Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1860-02-22
The General Assembly.

ulcie' requesting lps puplcaVlon II you nave
room. Yours truly, W.
The General Assembly.
There is a general admission hat the
country is afflicted with too much legisla-
ton; yet some who are loudest in declaring
this. seem to assume that the usefulness Of
the legislature is to be established by the
number of bills it passes. If there is any
truth in the first position, the best evidence
of the efficiency Of the legislature is the
number of bills it kills. There are usual
ly from four to six hundred bills introduced
into the legislature, each session; and will
be, whether it is long or short; and if pass
ing bills is a rule of efficiency, the legisla-
ture could easily show a great feat in that
line. There are perpetual demands fer
legislation on every conceivable subject, and
Tor every conceivable motive. Who is to
sift the few grains of wheat out OF these
bushels of chaf. and decide what should
be put into law, but the legislature? This
is work. 1t requires, on the average, as
much time and labor to kill a bill as to
pass one. There is no way to avoid this
labor. unless by the Spartan parliamentary
rule that he who introduces a new law in
to the popular asser:s9ly should do it with
a rope about his neck, 50 that the people
might string him up at once, if his bill
should be defeated. We are not opposing
this measure; on the contrary it seems to
US highly conservative, but we doubt if it
can be introduced into our legislature with
amending cur constitution. that clog
to the progress of civilization. !
If We have too much legislation, the ,
usefulness of the General Assembly should :
be judged by the sam rule as the skill of !
sportsmen, By the number of bills they kill. }
The legislature is doing some good work in
that line. We think one most destructive ,
policy has been stopped by the present
General Assembly; that is, the authorizing
it is called-of municipal loanS-e
When it is considered that the amount of o
these loans is already over seventy millions, s
and that every legislature has increased l
them by fallacious grants of authority-e
when no such authority could be created,-s
The importance of this work will begin to l
be appreciated. The State debt is regard 9
d as a great burden, while heretofore the :
,nly thought taken of nearly five times the q
AMOUNT of the State debt, distributed among 8
he counties and towns, has been to in Q
it. Yet no one will pretend that !
he same amount is not as burdensome in .
me shape as in the other. The call from U
III parts of the State for these loans has a
made a combination in their favor, difficult o
o resist, especially as public opinion has u
,een dormant on the subject, and there was a
title to sustain resistance.
The position taken by the present Senate a
to stop the further progress of this
destructive policy; although they have q
passed a bill authorizing cities of the sec !;
md claas to take up, within a specified K
present Indebtedness by the issue of o
bonds. This may be necessary, although $
t viii require stringent guards to prevent a
Is being used to cover unwaranted expen- 6
L
The number of bills introduced, shows :
he quantity of labor thrown away upon the "
General Assembly. The few passed will ).
Indicate their wisdom. That body contains !,
n unusually large proportion of earnest, !
men. who are dcEoting themselves !
sealously to their duties. There are some r
measures in elaboration that are of great /,
Importance to the State; and 50 far from :,
is requiring a great number Of new laws ],
o establish the efficiency of the legislature, !
here arc, outside the necessary appropria- !
ion bills, less than half a dozen measures Z
hat, if perfected. would distinguish this
General Assembly. 10
1t viii perhaps be well for our repubI- :,
cotemporaries to r~ecollect that it is re- o
,arded as the chief duty of a democratic
representative to do everything practicable
D thwart this republican legislature, so as
o make it appear a failure, if possible.
Their organs are noisy because tie legisla- J
ure has not passed bills enough, and bc- :
ause it has not ground out a regular daily -
mist Of laws from the first day of the scs- .
ion. Their members would gladly pro- ~
ract discussion on mischievous measures |"
calculated TO se~ctionalizc the republican ~
,arty. They have already attempted to =
orce an extra session by ~postponing the p
lection of Senator, and will des;se every y
means to bring it about while os- !.
opposing it. All of this game is ~
90 palpable to have much effect, and We :,
re confident that when this legislature ad- !
ourns, it viii have distinguished itself by :
One measures of great importance to the y,
while it viii have accomplished a J"
Tork equally as great in cutting of useless -
nj mischievous legislatiOn.-State Jour- y,
al r