The Green Forest tribune., 1911-02-10
LEGISLATIVE NEWS
 AND COMMEN I
CORRESPONDENT TELLS TRi- BUNE READERS HOW OUR LAW
 MAKERS DO" THINGS.
The Enormous Cost of Laws That Amount to Nothing. Time Taken
 Up in ", angling.
special Correspondence of The Tribune.

legislature, especially the lower house, may now be said to be fairly down to hard work. Yet a novice would be astonished at the very small amount of work that is done in one day. True, quite a lot of space m the record is nll- ed up, but the bulk o1 1t is the minutes Of numerous resolutions, differing only Tn very few words, authorzlng the chief clerk to purchase newspapers for distribution by the members, came before the house on three successive days and has occupied enough tune to pay for the papers, though the resolu tion was each time defeated.
 A great deal of time is spent debat- ing technical questions, not a few of which arise out of the 1 and E amend ment to the constitution. Some mem bers want to pass all laws with view that the people will more than likely want the referendum invoked and repeal the same, while others want to make the and R appear ridiculous.
 Under the l and k amendment some members and some state officials claim all laws should be enacted in the name of the people, by saying: Be it en- acted by the People of the State of Arkansas. Others say that this style, should attach to only such laws as the people themselves initiate under the As result the legisla- turc as a body hardly knows 'where 1t is at, and many of the bills now being introduced are dubbed thus: ''Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Arkansas: Be it enacted by the People of the State of Arkansas. :"
 The I and R amendment provides that no law shall become effective until 90 days after the adjournment of the legislature, unless an emergency eX- ists, in which case there must be ap- pended to such act this section: .'The peace, health and safety of the state it, this act shall be in force from it's passage" So when a mem- Der has bill that lie does not want the people to have say at he just attaches the emergency clause. This clause is always a cue for a long drawn out debate as to whether ornot the ''peace" health and safety of the state is in- volved. Those terms are very elastic and the member who has studied close ly the dire effects that would surely en- sue should his bill not become a Jaw at once can generally make most plaus- ible plea for the emergency panacea to attach. The house spent one-half day debating this question on a bill carrying a very small appropriation, and the same debate comes up every time bill has this clause and not few of them have it.
 Special bills are the order of the day, notwithstanding the fact that Governor Donaghey has frowned his disapproval of legislation of this character. The member who was not prepared with ms special bills on the very first days of the session finds it quite difficult, if not to handle very many of them. Unless he can in some way be one of the lucky few who can get recognition for the purpose of intro ducing bill out of the regular order his hands are absolutely tied waiting for his name to be reached in the reg ular order. After the session is well under way it will take two weeks or more to complete roll call for the in troduction of bills, or to call up bill for it's second or third reading, and when his name is reached more than likely his bill is in the hands of the committee.
 It might seem a criticism of the speaker, or it might appear to be criticism of certain very few, or more properly speaking, it is criticism of the whole body, to say that compara- lively only few members get recogni- rlon out of the regular order for the purpose of introducing bills, or calling up a bill. But the blame, if blame, wherever it is, some very few members are able to pass bill in three or four days, while fully 90 per cent of the members can not pass bill in 20 or 30 days. Every member on the floor of the house, by strict observance of the rules, can hasten a bill just as fast as any other, unless perchance, by some good grace he is permitted to butt in'' three or four times from the time his name is first reached and the next time his turn comes.
 Of course, it might be said, and in some instances truthfully said, that the reason that one member can get his bills advanced faster than another is because he has more ability, but good
 'stand in" with the powers that be will in very large measure dispense with the lack of ability.
 A man very much dislikes to oppose, openly, the speaker, or to make any particular fight on those who stand close to him. To do so would not likely add anything to his chances of advanc- ing any of his measures. So the great bulk of the members wait till "the favored few" get the matters disposed of that is ESQ pressing" and then all join them in yelling Regular Ordero
 For all practical purposes the minor ity party. which is very minor indeed, receves all necessary recognition $ such In fact, there ig essentially no difference in the minority party and