Newspaper Page Text
ARIZONA
YUMA SOUTHWEST
VOLUME XLV. NUMBER 38.
YUMA, ARIZONA, THUR SDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1915.
ORDINANCE
ON YUMA 'S FAIR NAME
State Constitution and City Charter Clearly Provides No Author
ity for any Partnership With Vice, But Does Say
"Regulate, Restrain and Punish" Offenders
(Bj Benjamin Franklla Fly)
"Ordinance No. 4" is now
"the talk of the town" !
Wherever you find two or
more men standing on the
street talking, it is almost a
certainty that the conversa
tion will end, if it does not
begin with a discussion of
this nauseating measure. m
Not only on the street cor
ners, but in family and in
church circles, "Ordinance
No. 4" is being given more
serious thought than any pre
vious measure ever passed by
a Yuma city council.
It is like Banco's gost of
old it simply will not down!
It stands out in bold relief as
a living ghost of the days
when Yuma was a frontier
village, a mining town, when
vice and crime went hand in
hand.
The great question now up
permost in the minds of those
of our citizens who want to
see Yuma climb the ladder of
prosperiay is:
Shall we go back to the
days of '49, when "everything
went"? Or, shall we go for
ward to our rightful place of
pre-eminence?
Under the territorial form
of government, crime was as
common as it is now uncorq.
mon. Gambling houses were
licensed and were conducted
wide open on the ground
floor, in plain view of every
passer by.
Women of ill-repute were
.
licensed and looked upon by
"rounders' and "roustabouts"
as "uncrowned queens."
Saloons were licensed to
keep open all night and sell
liquor to whomsoever had
the price.
' Murder 'was more common
than "drunks" are now to be
found.
One by one, however, pro
gressive, God-fearing, law
abiding men and women
moved into Arizona from all
sections of the world, until
there were a sufficient num
ber of them to knock so loud
ly at the door of the sister
hood of states that Miss Ari
zona was admitted, and in the
intervening few years that
she has enjoyed this great
blessing, and, because of her
wonderful resources, the
baby state" has already at
tracted the eyes of the civil
ized world.
The territorial laws gave
way to a new constitution,
and all our present laws are
supposed to be in accord with
that sacred instrument.
Judge Fred L. Ingraham
was one of Yuma's represen
tatives in the constitutional
convention, and had the dis
tinction of being on the sub:
committee that really draft
ed that document in its mi
nutest details.
Judge Ingraham agrees
with me when I say that the
constitution DOES NOT au
thorize any city in the state
to license prostitutes! ITj
NO
4 A BLOT
REGULATES THEM.
The state statute DOES
NOT authorize any city in
this state to license prosti
tutes. IT REGULATES
THEM!
The new city charter of
Yuma; in perfect keeping ac
cord with the constitution
and state law, DOES NOT
authorize the city council to
license prostitutes.
It authorizes the council to
"REGULATE, RESTRAIN,
AND PUNISH," just the
same as it authorizes the
council to reanlate the hlaces
i , il i
where automobiles or hacks
may stand; and just as it reg
ulates many other things,
such as the keeping of "cows"
in the city limits.
But I defy any member of
j the city council, or the city
attorney, or His Honor the
Mayor, to point to a single
word or paragraph in the new
charter that gives the council
the right to stain the good
name of Yuma by placing
a."
LKbiNbb on prostitutes!
That being the case, it nec
essarily becomes the sworn
dutV Of the Council to SO
amend "Ordinance No. 4" as
to wipe this particularly in-,gr; Examiner has undGrtaken a
decent feature OUt Of the ; campaign along these lines. "
laws of the city of Yuma! . w .. T
A mere suggestion from,1
the mayor that this will be ooocooocoooooooo
done will stop a lot of uglyl "BIessed is the toy with ao
, ii ,i , . i il r O strict boss and a hard task for O
talk that is gradually growing iQ lle shall learn many thJ
from Whispers tO thunderOUS 0 are kept from the fellow with a o
tones of protest. jo snap." o
And, while amending that,oooooo.ooo.oooooooo
feature, it is but right to the
people that "the ordinances
(No. 4) should be otherwise
amended along the lines of
fairness and decency.
II 11
II
MIMl
The prevailing plea heard through
out Yuma these days is "Patronize
home merchants and industries and
keep Yuma dollars in Yuma."
Verily, this is a worthy slogan, and
everybody knows what a mighty ad-
, vantage this would mean to Yuma and
i
X
policy lived up to hy every one of us.
Yet we realize what an interesting
list could be compiled of those who
send away for many things which
could be purchased at equal cost right
here at home. Many of our "most
prominent citizens, as well as finan
cial institutions, buy4heir furniture
elsewhere, probably not realizing that
the same goods could be purchased lo
cally at equivalent prices. Not a few
women go to the expense of a coast,
trip to furnisli their season's ward-
Yuma grocery stores push eastern.
products and ignore local goods of the
same kind and identical quality. ' If'
Yuma wants more factories here the
1 townspeople
should foster the baby
industries which are
struggling to
