The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-02-16
The Making Of laws.

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The Washington correspondents ire
uuently make mention oil the exceedingly
slow progress which Is made by Congress
lin (lispatching tho legislative, business ol
ltie country. Tho present session Is Dc.
scribed MS thescssion for President max,
Ing, aud ono which Usually brings very
little to pass. We sometimes question,
however, whether a session Of Congress Is
always 10 be regarded us useful In proper.
ton 10 the amount otlegislation It accom-,
plishes, 1t Is Of course, not a very graft.
Tying spectacle TO those who have 10 pay
for It, 10 see 4 legislative body wasting the
time IN doing nothing, inN debating meas.
urcs which, after all, It does not pass.
But We must not forget that even
this, idle Ms 1t seems to be, Is
vastly better than making unwise OF use
less laws. The Senate of the United
States, tor example, has spent large
part OF the session in considering the
amnesty bill and the other measure which
has been appended to Il as an amendment,
the supplemental bill for equal civil rights.
Both these arc likely to fail in consequence
OF being thus united, though 1t is probable
that each might have passed with modifl.
cations, had II been presented as d separate
measure. But the future Of both Is d
small evil in comparison with the passage
OF either Of them in anything like crude
or undshed shape, even though It involves
the total loss Of the time which has been
spent upon them,
As Il general rule there is too much
legislation, both. In Congress and State
Legislatures. The country is often sadly
experimental on by them all. We are
constantly having new laws imposed
upon us just to try their practical work.
ing. They arc set In operation, and
straightway become unsatisfactory. Then
they arc modified and amended, and at
last they arc repealed or allowed TO be.
come u dead letter in the statute book.
Now doing nothing at all Is a great deal
better than such legislation as this. A large
part Of tho business Of a Legislature
nOw.ad days Is first to devise ways Of get
ting money out of the people in the
form of taxes, and then to find modes Of
spending 1t on what are called public oh.
jeCts. Success in the latter is always in
full proportion to success in the former.
Public expenditures, both State and Ma.
tional, have become immoderate and reck.
less. Economy in such matters is o
thing OF the past. Nobody. pretends that
this new style Of expenditure is attended
with any corresponding benefits. 1t is
mere conformity Of the fashion Of the
times, and it Is amazing how com.
mon it has become. Neither State nor
country is any worse of in conse-
quenCe of the failure Of bills for this pur-
pose, and both ore sometimes very greatly
the gamers. la. .a-e tonic.
Our American system of legislation is
cumbersome and costly In the'extreme.
Besides the Congress of the United States,
lit involves Legislature consisting OF two
houses for every State and every territory
in the country. Tho number of persons
now engaged inthe business OF legisla lion
throughout the United States must be up.
wards of ten thousand, and the expenses
incident TO their daily sessions cannot be
less than total average OF hundred thou
sand dollars per day. But costly as the sys-
TEN necessarily is to the country, It would
be vastly better that it yield no fruits what
ever than that II curse the people with laws
that are bad in principle or bad in their
practical operation. Our great danger
under such system obviously arises from
excessive and ill.Considered legislation. It
is liable to be bad in itself, and We are
pretty sure TO have too much OF It. In
some States the session Of the Legisla,
ture has often proved TO be o public ca
lamity: This has been repeatedly expe-
rienced within the past lew years in South
Carolina, where the ignorant and corrupt
legislative body has well nigh ruined all
that was LEFT Of the State after the close Of
the war The same must be true we
should say, in Louisiana, where the Leg
stature is divided into factions that care
tor nothing but their own political or per
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