The Carlisle independent., 1920-10-21
REASONS FOR THE ADOPTION OF PROPOSED AMENDMENT
 NO 13

how much the people dislike a meas ure passed by the legislature, if the emergency clause is attached they have no way of preventing its becom- ing law, but must grin and bear it" until some time in the future they can repeal it, but by that time it may have done incalculable harm. Under pro- posed Amendment No. 13 the voters in the state can prevent a law that meets with general disapproval from going into effect, until it has been ap- proved by them at a general election by circulating petition to that effect which must have as many signers as will equal in number six per cent of the vote for governor at the last cleo tion.
 2. Under the present law it is so difficult as to be nearly impossible to secure badly needed amendments to the constitution, because only three amendments can be submitted by the legislature and the people ev- cry two years, consequently there is a race to see which three can be sub mitted first and inconsequential ones may win the coveted place and badly needed ones left off. Proposed Amendment No. 13 cures this evil by providing that as many amendments as necessary may be submitted at one tilne.)
 3. Under the present law a major ity of all the votes cast in the election is necessary to adopt an amendment This makes 1t nearly impossible to adopt needed amendments, as at ey- cry general election tens of thousands of voters simply vote for the candi- dates for office and pay no attention to the amendments. This means that these votes, instead of not being counted either way are regarded against the measure, thus it may be defeated although 1t had large ma jority of the votes cast upon the meas ure. So difficult Is it to adopt an amendment under the present law that on an average, two out of three amendments, however meritorious, would be defeated at every election.
 Proposed Amendment No. 13- cures this evil by permitting a majority of the votes cast on the measure to adopt or reject it.
 4 Under the present law probably the greater part of the time of every legislature is consumed in discussing local legislation that is of little in- terest or importance to any one out side Of the locality affected.
 Amendment No. 13 provides the necessary machinery for the locality directly interested to transact this legislation provided that 1t does not conflict with general law.
 ,. While 1t is generally admitted that many amendments to our con- stitution are necessity, the voters in Arkansas have shown their unWill- ingness to trust this to a constitu- tional convention. Proposed Amend ment No. 13, provides safe and sim pie way to keep our constitution amended to date, as the voters them selves can submit amendments. They must be filed with the Secretary of State four months before election, and they must be suitably advertised in every county in the state, so there Is no chance of the people being fool ed into adopting an amendment not satisfactory, but if they did they should repeal it at the next election under the provisions of Amendment No. 13.
 G. Amendment No. 13 provides an Initiative and Referendum law simi lar to those existing in a majority of the states in the union. It has been endorsed by the Farmers State Union the Initiative and Referendum League of Arkansas, the State Federation of Labor, and appears as plank, with Amendments Nos. 14 and 15 in the Democratic State Platform. It has received the approval of the incoming state administration, and Wm. J. Bryan, Senator Robert Owens, several of our congressman, and host of private citizens throughout the state have written letters highly commend ing it.
 '. A misunderstanding exists among the people as to the method of initiating laws. This is simple. If the legislature fails to enact law de- manded by the people they circulate petitions to have this law placed on the ballot at the next general election and, if majority of the people voting thereon favor it, it becomes law, and, if a majority do not favor it, of course, it is defeated. In order to se- cure the placing of this law on the bal lot it must secure a number of sigma lures, in the case of an act, equal to s per cent of the total vote cast for governor in the previous election. In the case of an amendment, it must se- cure ten per cent of the total vote cast
 (This safeguards legislation by making it impossible to initiate law .-,,1o-e. ,s ,ool in if = favor, at the same time the number of petitioners required is not so large as to make it an unreasonable task to secure them.)
 If you want a peoples government vote for proposed Amendment No. 13.