Arizona republican., 1910-07-29


 constitution, and are insisting that it is necessary to have it in order for the people" to get the laws they want, these same politicians who have been in control of Arizona legis- latures for years fail utterly to eX- plain what laws are wanted which democratic legislatures have refused to give the people.
 The bunch of Maricopa county pol iticians who are crying for direct legislation as the only means of giv- ing the people" the laws they de- mand. have been conspicuously in fluential in steering the legislatures. Why have these politicians been recreant in their duty to the peo- ple?" Why haven't they put through the legislatures the laws the people" wanted? And what laws, specifically, have been demanded by the people and rejected by the legislature?
 Let it be understood that The Re publican is not defending the demo- cratic legislatures It would be easy, of course, to point out now, as we have frequently pointed out in the past, specific cases in which the legislature has proved weak, if noth- ing worse. But we are thinking just now of the ridiculous figure cut by these dear democratic friends of "the people" We are thinking of their in- consistency in failing to give the peo- pie the laws wanted, inasmuch as these same politicians could have de- livered the required laws without the initiative and referendum, and we are thinking of their cowardice in failing to name the laws which ought to have been passed and which they and their friends failed to pass.
 It is not these local politicians alone who cut this sorry figure in the eyes of the public over in Pinal county is the Hon. Tom Weedin. also clam bring for the initiative and referen- dunn" as the only means of giving the people" the laws which recre- ant democratic legislatures have fail to enact Now. the Hon Tom has had a great deal to do with Arizona legislation. From the days of the unsayory "Thieving Thirteenth" leg islature. whereof he was one of the leaders. down to and including the last legislature, the Hon. Tom has figured considerably in legislation We except, of course, the years foi- lowing the "Thieving Thirteenth during which the Hon. Tom was in discreet retirement, giving "the peo- ple" an opportunity to forget him. Rut in the last two legislatures, the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth, the Hon. Tom was in the glories Of re- crudescence He had emerged from his retirement aforesaid. and was again a democratic leader. Largely upon his nod the legislature passed or killed the pending measures.
 Will the Hon. Tom please tell the people" he so dearly loves just what laws he and the democratic legis- lature failed to pass which they ought to have passed? To be sure if there had been a referendum, the people possibly would have killed the bin which the Hon. Tom introduced and tried to pass, in regulation or the taxation of mines-the bill which practically exempted the great mines and smelters from taxation and would have fastened the burdens of taxation upon the agricultural com munities, including the drought-ridden ranches of Pinal. But the resolute opposition of Governor Kibbey killed that bill, and forced the Hon. Tom and his comrades to bring in a bill which was more equitable. But the Hon. Tom, who we understand IS candidate for delegate to the cohsu- tutional convention, is not talking about his mine taxation bill just now He is talking by inference of the failure of democratic legislatures to pass proper laws. and is talking or the necessity of the initiative and referendum" as the only means or protecting the people from similar legislatures in the future.
 And over in Gila county we find the Hon George Washington Peter Hunt demanding through his paper. the Daily Globe. the constitutional adoption of the initiative and ref erendum" as the one sure means Of getting proper legislation. The Hon George Washington Peter has been an honored leader of the territorial dem ocracy for years. Since a time whence