The Harrison times., 1912-08-03
Little Rock Letter.
LITTLE Rock, July 80, 1912.

OF complications under the |, & X.
Amendment and the Enabling Act
there appears to be no end, The Su-
preme Court specially constituted
to try the Jackson county case in.
volving the validity of an act bear
ing the enacting clause, BE it en-
acted BY the General Assembly of
the State of Arkansas" will be con.
fronted by question almost as mo-
mentous as that which confronted
the regular court in considering the
Joker" Section II of the Enabl-
ing,Act says;
"The style of all bills, whether en-.
acted by the legislative assembly or
proposed by the people, shall be,
BE it enacted by the People Of the
State of Arkansas -
That would appear to be conclu.
sive, if the Enabling Act itselt were
not under suspicion, The Supreme
Court has held that Amendment No,
10 would have been effective with
out it; that the double enactng
clause is admissible; and that the
efforts of the Enabling Act to vital
ize the Joker, "inaptly thrust into
the original draft of the amend
ment, were futile. 1t is opjncd by
many that the Supreme Court will
be compelled to adopt some similar
commQnsense eourse with reference
to the Enabling Act provision re.
garding the enaGtlns clause,
Otherwise, n considerable body of
statutes, general and special passed
by the Legislature of 1911, may De-
inyalidated. Many OF the acts,
bearing the double barrelled clause,
are safe. The Others are about
equally divided between the "peo-
pie" aad the General Assembly"
clauses The Jackson County cir.
cult court has decided that an act
with the " General Assembly clause
is unconstitutional and Judge Hut.
ton decided at I onway chat the act
defining baggage No, 252, with the
"people" clause, is unconstitutional
A great body Of law under either
head is in danger of being declared
void unless the special Supreme
Court can devise compromise per.
hitting the use of either clause,
The Bull Moose is rampant in
Little Rock this week The state
convention called by j. A, Conner, A
5, Fowler, w S, Holt and Others,
representing nearly every county,
meets July 3Oth to select delegates
to the national convention in Chica. ,
| go next Monday, Avg, 9th, To
the Democrats the most interesting
feature Of this political side.show is
the split in the ranks Of the third
party itself over the negro question,
which promises to spread from the
counties TO the state convention II
is the old question of " lily whtism,
which has been II potent cause OF
division among the Republicans for
years, The negro, holding the bal
once of power, has always won out,
In the present crisis, the negroes are
divided, the maj jority of them going
with the Roosevelt faction, and
now minority Of that faction
would purge the new third party of
the Senegambion element
The split was accented in the Pu'
laski county convention when a |
proposition 60 eXcludc the negro |
was voted down, SO 10 p, the nc.
grocs themselves casting 20 votes
The Lilyswhite faction thea bolted
and held a separate convention
Contesting delegations were elected
60 the state convention, one OF them
being all white men, and the other
containing FIVE negroes IN - dee
gates, Several men who have been
Democrats are in each delegation
Nj, Conner a negro, recently elect
cd u Bishop in the A, NJ L, Church,
is one of the delegates,
1t is an interesting fact that one OF
the delegates IN the pro'negro CON
ventiOn, and member OF the eeh'
trail committee, il Col A, W, Files,
who vas the Democratic state Au'
dtor from lSS3.lSS7, aud was sub
scqucptly the Populist nominee Tor
Governor and for years the leader
Of the deeadent Populist party,
! Col Files admitted that his action
presented n somewhat unusual spec
tuclc, aud soidi
"You may think It Is funny to see
an old dyed.inathr'wool Southefner
| like me, a former Shareholder in the
days before the war standing up !
here shaking hands across theehhsh
with these old carpet baggcrs, but
/ 4 4 l.. 4 IL. Aha