Page:Leigh v. Hall.pdf/6

A.] v. McDonald, 184 Ark. 740, 44 S.W.2d 331. It would be difficult to find a title which more honestly conveys an idea of what the act is intended to enact. The act provides for a stair-stepping of the minimum wage from $.80 to $1.00 per hour and the ballot so states. The act provides for certain exemptions and the ballot so states. The act provides for administration of the act and the ballot title so states. The act provides for overtime wages and the ballot title so states. We find no dishonesty or improper amplification in the title.

A third requirement is that the title be impartial. It is interesting to note that although both plaintiffs refer to the rule against partisan coloring, neither apparently is able to create specific allegations to this effect in relation to the ballot title. Crawford, Statutory Construction, pp. 85-86, states: "It would appear sufficient if the title would fairly convey to the average voter the general purpose and tenor of the law, without a tendency to mislead or to give a partisan coloring, since the ballot title is obviously intended to be a means of identification of the measure submitted to the electorate." We fail to find any misleading tendency in the ballot title.

The last contention of the plaintiffs is that the defendant did not comply with the publication requirements of Amendment Seven (7) of the Arkansas Constitution. Amendment Seven (7) to the Arkansas Constitution provides in relevant part that:

"Initiative petitions for State-wide measures shall be filed with the Secretary of State not less than four months before the election at which they are to be voted upon; provided, that at least thirty days before the afore-mentioned filing, the proposed measure shall have been published once, at the expense of the petitioners, in some paper of general circulation."

The publication of the initiated act was had on June 5, 1960. Parts of the petition were filed on June 27, some 22 days later; the remaining parts of the petition were