Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-02-05
PENDING LEGISLATION.

a scnOoi coOe Tor tfe entire leri
= tory. These measures have not y
. been reported upon by committe
/ where they seem to be receiving d.
liberate consideration. 1t Is gel
orally admitted that the school Ia
is not fully adapted TO the rreser
condition Of the Territory. 1t wa
always incomplete and ambiguou
in its provisions, and difficult to ad
minister. Since It became law, tn
Territory has greatly increased II
population and wealth, and a schoo
code better adapted than Is h'
present law, to existing conditions
is needed
Mr.. Allen has also introduced 8
bill embodyiHg the essential feature:
of the Australian ballot system,
which has sprung into great popu.
lxrity in n number Of States. How.
ever meritorious the new sysoer,
may be, and no matter how much
may be said in favor of Mr.. Aliens
bill-and from a cursory examina-
ton Of it We are led to think well OF
tit is useless for the Utah Legis-
lature to spend time in considering
it, for such time would be wasted.
Congress has enacted that elections
in this Territory shall be conducted
under IFS laws as they stood March
%, 1889; thus Congress has virtually
re-enacted the Territorial election
laws existing when the Edmunds
law was passed, and no authority
short Of that Of Congress can repeal,
materially amend oil replace those
laws.
With unfailing regularity for
many years, bills have been intro
duced to regulate the practice of
medicine, have been debated and
killed. Two have already been in
, troduced at this session, and in each
there are Objectionable features
which should either be removed, or
cause the bills to be rejected. One
object Of both bills Is to punish per-
sons who practice medicine without
license, and the terms upon which
the latter is issued pre-suppose that
the applicant has received medical
education. While legislation de-
signed to punish fraud, imposition
and false pretenses is good, that
which aims TO confer a monopoly
upon certain class is generally bad.
1t is significant fact that the peo-
pie, in whose interest such bills have
always assumed TO be introduced
into the Utah Legislature, have
never instigsted the framing Of such
a measure, so far as is known.
If a person can be permitted to |
seek from whom he will, advice |
concerning the welfare of his soul. |
why should he not have the same |
privilege concerning the well
fare Of his body? If great
care is not exercised, legis-
lation Of the kind under considera-
ton may infringe upon the most
sacred rights of the individual.
Mr.. Reid introduced a bill making
it a misdemeanor to herd ten or
more sheep within two miles of any
city, town or village. This is an
other perennial subject of attempted !
legislation by members Of our AS
sembly. But all such attempts have
to be abandoned, for the reason that
the Utah Legislature has no power
to say who shall or shall not use the
public lands of the United States
Those lands are open alike to Sheep
and cattle men, and though settle
ments often suffer from the proximity
of sheep herds, it is useless to appeal
to the Territorial Legislature for re-
lief. The matter is under the ex-
elusive control Of Congress.
The bill introduced by Mr.. Barton
to prohibit any public officer from
accepting or using a railroad pass,
and TO prevent a higher passenger
tariff than three cents per mile, is
an important one. There is much
to be said for and against it. A
three cent passenger rate in so
sparsely settled a region as this, is
very low, and would he a severe
restriction upon some of the smaller I
roads in the Territory, existing and
but the main lines
could stand it very well. The pass
prohibition would not amount to L
much because 1t could be evaded in I
different ways.
Mr.. Booths bill to make the !
legal rate Of interest eight per cent t
'ught to pass. Eight per cent is /
1 fair return for capital in the Ter !.
.itory nowadays, and the
aw ought not to give a creditor Q
more than he can get in the e
pen market for his money. At a
ime when the banks charged from i,
Eighteen to twenty-four per cent, d
en- per cent was not high for legal 6
interest; but it is high now, in COM 2
arison with the rates at which 7,
honey can be obtained in abund- r,
nee. As population and wealth 4
lcreases, the rate OF legal interest n
lght to be lowered. This has been =
one, we believe, in all the western C,
tates. v