The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1914-06-05
SECRETARY CORNELIUS ROACH
EXPLAINS THE C0NSTlTU-
IONAL BALLOT TO THE VOT-
Frs.

~ jefferson City, June Ath.--."The con
titItional ballo- this year will have
at least a dozen propositions, remark
ed Secretary of State Cornell 8 Roach
todaf. ION which the voter will be
called to exercise his Judgement at
the polls. Ii is not too early for the
public to famiiiari;c itself with the
merits of these propositions. Since
there is no prospect of there being a
constitutional convection IN Missouri,
the people should interest themselves
in passing judgement ut the ballot Eox
on the amendments that are propos-
4 ed at each successive general election.
"The ridiculous practice of permit
ing an unpopular measure to carry
n to defeat all that are submitted, good
q and bad, regardless of merits, should
A not prevail. The voters should be
prepared before reaching the polls to
exercise discrimination. That which
is good should be voted for afiirma-
lively; and negative vote should be
cast against that which is bad.
"In 1910 the people permitted the
prohibition amendment to carry every
thing down, ten other propositions be-
inE slaughtered Unfortunately. In
1912, the single tax took eight other
amendments down to defeat. Such
regrettablc results are due more to
lack OF attention than to lack Of in
telligence. Voters should inform them
selves early, and not wait till cleo
ton day to learn of all the ballot
shall contain.
Number One o. on the ballot this
year is designed to exempt the taxa
ton question from the application of
the initiative law and to provide for
local authorities passing upon the gen
oineness of signatures on initiative
and referendum petitions. To approve
or disapprCve of No. /, on this years
ballot is very light tax on the in
tellectuality of any voter.
Number Two GU on the ballot is
Submitted for the purpose of giving
the people of Kansas City the power
ii they wish, to acquire municipal
utilities. Why should the State of
Missouri arbitrarily withhold that
8power?
Number three CD is to provide for
,a State levy Of one mill for the inn
provement Of the public roads. Good
roads cannot be built without funds,
and the only way the State has to
get the money for any purpose is to
tax.
Number four (4) if adopted will
fix the salary of the members OF the
Legislature at one thousand dollars
per year. At the present wage most
members of the general assembly
take the Office at a financial sacrifice,
and many citizens whose worldly
goods are limited are practically pre-
vented from aspiring to the office of
law maker.
Number five 90 is intended to
give st. Louis debt-making power for
the purpose of building or acquiring
u subway. If the people of st. Louis
want a subway. what sane objection
can there be to letting them have il
if they want to pay for it with their
own money. The bigger and better
st. Louis becomes, the greater and
richer is the State.
Number six (6) is another good
roads amendment. This one is to
grant the people Of special or gen.
eral road district the power to make
p levy for road purposes if the voters
~ the district so decided by majority
vote. Why not let people who 50 wish
build good roads for themselves?
Number seven (7) is to provide for
slight change in the procedure for
amending charters of cities having
more than 100000 inhabitants. AS
such amendment must be approved