Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-03-08

ST0P-OVER
The Interests that Want the MUS
ance and How They Keep It.
EDITOR HERALD Some one writ
ing from Madison, 10 late number OF
your paper, over the signature of G.
says "The annual gathering Of law
makers at our Capital is a nuisance
and a humbug." Now if this is a
truth, it is very important truth, land
deserves little explanation, that the
people may see more clearly in what
the nuisance consists. The writer as
serts that a change to biennial ses
sions would save the people $4,000 a
year. In this be has the figures cor
rect; if he intends that as the saving
that would be made in Legislative ex
penses. But | hold that the greatest
part of the nuisance consists in the
mischief that is done yearly by alter
ing the laws. When the people have
huge volume of 700 pages of new
laws and alterations inflicted upon
them yearly, they mnst necessarily
remain ignorant of the most of them.
and of course be liable to fall into
some OF the many traps and snares
that have been laid for them. When
we add to this the fact that they have
to pay for several thousands of these
huge volumes yearly, we can safely
say that G. was right: he told a very
important truth. But he didn't tell
the whole truth. If he had he would
have told US about those big lawyers
who managed a year or two ago, while
the Legislature was asleep, to get a
job of revising the Statutes at $l5 per
day. [ see the Legislature has made
several attempts to make them tell
how they are getting along with the
Job, but these old fellows didn't study
law for nothing. When they have
got hold of Treasury teat that gives
Is dollars day, work or play, for an
indefinite time you may be pretty sure
they will not drop the teat willingly.
They are waiting no doubt for the
people to bring an action of ejectment
against them, so as to have their bus
mess settled up lawfully, and as this
would make business for the profess
sion it would tend to make lively
times and remove some of the stagna
ton in business that now exists.
But what can be done to remove
the nuisance G. complains of? That
is the main question. In the first
place all Madison will oppose it; and
to estimate the strength of that
opposition it is only necessary to look
back a few years and see how they
managed to get 100000 fence
around their play ground. They made
great feast and invited the Legisla
ture to attend and they provided clear
skinned women, uDexceptionable in
form and figure, the fairest of the sex,
to serve at the great feast The wine
was so good and those who served it
so fair to look upon, that it made
the members of the Legislature
feel as though they, and their constit
uents, were rich and increased in
goods, and in eed,of nothing. So they
voted $40 000to fence the play ground;
probably not one in ten of them ever
suspected that the feast was got up
for any other purpose than a kind of
testimonial to their greatness, ard Cor
the eminent services they had rem
dered the country as legislators We
had the dimensions of the ground to
be enclosed and it was over 5000 per
rod which the people were made to pay
for a. fence which was of no use but
for the people of Madison to look at !;
that is, if cattle and hogs are restrain
ed from running at large, and if they
are not then have the people there no
claim to civilization
Another powerful combination OPP
posed to biennial sessions, will in
clude nearly all the lawyers, and all
others who hope to go to the Legis-
lature. As these may be found in
every town in the State they will
make formidable opposition. The
lawyer will have two reasons for OPP.
posing it: first, because he wants to
go to the Legislature second, be-
cause it is for his interest to have
the laws mixed up, altered, and mu-
tilated as much as possible at least
once year, or there would be dan
ger that she people would begin to
find out what some of the laws were;
and then the fisherman could cast his
net into the muddy brook in quest of
catfish; or the hunter shoot a prairie
chicken or quail without paying a
lawyer five dollars to search the
statutes for information as to whether
it would be lawful to do so or not.
But after these are taken out there
will still be seven-eighths of the PEG
pie whose interests will prompt them
10 vote for biennial sessions and thus
save the fifty Thousand dollars. But
they are not organ .zed, while the
other party is, or will be, so as t.
act as one man. Thsn with wis.,
aid they could get fir N rich feast
and choice wine, all served bg the
fairest of the fair x, am afraid
they would again be aoic TO capture
the Legislature aud rssain the nuis-
ance.
LUTHER Brown.
Patch Grove, March 3. 1877.
al. = u 81,