The Mena weekly star., 1920-12-02
AMENDMENT Is REEVES.

Amendment los WIlOH was ttSA a.
the last election thru the indifference,
lack of information and prejudice
against amendments on the part of
the voters, is coming back" provid-
ing the Initiative and Referendum
League of Arkansas is able to get
10000 signatures to the required petit
ton and have same filed before the
present legal limit, three amendments,
already are asked for.
The Star, which worked for and de-
sired the adoption of Amendment 13
in the recent election, has no reason
for changing its attitude, but does see
the necessity of more thought on the
part of voters. 1t is not pleasant
for those who favor a rule of the peo-
pie to see them vote down, as in the
case of Amendment 10, the very thing
that places the power to make and UNI
make laws in the hands of the ma
jority. Such action reflects upon in
telligence very intelligence
needed by people to enable them to
rule themselves wisely.
In order to get good start, The
Star publishes here a review of the
defeated amendment, and suggests
that those favoring it act quickly in
securing the 10000 signatures need
ed to again get it on the ballots:
First--Makes it impossible for the
Legislature to enact laws that ma
jority Of the voters disapprove Of.
This is done by restricting the use of
the emergency clause so that it cam
not be used, is it now is, by attaching
it 10 any laws the legislature wishes,
regardless of the fact that no emer-
gency exists, thus preventing the
reference of the law to the people for
their approval before it becomes eff
fective.
Second Amendment No. 13 pro
yides that the majority of those vot-
ing on an amendment shall decide
whether it becomes a law or not 1t
was carried in the last election by a
vote of two to one, but was defeated
by the vote of those who cast their
ballot for governor, but did not vote
either way on the amendments, all of
these indifferent voters being count
ed against the amendments. Under
thia- system it is very difficult to
amend constitution, as is shown by
the constitution of the State of Mass
achusetts, which has Al amendments.
and only three of these had major
sty of the total vote cast in the cleo
Z ton. If the same system prevailed in
that State as we have in Arkansas, Al
out of the a amendments would have
been lost. While it is generally adj
mitted that many amendments are
needed to our State constitution. un-
less the provision in No. 10 providing
that a "majoritysof those voting on
an amendment shall enact or reject
IT." it is almost impossible to secure
greatly needed amendments.
Third-Under the present constitu-
ton only three amendments can be
submitted at one election. This al
ways neeessitates q race TO get the
first three coveted places. and it is
frequently the case that they are won
BY the three least deserving, as it is
first come first served" In 1910 the
people adopted an amendment which
they supposed reserved to them the
AAbHt 10 SuDI1lJ as many amendments
at one time as they wished but the
courts decided otherwise. No. 10 re-
stores this right to the people. which
viii have the same effect as a con-
stitutional convention every two
years. as the people themselves can
submit at every election as many
am endments as they please, direct to
the Secretary of State, and then they
can vote upon them at the general
election, with this added protection, if
they find out that an amendment does
not work as well as they expected
they can themselves repeal it.
Fourth-One of the great draw
backs to effective and efficient service
by state Legislature is the great
amount of special legislation it has TO
consider Amendment No. 10 re-
moves this difficulty by providing that
this legislation can be enacted by the
local subdivision affected, so that
such legislations does not conflict with
general legislation.