Arizona republican., 1918-02-27

tiIaEl uIOIOl Ill AS LAW ORDERS City Commissioner Frank Woods, candidate for mayor at the municipal electlon to be held Friday. yesterday | made formal demand, orally and i'll Wrltlng, upon City Clerk Frank Thom- as Tor a printed copy of the entries | of persons registered, whose name | appeared on the Great Register of the City of Phoenix, Arizona, for the 1 Clty Primary Election to be held l March l, 1918" Associated with him | m his demand was James F. Dooley | | Whose name also appears below that of, Commissioner Woods. l Almost simultaneous with the ap- pearance of Commissioner Woods at the desk of the city clerk and the presentation of his demands, like de- mands were made by J. A. R. Irvine. associated with John w. Martin, and John D. Mills, associated with M F. De Witt. Irvine and Mills are can didates for the city commission. The joint demand of Commissioner ! Woods and MT Dooley, read as fol- lows:
 We, the undersigned hereby de- mand printed copy of the entries Of persons registered, whose names appear on the Great Register of the 1 City of Phoenix, Arizona for the City Primary Election to be held March l. 1918.
 This demand is made pursuant to Ordinance No. 2O9 of the City of Phoenix, Arizona.
 Dated at Phoenix. Arizona, this 26th day of February, 1918.
 FRANK WOODS,
 JAMES F. DOOLEY." The Irvine Martin and Mills-De Witt demands were identical with the Woods-Dooley call upon the city clerk for delivery of a printed copy of the Great Register
 Although Messrs. Woods, Mills and Irvine made it apparent to the city clerk that their needs for copies of the great register was urgent. they found, with evident surprise, that they were making demands which 1t was physically impossible for the city clerk to make for the very good reason that the printed copies of the great register had not been completed and delivered by the printer. They, were also informed that it was ex- pected that the printing of the great register would be completed late to- day or early tomorrow, and that im- mediately upon receipt of the copies at the office of the city clerk, that official would be glad to comply with the demand.
 In order that his position in the matter might be Set forth clearly City Clerk Thomas later addressed a letter to Messrs. Woods and Dooley which read as follows:
 February 18th, 1918 Messrs. Frank Woods &
 James F. DooIey,
 Phoenix, Arizona.
 Gentiemen:-
 beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated February 18th, 1918, making demand of printed copy of the great register of the City of Phoenix for the City Pri- mary Election to be held March list, 1918.
 l regret that l am unable to comply with your request at this time for the reason that the printing of the great register has not yet been completed, but as sure you that l shall be glad to hand you a copy at the earliest possible moment after the print ing has been completed and the copies turned over to me-
 wish, in this connection, to call your attention to the fact that this office has been working on an average of sixteen hours day since before the close of the registration, in the effort to com pete the work of preparing and having printed the great register for the coming election at the earliest possible moment. As many clerks have been employed as could be used to advantage. These have averaged two shifts a day until the copy was placed in the hands of the printer for print ing. Notwithstanding the utmost diligence and effort on my part, l was not able to get copy into the hands of the printer until Monday, February 18th. My in structions to the printer were to get out the great register as quickly as it may be possible for him to do the work. l have re- peatedIy urged him ever since turning over the copy to advance the work as rapidly as possible. l hope to be able to receive copies by Wednesday, February 27th.
 recognize that the ordinance directs that the printing shall be completed at least five days be- fore the election. Inasmuch as not fewer than one thousand peo- pie registered on the 18th, to have complied with the Ordinance meant that all these names should be tabuated, checked and writ ten, and the copy placed in the hands of the printer and the printing actually completed within five days. Anyone who is at all familiar with the work of pre- pairing great register knows that this was a physical impossiblity. have personally given to this work every moment could spare from other duties from eight o'clock in the morning until ten o'clock at night, and have em- ployed four clerks as assistants in this work. Under these cir cumstances, 1 feel certain that you will agree with me that the delay in the procurement of the copies of the great register is not to be chargeabie to any onis- sion on my part, or that of my office, and that if any criticism is due, it should be directed against the ordinance itself in requiring this work to be done in so short