The Springdale news. [volume] (Springdale, Ark.) 1887-1990, 1918-12-13
THE NEW CONSTITUTION.
{. W Pool

DN'''S Noii9tltutlOl that aeeofdS with
the material and intellectual de-
mands Of the commonwealth Of Ark
ansas. The vote will be the record
ed answer Of the electorate of the
state and an index of the spirit with
which Arkansas responds To present
day civic needs. If favorable. it
1t will be the precursor of activities
along lines hitherto closed by an
archaic constitution that is ready for
the scrap pile of history; if adverse
1t means another long period of Rip
FanWinkleism, because the people
will have it SO.
Arguments against The new consti-
tuition have not been lacking founded
on misunderstanding Of its provisions,
some on perverse judgment and 9th
ers purely political. unreasoning
prejudice is also against the pro-
posed constitution, and opposition Il
capital, state of mind common in
Arkansas as elsewhere, has devel=
oped meaning in the instrument
undreamed Of by the delegates who
framed it. A writer in the Ark
ansas Methodist sayJ The pro-
posed constitution goes farther than
any instrument | have ever seen in
discrimination against the Door It
proposes to issue bonds TO draw SIX
per cent interest. When the bonds
are issued a tax is levied for 30 years
and the bondholder is exempted from
all taxes Hunger ami suffering
may prowl around the doors of the
poor IS it will do, but tbs specially
favored bondholder sits secure from
it all, enjoying his predatory wealth
There you have it, blind unreasoning
prejudice that cannot see or will moi
see, that in order to sell bonds at
10" rate of interest they must be on
non taxable basis the same as
churches, cemeteries, school houses
and other public property eeelesisast-
zeal and secular VIII any invest
or buy bonds subject to taxation
when the maximum rate of interest
is fixed by law? Can the national
government sell taxable bonds at
four or six per cent INTEREST," Not
under republican form OF govern
ment, brethren.
Another writer under the caption
Don't abuse your mother appeals
to sentiment always in order when
opposing better conditions or progress
Of any kind. In The Springdale News
he tells US. When the people abuse
the constitution under which We have
lived and prospered for Is years il
is much like that" lie, abusing your
mother. On the ground Of sentiment
this writer would perpetuate the old
order Of things ~i.h all its glaring
imperfeetions. would crib, coffin and
confine all modern Improvement, all
conveniences Of life. all new methods
Of dress, of education, Of industry etc,
that had no place in mothers life.
fer fear of abusing mother The
principle underlying this appeal was
the foundation of opposition to
primitive christianity and the adop-
ton of the New Testament giving
men larger liberty of thought con
corning God, Man and Immortality
Was there ever more complete beg
ging of the question of the adop-
ton of the new constitution than APP
pealing to heart thfobs instead Of
to mental processes? Perhaps this
opponent mistakes the one for the
other
A vicious imagination and fixity
of ideas makes combination i'm
pervious to reason and always OPP
posed to new methods. From Benton
County comes an appeal to voters to
"aage yourselves and your children
children from the avalanche of bonds
and HIGH taxes with which you are
now threatened" and Help Us defeat
this proposed constitution. II is
quite conceivable that the signers of
this appeal weep eepiously when
they think Of the dire disasters that
must come when the State diseards
its swaddling clothes for the habili-
ments of manhood Boo hoo. hoo
The spirit of the appeal is manifest
and well calculated to erystallae SEN
timent opposed to civic progress ii
is not my purpose to answer this APP
peal, though it was sent to me. II
accuses friends of the new eonststu-
ton of unfaiiness in not waiting for
the vote of returned soldiers, assum-
ing that the soldiers vote would save
the present constitution. Has 1t
entered the mind OF those Benton
County gentlemen that the soldiers
will bring their good judgment with
them.
The signers say, "We believe in
good roads, bat We believe the 3
mill tax now authorized, the person
al labor tax and the automobile tax
if left in the county should be all
we should carry without additional
bonds" What do these gentlemen
mean by good roads; do they mean
Benton County roads, Show Us
gentlemen the good roads built under
the system you say is sufficient and
should not be changed. Think of it;
mill tax with auto tax and labor
tax building roads that would be call
ed good in this good year, 1918, 1t
is dollars to doughnut that the
lachrymose effusions of the sponsors