The log cabin Democrat. [volume] (Conway, Ark.) 1908-current, 1911-05-10
PIKE ROAD BILL
SEVERELY SCORED
JUDGE PRINCE WRITES
SAYS BILL CONTAINS NO SAFE
GUARDS TO PROTECT
THE PEOPLE.

desire to call attention to the Little
Rock-Fort Smith pike bill. This bill
has passed the house and has been
amended by the senate and passed.
The amendment changes one OF the
commissioners, which amendment will
be agreed to by the house
The bill pretends to embrace the
cities of Little Rock and Fort Smith.
Section 3 says: The territory en-
braced within the district shall be the
corporate limits of the cities of Little
Rock and Fort Smith, 1t does not
say all the lands within the corporate
limits of the two said cities Section
9 says the district commences at the
corporate limits of Little Rock and
Fort Smith; and take the sections 2
and 3 together and it is plain that
Little Rock and Fort Smith are not in
the district The bill was drawn for
the express purpose of foOling the peo-
ple-nlaking it appear that the two
cities would help pay the tax to build
the pike. The proposed pike parallels
the railroad and will be of no benefit
to the railroad, for which reason the
courts will enioin the collection of
taxes from the railroad; and the cities
Of Little Rook and Fort Smith not be-
! ing within TIE district, places all the
burden on the land owners along the
proposed pike
! This bill fails to designate the
width and the material out of which
the pike is to be made; and fails to
! say how and when it shall be made;
and fails to designate the rate of tax
es to be levied; and fails to limit the
amount of bonds to be issued. In
/ fact. there is not one safeguard to
protect the people. The flood gate is
open" so as to allow the commission
ers to do as they please. This law
/ places mortgage on our property
I for all time to come, and we have no
I right to say how much that mortgage
shall be-
was present in the house the dav
the bill passed. | got there while
some honest men of the house were
trying to have the bill recommitted to
it's second reading for amendment,
! and Ragon was on the floor cursing
me for writing some articles and hav-
ing sent them to each member of the
house and senate, opposing the bill.
When the vote was taken to recommit
it stood "a to 2S to recommit and the
speaker of the house declared the mo-
! tion lost. Then there were a half
dozen men on their feet, wanting to
speak against the bill, and the speak
er. by the same unfair methods, shut
them of and had the bill passed Ra-
gon, in his speech, said it was the
governors bill The Governors Bill!
Under the law the commissioners
can and will open any kind of an or
dinary dirt road and call it pike and
issue millions of dollars in per cent
/ interest bearing bonds, and make
them mortgages on our property. Of
course, they will pretend to build
road Of some kind, or else, under the
common law. they could be indicted
for willful fraud, although the bill
saws they can't be sued for damages
unless they were angry at the district
when they were robbing it.
No one now born will live to see
those commissioners build first-class
macadamized road from Little Rock
TO Fort Smith.
The bill has the emergency section
attached to it. so as to keep the peo-
ple from voting upon and rejecting
the law We have done without the
proposed pike road for rs years, and
why is it that we are now giving the
people the privilege of voting on it?
The people do not know anything
about this law. They have not been
consulted. If they knew the law, not
one in 50 would vote for it.
The ''initiative and referendum"
law is a complete failure, because the
rascals always attack an emergency
section, which shuts off the right to
vote and reject the law.
! wish to say this district bill is rot
ten from end to end, and has been
gotten up for the express purpose of
robbing the people. No law passed
under Republican reconstruction was
half so mean and vile.
! wrote an article to the Gazette op-
posing this bill while it was in the
house and the Gazette failed to pub
lish it. This paper is standing in
with the job.
The reason why the railroad and
/ Little Rock and Fort Smith people
have not fought the bill is that they
have taken counsel and know they are
! immune@not liable to the taxes
We have but one hope to be reliev-
/ cd, and that is through our honest
court, to hold the law unconstitutional.
P. H. PRINCE.
| CONWAY. Ark. Nav 10. 1911