The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-02-08
The wooster Repnbeieon says

this will do for talk. and is only talk. Th
people are bound 10 know the laws and thei
knevledge Of them is q legal presumption
10 legal parlance. they must know them. i
they ere not published in the county papers
they cannot know them. Then what six-pen
By wisdom it is to talk about the act requirin,
their publication. to be an act for the benefi
of newspapers. It is for the benefit of the
'lpeople. for their interest and advantage, anc
THAT they may know what laws are passed from
year TO year.
Their publication in the county papers i,
tdenhsnded By the wants of the people, for in
that way do they first and last get their knowl
edge Of them. If patriotism must be aired al
Columbus. and men must talk for buncombe
lon some subject or other, let some other topic
be selected than the publication of the laws
In this connection, we must be allowed to say
that We approve of Col Easons vote on that
bill in the Senate We like his standing MP
to what he considers right and proper. The
Legislature can find plenty of gaps to stop
which will be infinitely more agreeable to the
people"
The Garfield Republicans Sentinel says
4Tbe Republican legislature of Ohio have
| in contemplation. (and We hear the bill has al
ready become q law.) the passage of an act
ideprivng county papers the publication of the
laws. This is the retrencbment and reform
that party has always been giving the people
but never lessening the taxes. VIII such a
law, while it saves to each county few hun
dred dollars, be such step toward retrench
ment and reform as will benefit the people
In the way of fretrenchment. scarcely will it be
felt by single tax-payer. and the reform is
certainly very Questionable. ) IF any citizen of
Ohio is arrested for the violation of law OF
The Stale, and pleads ignotance Of the law, the
court very eravely assures him that il is pre-
sumed he knows the law and must suffer for
its violation How are the people to become
familiar with acts OF the Legislature, when the
law giving their publication to county papers
is repealed. Hundreds who ale able and do
read legislative enacimen.s in their home pa
pers, at one dollar and half year, are not
able to furnish themselves with bound copies
at three and FIVE dollars cost. 1t may be wis
dom in this Legislature to open the way to
retreDchment and reform by thus depriving
nine OF every ten, q knowledge of the laws
they are bound to know, but we fail to zee it
Lawyers may justly regard this as an act for
their special protection. Bnt while this all
wise Legislature is economizing by thus legis
lating the people into ignorance, they vote an
appropriation Of FIVE or ten thousand for a.
grand drunk. The legislatures of two other
States, Kentucky and Tennessee, on a visit to
Cincinnati are invited to Columbus at the
States expense. To this we do not object,
there is little of State pride at stake hut
each retrenching would be wild extravagance
in Democratic Legislature.
That great principle. said to be applicable
t. individuals is very prominent in the Ohio
Legislature. Self-preservaiiou is visible in
every act of this distinguished body. Un
doubtedly this feeling prompted the passage
of The act abolishing the publication of the |
laws. Keep prominently before the public
the principle of retrenchmeut, it obscuresI
from the people The nature and character of
acts" aenacted
The Mansfield Her4ld. RepnblicanJ says
The Senate of this State. in severe st of
economy, passed bilLrepealing the law which |
required the publication of the laws in the
papers throughout the State For ourselves
Ve do not care snap of the finger about it,
but it is worthy of remark that whenever our
Solons decide on 9 measure of retrenchment,
generally the PRIMER is the first to suffer by
the economy. The publication of the laws
doubtless costs considerable money, and if it |
was useless. .-if the people never read them,
as was asserted by some of the Senators in |
their Wisdom--we see no reason why the prac- |
tice should be continued. There is one thing
we would like to see, however, but probably
never will, and that is our Legislators econo.
mise little on their slde We believe that
the principle of economy shoald affect all
alike !; and when they believe that the people
of the State are entirely too much tax-ridden,
could they not take off little Of their own
per diem. We have known of members ad |
ding to their salary-but never taking from it.
never. Now by way of novelty Mesaieurs
Legislators, just to show your sincerity and
patriotism, throw off one-half of your usual
Pay--it u cave censiderabe--and many of
you are hardly worth even that Leave off
buncombe, and come down to positive eeono
my-the kind your pockets will feel. But
what's the use asking-who ever heard of
Legislature take to the ecouomy dodge sufi. |
clently strong to reduce its own salary.
As for the laws. publish them in pamphlet
form, send a copy or two to each county; and |
if the people want to know what you have |
done, let them hunt for your labors among the I
subbish Of courthouse. A great deal of it
would better never see the light
The Mahoning Register says:
Some people are sovertaken once in while
with a it of economy, aud the 6rst thing they
do IN the way Of taking in sail Is to stop their
newspaper. The present Legislature of Ohio
seems to have mania for retrenehment just
now, ana acts about as sensible as the class of
people just referredsto. They begin by put
ting out the lights. The Senate has already
votedfto suspend the School Library law far
two years, and last week repealed the law
authorizing the publication of their own en-
actmeuts in the newspapers of the State. In
the same week that the Senate lops off the
only avenue by which the people can become
acquainted with the laws by which tbey are |
10 be governed, it votes $4,000 to pay the ex
peDses of frolic with the Legislatures of
X enfurkv and Tennessee III
This spigot-saviDg and bunghole-Ieaking