The Chanute times., 1901-01-18
Lawmakers and Lawmaking.


laws which are supposed to be obeyed
by the people And If a foreigner
might proceed from one to another,
observing the different circumstances
under which they meet and the diff
erent constitutions under which they
work, he hardly could fail to marvel
at the complexity of our political sys-
tenn. In size he would find the bodies
varying from nine senators and twenty
one representatives in Delaware to
the 400 members in New Hampshire,
the latter having representative for
each l ,140 of population, whereas New
York has only one member for each
46, 100.
Each state has a different idea of
the amount of pay its lawmakers
should receive, varying from So day
in Kansas, Michigan, Maine, Oregan,
South Dakota and Vermont, to So
day in California, and $40 a day IN
Nevada No state pays less than SO
a day and the six named above are
the only which pay so little. Connect
icut pays $500 year; New York and
Pennsylvania, 81, 500 a year; Massa-
chusetts, $3.50 year; Ohio, 5000 year;
Wisconsin, $500 year; Illinois, 900
session: Iowa, $3.50 term; New Jer-
sey, $500 a year; Nebraska. $500 year;
Missouri, IS day and all the rest of
the states from $4 to Sc a day. All of
the states except Delaware and New
Jersey pay ailege to their members,
and in most cases this exceeds the real
travelling expenses at ratio of two to
one.
In all of the states, except Georgia,
Massachutts, New Jersey, New York,
Rhode Island, and South Carolina,
where the legislatures meet annually,
sessions are held every two years. Fiji
teen of the states have limit on the
duration of their sessions. Oregan.
South Carolina and Wyoming fix the
limit at forty days, and others allow
as many as ninety days. In Kansas
there IS neither constitutional nor
statutory limit but member cannot
draw pay more than fifty days, and
this practically fixes the limit of the
session.
1t is estimated that the average |
number Of laws adopted by each legis-
laGure during single session is 150. |
OF course many of these are Of local |
rather than general nature, and the
list includes the regular routine, such
as appropriation bills. But it is fair
estimate to say that at the end of ev-
cry legislative session the citizen VIII |
find himself confronted with half a
hundred statutes which make him do
things differently from the manner of
the year before. And along this line
we are reminded of an editorial in
recent issue of the Saturday Evening
Post, its theme being the coming an
niversary of the appointment Of John
Marshall to the supreme bench. The
editorial is faultfinding and satirical
in its tone; but nevertheless it express
es much truth, as may be judged from
the following extract:
"But when Chief Justice Marshall
drew order out Of chaos and gave di
rection TO the Jurisprudence of the new
country, he could do nothing to dis
courage what after his death became
a growing nuisance. 1t might not do
to call the making Of laws one of the
weak nesses of free government, very
often it is diversion which keeps the
would-be statesmen out of mischief.
In the multiplication of laws, howev-
er; the century has reached greater
totals than in almost anything else,
except, probably, the increase OF office
seekers. Every year now we have
more new laws than John Marshall
considered during the entire thirty
four years that he was on the supreme
bench. We have laws passed by con-
gress; laws passed by state legislatures;
laws passed by city councils; and all
sorts OF minor regulations which
mount up into the tens of thousands
durirg the twelve months. And the
variety OF these is as great as the num-
Der. There are laws regulating dogs
and laws concerning elephants; laws
about the English sparrow and laws
about the great American eagle. There
are laws effectrng everything from
microbes to mammals, from politics
TO love. II all the laws on the statute
books to-day were enforced, the aver
age citizen would either have to stay
at home behind closed blinds or begin
= journey to the lunstic asylum. A
hundred Msrshalls would be unable to