Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1906-02-01
[iRKE OR DAVIS
..ar Says the Governor Made a Mess
 fl in His Resolutions Assessing The R,iIrpads, and Was Not Acting With sineerity.


 Crockett resolution and adopted bv unanimous vote that offered by Gov Davis.
 The object Of arriving at a inst and reasonable assessment of the nron,r-t,, of the railroads seems to have baen lost sight of in the pursuit of the plan to make political capital for use cn the stump
 But what was the later history of this resolution of Gov. Davis. "awk- wardly expressed and doubtful in its meaning?' Senator Clarke says
 "When the clerks in the secvatarv of states office came to make ur the certificates to be sent to the various county clerks a question was made as ! to the meaning of the resolutIon-as to whether or not 1t was intended to raise the valuations of the track on the main line of the Choctaw. the Fris. co, the Cotton Belt and the Kansas City Southern up to the then value of the Iron Mountain railroad. which was Sl4,ooo per mile at the time of the adoption of the resolution, and then to add to this sum of s14,00N an addi- tional 20 per cent, which would make the valuation of the track of the main i line of each of these four roads SIG 1 500 per mile. After consulting with | some, if not all of the individual mem bers of the board, this latter course was given out as the way in which the cert ficates would be made. and the value placed at s16,S00 per mile and the representatives of these rail roads Were notified accordingly"
 How old is Ann? and does the con stitution follow the flag? Does chi mera ruminatine in vacuum devour second intentions? Gov. Davis ad- mits that he is the champion of the ! plain people of the state. But where Oh where, is the champion of the plain 1 language of the state. since a resolu- tion assessing railroad property worth S5o.o0o 000 is so s.awkwardly express ed and doubtful in it's meaning" that the secretarv's clerks must tap their ! foreheads and ask themselves what i il means?
 After saying hat in count the states l counsel denied the alIeeation th9t the taxes sought to be imposed Were excess.y .ye,@ Senator Clarke adds:
 But the real fight came upon tn construction of the so-called Dayis resolution There is no lawyer who can take that resolution and, assum- ing that the pasl assessment of the Iron Mountain main track was 1t,ooo per mile, impose upon the Choctaw, Frisco Cotton Belt and Kansas City Southern a valuation of s16,S00 per mile It expressly directed that these four latter companies should be raised up to and on le9el with the then as scssment of the Iron Mouat4in rail way, which was ,0o0 per mile, and then independent provision was made that it intended to add 20 per cent to 20 per cent on their PAST assess ments. After having given the mat ter tie best consideration that We could Attorney General Murphy sn2- tested that the oalE sound nsluc- tion Of the resalut= =en was to a@saHae t69t f iaton3e1= tod a9 pzg eaat the valuations of past assossaseats and at all events. and ff9t if the zFze5f raise on tho fcuF eo4#a ae0 5ai-a a4 toned dil nof amount to I 2a per ce:lt me qsa w fh a1sas thi. re4 lat.an lQ=aal oa.e.zs2 ...- speeilic iacrra-s4 = wasll
 entire a=sessaiee z4 F + e==2l iA A cess=a1 f} a~s ##ea5# If aas
 lie easa of etefH8aa of t8@a
 railways tho aaeiIi5 incroa4a which hrou&ht inc amoant Up t1 >fG151 IT. psile was moro llan ro rcast ia- oaa4&o or its earugr assessHeai- these vas no rea4ea fee assH2ltH4 t was necessary ta resoIj ta the 2.sil- cral clause imposing the 20 per cent increase in the eases of t@a . r2ads Tho 20 per cent inereasa 2palied r. every other railway in the st3ta.=eN, copt these four. for the reason sAat when the main track was increased from the values fixed in 1902 to sll- GOO per mile, vastly greater increase was made than % per cent IT. therefore. became important to lls 70 sustain this view of the resolution as the one most favorable to the s ate, * * Our case. therefore turn f largely on our ability to maintain th" assessment male under the Davis S- olution, construed as I have here ih'l- cated.
 In the speech Gov. Davis del yered