38 



ARKANSAS. 



mous taxes unjustly imposed upon them for the last 

 five years ; and 



Whereas, In consequence of the extreme dry 

 weather the crops are unusually short, and in many 

 parts of the State almost an entire failure, and the 

 people are unable to pay their taxes. 



"When this act was under discussion in the 

 Senate, one of the Senators made the follow- 

 ing statement in explanation of his reasons for 

 supporting the bill : 



Up to February 10, 1871, there had been confiscated 

 by means of high taxes 1,903,308 acres of the people's 

 lands. We see from the report of the Commissioner 

 of State Lands that there is now in progress of con- 

 fiscation, by means of forfeitures, for the years 1870, 

 1871, and 1872, fully a million more acres, which will 

 be transferred to his office in September, making 

 2,903,308 acres. This does not include lands sold 

 by the Auditor and tax-collector to speculators. In- 

 stead of making liberal provisions for the redemp- 

 tion of these lands, we have, by the funding act, 

 authorized the transfer of them to a trustee for the 

 benefit of scrip-holders, thus barring the right of 

 redemption by the original owners, and denying the 

 right of donation to actual settlers. Not content 

 with the radicals' spread of confiscation, we have 

 placed upon the already overburdened tax-payer 

 nearly three and a half mills additional tax, to be 

 paid in currency, for the benefit of these scrip-hold- 

 ers, and have refused to remit any portion of the 

 tax heretofore levied. I fear that the postponement 

 of the interest tax will have a tendency to destroy 

 the State's credit, and that the suspension of the 

 county and city tax will very much embarrass the 

 county and city governments for the want of means 

 to subsist the prisoners, as neither county nor city 

 can issue interest-bearing obligations. It can, how- 

 ever, make but little difference to the people after 

 their property is confiscated and they compelled to 

 seek some other country (where confiscation laws 

 have passed away) to live in. whether the State has 

 a credit or not, or whether the county and city gov- 

 ernments are administered or not. In order to stop 

 the confiscating machine until the people can be 

 heard from, I shall vote' aye. 



A nev\ T election law was passed, requiring 

 the county courts on or before the 1st of Au- 

 gust preceding an election to revise the forma- 

 tion of election precincts, and at least thirty 

 days before the election appoint three judges 

 of election for each precinct, the judges to 

 choose two clerks. When the judges are not 

 acquainted with the qualifications of any per- 

 son offering to vote, they may put him under 

 oath regarding them, and take other testimony 

 on the same point. Section 20, of the law, 

 reads as follows : 



Any election officer who shall fraudulently and 

 corruptly permit any person to vote illegally, or re- 

 fuse the vote of any qualified elector, cast up or make 

 a false return of said election, or any person who 

 shall vote when not a qualified elector, or vote more 

 than once, or bribe any one to vote contrary to his- 

 wishes, or intimidate or prevent any elector by 

 threats, menace, or promises, from voting, shall be 

 guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof be 

 imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than one 

 nor more than five years. 



All dram-shops and drinking-places must be 

 closed on the day of election and the night 

 following. All ballots must be numbered and 

 registered, and careful provision is made re- 

 garding an honest and correct counting and 



return of the same. Sections 30 and 31 read 

 as follows : 



Any person who shall furnish any elector who can- 

 not read with a ballot, informing him that it contains 

 a name or names different from those which are writ- 

 ten or printed thereon, with an intent to induce him 

 to vote contrary to his inclination, or who shall fraud- 

 ulently change a ballot of any elector, by which said 

 elector shall be prevented from voting for such can- 

 didate or candidates as he intended, shall, on con- 

 viction thereof, be fined in any sum not exceeding 

 seven hundred dollars. 



The judge, to whom any ballot shall be delivered, 

 shall, upon receipt thereof, pronounce, in an audible 

 voice, the name of the elector from whom he receives 

 the ballot, and, if no objection be made to him. and 

 the judges be satisfied that he is legally entitled, 

 agreeably to the constitution and laws of the State, 

 to vote at the election, he shall immediately number 

 the ballot, as provided in section 23 of this act, and 

 put the same in the ballot-box without opening, or, 

 in any way, inspecting the names written or printed 

 thereon. 



The usual provisions are made for the return 

 of the results to the proper officials in the coun- 

 ties, and from them to the Secretary of State 

 in the case of State officers. 



A new school law was enacted, providing 

 for a State Superintendent of Schools, with a 

 salary of $2,000 a year, and an allowance for 

 actual traveling expenses incurred in the dis- 

 charge of his duties, not to exceed $500 in any 

 one year. It establishes the office of county 

 superintendent, and provides for a county ex- 

 aminer, to be appointed by the county courts. 

 Three directors are to be elected in each school 

 district by the voters thereof. The school- fund 

 consists of the proceeds of all lands that have 

 been or hereafter may be granted by the United 

 States, and not otherwise appropriated by the 

 United States or the State ; also, all moneys, 

 stocks, bonds, lands, and other property now 

 belonging to any fund for purposes of educa- 

 tion ; also, the net proceeds of all sales of lands, 

 and other property and effects, that may accrue 

 to the State by escheat or from sales of estrays, 

 or from unclaimed dividends or distributive 

 shares of the estates of deceased persons, or 

 from fines, penalties, or forfeitures ; also, any 

 proceeds of the sale of public lands which may 

 have been, or may be hereafter, paid over to 

 the State (Congress consenting) ; also,' ten per 

 cent, of the net proceeds of sales of all State 

 lands ; also, all the grants, gifts, or devises 

 that have been, or hereafter may be, made to 

 this State, and not otherwise appropriated by 

 the tenure of the grant, gift, or devise, all of 

 which shall be securely invested and sacredly 

 preserved as the public school-fund, which shall 

 be the common property of the State. Besides 

 this a per capita tax of one dollar is provided 

 for the benefit of the free schools of each coun- 

 ty, and the qualified electors in any school dis- 

 trict may levy a special tax of not more than 

 five mills on the dollar to be used exclusively 

 for the benefit of the schools of that district. 



Among the other acts of the session was one 

 to "regulate the labor system." This gives a 

 lien upon the products of labor to secure the 



