The Mena weekly star., 1906-05-24
THE ROAD TAX
 THREATENED
Suit Brought By the Cotton BeIt p. way to Test inc Validity .,
 Amendment No. 5.

Little Rock, May l6.-Th. validity of the road tax smana ment to the state constitr,;o known as amendment No. $ ;s :. tackled in suit filed yesterdav :. the Pulaski chancery court by X. St. Louis Southwestern Railwa, Company against c. c. Kavs naugh, collector of Pulaski corn ty.
 In this suit the railroad ende,,. ors to recover the amount of ths road tax paid this year on tb. ground that the constitut,on. amendment was not lepall, adopted.
 Attached to the complaint was a statement showing that there were at least sll6,37S votes caa in the election of 1898, at which time the road tax amendment wac submitted, and that the amend. ment failed to receive ma,ori,v of these votes. If these figures are proven to be correct, its claimed, the amendment wouldb invalid, under the decision ren. dered by the Supreme court short time ago on the amendment giving the governor power to bll vacancies.
 Ia arriving at what is claimed to be approximately the highSst numb Der of votes cast in the cleo. ton of 1898 the railroad attor. neys compiled a table from the abstracts in the office of secretary of state, showing the highest vote cast for any state or county officer in each county in the stale. Adding these totals 1t is shown that the highest vote cast for state or county officers in the en. tire state was 116, 37S. The total vote in favor of the road tax amendment was 57, 109, leav. ing .he amendment short qSO votes of a majority of the highest number of votes cast il the cleo ton, according to the figures given in the complaint.
 The decision on the appoint ment amendment was based upon the total vote for governor, it be- ing shown that the amendment failed to receive a majority ot this vote. The amendment was declared void, the court holding that under the constitution the amendment must receive a ma. | jority of the total number of votes cast in the election. Tax ing the vote on governor as the hig hest number of votes cast, the road amendment was adopted by ma jority of 1,262. In the suit filed yesterday, however, t is shown that by taking the vote on different officers in the various counties 1t is shown that at least 1l6, 37S votes were cast, leaving the amendment short of a ma jority. It is claimed that this IS the only method by which the total vote can be approximated.
 The statement filed with the complaint yesterday shows tha' ln only nine counties in the sta'e the vote for governor was the highest cast for state or county officers. In twenty-nine counties the vote for state senator or rep resentative was the highest. ln other counties the highest vote was cast for various state anu county officers.
 Suit of Great Importance.
 The suit filed by the Cotton Belt is one of great importance II the Supreme court decides u favor of the company, the amenu' ment will be declared invalid anu no special tax for road purposes can be levied. This affects prae' tically every county in the s'a'e'
 Railroads Paid Tax Under Pfoiesl.
 The Cotton Belt, together w,In the Iron Mountain, the Rock is' land, the Kansas City Sou'ne'n' and practically every other ran road iu the state have been pay. ing the road tax under pro,ess T A i.