The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1877-01-18
Kansas LeeisIatiye FooIery.

The present Legislature, If it can sit itseit
down to serious business, and avoid the short
comings of its predecessors, can accomplish
great deal of useful work in a very short time.
Previous legislature, with scarcely an eScep-
finn. have wasted their time in foolishness anu
exnerimepts. At every session, number Oh
members have been present who knew It all, ana
wanted things done in Kansas as they were done
;., IN. st.t.s thew came from. Others had pet
exner;ments which they Wished to try, confident
that thew were just the things Kansas needed.
rh. r..ujt has been a medley of inconsistent and
.o,a;ct;ng laws, many of which nentralize or de-
.trov each other; and Others, which are intend
Cd to opcrate in connection, present contrast
.omevbat similar to q team composed of fine
horse and Q scrxggy milk-cow, or a dimlnutive,
veazeu faced man married to two hundred and
fifty pound specimen of femininity. large pro-
norton of the time of each Legislature has been
occupied in repeating the blunders OF its prede-
cessor. and the balance of the time in passing
laws for its successor 10 repeal. Laws relative
IN the collection of taxes have been changed.
without reference to existing obligations made
upder former laws, and which have been thrown
ont of joint by the change. The homestead, e1-
emption and lien laws, &c, have been doctored
up no that they encourage rascality, and it Ii al
most impossible to collect debt BY law. And
50 with almost every law in the statute-book-
they all bear the marks of tinkering and exper-
iments 90 that there is scarcely shspely or con-
sistent one among them.
Another weakness has been the purchase of
mass of trash by the Legislature, in fit OF good
nature, or to get rid of the bore who offered it
for sale. How many daubs called maps, or
trashy books pretending to be histories of Kan
sas, have been bought at heavy expense, only
to be thrown into some lumber garret as waste
How many outright frauds have been rejected
by Legislature after Legislature, only to be al
lowed at last, in order to get rid of the importn-
mites of the cheeky claimantf
Another quirk of Kansas Legislators may lie
seen in the names of our Counties, especially the
newer ones. A majority of the people of the
State are almost ashamed to tell the name
of the County they live in. Many q boy strug-
gels heart-broken through the world, loaded
down with such name Ebenezer, Jedediah,
or Amnadab, when it would have been easier
for his parents to have named him Edward,
Charles, or Clarence. One of the Kansas Legis-
latures undertook to lay off all the unorganized
territory into Counties, and to name them.
They got it into their heads that they ought to
name them after Kansas men who died in some
honorable service. There were many distinguish
cd and pleasant-sounding names that they could
have selected but they chose permiscuors lot
of apparently the most outlandish names that
they could find. The result is, Norton, Rocks,
Hodgcman, Ness, Cove, Foote, Trego, Cowley,
Pratt, Harper, Harvey, Rice, to say nothing of
0shorn Mifehell phillins Jewe1l Smith Gland.
and Others which might be passable, in a couu-
try hard up for names. good many Of the old
Counties have no reason to brag of the euphony
of their names; but they were christened by
men who made no pretensions to taste, and are
fully as handsome the persons for whom they
were named, or the principles by which they
were actuated. Something better was to have
been expected of Republicans. A few years ago,
Legislature took fancy to change the names
of Counties, and actually named one Shirley, af-
ter o notorious prostitute of that name. The
County is now called Cloud. The present Coun-
ty Of Norton was once named Billings, as q sort
of complimentary joke upon ex-Marshal Bill
lings, of Topeka, who was at the time Doorkeep-
er of the House. A number of other similar
tricks have been played, only for the people to
become ashamed of them. Several of the Coun-
ties of Kansas are now wearing their third or
to name them again.
We speak Of these things, to illustrate the
tomfoolery and palteriRg indulged in by Kansas
Legislatures, and the lack of taste that usually
accompanies it, The present Legislature has
the best opportunity in the world to omit sll
such proceedings.