The Benson signal., 1918-06-01
ARIZONA LEGISLATURE |
CONVENED IN SPECIAL SESSION
FOR WAR LEGISLATION
Proflteers Have Hearts Like CesSpools
Declares Governor Hunt in
Message
Western Newspaper Union News Service.

western Newspaper Union News Service.
Phoenix, Ariz.-A special "war ses-
siOn'' of the Arizona Legislature con-
vened for the consideration Of legisla-
ton believed by Gov. G. w. P. Hunt to
be necessary to meet what he calls in
his message 'the unusual conditions
imposed by war;"
At 2 o'clock May 21 the House and
Senate met in joint session for the
purpose of listening to the governors
message, which contains nearly 10000
words, and reviews much of the states
war and labor activities.
The primary purposes of the session,
the governor says, "is to back up our
brave men in the trenches with all
those supplies that are necessary to
warfare so far as it becomes the
states duty to furnish them"
The governor pays his respects to
the "profiteering patrioteer," whom he
calls "a certain sort of thing that
wears the outward semblance of
human, but yet is a craven cur, whose
mind is sink of infamy; whose heart
is as malignant as a cesspool, and
whose character is as devoid of prin-
ciple as that of a raving ape in an At
rican Jungle"
1t is this type of an individual, he
says, "who have sown the seed of blind
prejudice, class dissension and ma
licious falsehood from which the state
of Arizona, during the past year, has
reaped a hapless harvest of Industrial
strife, eliminating in such shameful
events as the deportations at Bisbee
and Jerome, the Earrings and feather
ings. and finally the reckless tendency
to brand as disloyal everyone who re-
serves the right to do his own think
ing"
The governor goes on to discuss the
Bisbee deportations at length, and de-
picts the fate of the deported men as
they we're sent on their boxcar Journey
towards New Mexico.
II am certain" the governor said,
"that the I. w. w. was not determin-
ing factor in the strikes that have tied
up the copper mines during the past
four months. These strikes grew out
of a long-standing struggle between
the forces of legitimate organized la
Dor and the forces of organized busi-
ness dominated by the copper COM
panies. So far as lawlessness is con-
cerned the chief role of the l. w. w.
has been to serve as camouflage'
Later on, in his review of labor con-
ditions, the governor declared that
sensational newspapers and speakers
have been largely responsible for the
mystery thrown about the l. w. w. and
for the publicity which has been given
the organization.
Coming down to the purposes for
which the legislature is convened. the
governor recommends legislation pro-
viding machinery for permitting Ari-
zona electors in military camps or ma
val cantonments to vote for candidates
for federal and state offices; the es.
tablishment of a moratorium so chat
no Arizonian in his country's service
will suffer civil penalties; to insure
against want all dependents of those
citizens who enter upon either naval
or military service; to provide funds
( for the care of all Arizonians who re-
turn from the front wounded or sick,
and to give credit to officers and en-
listed men in the old national guard
for continuous service"