The copper era and Morenci leader., 1913-02-07

have appeared to me as worthy of the same serious consideration or
 have occasioned, so far as I am
 concerned, the same serious
 thought, as that one which is based
 upon the increased cost of main
 taining the State government and the increased amount of revenue by taxation. It is subject of vital i'm.
 portance to every taxpayer, and to
 every wellmeaning citizen ambit-
 ious to become a taxpayer. It should
 be discussed freely and frankly, the
 facts set forth accurately and uu-
 derstandingly, and the truth, always
 essential to the correct solution of a problem, arrived at.
 I regret to say that this is not
 the attitude assumed by number
 of newspapers in the State, which,
 apparently without the faintest con-
 ception of higher mission than
 blind partisanship, without the e.
 motest thought of fair play or a square deal, or yet a desire or care to learn the truth, much less to publish it, have consistently charged extravagance, misrepresentation and
 misapplication of funds, general in- efficiency and what not. It shall be my pleasure, as it is my duty, to set forth the facts as they exist, and despite the bitter and ridiculous accusations of antagonistic parti- san newspapers, whose chief stock in trade is vituperation and false hood, I shall hope to convince all reasonable, fair-minded citizens of the State that whatever expenses have been incurred in the manage ment of their business were for the advancement of their interests, and whatever expenditures have been made were necessary to the proper and of the law.
 At the outset, the defense" to employ legal phrase, readily ad- mits that it has cost more to maiJl- tain the State government than it cost to maointain a Territorial gov ernment That this would be the case was absolutely inevitable, as no one will have the hardihood to deny; and still, few, if any, tax payers in the state, realizing that it would be so, were deterred by the prospect of> slight additional expense from desiring the blessings of Statehood. The question, there fore, is not whether more money has been spent than formerly, but whether the various items of such additional expense are legitimate, whether the laws causing such items are wise, and whether they have been econom really administer ed in strict accordance with their various provisions. I shall attempt to elucidate and illumine the situa- tion sufficiently for any seeker af ter the truth, and will support my various statements bv figures. While it may be impossible, in some cases, to make these figures absolutely accurate, they can always be relied upon to be approximately so.
 Concerning the laws themselves no criticisms entitled to notice have come to my ears. To be sure, the general and foundationless assertion has been made by either ignorant or wilfully meRdacfous-and usually that the Legislature created useless offices on a wholesale scale, but this requires almost no refutation. A bare list of the offices created is sufficient to convincingly suggest the need of each and a perusa1 of the Constitution, which had the peo- ple's overwhelming approval, will show that with three exceptions, l two of which are exceedingly minor, ] provisions for the offices created | was made absolutely mandatory. The appropriations for the conduct ! of these offices as I will show by | an itemized statement thereof, were kept at the lowest possible point. and in some cases, as experience has demonstrated, were placed to low.
 Aside from the offices created" that is, offices which did not exist under the Territorial government- the expense of salaries and the of numerous regular State offices, such as Governor, the Secretary of State. and the courts, paid prior to Statehood by the Fed eral government, has fallen upon the taxpayers of the new State. This is also true of the Legislature, the cost of which is necessarily con- siderable. Add to these unavoida- ole expenses the equally unavoida-