The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1885-01-15

/ SWUSNAC0 ia q eSElcS "a E6SOButtOuS LC'
Gently adopted, and which will be pre-
sented to you.
THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
This society has done and is doing 8
work of great value and Importance
Its main object Is the preservation Ol
materials relating to the found.
ing growth and progress of the
the state, which would otherwise IN large
part pass away with the lapse of time
The entire collections of the society are
the property of the state, and the most
valuable portions OF them are the free
gilt of its members and other voluntary
contributors. These collections already
include over sixteen thousand books,
newspaper files and pamphlets. nearly
all relating to or connected with the his
tory and development of the state. The
people will, l believe. approve any ree-
sonable appropriations for continuing
the work of the Historical society.
| DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDATIONS.
State officers are required by law to
mention IN their reports to the leRisla-
ture such apparent defects, inconsisten-
Giles, omissions, or unequal or oppres-
sive provisions of Law as they may have
discovered. 1t Is alleged that very few
OF the suggestions and recommendations
made under this requirement, by off,
GERS at the head of the various depart
ments of the state government, have Sc
| cured the attention of the law making
| power. This probably is due to the fact
that it Is SO often difficuIt TO interest
| members of the legislature in matters
not coming within the scope of their
own personal experience or knowledge.
Would It not be advisable TO appoint .
| legislative committee charged with the
special duty of considering the sugges-
| lions and recommendations thus made,
and before which the officers at the
head of the various departments
night appear, and verbally present their
views? Surely the results of the obser-
vatIODs and experience of the depart
ment chiefs would frequently be of great
benefit to the law making power in the
discharge of its duty.
TIE JUDICIARY.
The constitution provides for three
justices OF the supreme court. 1t was
adopted when the state had less than
one-tweltth OF its present population.
There has been of course corresponding
Increase of litigation and as a conse-
quence the supreme court Justices have
imposed upon them labors and RESPONSE.
bilities not only everlasting but iacen-
slstent with that elaboration, research
and study WhN b Ought 10 wait on their
judgments. Article III OF the cOnsLitu-
ton should be so amended as TO author
lie five justices of the supreme court.
There is grave complaint also concern
ing the UNEQUAL division ofjudicial labor
between our district judges. In four or
five of the eighteen districts the judges
are OVerbnrdened with work, while in
some OF the other districts the labOIs of
the judges are Hight. 1t is probable that
we have enough district judges to dis.
charge all the duties devolving on them
with ease if these duties we're equally
distributed. A general-and equitable re-
disirIctIDg of the state so as to fairly
appOrtion its judicial labor would be the
best method of remedyIng the evil CON-
planned of. If this cannot be accom- plish-
ed, something should be done to relieve
the judges in those districts where with
courts almost constantly in session and
business dispatched with the utmost ex-
peditiou 1t is impossible to keep the
dockets clear.
REVISION OF LAWS.
There has been no authorized revision
of the statutes siRce 1868. The work of
that year was not only a revision, but
also partial codification. An author
thOrlZed revision at an early day is i'm
peratively required and the time is fast
approaching when the whole body of the
law should assume statutory form.
This subject Is now attracting much at
Lention throughout the country, aud
many of the most enlightened laws ers
and jurors are favorable to cOdificetiOn.
In this comparatively new state we have
thirty-one volumes OF supreme court re-
potts with enough material in decided
ca-eS to make two more volumes Ii now
requires yearly TWO volumes of over 800
pages each to keep up with the decided
cases although very little space is given
t. briefs and most of them are entirely
omitted. In our sister states the accu-
mutation of reports keeps pace with our
own, so that in state and federal reports
about one hundred new volumes are
added each year to the legal Literature of
the country A very large part # each
volume consists of the arguments of the
judges as to what the law Is on particular
subjects, and the opinions are made up
largely of the arguments of other judges
or of great lawyers which are scattered
through thousands of volumes of reports
and text books and which are often quite
conflicting. 1t results that the difficulty
of asceriaIning the law on any particular
subject is increased rather than dimin-
Ished by the multiplication of reports
and Ireatises. II wonld seem that with
the immense wealth of legal learning
now stforded by our great law libraries
Il code of laws sufficient to define the
rights and obligations OF every person in
all the relations Df life and of business
might be framed which should be en-
braced within the compass of two or
three convenient volumes. This would
relieve the appellate counts from the
grt alter part of their drudgery and would
also very much tighten the labor of the
inferior courts When the work of re-
vision is again commenced il would he
goJd policy t. further extend the system
of cOdItication as far as practicable
FEES.
| One Of the most tedious and onerous
| duties devOlving upon clerks OF the dis
trict courts AID Justices OF the peace is
the taxation of costs. embracing in some
cases hundred items or more OF lew
cents each Sometimes the taxation Of
COSTS involves more labor than all other
services in the case, and the system is so
complicated and intricate that it rarely
occurs that any two officers, however
honest and capable, tax the costs at the
same amount. even approximately. Ii
the fees of an officer were so grouped to
gether in the law as TO consist of two or
three items only there would be great
saving OF time and labor, and the officer
and litigant understanding how much
the law allowed the officer to collect and
required the litigant to pay, both would
be better satisfied.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
E cry governor of the state during the
past ten years has called the attention oi
the legislature to, and advised aTepeal Of
modification of the act of March 2, 1879
which abolishes capital punishmeDt By
indlrectIon? In my judgment 1t would
be better to abolish the death penalty
absolutely than to continue IN force the
present law.
THE PARDoNING POWER.
The constitution vests the pardonini
power in the governor, "Hnder regula
tioDs and restrictions prescribed by Law. ,
Such regulations and restrictions should
1t seems to me, include tribunal o
some character through which all appli
, cations for pardon should come TO thu
governor. The granting or refusal of I
, pardon is go grave responsibility tina
it should not be decided without tn,
|, most thorough and patient investigation
and consideration. Very often the chic
executive cannot with due regard TO
; other duties IF his position devote tn,
necessary time TO this work And II
any event the ends of justice would b
much more effectively subserved if b.
could have the benefit of the advice ant
. counsel OF responsible tribunal charges
! with the duty of investigating tb
alleged facts or reasons on which an ap
plIcation for pardon Is based and re
porting TO him its indiDgs and coDclu
! siOns.
PURPOSES OF CORPORATIONS.
! Almost every legislature amends pre-
/ vious acts defining the purposes 70
which corporations may be formed so q
, TO embrace new classes of enterprises
Z It would be well to provide once for al
1 as In Colorado, that corporations ma,
be formed ''for any lawful purpose"
RATES OF INTEREST
81 The prevailing rates of interes
' throughout the country seem to- requir
q reduction In this state to six per cen
D as the legal rate. or not exceeding tel
; per cent by special contract IN writing
fnsranh Of The eYInfirr rafea Of aevan Ne