Omaha daily bee., 1899-02-21
HALF-BAKED TION

In Nebraska for years there has eX-
listed in the minds of Il large class of
citizens sentiment which amounts to a
belief, that once a statute is enacted
to redress some abuse the prescribed
evil or evils must in consequence at
once disappear Restrictive measures
have for this reason become cumulative.
Because, however, legislation is not self
enforcing, members of each successive
session of the legislature seem to make
it practice of introducing bills, many
of which are substantially identical with
statutes long since enacted and almost,
If not quite, obsolete from non-ob-
servance.
Some of these bills, to be sure, are pre-
pared by citizens who secure their intro
duction into the legislative files through
the kindness of faithful representatives
without thought of their merits or possi-
bility of enforcement. But long years
of observation of the legislative proce-
dure lead to the conclusion that the av-
erage member is too often bent upon
cumbering the files in the mere hope that
at least one bill of his own creation may
grace the statute books, thus marking
his craftsmanship for all time to come
He secures its passage perhaps as the
result of trades with fellow members.
none of whom care to spend the time
necessary to learn whether the statutes
already contain similar measure, or
whether it is practicable and susceptible
OF enforcement. Thus vast amount Of
erergy Is needlessly msspent and much
valuable time frittered away.
Fortunately or unfortunately, these
conditions are not peculiar to Nebraska
alone. Every state in the union has had
to contend with them. Within the last
few years Iowa put all her statutes
through the crucible of a commission of
coditiers, in order that the courts might
be eXtricated from the mesh of legal
cobwebs woven by needless legislators
Other states have been compelled to
take similar action, and it is possible
Nebraska has the same duty to perform
Nor can it be said that the weakness
for passing ill-considered laws is con-
fined to the boundaries of the United
States. France, for instance, long since
| found it necessary to check the practice
by adopting plan to prevent half baked
legislation that is worthy of study
| if not of emulation. Describing the
| French system Prof Jeremiah jerks Of
| Cornell university says:
At the beginning of each annual session
and each month thereafter the members of
| the Chamber Of Deputies are divided by lot
| into eleven, those of the senate into nine
bureaus substantially equal in number
| These bureaus choose a monthly committee
made up of an equal number from each, on
| parliamentary initiative. When bills are in
troduced they are referred first to this com
| mittee on parliamentary initiative which
| decides whether they are worthy of further
consideration AS matter of fact, although
| the committee Is supposed to exercise ju-
| dicial discretion, it practically passes all
| serious bills. These are then printed and
referred to all the bureaus. After consdera-
| tion each bureau elects one or two OF its
! members on special committee for detailed
| study of the bill Committees from the
Chamber of Deputies, therefore, consist of
either eleven or twenty-five or, in the rarest
| cases, as in that of the budget committee
of thirty-three members. The special com
mittee studies the bill, amends it or de-
cides to report 1t or to suppress it as it
| VIII, and elects from its own number a com
| missioner whose business 1t is to represent
| the committee on the floor of the house
| in the presentation and argument ON the
| bill.
Obviously under the French system
| these special committees possess arbi.
trary powers that might lead to corrupt
practices If traLsplanted into American
legislative halls, yet the functions of
these committees are not unlike those of
our legislative sitting committees
created late in the session for the pur-
pose of separating the wheat from the
chaff The efficiency, however, of the
eleventh-hour sitting committee, with its
log-rolling proclivties, has not proved
the shining success that could be wished.
American lawmakers certainly need
some sort of legislative machinery
that will do the work performed by the
French committee on parliamentary
| initiative.
Before it is too late some member
of the legislature should Introduce
bill making shoplifting or larceny from
building felony, punishable by i'm
prisonment in the penitentiary. shop
| lifting has become source of great loss
to the merchants of the large cities of
Nebraska. In Omaha, despite police
protection and private detective serv-
Ice maintained at quite an expense,
the merchants suffer material losses an
mn a