Nebraska advertiser., 1860-12-06
THE ADVERTISER.
n LegIsIature.

.eAMb NEDiaSha 1CAASA-hAAN 9~6AAA IA
session. AS usual, great anxiety is felt
"A to WHAT'S 10 be done" Well, we
reckon few, if any. of the members yet
have any definite idea of what they wiH
do. When they may have more thorough
~ compared notes." they may be able to
advise their constituents" The fact is,
there is not much for this Legislature to
do; and the fear, if any, is it will attempt
TO DO too much. As a general thing,
there is entirely TOO much Legislation. Es-
pecially is this the case in this ~"fast,"
progressive West of ours Laws, like
fashions, "go out of date" in the estim-
alton Of many, every twelve months, and
there must be something new gotten up.
Again, the country being new, and poiti-
cal fertunes-like others-to make, mos!
members are anxious to distinguish
themselves )" get upon "the record, or
do something or other by which their
memories will be perpetuated." There
fore, some member discovers an objec-
tionable sentence in the 4Criminal COde;"
smother don't like some portion CT the
civil Code: - another don't understand
the "School Law" and we might emu
merate all our General Laws, and find
some one Directing to some particular
portion of each. They must be "amend-
ed" "Pin" the directors "to the WALL"
and nineteen cases in twenty, they have
never read, or, at least, studied carefully
and understand the law 10 which they
object; know nothing of its details, or
the intimate connection of its several
parts" But something must be done. So
here goes TO "strike out''-"strike out
and insest"-or repeal" Just such
legislation-'doing to be dolng''-has
brought about a state of confusion in our
Statute Books, that all the "Philadelphia
lawyers" in christendom cannot tell head
head nor tail about them.
The very best the present Legislature
can do in regard TO existing laws, is to
have them cOllated, properly indexed, and
published in one volume. Then they
will be more perfectly understood, and if
changes. are necessary, they can be made
understandingly.
While, in our humble opinion, there
are many things the Legislature ought
not to do; there are some things it ought
10 do. Our election law, fer instance, is
che most abominable. There is scarcely
any use holding elections under it. There
should be some more stringent provisions
by which the purity of the ballot box
might be better preserved. The Terri
iorial Board of C~anvassers should be COM
posed of those who are responsible to the
people for their acts; be clothed with full
powers in considering illegal votes; and
be allowed the use of persons and papers
in deciding thereupon. Will our Legis-
lature look particularly to this matter
We believe they will.
Something should be done 10 put a stop
TO Territorial and County warrants being
hawked around at from % cents to IS
cents onthe dollar. They are really bet
ter than nine-tenths Of circulating bank
notes, and there is no reason why they
should not be worth their face. A law
providing for a sinking fund with which
to pay the interest se~mi-annually, and a
portion of the principal annually, would
soon make them sought after as invest
ments at par: Then the Territory or
counties, when paying out their warrants
would know they were not issuing two
dollars for one "ralue received"
Another matter which needs attention.
is the Half Breed or Indian Reservation
controversy. Some definite expression
should be given as to the rightsO Of white
residents upon those lands. In some sec
tons they are taxed and allowed to vote;
in others they are not taxed in any way
but allowed TO vote and still IN others
they are neither taxed nor allowed to vote
in no way regarded as citizens OF the
Territory. we believe the present Lee
.gislature is composed Of "gOOd and true
men, and we look to them for cautious
sound Legislation.