The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-11-09
GOV. Northsn,s Inaugural.

l 49, 49, f@N-~ 60 = In
paratively short. but IL contains all tina, it
was necessary for him TO say. Snort in
augural addresses are more satisfactory and
make q better impression. as rule. than
loag ones. particularly If their various sub
1ects are clearly aud strongly presented.
] The average reader becomes wearied with a
long address before hs has read half Of it,
and seldom finishes it. There are few of
! those who undertake TO read Gov. Northen' S
address who will not read it all.
The governor thinks the people are blr-
dened With too many laws aad that the
courts make too many distinctions where
there ought to be no differences He be-
| lieves that there should bs fewer local and
| special laws-that the laws should be more
| general in THAR application. He msntioas
! that the las: leg stature enacted l 40 laws.
| I,226 Of which were OF a local and special
character. and only 1s4 OF general nature.
For years the MORNING NEWS has been
ca ling attention to this very matter.
Nearly the whole time Of the legislature is
taken up with local bills, many of which
are never enforced and ara forgotten almost
as soon as they are enacted. They cost
money, however. ald a great deal of il. And
the money they cost is, to a great extent,
thrown away. There are local laws for
towns and counties and special laws for
various interests. The subjects with which
these cal and special laws deal could be
handled much bstter by county
and these officials should be
clothed with authority to deal with them.
What the legislature ought to 10 is to enact
general laws, and these laws should be, as
the governor points out, few, simple, uni
form and just" The people would then
have no difficulty in knowing what the laws
are nd in understanding them. 1t is folly
to lumber up the statutes with hundreds of
laws that confuse the people, and increase
the burdens of the tax payers.
The governor suggests that members of
the legislature should be paid fixed salaries.
And there are reasons for thinking that this
suggestion is good one. It would result
in shortening the time in which the legis-
lature is in session, and, hence, would lessen
its cost. Under the per diem system too
many Of the members neglect their duties.
Often a quorum is not present because
members are at their homes attend
ing to their private business
affairs. OF course they do not Intentionally
prolong the sessions, but the fact that they
are paid for every day of the session, how
ever long the session may be, makes them
careless about giving prompt attention to
the public business. And they favor extra
rr1nrb 10. =
if they received no compensation for such
sessions. With a reform in favor of gen
eral laws, and against special and local
ones, forty days session every two years
ought to be sufficient for all the legislation
that the state needs.
Those who thought the governor would
favor legislation hostile to corporate in
terests will find they made mistake. He
does not, of course, favor monopolies and
trusts, and he recognizes that in them there
is great danger TO the people, but he under
stands that there are great many enter
prises that cannot be handled by individ-
uals. If the state is to be prosperous.
therefore, the combination Of capital must be
encouraged and protected. Corporations
must be dealt with in spirit of fairness
and justice
OF course the governor is deeply in
terested in the public schools system. He
has been a public school teacher himself,
and he understands the benefits of the public
schools. What he says on the public school
question should receive the careful consid-
Grafton Of the legislature. He believes that
there ought to be more money devoted to
public education, that the public schools
ought to be open longer each year, that the
standard of school teachers ought
to be higher, and that the teachers
should be better and more promptly
paid. All that he says relative TO the public
school system will have the hearty approval
of every progressive citizen. There can be
no better inducement to capital aud I'M
migration than good schools, aud there can
be no better indication of the progress and
prosperity OF the state than the interest
taken in public education. Mr.. Norshen's
inaugural address justifies the opinion that
he will make very satisfactory governor.