Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1897-03-25
The Late Legislature of Kansas, and
How Its Work Appears to One
Who Was There.

Legislature has finished it's work, or
rather consumed the constitutional
time allotted to it in which to work
for the veal or woe of the state for
the session Of 1897, the question pre-
sents ltsself as to whether it has, or
has not been for good to the people
at large
Never before had the peoples party
had full control of all branches OF the
state government, Never before had
the people of the state awaited the
assembling Of it's own chosen law
makers with such interest Never
had they expected SO much at the
hands of the men whom they had
elected to the positions of honor and
trust, and now that the sound Of the
gavel, the prayer of the chaplain and
the voice Of debate has ceased in the
halls at the east and west wings of
the state house, and the work of the
enterprislng reporter has closed, it is
in order to look retrospectively over
the incidents of the past sixty days.
An idea Of what reformers every.
where expected at the hands Of Kan.
sas may be CLEANED from a circular
distributed among the members by
The National Direct Legislation
League from which the following
extract is made:
AT last the reform forces 10 Kan
sss are In full control. What will
be the result?
The eyes of the republic are turned
upon you, and are watching your
political movements with intensest
interest
The shafts Of plutocratic malice
and caIumny 80 long leveled at your
integrity and intelligence, have only
heightened our regard for your
courage and patriotism, and we have
an abiding faith that you will prove
true to the trust imposed in you by
a long suffering, law impoverished
constituency.
Kansas has led the vanguard of re-
form IN the sisterhood of States, and
today her very name stands as the
synonym of progress wherever men
are free to think and act Every
lover of equal rights stands defender
of your valiant efforts for better con-
ditions, and may Kansas continue to
be hot bed of reform"
This, coming from the headquart-
ers in New Jersey is indicative of the
great interest which conferred in Kan
sas, among advanced thinkers all over
the Union The direct constituency
of the members rested in full conf
dence, feeling that their demands
would be enacted into law. They
had striven long in adversely, and,
having after long study decided what
they wanted, and having chosen their
agents to crystalline their ideas into
law they felt that they had done their
part and rested in confidence in the
ability and integrity Of their law
makers.
To one who is not a member the
great loss of time in the earlier part
of the session seems to be almost q
crime. The old, old practice Of mem
bers forcing their pet local measures
onto the calendar to the detrimenS
of sound general legislation was as
freely INDUCED in as of yore. Why
will not reform Legislators learn that
they are expected to spend enough Of
their time while at the Capital, in the
interest Of the people to enact laws
for the general good? After this
work is accomplished they can go
to work and disorganize Bungtown,
change the names of country towns
and other matters of like character.
Members of State Legislatures are
always elected on issues which are
raised and formulated into platforms,
and when party is IN power, and
fails in any particular its represen-
tatives are then subject to public
criticism. 1t thus behooves each
member to see to it that bills en-
bodying the prime features as set
out in the platform head the calendar
at the opening of the session and
remain at the head until they are en-
acted into law
There are so many ways OF OBJ
structiDg legislation that unless the
presiding officer chooses to act the
Gar, even a minority may delay
action 80 far as to make 1t almost
sure that bills which they oppose
will be defeated. Such a contin-
gsncy may, OF course be largely