The Huttig news., 1914-08-08
Thf PUBLIC SHOULD KNOW.
Every Taxpayer in Arkansas Should Support
 the Publicity Act.

who oppose publicity in public af- fairs.
 When a person becomes over solicitous about how much some thing is going to cost you, beware. There are some asses praying about that Act No. 5 is going to cost too much: one Pine Bluff ora tor, for instance, saying to coun- try audience that Act No. 5 will cost a half million dollars a year He expected them to believe him. Now very few people in this day and time expects something for nothing. Yet, Act No. s will pay it's own cost in cutting out extravi- gance, inefficiency, and in some in stances. actual graft in public places. Instead of the half million, that ignoramuses say the Act will cost, the amount will be nearer $2O,OOO for the whole state for a period of one year. A half million dollars would purchase two ar d one-half pages every week in every county paper in Arkansas, where as five pages year is lite al es- innate of the space that will actu- ally be required. Four pages a year would be more nearly correct. Only one half the present legal rate can be collected by newspa- pers for publications under Act 5, and for much of this they will be compelled to accept county script at whatever price the script is worth.
 Act No. s is an educational measure. The people have right to know. Public officials who take stand against publicity in public affairs are thinking more about their private interests than about the public interests they are paid to look after. Act No. 5 was in itiated by l8,OOO voters. It will be voted on by the people on September IA and you are one of the legislators who shall say wheth- CT or not you want publicity in pub lie affairs. If you want to see how tax money is being spent, who is getting unfair advantage over you in low assessments; what your rep resentatives in the legislature are doing, and in fact, information that you as citizen have right to de- mand so as to be able to keep up with the men who are running af- fairs. vote for Act Mo- 8, the pub licity measure.
 There was once upon a time a wise old captain of industry who had built up business with branch es all over America and good part of Europe. One day a maga- zine writer asked him what were his rules for carrying on such a tr mendous enterprise. He re- piled in three words. Organize, Deputize, Supervise.
 This wise old man knew the rules of the game. He organized his business, delegated a number of subordinates to handle the de- tails and then he SUPERVISED them. Thsreisn't private busi- ness that succeeds unless it is con- ducted along these lines. Any line of human endeavor must be organ izsd and supervised. If it is a big project much of the work must be deputized to agents or clerks. But without supervision how long would a private business last? A mer- chant who doesn't supervise his clerks and check up his books will soon go to the wall.
 But somehow we expect our pub lie business to violate these rules and not fail. And thanks to the power of the people to tax them- selves, the public business strug- gles along. Of course, script goes down and counties and cities, and even the state, are frequently
 broke.' where private business would be in the hands of a receiver. lut states. counties and cities pay obligations at the rate of 50 cents or 10 cents on the dollar ard the