The Nevada journal., 1855-09-28
The LEGISLATURE.

good people of this State that no oppro-
brium can be heaped undeserved upon the
heads of the Members of the Legislature
1t has become the fashion to abuse indis-
criminately every one who has had the i'll
fortune to serve the state in her legisla-
tive halls, because he has not come up to
the standard of excellence, which is found
in those occupying like positions in older
and better regulated communities, and SO
general has been the condemnation, that
the Office is looked upon not alone as a
thankless one, but as one robbed of the
honors attendant upon the same position
in the other states of the Union. The
members Of the early legislatures of Cali
fornia, may, some of them, have been mer-
cenary and unprincipled, we do not say
they were not, the same may be said of
every public body that ever assembled,
but We conceive that the great fault OF
California legislation is, that there has
been too much of it, with too little con-
sideration. Stretching from Oregon to
Mexico, our territory embraces every va
riety of soil and occupation, and conse-
quently diversity Of interests. Laws
passed to benefit one portion Of the state,
fail to meet the wants of the other portion
The representatives from one section, re-
garding the interests of their constituents
alone, are clamorous for protection to
those interests, and binding themselves to
the hardships which general law would
produce in other communities having in
terests not in common with theirs, do not
hesitate to use means not strictly honora-
BILE to gain the ends, which they may:
perhaps, have been elected to attain.
Our representatives too, coming origi-
nally from every part Of the Union, are
more or less attached to the institutions
and laws of the state in which they were
raised, and at every opportune moment
each seeks to engraft a principle Of the
laws of his native state, upon the laws o1
the state which he has adopted.
California is fast country, and legisla-
ton, Ike any other business, has been
overdone. A measure is deemed essen
tial to one constituency, and without re-
Election, it is pressed through the two
Houses, with railroad speed. In this
way our statutes arc become mass of in
congruities, our laws are crude and indi-
gestible, and our citizens embroiled in end
less litigation.
We need less haste and more patient
investigation in our legislative halls. But
we are not like to get what we need.--
There is something in the nature of socie-
ty, the habits of the people, their business
and manner of life, and in the very air we
breathe, which units the mind for close in
vestigation Mental application is want
ing. There is no reflection. All our ayo-
cations tend to sharpen the perceptiv cs
rather than develop the reAcctives. Go
ahead, and never look back, is the order
of the day. Before we can hope for clear,
comprehensive and better laws, therefore,
the nature of the society must undergo a
change. And as we are destined to have
conglomeration of crudities, conhictions,
and absurdities for statutes, the less we
have of them the better The only means
we can suggest to diminish the size Of our
volumes of errors, called laws, is to shorten
the sessions of our Legislatures. The least
possible amount Of legislation compatible
with the absolute necessities of the people
rs all that is isrequired. Seventy five days
strict attention to the wants of the State
will accomplish all that is desirable, and to
this amount of time the sessions of the Leg
islature ought to be restricted. It is time
enough if well spent, and surely enough to
squander in enacting absurdities. The
money saved to the state by short ses-
sion, will, at any rate, more than compen-
safe for the want of a few dozen conflict
ing statutory enactmcnts. We trust the
next Legislature will be actuated by this
belief.
MINING ITeM-We we're shown few
days since, prospect of A ounces, con-
sisting of large and beautiful specimens,
n Lnn 81. Dnxnn &. ca out Of an old shaft