Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-11-13
PREPARING FOR LEGISLATION

We will take it as an axiom that the least
legislation there is beyond The line of alb
solute necessity, the better for the people
Herbert Spencer in recent essay de-
clares that we measure the responsibilities
of legislators for mischiefo they may DO, i'll
a far more lenient fashion than we do the
mistake of the druggists assistant who pre-
scribes for the collie, when the ailment is
Inflammation of the cmcum, and so kills
the patient. 1t is held that common ex-
perience should have taught the druggists
assistant, unframed as he is, not to inter
fere but ii is not held that common expe-
rience should teach the legislator not to
interfere till he has trained himself"
There can be no question that immense
evils result from wrong legislative treat
ment. It is uadeniable that we legislatc
too much. The average legislator is in
spired with the idea that he is bound 10
introduce bills on every conceivable subject
concerning which there is some friction.
Legislation is looked upon as the great
cure-alI, when in fact much legislation is
the great mischiei-maker.
We applaud he modest report of an up
country Assemblyman to his constituency
% introduced not ono bill, but | voted
against four hundred and twenty-one."
That man had some conception of the re-
sponsibility of his office
1t is true, as Spencer declares, that the
mischiels wrought by uninsructed law
making are enormous in amount and con
spicious to all who do but glance over It's
history. From the varying cnactments re-
garding usury laws the decrease of poverty.
the lessening of labor, the regulating of
private concerns. to enact morals, to fix
wages, and TO interfere with trade, down to
the mild demand Of the Socialists and the
ultra-democratc efforts of the Communists,
the history OF the world teens with proofs
that The labors Of uninstructed Legislators
have continually increased human suffer
ing in the endeavor 10 mitigate it."
We may not now further continue this
politico- philosophical strain, for we have
no hope that any speedy reform is to be
accomplished, such as selecting for our
legislative bodies with the same care we
exercise in choosing agents to conduct our
private business. But there is, even under
the present bad and faulty system of
legislation, opportunity to Introduce some
reforms.
marked advance step would be to
shorten legislative sessions There would
be no real economy in accomplishing this
il we did not secure, as a result, better
legislation A brief session would he profit
less this winter if it was the fruit of hasty
and i'll considered Acts We realize
fully the importance of dclbcration. and
of committee labor, precisely as we appre-
ciate, at their true low value, the debates
from the floor of the houses. Real legisla-
ton is done, not in open session, but in
quiet councils and the chambers of com
miteeS.
Now suppose the chief State Central
Committee OF the dominant party and
which party is TO he held to strict rcspon-
sibility for the legislation of 1888, should
call together from prominent citizens from
among legislators if possible, a lawyer or
two, an eminent agriculturist or two two
or more representative mechanics, two or
more representative business men, and re-
quest them 10 consider what legislation is
actually needed for the welfare of the peo-
pie, and to prepare, in rough at least, meas
ures to be submitted TO the houses These
would go 10 the press, be discussed
throughout the state for month.
and, when the Legislature meets. it
will be very fully informed upon the chief
topics to come before ii, and very well in
structed regarding the opinions of the peo-
pie. 1t would be possible for the matters
so discussed to be taken hold of with vigor
and promptness, and the session wound I'D
satisfactorily in thirty days
Appealing to purely selfish motives, it
needs no elaboration to demonstrate to the
presumably sagacious managers of the
party that they could not better set about
to popularize their party than by securing
a short session, and by choking off all SUI
perfiuous bills. 1t viii be bad for the party
if, with the opportunity now before it, it
permits the houses to be flooded by seven
or eight hundred bills, and really vital
measures to be drowned in a torrent of
rubbish. The Democracy put such load !
upon its Assembly and Senate files at the |