19th Arizona Territorial Legislature

Session of the Arizona Territorial Legislature (1897) February 2026 January 2025 19th 12 Fred G. Hughes 24 D. G. Chalmers 18th 20th The 19th Arizona Territorial Legislative Assembly was a session of the Arizona Territorial Legislature which convened in Phoenix, Arizona. The session began on January 18, 1897, and ended on March 18, 1897.McClintock 1916 373Goff 1978 159 Background A long running feud within the territory's Democratic Party had come to an end with the removal of L. C. Hughes as governor on March 30, 1896.McClintock 1916 342–43 He was replaced by Benjamin Joseph Franklin.Wagoner 1970 326 The effects of the Panic of 1896 had been felt in the territory.Wagoner 1970 326 Despite this, the territorial government's financial outlook remained solid.Goff 1978 158 The territory's cattle and mining industries continued to expand and new settlers kept arriving.Wagoner 1970 326 Work to construct the grounds for a territorial capitol were under way but no capitol building had yet been authorized.Goff 1978 158 Legislative session The session began on January 18, 1897. Of the 320 bills introduced, 88 were signed into law.Wagoner 1970 329 A number of vetoes by Governor Franklin caused animosity between himself and the House of Representatives.McClintock 1916 344 This included 11 pocket vetoes at the end of the session.Goff 1978 159 Governor's address The governor was sick at the time the session began.Wagoner 1970 326 This resulted the address being delayed until the afternoon of January 28. The governor was present while the address was read to the session members by the governor's son, Alfred.Goff 1978 157 At roughly 20,000 words, the address was considered to be of "unusual length" and spoke of the territory's glorious future potential.Goff 1978 157,9 In many respects the speech was an argument for statehood as well as the traditional address.Wagoner 1970 327 It began by complimenting the session member's honor, intelligence, and patriotism.Goff 1978 157 Franklin then asked for the legislators to practice financial restraint and to not be hasty in the performance of their duties.Wagoner 1970 326 Speaking about the territory's development, Franklin noted the territorial population had reached an estimated 101,000 with opportunities for future growth if additional acreage could be put to agricultural use through new irrigation projects. Mining continued to be the territory's largest economic engine with US$14 million in revenue during 1896. Cattle ranching and farming followed with an estimated revenues of US$3 million and US$2 million each. Enrollment at the University of Arizona had reached 149 students with 16,936 children enrolled in the territory's schools.Wagoner 1970 327 The National Guard had grown to 488 officers and men within the territory.Goff 1978 158 With the cities of Phoenix, Prescott, and Tucson employing a total of three police officers, crime rates on a per capita basis were still lower in Arizona than on the East Coast.Wagoner 1970 327 Meanwhile, discipline at Yuma Territorial Prison was described as "firm, but kindly."Goff 1978 158 Governor was concerned about tax avoidance, saying "The burden of taxation is pt to rest most heavily upon the citizen of small and fixed holdings, rather than upon the one possessed of large wealth which is variously invested, and therefore more intangible and difficult to reach."Goff 1978 158 Towards this end he called for the railroads, which he called "quasi public corporations", to pay a more in taxes, arguing "the State guarantees to every citizen a security for his person and his property, and those who, of niceness must expect the most protection should, and of right ought to give the largest return thereof."Goff 1978 158 Legislation One of the first actions taken by the session was a revision of the territorial livestock laws.McClintock 1916 344 Cattle ranchers were please when the system of county level brand registration was replaced by a new system operated at the territorial level. The new system simplified most of the registration requirements and prevented brand duplication within the territory.Wagoner 1970 329 Another law encouraged conservation of wild game and mountain trout.Goff 1978 160 Permission to construction of a territorial capitol building was