The Green Forest tribune., 1907-01-18
GOVERNORS MESSACE|
EPiTCME OF A MOST VIGOROUS DOCUMENT DELIVERED TO THE ARKANSAS LEGISLA- TURF UPON ITS ORGAN
 RATION.
DENIES EMPHATICALLY ANY JUST FOUNDATION FOR REPORT
 OF PROBABLE DEFICIT.
To the Members of the Thirty -sirth General

I
 To the Members of the Thirty -strth General | Assembly:
 | The six years which have had the honor | to serve the people of this State as their | Governor have been stormy ones. full Of | work and agitation. I promised the people | of the State, at the beginning, that if they l would give me this high and responsible position, that I would give back to them | the ermine of office as spotless and unsullied as the day I received it; and l am here | today through you their chosen represen- | tatlyes. to fulfill that promise. And while | l have many political enemies who. while | the heat of the battle was on, would say and do many things in disparagement of | my administration your chief executive, | yet 1 fiatter myself to-day that there is not | one of them who would honestly and sin | cerely say that the administration of public | affairs during my incumbency in office has | been otherwise than clean and honest. l have disagreed with many people on many | political questions, but that disagreement | has been from principle, and has been in- | fluenced by no motive other than the best | interest of our common State. That I have /! made mistakes shall not attempt to deny. ] But these mistakes have been largely made | in the interest of humanity and what l | conceived to be a merciful administration | of justice.
 In retiring. gentlemen-irom the Cover nor's office-I want to reiterate many of the | things that I have said to your predeees- | sors, and warn you of some of the dangers | and pitfalls that will be set before you l under the cloak and guise of great solicitude | for the welfare of our people. The first sub- | ject to which I desire to call your attention | Is
 | PRESENT ANTITRUST LAW.
 This subject has been threshed out in | three campaigns, before two legislatures, | and through the courts, until every detail | of 1t has become thoroughly known to the people generally. The courts have upheld | the law in its most vital features; and to- day, in my judgment. if properly enforced | by the law officers of the State, it stands without model for the suppression of the | great trust evil. The law, however, has not been enforced in the spirit in which it was written and because of this failure on the part of those having in charge it's | enforcement, it's enemies seek to destroy | it. 1 warn you now, gentlemen, at the very beginning of your official duties, not to lay a hand upon this law, or change one line, one word, one syllable one letter. but to exact of your public officials its strict and faithful enforcement
 STATE HOUSE LEGISLATION.
 Another question of great importance | that will be brought before your honorable body will be an effort to obtain additional | appropriate for the completion of the new State Capitol. It would be useless for me to reiterate at any length the objec- tions which I have urged to this scheme | heretofore, but 1 would be untrue to myself and unfathful to the trust imposed on me if did not say to you in parting that this | has been the most grievous burden that has been placed upon my administration. It tNnar tfr1,t tth dtenp nnGttr fraud and corruption than any scheme that | has been forced upon an unwilling people | since 1 have had anything to do with pub | lie affairs The whole project was conceived in iniquity and brought forth in sin, and | every step since it's beginning has been tainted with the slime of its own corrup | tion, until at the last meeting of your honorable body it's brazen head was so con i spicuous that the eommonest wayfaring | man might see and understand its terrible | influence upon that legislature #. l say to you, gentlemen, shun any further appro- | priatiCn while this present scheme is in | vogue as you would shun pestilence. Shun it for the good name of your State, shun it for the good name of your children, your | friends and yourself
 STATE CONVICT FARM AND PENITENTIARY
 SYSTEM.
 The next subject to which I desire to call your attention, gentlemen. is the purchase of the convict farm whi.l made dur ing my first term of office, the State agree ing to pay $140,000.00 for a tract of land in Lincoln county, which have always | contended practically worthless and | vaueess; which has been source of an noyance and without profit, and which is absolutely unfit from every standpoint for 1 the labor of convcts. You will be | asked to pass a law, gentlemen authorizing the board to pay the accrued interest upon this debt, as well as that which is yet to become due The holders of these obli- | gations have come sQuarely up against this proposition of law-that the State does not pay interest on any of it's obligations un- | less there Is law in existence at the time | of the making of the contract authorizing | this payment. And 1 say to you, gentlemen, to-day, that you are not authorized, either | by law morals, to pass any kind of an | Act that will help these gentlemen out of | their dilemma.
 FELLow-sERvANT BILL.
 In each and every message that I have had the honor to deliver to the legislature Of this State. l have insisted that they should pass what in law is known as q fellow-servant bil which is for the pro. tection of employees of corporations against | the negligence and carelessness of their co laborers and I insist now, in the light | of recent events in our State, the number of accidents upon railway trains, and the great number of lives sacrificed by these great corporations. that no man, who truly has at heart the interest of one of our most worthy class of citizens, can for moment. honestly contend that such law should | not be enacted.
 INNOCENT RATE BILL.
 While on the subject of railroads, gen. tlemen, I desire to ask and insist that you ! bill limiting the fare trains to Hat rate of two cents per mile. | It is we'll known to all that this question Is absolutely in your power, linn ited only by the proposition that you could not make the railroads carry passengers at a price that would not return to them a fair profit upon their investment.
 OUR STATE UNIVERSITY.
 Our State University, gentlemen of the | General Assembly, under the broad and | liberal policy that has been heretofore pur- sued by your predecessors, has grown to be one of the greatest educational insti- tutions in the South, and is the just pride | of every citizen of our State Here the humblest boy or girl in the land may | quire collegiate education second to none | obtainabe elsewhere, and that too, If he has pluck and energy, without money and without cost Within the last six years | this school has grown from an enrolment | of four hundred to about thousand | scarcely county In Arkansas is not repre- | scented at this seat of learning. and nearly every village and hamlet Is interested in its welfare and its growth But, could hope to do in this message But, In concluding. I want to insist that this
 COURT OF LAST RESORT.
 q am sorry," said the poet, "but I am apliged to call your attention to