Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1915-11-07

IzOW CIIILENo.
 Permit mo to express my delight and many thanks to you for your presence here today. I shall not feel like a stranger in your midst, from this fact, l have lived practically all of my life in Arkansas county, where l was born and raised. which is 8 sister county to this, Monroe county. Permit me to thank the band for the nice music, to which we have just listened, and wish also to thank the Woodmen of the World, under whose auspices this most magnificent gathering of people have assembled, a number of whom are from other coun- ties of our state. I feel honored\ to know that am member, and have been for number of years, of this noble order. l am also a member of the Knights and Ladies of Honor, and I feel safe in their hands.
 It would be extremely selfish on my , ts other aim, or object in view other than to have you honor me with the office of governor. l would not have the courage to ask you to elect me to this office if I did not believe that I could do you some good in return. have a few suggestions to offer, ;nl, y,s& approval, and will prove to be bene- ficial to the interest of our state at large. I shall not say anything ugly about either of my opponents unless l am forced to do so in self-defense. This early in the campaign it is hard to prophecy what issues may be raised, but there are some things con- nected with this campaign, if l am correctly informed, and the same practice has been carried on in previ- ous campaigns, that I am opposed to, and believe that you will agree with me, are wrong. The legislature of your state in 1913, having observed the evil tendency growing out of the manner in which the candidates for governor and other important offices, were being conducted, passed law known as '"The Corrupt Practices Act" Notice. if you please. the title of this act, the word, CORRUPT" is used. Now we all know what that means. It seems that tho candidates were running wild, and were spend- ing from five to ten times more than the amount of salary they would re- ceive if elected, and therefore. limit or restriction was placed on the can didate as to the amount he might eX- pend and in order to stop the evil of this growing and corrupt tendency. to buy the office of governor, a limit was fixed on candidate running for governor not to exceed FIVE THOUS- AND DOLLARS. The office only pays FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS per annum, and here let me say that while it was the good intention of the legislature and their motives were impregnated with determination to stop this wicked practice, the act was not worth the ink that it took to print it, for the reason they left i'll the hands of each candidate his own pocketbook and notwithstanding, he was required to file with the secre- tary of state, within given time after the election, an itemized sworn state ment of all his campaign expenses, except his personal travelling and hotel bills and legal assessments, no one but himself could tell the story as to the amount expended. Now you can see that this has been left en- tirely with the candidate to fix and determine his expenses. and after such statement has been made and filed who would be in a position to dispute or question its correctness?
 Now, fellow citizens. If you wish to place your condemnation upon such practice. let me give you q very short and simple recipe. But before doing so some one may ask. where do you intend to open your campaign head quarters, or do you intend to have any. Yes, you and l, the voters of the state of Arkansas. will go on the morning of the primary election, which I understand will be some time next March. and then and there we will open our campaign headquarters, from about o'clock a. m. until about sun down of the same day, in the open daylight, at each ballot box i'll the state, by casting your vote for l.. c. Smith for governor, and the next morning thereafter they will not know who struck Billy Patterson"