Roanoke Rapids herald. [volume] (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) 1914-192?, 1914-10-16
THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE
CONSTITUTION OF NORTH CAROLINA
AN ADDRESS TO VOTERS BY THE STATE
PUBLICITY COMMITTEE

its object the restriction Of To-
cal, private and special legisla-
ton, with the tWorold view of
(Il havingmany of these matters
referred to boards of county
commissioners and the governing
bodies of our towns, (2) of
ailordinp the General Assembly
liberty to engage in the consider
a'ion If matters of Statewide
Importance.
Every session of the General
Assembly is congested with
thousands Of bills of no general
Importance; matters that should
be the subjectof uniform legisla-
ton, on the one hand, or local
self-2oVernment on the other. II
This amendment shall be ratified
BY the people they will emancip-
ate the General Assembly from
its present bondage of local and
special legislation and endow it
with liberty to attend to matters
Of interest to all the people.
This amendment gives the
General Assembly power to pass
general laws regulating the mat
ters set out in this section;'' that
il, local special and private mat
ters will be disposed of once and
for all in general acts.
Let the reader consider what
it will mean to the Common
wealth to have its General AS
sembIy rid of the thousands of
little bills of no general value in
order that it may treat the mat
ters of great concern to all the
people.
The fourth amendment chang
es the date of the inauguration
of the Governor from the LIST
day of January" to the second
Wednesday after the first Mon
day in January"
This is to correct an error in
the present Constitution and to
fix the date Of the Inauguration
subsequent to the canvassing of
the election returns by the Gen
eral Assembly.
Y
The fifth amendment EN-
powers the General Assembly to
provide for the selection of
special or emergency judges of
the Superior court. As matters
now stand, if a Judge of the
Superior court falls sick the Gov
ernor has to call in a Judge from
another district, or court is sus-
pended. This amendment will
enable the General Assembly to
relieve against this---thus saving
time and money and making for
the general public convenience.
The sixth amendment merely
strikes from the Constitution
certain obsolete articles.
Article seven strikes out the
present Article on Revenue and
Taxation and substitutes therefor
an article designed to give the
General Assembly power to re-
form our present inequitable,
burdensome and inefficient taxa
ton system.
This new article holds the
present rate of taxation at Cog
cents ON the 500 for State and
county purposes. 1t also fixes
| the rate in cities and towns for
c all purposes at IS cents on the
500. The only way to increase
: the rates so fixed is by popular
vote.
= There is now no constitutional
limit upon the tax rate a city or
town may fix, Under the pro-
posed amendment the limit would
be fixed at 70 cents on the $l0O,
! SO much for the rate. 1t is
5 further proposed to enable the
: General Assembly to classify
g subjects of taxation AL subjects
of a class to be uniformly taxed;
and to separate subjects of taxa
t ton for State and local purposes,
e that is, assigning one sort of
3 property for local taxation and
: anothel-for State taxation.
n Now the effect of this provi-
: sion is to free the hand of the
!, General Assembly from the para
n lying effect Of the present
requirement of uniformity.
AS matters now stand, the
n 4 Al ~