Biennial Report

OF THE

SECRETARY OF STATE

FOR THE YEARS

1907-1908

O. C. LUDWIG, Secretary of State

BY AUTHORITY

LITTLE ROCK

TUNNAH & PITTARD, PRINTERS

1909

BIENNIAL REPORT

To His Excellency X. O. Pindall, Governor.

In compliance with the statutes of the State of Arkansas, I submit herewith the report of this department from the date of January 1, 1907, to December 31, 1908.

During the period named the receipts from fees and other sources of this office have been as follows:

The report of that popular official, Hon. E. B. Moore, Secretary of State, which was issued twenty years ago, shows the receipts of this department to have been, for the period of two years, the sum of $23,366.30.

The receipts for the last two years aggregated, as shown in the above table, the sum of $280,724.71, which means, of course, that more work has been accomplished in this department than was ever previously

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done in the same length of time. Several recommendations made heretofore by the Secretary of State were followed by the Legislature, which accounts in a large measure for the increased revenues. However, the State is advancing materially along every line, new corporations are being created and new industries established, and these have contributed to the great increase in the receipts in this department.

There are several defects in the Act that was passed two years ago that should be remedied as they have caused much confusion in this department.

In Section 3 of the Wingo Act, which fixes the schedule of fee for filing Articles of Incorporation, I would recommend that the word "authorized" be inserted before the words "capital stock." I find that the corporations have been ever ready to take advantage of this since our Supreme Court has recently held that we can only charge upon the subscribed capital stock when just the words "capital stock" appear, and we have instances in the office where they have incorporated for hundreds of thousands of dollars with a subscribed capital stock of $50,000, or even less, with the avowed intention of immediately increasing the amount of stock to the full amount authorized and without paying an additional cent of fees therefor, and by inserting the word above mentioned we can force them to pay hundreds of dollars into the State Treasury, in harmony with the spirit of the Act.

Regarding amendments increasing the capital stock of corporations, I would recommmend that they be made to pay filing fees on the difference between the amount of their original articles and the amount to which they are increased, just as if they were filing original articles with that amount of capital stock. For instance, a corporation with $50,000 capital stock can now increase their capital to $200,000, or as much more as they desire, for $10.00, and by adopting an amendment as above recommended this can be remedied.