granted.McClintock 1916 344 The permission included a US$100,000 bond authorization.Wagoner 1970 327–28 A compulsory education bill passed but vetoed by the governor.Goff 1978 159–60 Meanwhile, Flagstaff's reform school was converted into an insane asylum and special tax was authorized for creation of a new reform school in Benson.McClintock 1916 344 The Santa Fe Railroad was granted permission to purchase the bankrupt Atlantic and Pacific Railroad.Wagoner 1970 330 Additionally, new railroads were given a fifteen-year exemption from taxes.McClintock 1916 344 During the session, a number of newspaper editors visited the legislature seeking payment for services provided to previous sessions. The visits soon reached nuisance levels and the House, as a joke, passed a bill making it a felony to publish or edit a newspaper within the boundaries of the territory. Penalty for violation was set at 10 to 20 years in the territorial penitentiary. The Council never gave the House bill serious consideration and by the end of the session payments of US$72 to each of the daily newspapers and US$36 to the weeklies was authorized.Wagoner 1970 328 Two legislative actions caused unforeseen future problems. In the first, the three sections of the territorial penal code that defined homicide were repealed and replaced by a new definition. The change the side effect of creating a legal loophole which overturned most past murder convictions and forced charges against those awaiting trial to be dropped. Dozens of murders were left unpunished, including those allegedly committed by the Apache Kid and Black Jack Ketchum's gang members.Wagoner 1970 329 The second was a $3,000 appropriation to the Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society so that the society could collect mementos and testimonials from the territory's earliest settlers.Wagoner 1970 328–29 The President of the Council, Fred G. Hughes, embezzled roughly two-thirds of this appropriation to pay off gambling debts and was imprisoned in Yuma Territorial Prison before being paroled.McClintock 1916 601 As the session drew to an end, tensions between the House of Representatives and Governor Franklin, a gold Democrat in a predominately free silver territory, grew.Wagoner 1970 330–31 The cause of the animosity was a series of vetoes issued by the governor, including bills granting tax reductions to irrigation projects, mine smelters, and sugar beet factories along with pay increases for county employees.McClintock 1916 344 This resulted in the House passing a resolution sponsored by L. O. Cowan declaring "the best interests of the territory demanded an immediate change in the office of governor."Wagoner 1970 330 The Council responded by tabling the resolution and passing another proclaiming "that it has implicit confidence in the integrity and ability of out present governor, the Honorable B. J. Franklin."Wagoner 1970 330 Members House of RepresentativesWagoner 1970 523NameCountyNameCountyHenry F. Ashurst CoconinoW. J. Mulvenon YavapaiA. C. Bernard PimaProsper P. Parker MaricopaD. G. Chalmers (Speaker) PimaJ. B. Patterson ApacheLawrence O. Cowan MohaveA. J. Preston PimaJ. B. Finley PimaC. D. Reppy PinalAaron Goldberg MaricopaJ. J. Riggs CochiseJ. C. Goodwin MaricopaWilliam Speed CochiseHiel Hale YumaJ. K. Rogers GrahamG. W. Hull YavapaiGeorge W. Skinner GrahamLeroy Ikenberry GilaJesse N. Smith NavajoJ. N. Jones CochiseD. J. Warren YavapaiC. P. Mason PinalJames W. Woolf Maricopa CouncilWagoner 1970 523NameCountyF. T. Aspinwall NavajoSolomon Barth Apache Peter R. Brady PinalJ. H. Carpenter YumaA. A. Dutton CoconinoCollins R. Hakes MaricopaFred G. Hughes (President) PimaGeorge W. P. Hunt GilaW. H. Lake MohaveD. H. Ming GrahamJ. W. Norton YavapaiB. A. Packard Cochise References 2 Goff John S. Arizona Territorial Officials Volume II: The Governors 1863–1912 Black Mountain Press Cave Creek, Arizona 1978 5100411 McClintock James H. James H. McClintock Arizona, Prehistoric, Aboriginal, Pioneer, Modern Vol. II S. J. Clarke Chicago 1916 https://books.google.com/books?id=xEQOAAAAIAAJ Wagoner Jay J. Arizona Territory 1863–1912: A Political history University of Arizona Press Tucson 1970 0816501769 registration https://archive.org/details/arizonaterritory00wago 19 19 Category:1897 in Arizona Territory Territorial Legislature