New-York tribune., 1903-01-09

Governor Odell devotes an important para
graph Of his message 70 the excess of legisla-
ton Since 1924 the average number of general
bills passed has been 243 and of special bills
5s9. This enormous output of the legislative
hopper is undoubtedly great evil In the first
place. a large part of il serves no necessary
purpose In the second place. the multiplicity
of measures demanding attention absorbs much
time which might proftaby be devoted 10
matters of Importance or saved altogether by
shortening the session. In the third place, and
worst Of all. it is an abuse which promotes con-
fusion carelessness and jobbery. and swells
enormously the States printing bill, which has
reached scandalous dimensions. The remedy
which the Governor suggests is partly disclosed
as follows:
Amendments to the game laws and special
amendments TO the charters OF villages and
cities should be discouraged, and relief afforded
through general enactments whenever ana
wherever practicable The legislature could well
afford. under the direction of the Forest. Fish
and Game Commission; 70 accord , 10 the Ss. ooaIos
of supervisors the right to regulate under a
general statute. the game laws for their own
particular localities. One of the sources
Of these legislative ills is measures which seek
10 restore, to repay or to reimburse persons
through some failure of power which should be
lodged in municipal or State authorities.
Repairs upon roads, the erection of bridges over
the canals and other expenditures to be made
by the State should be included in the annual
the heads Of the departments affected. By so
doing unnecessary Improvements would be
avoided and money saved TO the State
The Governor says also that there ought TO
be some competent authority to pass on bills
before or at the time of their introduction in
order that ii might be fairly we'll known
whether or not they would pass muster in the
courts or duplicate or conflict with laws al
ready enacted These recommendations are in
RI ba
by every executive until they have borne fruit
We have close at hand. as Governor Odell
points out an example of what can be done TO
reduce the volume Of legislation. In recent
wears there has been q reduction of nearly two
thirds in the State of New-JeTsey. for which
the credit is largely due 10 Governor GriggS,
and was given to him in advance by The Trib-
une when on assuming office he announced his
policy Many matters which it was formerly
the custom to deal with in New-Jersey by
means of special bills are now far more salts
factorily taken care Of through general acts,
and though do not know Just how far that
change is due TO Governor Griggs, we do know
that he firmly took the right stand ut the very
beginning of his administration. Having I'M
pressiveIv rehearSed the evils which be was
anxious to see remedied. he boldly told the leg
islature that he would veto every bill submit
ted to him which in his judgment was not rea-
sonably sure to meet some real need 1t was
not enough. he declared. that a bill should be
well intended and appear harmless. 1t would
have 10 possess positive and substantial merits
in order TO receive his approval
Governor OdelI, not for the first time, admon-
ishes the legislature TO its duty in this re
spect We are inclined TO wish that he would
make it the subject of pungent special ines
sage early in the session. signifying clearly
as Governor Grggs did his view Of the way in
which the people want 10 be served by their
lawmakers and promising To make wise a
disposal of unnecessary measures laid on his
desk as was made few years ago ny his New
Jersey brother.