The Carlisle independent., 1914-07-16

The Helena World publishes the following convincing analysis of the proposed Publicity Law, Act No. 3
 Frankly. this is a measure initia ted by the newspapers of the State, but this does not in the least detract from it's general excellence nor make of it anything less than a public ne cessity. In initiating the measure the press is aetuated by two motives, the first of which, to be quite candid again, is that the newspaper men need the money. The other reason is that the measure offers absolutely the only adequate safeguard--except certainty of punishment. and that does not exist,-against the possibil- ity of official misconduct. which mis conduct may manifest itself in num- Der of ways, the most important of these being the misapplication of public funds and the wrongful use of official prerogatiyes.
 There are forces opposing the mea- sure which may be accepted as abso, lutely sincere, but the bulk of oppo sition comes from sources where sell fish motives are decidedly present. The main body of voters, however. II they are sincere in their demands for official honesty, will support the Pub lieity Act without giving a thought to the newspapers of the State. The good it will accomplish in securing and maintaining official integrity will certainly compensate for any real or fancied harm which may result by reason of it's relation to the newspa- pers
 Will Prove an Economical Measure.
 The argument, already advanced in certain quarters not necessary to mention here, that the act will entail enormous expense upon the taxpay- CTS is pure bosh. Of verity. it will law of any sort that has not, and does not, cost something to enforce? What ever be the cost, it will be more than repaid in actual saving from the dis appearance of abuses which certainly exist in many places, and which are said to exist everywhere. These abu- ses may be the result of design, or custom, or indifference, or accident; but wherever and however they may exist, 1t is safe to assert that they should not exist Assuming then, that abuses do exist, what better method can be devised for their elimination and prevention than fair amount of wholesome publicity? No honest off, kansas-be he patriot or politician, should have reason to fear publicity A clean conscience can look the world straight in the eyes and tell it to go and do things, but the conscience which is harrassed by a sense of guilt prefers always the shady side of the road with its safe protection from the bright rays of the noon-day sun. It is this kind of official conscience at which the Publicity Act is aimed, and which it will run out of business if the people are wise enough to vote for it in September But they must not be misled by the cry of News paper Craft" if they wish to take advantage of the best measure that has been proposed in Arkansas in decade or more.
 careful hearing of both sides will leave the conviction that the argu- ments are all in favor of the meas ure's adoption by the people. The claim that it contains bad features has not yet been sustained. although an effort will certainly be made in that direction before election day. But back of all argument, whether for or against the measure. is the theory that men are elevated to public office because the people have confidence in them. If this theory is correct, then t is only fair that the men so eleva- ted be required to return confidence for confidence. The people have a handled, and this information can be had only through the right kind of publicity. If the office holder isn't willing to render a correct account ing to the people whom he serves, it may be assumed that he has some thing to hide and the man with soge- thing to hide will not, by any manner of means, make a good public official.
 Publicity is the only medium through which the people may be kept in touch with the acts of those in charge of the public business. and the only adequate means of securing proper publicity is supplied by the newspapers of the State. Most of them deserve all the legitimate busi- ness they can get, and numbers of them get far less than they deserve. Legal notices, with which the Public ity Act has exclusively to do, are le- gitimate sources of revenue to the newspapers, and the statutory law of the State has prescribed a charge linn it for this class of advertising beyond which no newspaper may go. Few of them but have adopted scale of legal prices considerably lower than those