The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-08-02
OF THE TEXAS LEGISLATURE.
my VIM A. FIELpsO

HtllSDOTO lthhcf S"'S
libel bill was pending In the late session
NJ the legislature and the responsible daliy
press Of the State Vas utilizing every
availab,e legitimate means to influence
tho hodv TO pass the measure, distin-
y,,sbed CORRESPONDENT whose views nave
great weieht with the people ana press
of Texas. but who in few instances mas
been known TO apply the paint prusn WIN
slight dotree OF extravaganza wnen
laudable purpose might thereby be served
declared In n communication to his paper
that the Twenty sixth legislature was
decidedly above the average IN point OIL
ability Each legislator viewing IT, perhaps
from the standpoint OF his own merit ac-
cepted the statement as measurably JUST
concession Of credit to the body as Whole
and in the estimation of the body as
whole the statement afforded additional
evidence Of the superiority of~the said cor
respondent as just and discerning enron
icler of truth. 1t will be recalled, now
ever. that no libel bill was passed ana the
able correspondent has since had ample
time within which to revise his earlier
conclusion.
have no inclination to speak dis
paragingly OF the Twenty sixth legislature
for in many respects it was a superior
body of men and its work was character
lied by industry and conscientious zeal
1t is but simple justice to also say that IN
point of sobriety and morality among us
members It ranked with the best oil ITS
predecessors. But a full measure OF crealt
Is given when It Is said that 1t was FAR
average of Texas legislatures. Its work
was conservative and its deliberations
were marked by more than usual harmony
which may, however, be accounted for by
the fact that 1t had no subjects to deal
with upon which issues had previously
been formed and contested within the dem
ocratic party. as had been the case in every
previous legislature for at least ten years
preceding.
While much of It's legislation was merf-
torious, 1t enacted no distinctively Inn
portant measures aside from those recon-
mended by the governor, such as the pro-
visions for State tax commission, for a
state purchasing agent for the eleemosy-
nary institutions and for the extension
of the authority of the State revenue
agent, so as to enable him to investigate
the finances of the departments and public
institutions and the Confederate pension
law, which was demanded by the demo-
To al inc
adoption of the constitutional amendment
on the subject, the railroad consolidation
acts and the antitrust law, the sugges-
ton of which latter seems to have come
from the previous action of the Arkansas
| legislature along that line. On the other
hand the volume of the session laws now
before me shows that the legislation Of
the session embraced a very considerable
proportion of lily considered and lily ma
tured matter which could better have
been omitted from the codes. If this vol
ume of general laws of the session, cover
| ing 1898 pages, does not open up a new
and extensive field of labor for the judi
| ciary in the matter of constituting and re-
conciling its chapters with pre-existing
law and endeavoring to determine the
| purpose of many of them, this writer has
inspected its contents to little advantage.
There is, perhaps, no better illustration Of
the crudity of it's work than is presented
by the Confederate pension law, though
with this measure the courts will have
nothing to do, OF the meritorious bene-
a.. he Nv, 40
the Lost Cause. by far the larger proper
| ton will be due to the extra liberal con-
struction of its terms made by the comp
| troller
| A liberal construction of the law would
render IT absolutely Impossible in most
cases for a deserving applicant to prove
! his claim. and hence we have
some half dozen rulings from the
comptroller's department interpreting It's
meaning, and some of these are practi-
cally amendatory of the act-necessarlly
tended. The appropriation of 800, 600 for
the first year and si5O,0O0 for the second
WILL under the pro rata apportionment
| provided for hardly allow more than 50
or "a to each pensioner, If we may Judge
by current reports as to the number OF APP
pllcants. and hence the amendatory con-
struction OF the law will carry its effect
from one extreme to another
without endeavoring TO enumerate the
defective features of the legislation of the
session, will cite one other chapter which
is illustrative. The Twenty fourth legis-
lature passed a special road law for Hill
Grimes, Cooke. Hunt. Jackson, Bee and
Victoria counties. bill was introduced
and passed in the late session to amend
that act by emitting Grimes and Victoria
counties from Its provisions The new
act as shown by its title. was intended
to amend the first, seventh and fifteenth
sections OF the old, these sections naming
the counties to which the law shall apply,
The enacting clause OF the new act, how
. ever, falls to specify either the chapter
section or title of the one that II was pro-
, posed TO amend and also substitutes the
name OF Coke" county for that OF
Cooke In enumerating the counties.
This being OF record In the statute boo,
is more conspicuous, but Is not more Sc.
rious illustration of careless legislation