50 



ARKANSAS. 



acted " whereby the right to vote at any elec- 

 tion shall be made to depend upon any previous 

 registration of the elector's name." The gen- 

 eral elections shall be held biennially on the 

 first Monday of September; but the General 

 Assembly may fix a different time. The num- 

 ber of Eepresentatives is fixed at not less than 

 73 nor more than 100, and of Senators at not 

 less than 30 nor more than 35. 



Representatives are to be chosen for two 

 and Senators for four years. The sessions of 

 the Legislature are made biennial, and are lim- 

 ited to sixty days, but may be extended by a 

 two-thirds vote of each House. This limita- 

 tion, however, does not apply to the first ses- 

 sion under the new constitution, or when im- 

 peachments are pending. No member shall, 

 during the term for which he has been elected, 

 receive any increase of pay for his services, 

 under any law passed during such term. The 

 limitations contained in the following sections 

 of Article V. are placed upon the powers of 

 the Legislature. 



SECTION 81. No State tax shall be allowed, or ap- 

 propriation of money made, except to raise means 

 for the payment of the just debts of the State, for 

 defraying the necessary expenses of government, to 

 sustain common schools, to repel invasion and sup- 

 press insurrection, except by a majority of two-thirds 

 of both Houses, of the General Assembly. 



SEC. 32. No act of the General Assembly shall 

 limit the amount to be recovered for injuries result- 

 ing in death, or for injuries to persons or property, 

 and, in case of death from such injuries, the right of 

 action shall survive, and the General Assembly shall 

 prescribe for whose benefit such action shall be 

 prosecuted. 



SEC. 33. No obligation or liability of any rail- 

 road, or other corporation, held or owned by this 

 State, shall ever be exchanged, transferred, remitted, 

 postponed, or in any- way diminished by the General 

 Assembly ; nor shall such liability or obligation be 

 released, except by payment thereof into the State 

 Treasury. 



The Executive term of office is reduced from 

 four to two years, and the office of Lieutenant- 

 Governor is abolished, the functions of it de- 

 volving upon the President of the Senate. The 

 provisions in Article VI. in regard to the elec- 

 tions of State officers and contested elections 

 the point upon which the exciting .guberna- 

 torial controversy of this year turned are 

 substantially the same in the new constitution 

 as they were in the old. 



All judges are to be elected by the people ; 

 those of the Supreme Court for eight years, of 

 the Circuit Courts for four years, and of the 

 county courts and justices of the peace for two 

 years. Sheriffs, assessors, coroners, county 

 treasurers, and surveyors, are also elected by 

 the people for tw.o years. The General Assem- 

 bly is required to "provide, by general laws, 

 for the support of common schools by taxes, 

 which shall never exceed, in any one year, two 

 mills on the dollar on the taxable property of 

 the State ; and by an annual per capita tax of 

 one dollar, to be assessed on every male inhab- 

 itant of this State over the age of twenty-one 

 years : Provided, The General Assembly may, 



by general law, authorize school districts to 

 levy, by a vote of the qualified electors of 

 such district, a tax not to exceed five mills on 

 the dollar in any one year for school purposes : 

 Provided further, That no such tax shall be 

 appropriated to any other purpose, nor for any 

 other district than that for which it was levied." 

 A system of free schools is to be maintained, 

 " whereby all persons in the State, between 

 the ages of six and twenty-one years, may re- 

 ceive gratuitous instruction." The creation of 

 school offices is left to the Legislature, and, un- 

 til otherwise provided by law, the Secretary 

 of State is required to discharge the duties of 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction. 



For the encouragement of manufactures and 

 mining, the General Assembly is authorized to 

 exempt, by general law, from taxation, for the 

 term of seven years from the ratification of 

 the constitution, the capital invested in any or 

 all kinds of mining and manufacturing business 

 in the State. 



Railroads and canals are declared public 

 highways and the companies common carriers; 

 the directors are required to make annual re- 

 ports under oath to the Auditor of Public Ac- 

 counts ; and the rolling-stock and all other 

 movable property are considered personal es- 

 tate, and liable to execution and sale in the 

 same manner as the personal property of indi- 

 viduals. The General Assembly is required to 

 " prevent by law the granting of free passes 

 by any railroad or transportation company to 

 any officer of this State Legislature, executive 

 or judicial;" and also "to pass laws to cor- 

 rect abuses and prevent unjust discrimination 

 and excessive charges by railroad, canal, and 

 turnpike companies, for transporting freight 

 and passengers, and shall provide for enforcing 

 such laws by adequate penalties and forfeit- 

 ures." . 



Executive and judicial officers are prohib- 

 ited from receiving fees ; the amount of their 

 salaries is to be fixed by the General Assem- 

 bly, but shall not exceed annually the follow- 

 ing sums: Governo^ $4,000; Secretary of 

 State, $2,500; Treasurer of State, $3,000; 

 Auditor of State, $3,000; Attorney-General, 

 $2,500 ; Commissioner of State Lands, $2,500 ; 

 Judges of the Supreme Court, each, $4,000 ; 

 Judges of the Circuit Courts, and Chancellors, 

 each, $3,000 ; prosecuting attorneys, $400. 



The constitution provided that an election 

 for State officers and members of the Legisla- 

 ture should be held on the same day on which 

 the vote on the constitution was taken, viz., 

 October 13th, and that the Legislature then 

 elected should assemble on the 10th of Novem- 

 ber. In view of this provision the Demo- 

 cratic Convention assembled in Little Rock, 

 September 9th, to nominate a State ticket. 

 Governor Baxter w r as twice chosen as the can- 

 didate for Governor, but declined the nomina- 

 tion. The following nominations for State 

 officers were then made : 



Governor, A. H. Garland ; Chief-Justice, E. 



