The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1895-03-28

WHlCh eNlUtllCe ID ellitleu are VtI J
crude. 1t admits some very raw re
cruits into the great army which looks
after the public service, and is respon
sible for many singing criticism
aimed at our system of government
But behind all this is the strong com.
mon sense of the masses. and the saw
ing influence ofthat intelligence which
is possessed by vast majority of onr
people. The vagaries, the crankisms
and the follies which creep into our
system are really more amusing than
dangerous.
Ifthere could be an accumulation
of all incongruities. herisies and fool
ideas that have found their way into
the legislative bodies of the country,
even during the past winter, they
would make a book of humor which
would rival the popularity of "Trilby."
There is the legislator Of Connecticut
who wants solemn enactment that
every child must be named before it is
three days old. How in the world
the Interests OF the state are to be
served by such legislative invasion of
the domestic domain he has failed to
explain. 1t is just possible that he
has some shadowy conceit as to mat
ters of inheritence, the duties of the
census taker OF the rites which usually
accompany christening; but stop to
consider what he is asking.
Take the case of the first baby that
gladdens the household, and the idea
of naming it within seventy-two hours
after receipt is simply preposterous.
1t is the work of weeks, of hard
thought and endless consultation. If
Legislation on the subject be needed
at all it is because there is not enough
care exercised in the selection of
names. Some of those given handi-
cap their posessors from the cradle to
the grave, and never cease to be
thorn in the flesh. They tempt men
to the folly of parting their names in
the middle, and have driven many a
fair sister to the subterfuge of orna-
menting her title to suit her own ro
mantle taste. The nutmeg statesman
should find himself in hopeless mi
nority.
There Is member of the Oregon
legislature who has asked to have a
special tax put upon every man who
wears queue. He doubtless re-
CARDS this as a very shrewd way Of
getting at the obnoxious heathen Chi
nee, and is utterly oblivious to the ab-
sardity of his proposition. He opens
the ayto p'll tax On the POM |
padour fad, the chrysanthenum style
Of football origin, the clip of the bull
et-headed fraternity and even the de-
fenssless individual who wears a scalp
unadorned. 1t would only be a step
fartherin the line he has suggested to
declare it misdemeanor to wear any
hair which was not black, and lobby
of hairdyers could be relied upon to
make the fight over the proposed meas
ure lively one.
But the number of the legislative
oddities prevents their discussion.
There is the proposition to require
that the formulate used in the prepara-
ration of patent medicines be printed
in English on each bottle sold, thus
tending eventually to make each man
his own physician, despite the exac-
lions of the patent laws. One repre-
sentative of the people is making a
noisy and persistent fight to reduce
he fares on the elevated railroad to a
figure below the actual cost of trans
portation. Another wants newspa-
pers prohibited from printing the pic
5ure of any one without his permiss-
ion, and to refrain from the noticing
Of any social event without the consent
If the host or hostess. Most of these
upon the true function of
legislation come from Connecticut,
md it would seem that the spirit which
the blue laws of the Nut
neg state is hereditary.