The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-30

| tive activity Is one of the distinguish l ing features of recent years and Is not | due solely to local laws. Its develop | ment in the past few years has been | enormous. An examination of the ev- CT increasing size of the acts of the | legislature of every State for the past | twenty years demonstrates beyond all | controversy that this excessive legis- | iative activity is of recent origin. What then. 1t may DC asked, is the cause of this ever-growing volume of legisla- | tion in every State of the Union | While the volume of local and special laws have annually increased general laws have also grown apace. Not only have the statutes of the States in creased but the press is pouring forth daily an ever increasing riood of legal works. reports and text books. MT. President this increase is to be attrib- uted largely to the enormous business development of modern times, the rapid changes wrought in social conditions by scientific discoveries and mechani- cal inventions, which ramify and per- meate every department of life. A dis tinguished lawyer recently said: The common law afforded no principle | which by judicial extension could be | made to regulate justly the business of l telegraphy, city charters contained no provisions under which electric or ca ble roads could be operated through the streets. To our ancestors came not even a dream that one day the human voice could be heard across thousands of miles of distance"
 MT. President, while modern inven- tion and discovery have added largely to the sum of human comfort they have also created novel and intricate legal questions. for the solution of which we may seek in vain the princi- pies and rules of the common law. To adjust the relations of modern life to the conditions which they have created vast body of statute law has neces- sarily grown up.
 Statutes defining the duties, rights and liabilities of telephone and tele- graph companies motor cars, bicycles, and various other inventions have themselves formed a large code of | laws. Our ancestors. as has been truly said, punished witchcraft but they had
 no laws dealing with the theft of tele- graph messages by tapping the wires, or stealing electric lights by illicit con- nections with an electric wire. Vast aggregations of capital forming trusts and combinations which control the
 markets of the country and increase
 the cost of all the necessaries of life alone furnish the necessity for many laws. Hence modern activity in legis- lation Is necessary that the laws may keep pace with business and material development. If we could go back to the days of the stage coach, transform this modern. busy. bustling world with all the rapid changes due to discovery and invention into the quiet days of the past there might be fewer laws. There might then be no necessity for frequent sessions of the law-making body. But 1t has been urged that the legislature passes so many laws that only the trained lawyer can master them. This we all know was largely due to the ever increasing volume of local and special laws. which have poured from every legislative body. By checking if not controlling this evil we have tre- mendously lessened the number of To- cal laws. yet in doing this, it was not our purpose to destroy the efficiency of the legislature. To pass general laws which will embrace the various subjects as to which the legislature is prohib- ited from passing local laws will re- quire both time, care and deliberation
 The evils of local laws being removed the character of the legislature will be elevated and that body will become what it was intended to be-a deliber- ative assembly. engaged in the more
 
 lation. Subjects of general legislation will receive more attention, will pro- yoke more debate and with the result that fewer laws will be enacted and only those whose importance and util- ity are conceded. MT. President, Ala bama has more diversified interests than any other State in the South, and legislation will be necessary to enable her to maintain her present high posi-
 n n tNn6V frrt AT1 discovery has added enormously to the growth of medical science, new reme- dies and drugs are being constantly added to its pharmacopia, yet who would tolerate the claim Shat the pro- gress of this science must be arrested because it's remedies are so many that only by the labor of a life time can it be mastered. Yet this is the argument made against the progress of the law. We have increasing number of laws because we have an increasing field of subjects of legislation. MT. President
 it is urged that this measure will be popular. I answer that no provision of this Constitution will. in my judg- ment. meet more opposition. No man is so wise as to be able to predict that a measure will be popular, until it has been subjected to the test of public criticism and discussion. Be assured that this provision of the Con- stitution Is unwise If it weakens and impairs the power and efficiency of one of the great coordinate depart ments of government. if it dSprives the people of the opportunity of controll- ing their own affairs, correcting public evils. reforming the laws, it will re- ceive their stern condemnation. The legislature furnishes the only protec- tion to the people against inefficient and corrupt administration. Under the system we have provided the legisla- ture and the State officials are elected for four years. After fifty days in the commencement of their term for the remainder of the four years these officials are free from any examination or control by the representatives of the people. The most corrupt rings could be organized, the grossest abuses could prevail and yet the people would be powerless for the legislature could only assemble at the call of a Governor who might be interested in preventing their assemblage. The legislature Is a check upon the other departments of govern ment It can curtail or control to a certain extent the power of the Cover nor or other State officials, it can pass laws correcting any abuses that may exist. examine the books and accounts of public officials. But it is urged that it requires four years to determine
 deny the assertion. If there is a bad
 law the people must endure it's oppres- sion without relief for four long years.
 What would be thought of a physician
 who would tell his patient, you are suf- ho afF z