Mohave County miner., 1914-10-31

have been poorly drawn, and while
some of them have right objective in
view their adoption would lead to end
less litigation. With but one or two
exceptions the amendments and bills
have been artifc;ally, carelessly and
ignorantly drawn Their terms are so
vague, uncertain and doubtful, that
they will Of necessity breed class of
litigation that will be not only eXpen-
sive to the parties affected, but may
result in great losses to those least able
to make the losing. The trainers of
these laws plunge into the work of law
making without knowing just what
action their propositions will have when
injected into the existing laws of the
State. or having looked into what de
cisions the courts have made in APP
plying and interpreting similar laws.
AS an illustration of the ambiguity of
some measures we would call the vot-
ers' attention to the measure proposed
by Paul White, who is now seeking the
election as State senator of Arizona.
Mr.. White framed an ordinance re-
curing the board of supervisors to pay
to all employees of the county not less
than three and half dollars per day
for each day of eight hours. Nothing
bad about that, but Mr.. White, in
trying to amplify his bill disclosed the
niger in the wood pile, or rather bar
red the poor African from this employ
ment. The measure reads: "Sec. l.
All aliens, native born Indians and
white citizens shall be paid the same
compensation for the prosecution of
all county work or like employment
done in the county of Mohave, and it
shall make no difference whether said
work be done by contract or direct en-
ployment.
Section provides that 3.50$ per day
shall be paid workmen. Now, it will
be noted that the only employees of
the county, under this measure would
be electors and Indians. No young
fellow under the age of twenty~one
could be employed Aliens are barred
by State law from employment on
public works of every character.
Negroes, and all native born descend
ants of Asiatics would be barred from
employment. While this issue would
not appeal strongly to the people of
this county, especially as negroes and
asiatcs are not on our visiting list,
it would be regretable that youths in
need of employment be made stand
aside when a desirable job on county
work might be obtained. We know it
was not Mr.. Whites intention to put
in this bar to young men, but it is
there and this is the measure on which
he made what he may have considered
an elaborate argument. We are with
Mr.. White in the matter of paying the
best wage for work, but would not
this idea of his bar out many poor fell
lows who are really unable to do a
really high class days work. For
many years Mohave county has given
employment on its roads to old timers
of the county and they have done con-
sistent work, covering the main travel
ed lanes leading to the mines. Would
it not be wrong to draw strong, able
bodied fellows in their places to their
exclusion? This is the plea that Mr..
White puts up supporting his ordinance.
He wants a verile class of workers and
he wants them bad, not morally, but
badly, for the good of the community
and this great commonwealth. Mr..
White, like the many other would be
law makers, had the proper thought,
but had lack of direction. His senti-
ment for better manhood and more
verile population is indeed beautiful
and touching, but like all the other
measures the lack of quality is absent.
Lost.