Bisbee daily review., 1916-01-04
Review of Police Court Dock ct in Bisbee Discloses 45.9 per cent Decrease in Arrests for Year of 1915.
CONDITIONS EXCEP-
 TIONAL IN DISTRICT
Absence of Legalized Traffic Has Cost Every Tax Payer An Increase of 40 Cents on the $1O0 Valuation.

fr0nlDltlOnS nrSt year Tn BlSDee, taking the records in the city courts and the matter of taxes as a criterion has cost the people, in the last in. stance, sum aggregating s16,000, or an increase of forty cents on every hundred dollars in valuation, and has ostensibly. reduced the number of arrests in the city. by city officers 45.9 per cent.
 A careful survey, however, into the difference between the two years 1914 and 1915, brings number of ex- ceptional conditions into considera' tion and renders bare figures trife disconcerting and unreliable. In the matter of taxes, alone, and the de. crease in license revenue, with the absence of legalized saloons. can any degree of accuracy be arrived at
 In the first place. from the first day or August. 1914. there existed wretched European war had broken out and the copper mines of the country. in cluding these of the Warren District, were forced to reduce their working forces very materially. This condi- ton was maintained until well into last year. It might be considered an even break, for not until late into the summer, and possibly fall, did con- ditions, as prevailed in the spring of 1914, again find place in Bisbee and the surrounding suburbs.
 Consequently. when the city of Bis bee police courts docket discloses that, during the year 1914, there were 703 arrests, and that a like view of the docket for the past year shows only 369 arrests it would appear that the 45.9 per cent decrease could be claimed as a victory for prohibition.
 It is here that one of the extraneous conditions enters the calculation In neither year can all the arrests, or even the great majority, be charged directly or indirectly to the liquor traffic Furthermore from June l 1914. until the present time the police court of Bisbee has not been operated as a revenue producer. The reverse is true The police officers of Bisbee have instructions to arrest when there is no other alternative in all cases where misdemeanor is being com mitted or about to be so.
 If good conditions, industrially speaking. continue to prevail, and the police court record of the month oi December is maintained, however the prohibition amendment can not be credited with any great boon, as last month showed to poor advantage compared with the same month in the preceding year.
 In December, 1914. $110 in fines were turned to the city collector. In December, 1915, the amount was $342 It can be seen. however, that Decem Der. 1915. was prosperous month and the same period in the previous year was the reverse. On the other hand however. the saloons in 1914 were wide open and the month of Decem Der included the closing of the traf fic.
 Ir Lowell December, 1915. was 8 money-maker for the county. The justice court remitted to the treasur CT s340, in criminal fines. In 1914 December. it was s45: in 1913. s37; in 1912, s9S.
 In taxes. alone. can the best and most accurate comparison be made as the other figures. obtained from court records, are at times confusing and often not chargeable to the liquol traffic. legalized or otherwise.
 The amount of licenses. formerly collected from saloons in Bisbee amounted. annually. to s17,250. This source of revenue was completely eliminated by the amendment It wal necessary, however. for the city tC raise the amount as the expenditures of community could not be curtailet to come within the reduced amount.
 In nearly every building, where dur
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