The Prescott daily news., 1914-08-08
ARGUMENTS IN BANK GUAR
ANTY ACT BEGUN TODAY
Chancellor Martineau Decides to Test
Validity of Petition by Summon
ing Signers and Have Them
Testify in Court

the fight on the Bank Guaranty Act
began in Chaneery court Friday af-
ternoon, w. B. Smith, representing
the bankers of the state making the
opening argument
The forenoon was taken up with the
presentation Of evidence by the rep
.resentatives of the union labor forces,
who circulated the petition seeking to
submit the bank guaranty question
to the people. Experts in writing
were introduced to go over the CON
tested petitions, principally those filed
out by one person. The experts of
the defense testified they were not,
though there was some similarity in
some cases. To others than experts,
the petitions looked as though the
same person had written four names,
and then the next four would be in
the handwriting of another, and so on
down the petition.
After looking over several of the
petitions Chancellor Martineau decid-
ed that the best test of the validity of
the signatures, as the petitions under
fire were supposed to have been cir
.culated in Little Rock was to under
take to locate the signers and have
them testify for themselves. The sub
poenas were issued and placed in the
hands of half score deputy sherffs
with instructions to act Immediately.
The officers were given the names of
at least so people, and all afternoon
they were returning to court to testi-
fy that the addresses given were for
the, most part vacant lots, and where
there was a house no trace of such
persons could be found.
Attorney Smith in his argument,
went into the qualifications of legal
signers, holding that they are the
same as for voting. He stated that
he had supplied the attorneys for the
defense with 5400 names which were
not legally entitled to be upon the pc
tition, but waving this aside he stat
ed there were 2241 fraudulent names on
the petition, as we'll as CAT where no
addresses were given, as required by
law. There were 1880 names on the
petition, and if these were deducted
it would leave the petition 671 short
of the required number to submit it to
the people. The attorney cohtended
that the showing he had made switch
ed the burden of proof to the should
ers of the offense, and it was now
up to it to bring in witnesses to
show legality of the signatures, or the
signers themselves, before the court
could consider them genuine.
The attorneys for the defense are
conceding nothing. They claim that
many or the signers were entitled to
sign for they are young men who will
not become entitled to a vote until the
general election while many others
were residents of different counties,
moving to the one where they signed
the petition less than six months be-
fore, which entities them to a vote.
The plaintiff would not concede this
contention, saying that the checkers
for the bankers had taken the names
of persons which appeared upon the
petitions, to locate them if possible,
and only occasionally one was found
entitled to sign because he would not
be p years of age until soon after
the election. The attorney stated that
the printed poll tax list it the legal
basis for determining who is entitled
to vote The defense claims that this
list is always Inaccurate, as so much
so that it is valueless in such instan-
ces. Attorney Smith replied that he
could show that the Pulaski county
list was so accurate that there had
not been but one mistake so far shown
in it, and that was an ommission.
Attorney Ira d. Oglesby of Fort
Smith, who is associated with the coal
companies in seeking to prevent the
submission of the act to create State
Mining Board, arrived Friday and con-
suited with Attorney Smith in his
case, it being almost identical with
that az the bankers
The attorneys for the plaintiffs have
informed the court that the state
bankers do not want to defeat the
submission of the bank guaranty bin
on technicality, they being prepared
to defeat the act at the polls by show