Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1896-07-02
LIVE QUESTIONS.
A Series of Articles Contributed by
Advanced Thinkers.
ERRONEOUS THEORIES ABOUT LAW
MAKING

with its condition in 1860 that radical
defects as to the province of the legis.
lature have prevailed for tho last 35
years. Take the American farmers as an
illustration of the effect of bad lcgisla-
tion during this period. Each recurring
year has brought them smaller rewards
for their labor until today they are
confronted, in the midst of the richest
and cheapest agricultural lands ON the
earth, by insolvency and ruin. Another
striking example Of the result to large
extent of special legislation in these
years is seen in the fact that, i'll 1860, 80
per cent of all the property in the Unit
ed States was owned by poor men,
those worth from $500 to So, 900 each,
while today we have become a plutoc-
racy, and so Ier cent of the wealth of
the people is owned by a small group of
men whose numbers are about as | to
1000 in proportion to the population.
One would be an inaccurate observer
who attributed all these changes to un-
just legislation. Human industry, skill,
foresight and economy account to some
extent for the present inequality. But,
Notwithstanding this, it seems to me it
must be admitted by every candid OBJ
server that these inequalities in wealth
have resulted largely from special legis-
lation.
Another evidence of incorrect ideas as
to the province of legislation is found
i'll the growing tendency of lawmakers
to attempt to remedy all the natural
evils of society by legislation Most
people of our day think that a statute
law is sovereign specific for every
evil. The popular remedy for bad NOR
ais, for social sins, for intemperance.
for all kinds of human derelictions, is
in an act of the assembly or in an
amendment to the constitution. Wild
eyed and long haired enthusiasts confer
together and resolve and resolve and
petition and petition for the suppression
of this vice and that vice, with no an
parent conception that there are certain
instincts of human nature which it is
impossible to suppress. Our obliging
Legislators are willing to pass any law
which these impracticable enthusiasts
recommend, at the same time we'll
knowing that it will not be enforced.
Ensign Robbins, rural legislator of
Maine when the prohibitory law of that
state was before the legislature, said
that he twas for the law, but agin its
enforcement " And so in the state of
New York we had a body of contempti-
Bile political legislators pass law clos
ing places for the sale of liquors on
Sunday i'll the great cities of the state,
where considerable proportion of the
people are i'll favor of the sale of liquor
between certain hours on that day. And
yet these very politicians would lcgis-
late out of existence the board of police
commissioners i'll the city of New York,
who attempted honestly to enforce that
law, for no other reason than that they
have attempted to enforce the law.
If any truth is found in the lessons of
history 1t is this-that whenever peo-
pie cease to possess those self restraints
and virtues which are the foundations
of society and which preserve its life,
they turn to the law to impose restraints
upon vice. A people conscious of the
existence of evil, but too weak to stem
the tide against it, satisfy their con-
science by turning to the restraints of
law and attempting to make those re-
straints take the place of individual re-
straint. When Rome began to become
so ripe as to be little rotten, sumptu-
ary laws multiplied and vices of every
kind were put under the ban of law.
When at the height of her power in the
best days of the republic, fewer statutes
We're passed annually than we are ac-
customed to enact each year in many of
our states. The truth is that our people
by reason of many years of overlegisla-
ton have been turning their eyes toward
the legislature for material benefits, un-
til today we have reached the point
| where no body of men enter into any
enterprise without attempting to obtain
some special advantage from legislation.
We have been teaching the American
people to look toward legislation rather
than to industry and economy for
wealth. AS n result, laws have multi
piled rapidly. Each legislature volleys
them forth as though shot from gatling
guns. Crude, lily digested, lily pre-
pared, they confer benefits upon one
class of the community and heap bur-
dens upon the other until the ordinary
taxpayer, loaded with unjust taxation,
has actually become round shouldered
from bearing public burdens. Sheridan
used to compare amending bills to the
interesting story of "The House That
Jack Built" "First comes bill i'm
posing tax; then bill to amend that
bill for imposing tax Then comes a
bill to explain the bill for amending the
bill imposing the tax, which would be
followed by IL bill for remedying the de-
fects in the bill to explain the bill passed
to amend the bill for imposing tax "
He is an astute lawyer who is able to
determine what is meant by consider
able proportion Of our recent statutes.
Now, what are the remedies for this
condition of affairs? Buckle has well
said that "for 500 years all advance in
legislation has been made by renealinp