The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1902-10-25

Ia
.,.o on the Amendements TO be
s,s5 a the November Election
" 4, ,be last session OF the Legisla-
ho,h houses of that body adopted
.o,ntions proposing three several
i .ssments to the State Constitution.
VIA c,r Judgment the merits Of these
.oroael ~ amendments should commend
r, y .be voters at the coming cleo
"A n .nd insure their adoption by q
sn.,nU M majority. A brief discussion
tbs matter, however, may not be
'miss, inasmuch as some Of our readers
.sv have given the subject little at.
'sntiop, III and it is desirable that each
.,0iershould vote intelligently thereon,
M vote directly for or against each
.maaamer,t, to the end that the true
ssusa Of the people shall be derter-
mined by the result Of the election,
.lT,ne of these amendments relates
u tIle method by which our organic
lsW NAV be altered, changed or amend
n Under the present Constitution
l,ectiou 273) when an Amendment to1
~ Constitution is proposed and SUB
mitted tbthe people at the ballot box
n fatiticatiou or rejection, every bal
N Mich is not marked eitheffor or
auafiIst the amendment is counted as
having been polled against 1t, An
justaace Of how the present Constita---
,ion works in this regard was furnished
,shan. al the last State election the
nyoo6sed amendment providing for the
election of judges received an over
wbelming majority of the ballots OF
tbe voters who voted directly thereon;
yet ID every ballot. which ignored the
amendment by not being marked
either for or against it was counted
AGAINST the amendment, it was de-
clared by the Supreme Court that such
amendment was rejected. Now 1t
looks a trifle hard that those who,
either from ignorance or indifference,
fail or refuse to vote on an amendment
should be able by the sheer force OF
inertia to annul the active and lntelll-
cent endeavors Of their more patriotic
and enlightened fellow citizens in such
way. The object OF the proposed
amendment to section ?73 is to elimln-
ate the barnacles from the old ship OF
state, and in the determination 81
whether change in the organic law
has or has not been ratified only those
ballots will be considered which snow
d direct affirmative or negative vote.
sThe next proposed amendment 10
the Constitution so far modifies section
ls3 as to permit counties, cities, towns
or magistrates districts Of county 10
become stockholders in a railroad
company, or to vote aid to railroad
company to secure the construction OF
railway. The present Constitution
adopted when the fight against all cor
pOrations led the people 20 lose tne
senEe Of distinction between these
channels Of transportation and other
less essential corporate bodies, un-
wisely tied the hands of our commun-
tiles; and many people are now haul
ing their products over weary miles OF
bad route who, but for the unWise re
strictive clause in the Constitution,
might have had all the benefits OF rail-
way transportation. Our State papers
have for acme months past been urgent
In their demands for ''gOod roads.
The Carthaginian now raises the cry
for railroads. . That the gods help
those who help themselves was never
truer than it Ia today. Those VINO
build railways do so with less heslta-
ton when the people along the pro-
posed line take stock in the enterprise.
l.eake county has had on experience
which should have taught us lesson.
Twenty years or SO ago Gen. John b.
GOrdon had the money and the wish TO
build road through our territory. AT
this instance H. G. McCabe came 10
our county to ask the countysto take
stock in the road. Public sentiment
was SO adverse to this that the propo-
sition was withdrawn and the road
was never built. We would have done
better TO have made an absolute donsa-
tlon OF $3.50, 900 to that enterprise than
70 have let it pass US by as it did.
Another thing: Under the present
plan Of consolidating the great railway
systems competition in freight rates is
last disappearing. It may in the near
iutnre become necessary for the cities
the counties and the towns to provide
competition by themselves building
and operating lines Of railway. We
are now prohibited from doing this,
Dat the proposed amen dments would
remove the shackles.
THE third and last amendment pro-
yides for a regular session Of the
legislature every two years, instead
Of one regular session every four years
and special session each second year
after the regular session. ae is now the
case. The main objection to the pres
ent law is, that it clothes the Chief
executive with too much power. The
Legislature at a special session