Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1889-01-26

CO. ree! estate m Kansas; but It ~ fosnd ths,
tn.t nsspsct va: expressly forbiddsd 81 section
q OF the Bill OF Rights. SENATE joint rspolntiou
10. vas thereupon offered and passed both
amendatory Of esad section, b. removiSs sucb
restriction. That amendment having bean
adopted at the lte election the lsgislstion thsre
by contemplated should be enacted at once.
MINING LAWS,
seio1s disaster occurred recently in . coal
nearly hsn hundred men .. work In the mine
lost their lives in Iaost shocking manner,
through an explosion, the precise caase or nature
OF which seems to be matter Of dispute and
9reaS dlnerence OF opinion. even among disinter-
ested and well informed persons Reeret and
sympathy are universal over the sad event; and
without reference here TO the disputed question
or immediate responsibility, attention Is chal-
ienged to the more profitable inquiry, whether,
ny any further ieelslasion. the danger of like
reduced, il not largely removed. Tbs mining
interests or the State are rapidly increasing and
the Importance Of proper LEGISLATION regulating
stat q. 1t involves health and life to those who
tn In the mines. Humanity demands for them
e efy,p ss protection. The law should
wlufuily neglect or fail to observe any precau-
ton required and imposed by the Legislature on
mat sablect; and the question of such further
Frequent complaint is heard by coal miners
thst they are impo.e upon by their employers
In regard to the manner of adjusting coal screens
whereby their meager earnings are reduced and
they are made to suffer no inconsidersble hard
ships. 1t is believed that law prohibiting
NINE da snper1ntendents operators or foremen from
ton OF screens. fter contract with the miners
would remedy this evil. and I uge the matter
Hpon your attention.
DEATH PENALTY.
gree should be either abolished IN express terms.
or made II ective. The present state of the law
neither does one nor the other. 1t seems to
have BEEN ingenlously devised to make the Gov
the responsibility of courts. and constituting
HIM thirteenth juryman in such cases. Asa re-
suit, there ie now in the penitentiary large
with the prospect ofremainins there, for no man
thus sentenced since the present law was enact
believe in the death penalty in extreme cases,
with the Intervention of year between con-
vcnon and execution. but recognize the fact that
puphc opinion On that question is much divided.
1t should certainty b, abolished in express terra
or The duty OF its enforcement imposed where it
belongs.
APPROPRIATION BILLS.
The rules Of your resr ective branches require
that the Important appropriation bills shall be
introduced on or before fixed day of the ses
zion, to insure c1nsideratiou-rules, however,
am soIry to FAY. more honored in the breach
ures. sppropriating large sums Of money, in |
making provision for the support of the State |
Government. in ali It's various departments and
heel of the endar until the closing days of the
esssion, and are crowded through ur der the whip
and spur OF necessity with haste that is abso- |
These measures sholld be framed, introduced, !
carefully considered, passed and out of the way |
as early al is practcabl-, and it is to be hoped
that you will rigidly enforce and observe the |
rules spoken CT above Members will ind it of |
great advantage to themselves in securing at |
tention TO other matters of legi. lation which |
lated appropriation bills. coming along in the |
hurry burly of the closing hours.
CONSTITUTIONAL REVISION.
wisdom Of the trainers of our constitution
TO say that 1t is now very defective.
Our marvellous development and changed con-
ditlons, impossible imp Of antcipation when it was
grown many OF its provisions and limitations.
At the time Of admission the population of the
=; did not e1caed $1,000. There were but
lricts, eech with a population of about $4,000.
The Legislature consisted OF one hundred men,
Senators and seventy five Rep
II based on population, each Rep
reeentative would have represented about sixtsen
hundred people. Then there was not a mile of
'aflroad IN the state. Now We have $500 miles
. operation, with population approximating
me million and three quarters with twenty-nine
ndicial districts, each with a population of :
bout 10000. There are in the State one hundred
md six organized counties, maintaining sep /.
rate county governments, and more than tan
thousand common schools supported and sue !
'essfully conducted rnde. on, grand system of :
las reached the vast proportions of an empire,
occurring a REIMBURSEMENT of her organic Law to
'ult the present needs.
UNEQUAL REPRESENTATION.
The constitution limits the number OF Repre- :
entail s, to one hundred and twenty-five.
represented in the lower house by one or more ,
members each. An apportiontment can be made
s entitled to separate representation unless Il /,
at least 59 legal votes at the general election
'e1t befo' e the apportionment is made. Ii
'ortionment in 1876. with population of not 4
eee than seventy five Thousand people, casting .
It the late election nearly fifteen thousand votes,
Ire thus excluded from representation by the =
limitations OF the constitution, and must SO re- 3
nam until the next aoportionment in 1891 shall 4
yive them representation in $685. unless the rem
dy be sooner applied ky amendments to the B
Again. as between the counties entitled to rep =
esentsuon. no just superintendent was possible a
'ssed on the census Of 1855 On the basis sol Of
population, if such ad been possible, each Rep
would have been given cons tit
aent gave Representative to each of f
wenty-eisht organize counties, as re- y
uired by the infiexible rule of the Consti- y
ation whose population, respectively, ranged i
q round numbers from 1.5O0 to 500, averaging :,
sss than LOCO each, and five of them having less u
han 900 each. In other words, out of the then ~
opulation OF 500 goo. the $50 people in these ~
wentysight counties were allo we'd twenty-eiRht =
while the remaining LIN, 500 ~
eople were given but ninety. seven, or one to N
very 1207.
These ninety-se7en Representative districts y
nbrace ifty-nine counties, and between these -
le greatest inequality exists in representation
no district can be created comprising terri -
ny within two or more counties. Giving each y.
the then organized counties having the reQui- =;
to number of voters one Representative thirty -
ven remained to be distributed on the basis of =,
of which few instances ale eiven -
II illustration: Leavenworth county, with q -
opulation of AZ SOC, has four Representatives
,e to every Il. 700 Shawnee, with population =,
~ 500 has three Represen tatives, one to every "
80; while Labetts has three Representatives ~
ae for every 97l4 people; Jefferson county, with ~
.265 population has TWO Representatives. one =.
e,1s2; while Wyandotte. with q population Of e
.O69. has but two. one to II. 600 people. =,
Ae.inst the nty-eight counties hereinbefore ~
entloned, having an average population of less AZ
an 900 to each OF which Representative was -
ven, may be set over seventeen counties each -,
which had then over 1900 PEOPLE and was u