The log cabin Democrat., 1915-02-25
SPECIAL SESSION
 INS|STENT RUMOR TWO WEEKS YET REMAIN
CONDITION OF TREASURY IS SAID TO BE ONLY EXCUSE
 FOR PROLONGED TERM.
By A. W. Parke.

| Little Rock, Feb. 25.-More insis- tnet is the rumor of special, or eX- tended session of the legislature. but why such should be necessary is not apparent, for in less than two weeks which remain there sis ample time in winch to attend to all appropriation measures. The only possible excuse for an extended session is the fnan- clal condition of the treasury, and it would take every bit of the remain Ing l2 days to reach a solution of this alone. That would be rapid work in face of the fact that financiers have been working on the problem for years without arriving at anything that will be accepted
 There are quite a few revenue measures before the legislature, but they can be only sparingly noticed with appropriations for all state in atltltions to be fought over The big items in the appropriations are usu- ally the feature least noticed with sometimes a halliday being devoted to a single clerkship in some depart G. mt.
 Under the amendment to the con- stitution which limits extra sessions to l5 days at half-pay, and allows no per diem for time consumed after that, it is hardly reasonable to con template very extended extra ses- sion, finance or no finance.
 
 Should the special call be made with the condition of the treasury as the foundation, it will probably in clude a number of other matters of importance. Among these may be the extension of time for paying taxes, which is a muchly- discussed measure in the house just at present, after passing the senate. This is a pet ad- ministration measure, and is looked upon with favor an disfavor in every section. Many prominent fnanciers claim it will disrupt the school sys- tens and so tumble taxation that it can never be strengthened. There are others who declare that it is the sal vation of the property owner. The members of the legislature are just now hearing almost as much about it as they did on the rate increase for the railroads, but it is hardly proba- | be that the house will deal with it as leniently as did the senate. Unless the general assembly gets hasty in the last days of the session, there will be no public utility com mission, no bank guaranty bill, and the change in methods of handling the affairs of state institutions will not take place. Substitute bills have been introduced for the public utility commission bills, the author of each of the two measures substituting a new one Senator Jones, who would extend the powers of the Arkansas | Railroad Commission, removed from his the objectionable features con corning railroad bonds and exempted the local public utilities from his bill. Senator Duty, whose bill abolshes the Arkansas Railroad Commission, making the members appointive by | the governor, has done likewise, but he declines to accept the manner of selecting the members of the commits sion under the Jones bill, or remove the section wh ichgives the commits sioners the right to repeal the full crew, and other similar bills. With two bills so near alike, with the auth ors unwilling to agree, there is little chance for it to get far beyond com mittee, especially as neither of the bills has passed either house, for the members are not going to take the time to discuss them.
 As for the bank guaranty bills, Senators Jones and Duty are also authors of measures of this kind, though they are radically different in many sections. They have compro- missed on a bill which is now in the hands of the banking committee. It is lengthy affair.". and it, too, will probably be sacrificed because of the lack of time, though if there is a spe- cial session it may be included in the call, so it could then be more fully discussed