of the Territory of Arizona" without my approval and state my objections there do as follows:
 In the message I addressed to the Assembly on the second day of this session, 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.
 I 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 re- straint of all kinds of lawlessness; not only that lawlessness that manifests itself in those parts of our extensive 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 itself in the eontemptuous disregard of our laws regulating the liquor traffic, the ire quenting of saloons by minors and lewd women, and by gambling. The his zory of lawlessness in the Territory before the establishment of the Rang CT Force, and the almost complete pre- vention of stage and train robbery, and the wholesale theft of range live stock since its establishment, should be regarded as some proof of the eff ficieney of the force. That the system of local eonstabulary which we have now and which we had before the es- sabIishment of the Ranger Force was mot fully adapted to the suppression of this kind of crime, is proved by she fact that the Ranger Force was dhought to be necessary, and that since its establishment that class of crime has decreased surprisingly.
 J am not eriticizing generally our system of local cOnstabulary and peace | officers, though in too many instances it is wofuly inefficient, and in too many instances it is more or less com pletely under the domination of vii | eious men who defy the law and bring it into contempt. There are notable Instances of this. In 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 established, of the ineffi- cheney of local officers to enforce the law.
 So generally believed by certain classes of viOlators of the law is the subserviency of certain local officers, that they have persistently, 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 'tlEs sentiment, certain influences yielded to the popular demand for leg islation prohibiting public gambling, upon a promise and with the expeeta tidn ehat the Ranger Force should be abolished.
 It was asserted that if the Ranger Force should be abolished that, in cer- tain localities named at least, the gam blers eould make satisfactory arrange ment with the local officers to praeti- .caIly render the anti-gambling law in operative in those places. And so, too, has it been said as to the law pro- 'hib1fing women from frequently sa- 9oons-
 I confess some surprise when l note men who favor the enforcement of the ;anti-gambling law and the law forbid ding 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 necessities imposed upon, them. as I shal hereafter note.
 The evidence of the efficiency of the Ranger Force is overwhelming and comes from nearly every source. Ma nv Sheriffs in the TerritOy have testi- fed in writing which is on file in my office. to the excellence of that ser vice and to the good it has accom- plished in lines not within the Ordin- ary scope of the duties of the sheriff and 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 be- fore this bill was passed, and were and are subject to the inspection of the members of the Assembly or of any sother persons who feel interested enough to know about them. l quote, however. from one of them, written, l wish to say, by Sheriff who is Democrat, as follows:
 ''I have found the Arizona Rangers ready and willing to assist me in the capture of criminals whenever called upon. They have in no way interfered nor been at cross purposes with any of my deputies. I am personally ae- -quainted with at least half of the present Ranger Force and know them to be capable and efficient officers. They are as a rule stationed in out-OI- the-way places where there are no To- cal peace officers or where the local of 1icers are incompetent and their pres !