The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-01-17
LAwMAkINe OF THE WORLD.

In his estimates for the appropriations
for the library of congress in the fiscal
year 1904, Herbert Putnam has included
, a proposal for an Index 10 Comparative
Legislation" His idea is 10 group in a
1 monthly bulletin descriptive statements Of
the laws in process of enactment in all
(, parts of the civilized world There is no
| existing publication of this scope. Some
thing is done to fill the lack by the
J State library at Albany. which publishes
f, a periodical index of the statutes OF the
| several states but does not touch foreign
countries. Mr.. Putnam regards essen
! tial 10 the success of this proposed I'M
certaking that files of past laws shall be
accessible to the editor of the current in
dex, to make clearer the motives of the
new laws, and enable him. in certain
cases. to trace the whole chain OF legis-
| lation by particular country on a par
ticular subject, by way of showing the
significance Of some recent epoch-raaking
act.
The term index is not used. in this
| Instance. in its restricted sense, as a
mere list of titles or references. This
index would be more in the nature of
digest. not only showing the subject
matter of an act always. but some
times analyzing it, 1t would also guide
the reader to articles in periodicals COM
menting on or expounding PARTICULAR leg
islation, and to notable judicial interpre
tations of it. There are societies in Lon
don. Paris and Berlin which deal with
comparative legislation in certain
fields; the work they do could be made
of avail for the improvement of the
American bulletin AS a comparative
synopsis it would bring together, under
each subject heading, a suggestion OF all
that is doing by legislatures the world
over on this topic. In foreign legisla-
ton, summary would usually suffice
for the purpose: but here and there IL
might even be deemed wise TO reprint in
English the substantial part of some act
o. foreign government bearing on a
subject under discussion in congress.
For the first year, the estimated cost Of
equipment, transports ton, and organiZa-
ton is $4,000. After that the cost of
n aterial drops of. but the expense of
editing may be more, and the minimum
figure set for the annual appropriation is
s4 ,0oo Mr.. Putnam is very frank in say
ing that. unless the work is TO be well
done. II is no use to do ii at all. Among
the other employees needed for the index
staff would De four scientific experts,
each with legal training. a good general
education, and fair knowledge of the
most important foreign languages. and
competent to analyze. digest, compile,
and edit laws of various countries hav-
ing different constitutions: one to cover
Great Britain and her colonies two for
continental Europe, Africa. and the ORR
cnt. and one for South and Central Amer
ica and four translators, competent TO
deal with nearly twenty languages. in
Guiding Russian, and others of the most
difficult character. Then. too. there must
be several correspondents at important
legislative centers, who are familiar with
the constitutions and statute laws of the
countries concerned. their history, their
methods of legislative procedure. their
executive and judicial organizations. etc;
and who are competent to trace back the
history of any given branch of legislation.
to explain the motive and bearing of any
act, to keep the headquarters at Wash
ington informed of what legislation is TAX
ing shape, though not yet mature. and
what its chances of passage may be.
Among the subjects to be treated in the
index are taxation. finance. weights, and
measures, commercial regulations navi-
cation. public health. corporations. i'm
migration. naturalization. extradition. la
Dor, religious regulations, the elective
franchise. tenures. irrigation, forestry,
and the like 1t is believed that in hand
ling unfamiliar subjects connected with
our new colonial dependencies. congress
might derive great benefit from seeing
what laws other nations have enacted. |
and what they are planning to enact. As
il is now, calls are continually made up
on the library for information regard !
ing, say. the Belgian arbitration act. or |
the laws of Great Britain touching old |
age pensions. or foreign statutes to en- |
sugar production and the mer- |
chant marine by bounties. Although a |
large number of volumes of statutes and |
are coming to the library l
all the time as a free gift, the lack of |
any systematic index renders the answer
ing OF such questions pretty tedious /
task: and, until some further books and 1
periodicals. not procurable by exchange, /
are subscribed for. the result can never /
be complete or satisfactory. Mr. Putnam
thinks that the proposed index would play 4
a very important part in making promptly /
available the material already accumu
lated: and that whatever came in later |
taking its classified place at once. would
help the searcher to get at desired past I
and current data alike.