The log cabin Democrat., 1913-02-20
SHORT SESSION
 SEEMS INADEQUATE MUCH YET TO BE DONE
APPROPRIATIONS AND RENE- NUE-RAISING LEGISLATION
 YET TO BE ENACTED.

| LlIIIt INOCh, eU. lO.-OplIllOilS va ry as to the wisdom of the short leg islative session of sixty days, includ- in Sundays, which was voted by the people and sustained by the supreme court. It is not denied that the ses- sion will close with a vast amount of unfinished business, but that was true in the historic 126-day session of 1911.
 And then again, there are those who still hold the old theory that these countries are best governed which are the least governed and that we have enough laws anyway. This class of economists believe that the legislature should meet only once in four years, and that each local com munity should have absolute control of it's internal affairs, so long as they do not violate certain general fixed principles or interfere with the rights and prerogatives of other communi- ties.
 There are only three weeks of the present session remaining. Not one of the appropriation bills has been passed, although there are bills pend- ing that carry an aggregate of near l ly $3,00O,000 for the next two years Where is the money to come from? That is a question that has not been answered yet, and as no proposed so- lution has been suggested, it may naturally be doubted that it will be l thoroughly solved. The legislature realizes that there is a scarcity of revenues, for it has been wary of all measures proposing the creation of new offices or departments involving ] the outlay of money. A joint com mittee is working on a revenue-rais- ing measure and there is a joint fin ance committee to which is referred all appropriation bills for the purpose of holding down the aggregate with 1 in bounds. If possible they would avoid throwing upon Gov. Robinson the responsibility that Gov. Dona- ghey had to face, that of vetoing something less than million dollars in order to save the credit of the state. There are rumors of proba- ble bond issue of about $750,000 to meet the deficit, although some main tain that with economy this will be unnecessary.
 Up to the present time there have been 189 bills introduced in the sen- ate and $50 in the house. Gov. Rob- inson has signed 54 acts, of which not more than half dozen are of gen. eral nature. All the protest against and criticism of local legislation has availed nothing and the records clear ly show that the great bulk of the laws enacted are of this nature.
 One of the most important bills, in the estimation of criminologists, that has received the approval of the gov ernor is that championed by two of the young men of the house, Ragon of Johnson and Kidder of Pulaski, abol- ishing hanging and substituting the electric chair for the execution of criminals convicted of capital of lenses. The law becomes effective the first of January, 1914, and provides that after that date all persons con- victed of capital offenses shall i'm mediately be removed to the peniten- tiary in Little Rock and there contln- ed until electrocuted in a permanent death chamber, to be provided for that purpose. This will relieve the 75 sheriffs of the state of the respon- sibility of executions, and throw it all upon the warden of the penitentlary or a deputy designated for that pur- pose It is further provided that the executions shall be private except for certain specified witnesses, and that the newspapers shall be permitted to print nothing more than the mere fact that the man was executed. The authors of the measure believed that it is best to get such criminals out of the world in the most expeditions, hu- mane and least spectacular manner possible.
 There has been considerable dras- tic anti-saloon legislation, to such an extent that this has come to be known as a prohibition legislature. The en- actment of the Friedell bill, prohibit ling the sale of liquor within 10 miles of the public school building of Tex arkana, was the entering wedge, and this was followed by the passage by