The record-union., 1892-01-23

enters into the Congressional legislation
SO clearly and Enthusiastically that there
can be no evasion of it.
CAN WE GET A DECENT LEGIs-
LATURE?
| The San Francisco Bulletin of the 18th
inst. asks in headline, aCan We Get a
Decent LEGISLATURE" Proceeding, it
says, 1.-THE Prime Want of California is a
Decent Legislature" This, of course, is
the prime want of every republican
State. Legislation is the highest exercise
of sovereignty, and in republican form
| OF government a decent Legislature
means decent and wise exercise of SOW
| erelgnty. The question is the equivalent
to asking are we decent people The
| Bulletin then proceeds to declare that a
| decent Legislature is thing of the past;
that in recent times, even partially rep
utable law-m making body has not existed.
We are approaching a legislative cam
paign, and, as the Bulletin declares, the
whole of the Assembly and one-half of
the Senate is to be elected next Novem-
Der. The Bulletin then proceeds to say ::
] VIII the new Legislative Department be
| an improvement upon its immediate pre-
| decessors Is a question of vital interest
II the old methods are adopted in
will be no change If the political
bosses are allowed TO have their own way the
same Old set, though rejoicing in different
names viii be holding high carnival in the
| Capitol next winter. The ''cinchr bill VIII as
| of yore be the principal feature of the session.
! This legislative commodity is usually a meas
ure Of public utility. But it is not introduced
for the purpose Of being passed. The purpose
/ IN all cases is make those whom it is designed
| to affect buy it of.
This is very lucid statement of the
whole situation, and the most remark
able fact relating to it is that the "cinchn
measure is generally introduced by the
very representatives who are elected
by the people against whom the "cinch"
bill is introduced. The question as to
whether decent Legislature will be the
result Of the next election can be an
swered only by the counties themselves.
If the political subdivisions which choose
Assemblymen and Senators are not inter
fered with by the State Central Commit
tees of the parties or by the corporations
who think they should be in politics for
protection, Legislature superior to
the ''cinch" bill method will be chosen.
The State Central Committees of the par
ties are composed very largely of the
| boss element. The boss controls the
local County Convention. He secures for
himself place on the State Central Com
mittee, and thus the State Central Com
mittee usually becomes the very hot-bed
of professional politics, which means
venal politics. If men identified with
the industrial interests of the counties
they seek to represent are chosen, then
measures of public utility will be con-
sidered; and such measures will be in
PRODUCED with reference to their passage.
and not for the purpose of being bought
of.
Reform in this regard, however, should
begin in San Francisco. For twenty
years San Francisco has sent to the
Legislature the most disreputable delega-
ton found on the floor either of the Sem
ate or Assembly. Legislative action de-
signed to promote the general welfare is
sometimes imperatively demanded.
Legislative propositions which involve
no question Of the confiscation of prop
erty, no menace to the rights of specific
corporations or individuals, are some
times introduced. Their necessity is en-
gendered by community life. Such
measures require intelligent and thought
full consideration, but the San Francisco
delegation, representing one-fourth ofeach
house, has not been composed of states
men. The personnel of the San Francisco
delegation has represented the Bedouin
class for the most part-not being con-
nected in any way with the commercial
activities or industrial development of
that city. The methods by which they
have been chosen are well known to the
Bulletin and other metropolitan journals.
| The delegations from San Francisco in
the two last sessions of the Legislature
were conspicuously the worst on the
floor. Without attempting to find fault,
or scold our contemporaries, we ask
modestly, Was the Bulletin in ignorance
Of the manner in which the Republican
delegation which came up from San
Francisco to Sacramento and occupied
seats in the last Legislature were chosen?
Was the Bulletin and its contemporaries
ignorant of the prostituting means by
which these members were selected by
caucus and by the convention, and the
methods by which their election was Sc
cured in pursuance Of their nominations?
By no means.
Firms of bosses who have established
themselves just as business copartner-
ship might be formed for the purpose OF
engaging in legitimate enterprise, have
been established in the metropolis of the
coast to do political business. These firms
of bosses demanded, without doubt, al
the hands of associated capital the sinews
of war with which to prosecute trade
They were engaged in the piracy of po-
IiticaI honor. They selected men as can
didates for legislative positions whose