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Then & Now

By dmc-admin

Published: January 26, 2007 at 1:00 am

Follow our history one piece at a time and see how we’ve grown. The covers below span time from Arizona Capitol Times first incarnation as The Messenger through time as The Arizona Legislative Review. The more we change, the more we stay the same, right?
The Arizona Legislative Review, Dec. 9, 1964:
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A state lottery was proposed as a statutory change to existing law, which eased the process by not requiring a change to the state Constitution. The initiative petition would also create a “State Lottery Commission” consisting of five people.
The initiative also stated: “The authority shall conduct a lottery, at least once a year, for the purpose of raising revenue and advancing the interests of this state.”
Also covered was a plan to ask the upcoming 27th Legislature for a $3 million increase in the budget of the Arizona State Hospital; the Arizona Judges Association support of an intermediate institution for juveniles whose offenses didn’t warrant being sent to the existing Fort Grant Industrial School for Boys and The Phoenix Gazette support for the creation of a permanent grand jury system in Arizona.
In the top right corner was a graphic showing local per capita tax burden in 1963 by state. The information accompanying the graphic clocked the average amount of tax paid to state and local governments at $235. The lowest tax burden was in Alabama, $140, and the highest was in New York, $327. Arizona came in with a tax burden of $246.
The Messenger, Nov. 23, 1954:
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In education, the Arizona Board of Regents had just voted 5-4 to reorganize the then-state college in Tempe into a university. The article chalked up the move, bitterly opposed by southern Arizona members of the board and other University of Arizona loyalists, to an “inevitable result of the growth of population in the Salt River Valley.”
The Notes & Comments section featured a traveler who recently returned from southern Europe. He said the past tourist season had seen more visitors from the United States than any year prior.
In national notes, Georgia and Louisiana had recently adopted amendments “aimed at circumventing the U.S. Supreme Court ruling against public school racial segregation.” The Georgia amendment would permit public schools to be turned over to private operation to avoid compliance. The Louisiana amendment would permit the use of “state police power” to continue segregation in schools.
The Messenger, May 4, 1954:
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Speculation from the editorial staff was that the paper would reach subscribers after Governor Pyle announced that he would seek a third term as the chief executive of the state. Citizens were also awaiting his “Report to the People” speech.
Arthur M. Davis of Phoenix was named the new president of the State Bar of Arizona and citizens were mourning the passing of Theodore Walter Burns Anderson, known as Andy Anderson, a political journalist who was “of a tough school of journalism.”
Splashed across the front was a comic featuring a large figure, labeled “The Candidates,” fiendishly chasing after a smaller figure, labeled “The Voter.” The text read: “Love is in Bloom Again.”
The Statehouse Journal section reported: Governor Pyle was asking that Prescott be the site of a new “U.S. Air Academy;” voter re-registration showed that Democrats held more than a 2 to 1 advantage over Republicans and The Phoenix Gazette argued against a pay hike of $379 for Phoenix high school teachers and administrators, citing that the “homeowner taxpayer” had similar money problems.
The Messenger, Jan. 24, 1931:
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“The Pioneer Weekly with a record of 30 years of constructive effort for Phoenix and Arizona,” and “TRUTH and JUSTICE at all times” adorned the top left and right corners, respectively, of the paper at this time.
The dominant headline read: “Democrat afternoon daily for Phoenix.” The story followed that the owners of The Messenger had decided that expansion was a necessity, and at the “instigation of many prominent citizens,” had incorporated with Tri-State Publishers, Inc. Their plan was to publish a “high class democratic newspaper along constructive lines that will be a credit to Arizona and fight newspaper combine.”
The 10th Legislature was to tangle with speeding up employment measures, passing of a highway bill and a proposed gas tax increase. Conditions at the Pioneers home in Prescott were described by Superintendent Dan Seaman as “Abode of hundreds and thousands of bedbugs and a nest of filth and dirt.”
Finally, there was a story about thieves who stole three miles of wire from a new power line between Benson and St. David. The thievery was discovered when workers threw the switch to send power through the line for the first time and nothing happened, not even a spark.
Arizona Capitol Times, March 2, 1983:
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The top of the paper featured a picture of the Webster Street Mansion in Phoenix in 1901. Its placement there was as part of a section that is still featured in the paper today. Now, however, the weekly “Times Past” feature is on the inside of the back page.
A bill was signed into law that reduced the increase in state aid school districts were used to getting from a 7 percent bump to 4 percent. The decrease was intended to “make state spending fit anticipated revenues in the coming fiscal year.”
Tries on the Senate floor to make it more difficult for cities to annex new territory were buried among some stiff “one-on-one jousting” between Sens. John Mawhinney and Greg Lunn.
The bottom of the page featured a story from The Brazil Hearld about a man who, upon realizing he had never received a bill for his telephone, called his phone company and asked for a bill. The company said he could not be billed because he didn’t have a phone. The company even refused his request that they call him on his phone, saying they “could not call a nonexistent telephone.”
A crew came and removed the phone a few days later.
The Arizona Legislative Review, April 5, 1978
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The “Statehouse Journal” section led with acting Attorney General Jack LaSota being named to the position full time by Governor Babbitt. Babbitt had vacated the position to serve as governor upon the passing of Wesley Bolin. LaSota said he would not seek election to a full term because he “dislikes political campaigning,” and that his main motivation for accepting the appointment was his “sense of duty.”
In business, Nina Pulliam was retiring as publisher of The Arizona Republic and the The Phoenix Gazette, to be replaced by Mason Walsh. Mrs. Pulliam remained as president and a director.
In law enforcement, the Legislature had agreed to shell out $34 million for the construction of a new prison for men and another for women. The article’s headline included, the words “site selection saga begins,” recalling that it had taken two years for the prior Legislature to select a site for the last new prison the state built, which ended up in Tucson.
In economy news, the state had reached $2.2 billion in construction in 1977, a 27 percent gain over 1976. The article went on to say while growth occurred in all areas of construction, the most significant expansion was reported in the residential field.
The Messenger, June 6, 1942:
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Tagged underneath the masthead was the motto “An independent newspaper for people who think.” This edition featured several photos on the front page of various people and vehicles. One was a “spectacle shop on wheels,” which pledged to “replace broken or lost glasses of overseas soldiers in the field.” Along with it was a photo tagged “modern meat transportation.” It pictured a refrigerated Fruehauf truck carrying “fresh meat for soldiers and civilians at accurately controlled temperatures regardless of weather.”
The first paragraph of the top left story read: “These are not ordinary days. Business is not being carried on in the ordinary manner. There is little hope for the past and present standards of value as we have known them.” The seemingly editorial piece was urging readers to protect “free enterprise,” touting it as “the biggest thing we have to fight for,” outside of winning World War II, of course.
Other news had Warren Peterson announcing his candidacy for Arizona Tax Commissioner; Ed Oglesby seeking the seat of supervisor in District 3 and Corporation Commission member Wilson T. Wright seeking the Democratic nomination for representative in Congress.

ARIZONA LEGISLATIVE REPORT

Then & Now

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