The Springdale news., 1912-12-20
LEGISLATIVE POLITICS
Much Work in Prospect for Coming
 Session of Legislature.


 Little Rock, Dec. 17.=With the opening Of the 3sth General As sembly only four weeks away. Leg islatiye politics is beginning 10 as sume an interesting aspect. Al the present time there appears to be fewer aspirants for clerical posi- tions than usual, probably for the reason that the session can be Tor only sixty days, and that it is we'll known there will be more Of q spirit of economy and retrenehment than has prevailed heretofore.
 Naturally the interest eenteFs III the contests for the Presidency oi the Senate and the SpeakefshIp oi the House, and the hotel lohbies bt evidence of the fact the supporters of the various candidates are getting busy thus Tar in advance. The ines are already pretty sharply drawn and 1t seems safe to assume that one Of three men in eaeh House will win the coveted plums.
 The withdraw al Of O. ld7sig Of Pulaski. from the rae Tor =Si9ea#s= CT simpliIies that contest. at "a : now lies between Carroll AAH4s roHg Of MorriltaH. the Robinson saHdi= date. Jo Hardage of la aHa ;. X. Miller of Jefferson Fgr tae Presidency. there are al-o taEee as= pirants, " K Oldham. of Ean9ke, the Robinson candidate. E Mar in of Faulkner and r M Raats ef IAllepeiItle I4e.= ieaSt H=sea sai these. Rarey and Martin. a#m they have something Ike fifteen pletiges.. e Oldham is claiming that he holds tfe balanz 0f pow er. IL Is certain that za HeH5HeI race, especially Tor President. has any one eaudfdate majority. h0 will pFofIt=by the released pledges when ole of the three |. eaeh faee gfthdfa9s ts the conjecture ;. .tiieh makes both uncertain The friends of A (. Martin say that his elee- ton Is certain. but the friends CT Raney and Oldham are none tie less confident
 Much Legisl slation Proposed.
 As usual, vast amount of iegls- lation is being proposed bY memb- CTS. by outsiders, by Assoc atiens, and others. The most serious quest ion confronting the lawmakers IS how they will be able te transact all the business within the pre- seribed sixty days. which is the lin 1t that has been fixed by the peo- pie in the adoption Of the eonstltu- tionaI amendment An eeonemicai session is the demand of the admin Lstration There is no way 10 eYa5e the lIaIitaffno oI tue session To i8 days, The last fifteen days being on half pay Gauc uSes of both houses for the selection of officers, restriction as far as possible of to- al legislation, and the early intro duetion Of appropriation bills are among the uggestions made for ex- pediting business.
 .Donaghey jn his farewell message and Gov. Robinson n hls inaugural will advance suggestions that Will provide grist for tae leg lsiatiye mill for the whole session. Once more the states financial sSs- tenn will engage the attention of the lawmakers, but no Weli=detined program has been outlined. and var ious remedial measures Will be oi- fered \ larger revenue from a greatly increased assessment the last year has made this issue less vital than it was two yeafs ago, but there are still many changes that are demanded The adoption of a budget system, urged by Gov. koh- inson, seems imperative for the or derly conduct of the states finan- cial affairs By this means appro- priations may be restricted to the revenues, and deficits be avoided
 For New Constitution.
 The project for the calling of a new constitutional convention will again come up. probably stronger than ever before. A poll of the members being taken by the Arkan- sas Democrat indicates large num- Der of Senators and Representatives in favor of il. The sentiment Tor constitutional convention is un- doubtedly growing.
 Senator Lee Niles of Little Rock has prepared bill for constitu- tional convention which will be in- troduced early In the session, and should it fail of passage, 1t is known that there are certain popu- lar interests that will at once Set about initiating a call for such a convention. Senator Miles fntroduc- ed his bill at the last session, but 1t did not get beyond the Committee on Constitutional Amendments, as 1t was offered 80 late. There are many imperative changes needed in the states organic law that can not be attained any other way. Ii is admitted by the great majority that the state has outgrown the Con stitution Of '74.
 The Two Commissions.
 One of the drastic changes that will be proposed in the present system will be the consolidation of the State Tax Com mission and the Arkansas Railroad Com mission which would mean a. saving Of sl0,- 900 a year. It is argued that three Commissioners, with the proper cler-