Weekly journal-miner., 1914-12-30
ONE LAW MAY BE
 TESTED IN YAVAPAI
(From Thursdav's Dailv.l

CiA lAAN hNNio pl OlJlAilOli ing from the office of the Arizona attorney general to the effect that the so-called mothers pension law" means the sale of county poor houses and turning out of the inmates, comes a discussion in Yavapai coun ty as to what will be the action of the county board with reference to the valuable poor farm property here.
 While there is no authority for quoting the members of the board on the subject officially, it is known that the views of the two old mem bers, William Stephens and H. w. Heap, differ. and. of course, Mir. Suder. the incoming new member, re- fuses to express any opinion prev ious to the time he is a qualified member of the board
 Mir. Heap has said open and above board that if the law is declared in force inc will favor the selling of the property without controversy in com pliance with the text of the measure. He says that he believes in enforc- ing all the laws as they are found on the statute books and that 1t IS not his province to enforce only such laws as he thinks are wise. Con scientiously he Is against the law, however. and believes it would be a great loss to this county to sell the property and discontinue the poor farm.
 On the other hand, Mir. Stephens has declared that he will not favor selling the property under any com sideration. until he is compelled to do so by some legal process. He declares that such action would be ruinou, and does not believe in mak- ing a move until the board Is forced to do so Should his idea prevail, it would probably result in the con- stitutionality of the law being tested in Yavapai county, if no place else in the state, on the ground that it is confscatory of public property, for some action would have to be brought to carry out the new statute, bringing the matter to legal issue.
 It will be interesting to note the progress of this question in Yavapai county. If the two old members act officially when the board is in ses- sion as it is understood they have expressed themselves. Mir. Suder will have the deciding vote in the matter.
 What Attorney General Says.
 In rendering an opinion on the sub ject the other day. Assistant Attor- ney General Leslie C. Hardy gave it as his opinion that the law as passed would have to be enforced, and that it meant the sale of all county poor farms in the state in a reasonable time after the law went into effect, which was December l4th. The opinion was rendered on request of Governor Hunt, and was for the pur- pose of answering a question raised by the board of supervisors in Gila county. Attorney Hardy said that the law specified no particular time when such sale was to be made. The text of his opinion is as follows:
 The law makes no provision as to when almshouses shall be abolish ed, but, for which reason. the only construction that can be placed upon the law is that they should be abol- ished as soon as practicable after the law becomes effective.
 This department realizes that con siderable anxiety Is encountered by virtue of the fact that certain public institutions are almshouses, as de- fined by the law in question for which reason they must be abolished 1 understand that it is contended by certain persons that the law is, per haps, unconstitutional. but of course this department connot proceed upon such a premise. All laws enacted by 1 the legislative power of this state l must be considered constitutional by | this department until they have been judicially determined otherwise.
 "I do not think, however, that it can be denied or gainsaid that the law relating to old age and mothers pensions. contemplates the abolition of almshouses and the funds derived therefrom used for the purposes of the act. In other words, it seems to be the purpose of the framers and enactors of this law that certain dependent persons should not be cared for by the state and its agencies and in houses of charity, but that on the other hand money should be advanced directly to the objects of such charity by the state and its agencies themselves"