The Mena weekly star., 1919-01-02
THE CONSTITUTION
THAT DID NOT CO
Clio Harper Sees Many Little Things
That Brought About Its Defeat
The Legislature and It's
Work of The Future.
(By Clio Harper.)

Little Rock, Dec. 2s.--A small
number Of people Of Arkansas, vot-
ing on the most vital question that
has been submitted to them in gem
erations. by a pitifully small vote Of
about 1000 majority, defeated the
proposed constitution.
Every man you talk to has a diff
ferent explanation Of its defeat, bas-
ed wholly upon his own preiudices
and hobbies, and all Of them are in
measure right.
1t was not suffrage, or prohibition,
or the l. & R.. or the bond issue, or
the increase in salaries, rthe two
more supreme judges, or the two
thirds jury verdict, on the quadren-
NAL elections, or the omission Of the
indefinite article "a in some obscure
section that defeated the Constitu-
ton Of 1918. But it was a little bit
of all Of them.
And back of it all, and deeper root
ed than these extraneous issues lies
probably that which is nearer the
real cause, and if the opponents Of
the instrument are honest with them
selves they will admit it. And that
is the mate fear of increased taxa
ton. The average voter has a h0r-
ror Of paying more taxes, and it is
often true that the man who is abe
and willing to pay more is protec ed
by the vote Of the man who seldom
pays more than a poll-tax.
In fact, there are some otherwise
intelligent people who oppose all tax
alton whatever 1t was Little Rock
attorney who recently made the
statement in all good faith, that "The
next war that will be fought will be
TO take off the yoke of taxation in
this country"
How far such reactionary senti-
ments as these contributed to the de-
feat of the Constitution doesn't mat
ter.
What we are to consider now is
that the defeat of the Constitution
did not settle it in the smallest possi-
BILE degree. Already it begins to APP
pear that it has only made the stu
alton more acute by calling attention
to the opportunity that has been per-
mitted to go by default.
The state has not heard the last
of the new Constitution, amend
ments, really, there is more inter
est in it today than there was be-
fore the recent disastrous election.
1t has been rumored that an effort
viii be made to have the Legislature
re-submit the Constitution. Just how
this could be done does not appear,
but distinguished lawyers say that
it can be done
Whether this course is taken or
not,--and it is highly Improbable
1t is certain that the Legislature
which assemblies three weeks from
today will devote much of its sixty
days session to a consideration of
Constitutional questions.
Among the very first bills to be in
troduced in the Senate will be for an
amendment to increase salaries of
state officers. There should be no
opposition to it, but there will be.
Farmers get more for their products,
the laboring mans wage has been
doubled and trebled, the merchants
prices have gone sky-high, and the
services of the professional man COM
mand larger fees, then why should
those who hold office be denied a
fair and just compensation
Already the first of the Initiative
petitions is being circulated 1t is
petition to initiate as an amendment
the !. & R. plan that appears in the
original Proposals submitted to the
Constitution by the Committee be-
fore it was changed by the Conven-
ton itself.
And the suffrage forces are plan
ming to submit the full suffrage
amendment, either by initiative or
through the Legislature. Even those
who still oppose it are forced to adj
NIT that it is inevitable.
The educational interests will in
ltiate the more fundamental fea-
lures of the improved educational
provisions of the rejected Constitu-