The Forrest City times., 1914-07-17


 be an ex post facto measure. there fore, under it's provisions, only such laws as may be enacted In the future by the General Assembly vi'l be pub lished for the enlightenment of the Peo- pie Is that a bad feature" Let the people answer.
 The people are interested In cIl gem eral orders of the Railroad Commis- sion, but under present conditions the great body of the people never hear of general order until it gets into the courts in some manner. Section 5 of Act 3, provides a means for in, forming the people concerning the proceedings of the Railroad Commis- sion without waiting for litigation in order to become advised There is certainly nothing very had" about that
 If there is any single thing which more than another, should interest the people it is the matter of taxa. tion; but how many of them know who is taxed and why? It is the bus. mess of the Board of Equalization to see that John Does taxes are not dis proportionate to those of Richard Roe. In other words, it is this Boards business to eQualiZe. Does il always exercise that function? Act No. pro poses that it shall do just that and nothing less. Furthermore. it propo- ses that the Board of Equalization, over the signature of the county clerk, shall tell the people just how equal ization is accomplished. Under this Act unequal taxation would be among the remotest of possibilities, for ev- cry taxpayer would know precisely the amount of taxes paid by his neigh bor; and the prevalent custom of tax ing one piece of property at low figure and a piece next to it, belong ing to different person. at higher figure would be almost automatically abolished
 Similarly Section requires that summary of the orders of the County Court, in all cases where the court changes the assessments fixed by the Board of Equalization, shall be pub lished over the signature of the Coun- ty Clerk. Thus the people would be enabled to keep very accurate rec ord of events connected with the very important matter of taxation. It will require very sharp pair of eyes and a very shrewd brain to detect bad feature" in that.
 Section 5.-Here is another cneck on the County Court of but slightly less importance than that provided for i'll Section 1. The County Court passes upon all orders for the pay ment of money out of the County Treasury, and Section requires all such orders to be published so that the people will know how and why their money is spent. If this is a bad feature" wherein and why Is 1t bad?
 For preparing the yearly delinquent tax list the County Clerk receives 10 cents per tract of land, and the sher- if, as ex-officio collector, receives a similar fee. For preparing reports required under Sections and of Act No the county clerk, when not on a salary, will receive 10 cents per hundred words. There are approxi- mately sixteen hundred words in a single column of a seven column news ie, iy, tod pareil. or six-point. Geaded non pareil, if the reader will pardon the use of technical terms, is the type re quired by the law governing the pub llcation of legal nCtices0 So the County Clerk would receive for pre- pairing the reports required by Act No 3, about one dollar and sixty cents per column of sixteen hundred words. If you have ever prepared q formal report of sixteen hundred words, in cuding many items represented by figures which must be verified you will be quick to admit that 1t is worth considerably more than one dollar and sixty cents So we will concede that this section is "bad"-for the County Clerk.
 The Commissioners of Accounts pass upon the merits of all accounts made or handled by the various coun- ty. district and State officials (within their particular county). Why shouldn't the people at large, only a small proportion of whom are likely . to be present in the court room when the Commission rs make their reDorts to the Circuit Court be advised of their Commissioners actions? Let these answer who do not care 10 eX, change confidence with the people
 II is just as important that the peo- pie of municipality be kept inform, ed concerning the conduct of munici- pal officials as it is for the people of a county to be informed concerning the conduct of the county officials. Therefore Act No. does not exempt the municipality. Practically the same provisions are made for it as are made for the county and for this reason inc Section requires no particular