Arizona republican., 1909-08-06
ONLY AN INTENDED GIFT HORSE

The attempted application of a strained construction of the patriotic doctrine that home industries should be patronized, has just deprived Tue son of a handsome three-s story busi- ness block.
 The intending builder was Edward T. Davis, a Philadelphia millionaire, who went about the business on the theory that his enterprise was of a purely private character. He owned the ground which was occupied by an ancient adobe structure and he expected to pay all the cost of con struction. Regarding his business as in no sense public, he let the con- tract to a Los Angeles firm without apprising the citizens of Tucson or without consulting them. He executed leases to several firms for the occu- pancy of the new block and every thing was in readiness for the be- ginning of operations. NIT. Davis, in
 
 ner as if he were going to erect a building in Philadelphia, which is mo- toriously sleepy and not up to date.
 Two weeks after the award of the contract MT Davis was surprised to learn that Tucson was aggrieved. Its confidence if it had not been abused, had been neglected; its contractors had been ignored and it's local labor unprovided for ard left at the mercy of the Los Angeles contractors.
 Letters began pouring in upon MT. Davis His dereliction was numerously pointed out. It was explained to him that he had not shown the proper spirit, seeing that Tucson had ac- corded him the gracious privilege of assisting in the improvement of the town.
 There were widely signed petitions urging him to retrace his steps and give the contract to local contractors, to whom of right it belonged. Letters were also received from the Iessees | of the unbuilt block. These letters seemed to have been written under duress. They hinted at threats of boycott of the occupants of the build ing if it should be constructed by outside contractors. There was, how ever, we understand, no complaint on the score that the cost of the con- struction was to be met by outside capital.
 MT. Davis answer to these letters and petitions is a notification by him, | printed in the Citizen, that he will | construct no building; that he does not care to invest money in a com munity whose populace asserts its right to direct the manner of the investment He wrote:
 If public sentiment is opposed to | my methods of investing my money | in improving Tucson suspend nego- tiations and have Holmes send bill for work done."
 The Citizen commenting upon the outcome of the matter. says:
 We regret that the Davis building will not be built at once, but after all is is only a drop in the bucket as far as concerns the business future of Tucson"
 It is true that one business build ing would neither make nor break | Tucson. The loss of the Davis block | is not irreparable, nor in itself, may it be said to be material. But it is the spirit that caused the loss that is to be considered. If that should re- main unchecked by the outcome of this incident, other drops in the bucket would be spilled and if the Il spirit became sufficiently prevalent. the bucket itself would be found to be empty. The act of looking a gift horse in the mouth has always been accounted of ill taste. But the act of too critically examining an intended gift horse is apt to bar the gift.