New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-12-19
rrrrsyoy or THE UNITED STATES LAWS.


WASHINGTON, SATURDAY, Dec. H. 1915.
On Wednesday last Mr. Sumner of Mass, moved
an iuportat resolution relative TO the Statute Laws Of
of the United States a. follows:
eosS That the Comise he judiciary be directed 10
oumssioo % revse The publ Of he ied aies
sfssSe,ss a. srfsnss them in order ard TO as ,ssn to one
sonseeied tex end 70 Zen q e .o M
umed be IN 'neh form Is to Be no'e within the sp
The pgopricty Of the measure proposed b. Mr sum
ner will be obViOus. when It is considered that the
Statutes at Large" which have recently been pup
lished comprise nine large octave volumes, when
careful revision would reduce to one Nine-tenths 0,
this mass Of legislation has been rendered nun ana
void by more recent enactmcns, ana snOui1 tDio'"
cease 10 cucumber the statute books AnolncI iuipyr
tant object Of the revision sought D! nj ouHe i INC
Arrangement Of the laws under separate beads Accord
inc 10 their nature 50 that references 70 them may be
made Without difficulty, not only BY Lawyers, but by
All classes Of citizens At present ar almost ntermin
able search must be made in order 70 determine the
statute law Of the United States in any given case
The accumulation Of act upon act Cf sixtyOur years
without version classification, has produced an end
less OF ObscuIity which nothing short Of the mea
sure proposed can render ineligible.
Ever, lawyer will see tie Importance OF the proposed
revision at glance; while plain citizens can under
stond the utility of substituting one or two volumes OF
laws properly classified under separate heads, for ten
volumes OF enactments, amending, explaining or re-
pealiDg each other, and proniiscuously Jumbed to-
gether.
Nearly all the old States and perhaps many Of the
new have had their sta utes revised in order to insure
and simplify the administration Of justice New-IOrk
is said 10 have led of IN this enlightened policy, in
, Which she was followed BY Massachusetts,. North
Carolina has bad two reyisl0ns: ths first ordered in
1885 30 and complete in 1891 aul The second ID
now in progress, il not completed. in each instance
the revision has been made bya Commission consisting
Of three able lawyers
II is singular that matter OF 90 much real utility
has been long neglectc' By The Federal Government
Practically, our system, OF want of ~ ten is more
grieyOus dian that of the tyrant who had his laws
posted 10 high that the people could not read them
The c0mplexity, nc0ngruity and inequality OF the
Pension laws alone would warrant ten times over
the expense Of a commission for revising the laws
EVERYTHING is chaos confusion and unc certainty, winch
might b. substituted by iew.snple rules based on
rtasOn and equity.
The Clerks in the Departments will memorable
Congress for an increase pay The last Congress- at
IFS first Session gave an additional twenty per cent 70
those whose salaries were $ 200 and under, for the
remainder Of the then current fiscal year, and was
rather unpeasaIt to be let down $50 after July
l. But upon the poor Wings who are kept in Office,
the Withdrawal OF the extra percent falls peculiarly
hard since large portion Of them have been razed to
the lowest grade Of CLERKS ] indulge no mawkish
sympath, in behalf Of those whose salaries are now
81 800 to 81 sOO but justice msniiestly demands on
equalization OF salaries In the SIKH Auditors Once,
the duty of examining the accounts OF POstmistefs Is
equally divided among tWenty-seyen Clerks. Inc
Clerks draw lots for the sections alter an equal
division of the accounts into twentyseven parts AMI
vet the wisacrcs who have made great merit 0l Or
"ganizipg the Bureau have most absurdy and uyusty
classified these twenty Clerks into three If not
four divisions. with salaries ranging from 5000 TO
6 800! So much for practical Democracy. This case
is striking and tangible but fair Illustration of the
organization of the several Departments OF the Govern
ment.