The Mena weekly star., 1910-09-08

it throughout the state. There are a great many good men who have spoken against it and are as honest Tn tnen opinions as those who favor 1t, for do not always attribute sinister motives to those who do not agree with me on public questions.
 think that when Thomas Jefferson first promulgated the doctrines oi Democracy upon which this govern ment of ours was founded it was ln- tended that the government should pc brought as near to the people as pos sible, and I do not think there has ever been any law proposed that brings the government as near to the people as the Initiative and Referendum. Ii the Initiative and Referendum IS sc dangerous as many of the politicians would make the people believe, why is it that in the states already operat- ing under it the people are satisfied and the states are prosperous and pro Igressive?
 We are told that if we adopt 1t that it will run capital from the state. l do not agree to this, for the reason that Oklahoma, that young giant, has grown and prospered under this law, the population has increased wonder fully under it, and under it's operation the deposits of the banks have almost doubled in three years, and the wealth of the state has increased 2S per cent in the same length of time and the amount of capital invested in manu- featuring interests has increased 20O per cent in three years, and all this under the Initiative and Referendum. Oregon is working under the same law and it has given universal satisfac- tion, and I am persuaded that the people of Arkansas are just as intelli- gent, and as fair and as honest and as capable of controlling their affairs as the people of any other state.
 It is said that there is joker in the bill, in the part that reserves the right to voters of incorporated towns and cities to propose amendments to the constitution. It seems to me that this is as it should be, for as 1 understand it this gives the people of the town or city, not only the right to propose laws for the government of their town or city but also gives them the right to reject any ordinence that is not to the interest of the town or taxpayers with this law they will be able to cut out graft in all it's forms. In other words they can prevent the handing around of franchises for various privi- leges to the favored few who makes fortunes out of them at the expense of the taxpayers, and it often occurs that the favored few get these fran chises, because they are able by po- litical machinery to control the cleo ton for mayor and board of alderman. Again it gives the voters of the town or city the right to propose amend ments to the state constitution. this is also proper for if the tax-payers oi a town find that they are hedged in by the constitution, so that they cannot proyose and enact laws that are to their interest. Then under the l. and R. they can propose amendments to the constitution pertaining to the gov ernment of cities and towns only while amendments to the constitutions for state laws or the government of the state at large must be proposed by s per cent of the voters of the state and adopted by the state. It seems to me that there is no room for alarm! In fact 1 would like to see to see the l. and R. adopted as an amendment to the constitution of the United States, then United States senators in every state could be elected by the direct vote of the people, and the general government together with the Congress of the United States could be taken from under the control of the trusts, corporations and money power of Wall street.
 think that every voter ought to go to the polls on election day and cast his vote for the Initiative and Refer endum, which is amendment No. l0 and when we adopt it we will have taken one step forward in making this what it was intended by our forefath- CTS to be-a government of the peo- pie. for the people. and by the people
 Yours very truly,
 John P. Logan. | Efaus,.c Toddv