The Mena weekly star., 1911-09-21
OFFICIALS DISCUSS
 REVENUE MEASURE
Governor Donaghey Speaks for and Attorney General Nor wood Against Turner
 Jacobson Bill.

several uunufeu NOtefS rom Tel and adjacent counties last afternoon witnessed the first formal discussion of the Turner-Jacobson revenue bill between Governor Donaghey for the measure and Attorney General Nor wood against it.
 Governor Donaghey spoke first An effort had been made to arrange for a division of time and formal joint discussion, but after the first attempt had been fruitless nothing further was undertaken along this line. Attorney General Norwood was present and heard the address of the governor, after which he de- livered his reply.
 Governor Donaghey said that he knew at the time he was inaugural ed that the revenue system was bad and that it had been bad for many years.
 There was virtually no system, in fact" said the governor, "and one of my first acts was to visit other states and investigate their tax gathering systems. The result of this was the formation of the tax commission idea, based on the work these bodies had done in other states. It was the bad revenue system of this state and the worrying over now to remedy il that sent one of your beloved gov ernors to a lunatic cell" declared the governor.
 Will Not Increase, He Says.
 'It has been said that the Turner Jacobson bill will increase your taxes. I deny this. If you are a taxpayer and believe in equal tax ation, am with you; if you are a tax-dodger and are against this bill for that reason, then 1 am against you to the end. I may lose some friends, but am unreservedly com mitted to this measure and what il stands for"
 Referring to the tax commission, the governor declared that it is the best thing, so far, that has ever been created by the legislature, and the members of the present commission have been faithful to the trust im- posed upon them"
 He declared that the present bill is largly a qualification of former revenue laws, with such improve ments as would get the best results to the people as whole. "l found one man kicking on a section in the bill. and the section has already been in our laws for years" said the governor. More than that he con- tinued, some insist that the bill is unconstitutional. Well, about the only argument some people can use is that measure is unconstitutional. It's great word to conjure with"
 Passing to the work of the tax commission, he declared 1t had raised the assessment of many of the large corporations of the state, in- surance companies, etc., regulated bank assessments, and had attempt ed to place what the commission re- garded as a proper assessment on some of the big public utility corpo- rations in Little Rock, but had been prevented by the action of friends of these corporations. The only way these corporations ever coud be property assessed, declared the gov- ernor, is through the Turner-Jacob- son bill.
 II have been accused of forsaking the initiative and referendum, De- cause opposed referring this bill. The legislature. especially a bunch of senators, misrepresented the peo- pie on this emergency clause propo- sition. They formed combination to beat the bill by having 1t referred and have got a lot of people fooled.
 Because the people voted for the principle of the I. and R. doesn't mean that they are in favor of re- ferring every measure. 1t depends upon the nature of the measure and the conditions that exist at the tune. The very same people who are de- claring that l have turned against the initiative and referendum are the people who charged Bryan with being a gold bug.
 Says Gets All Corporations.
 "Un0ef bne 0lu ldN bhciO wa blanks to be filled by only the farm CTS and the bankers. Under the new law there are assessment blanks for everybody and for every kind and class of corporation. Do you know what effect this would have on the revenues? It would make them pile up in way you never dreamed oi before.
 since the tax commission mas been created it has greatly ln- creased assessments, and when II concludes it's work this year It Will have added about Si00,000,OO0 to the assessed valuation of property. It is planned to keep on raising the to. tai assessment about $25 ,0OO,00u yearly. under the new bill, by plac- ing property on the books that was never there before and going alter the corporations, insurance compa- njes and other similar similar concerns That's where it is coming from largely. The fellows on the Pullman cars and in Little Rock are the ones who are against this bill. You don' hear any opposition from the fellow who rides on the gravel train.
 Under a 50 per cent basis ths wealthy class will escape much more taxation than will the poor man, hs