The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-04-15
tendent, and a district Judge who leaned
his head towards the right shoulder.

MS neau towards the right SHouiuci.i
The present form of special legislation
has been upheld by the supreme court
in the classification of cities. Of course
in order to come within the limits OF
the constitution, the law is worded sc
as to apply to any locality in the state
coming within a certain description, but
the description is sometimes so close
that it is necessary to know the exact
history of the locality, before it can be
determined, whether the law is applicable
OF not. In view of the fact that thous-
ands of these laws are enacted, amended
and repealed in this and other states
every year, is there any justice in the
ruling that Ignorance of the law ex-
cuses no one,,?
Under the present system of expert
mental and multiplied lawmaking, no
one can know the law. He can go to an
attorney and get legal opinion for a
dollar and upwards, or, perhaps, for a
promise to pay in the future, but he may
not find out what the law is until the
supreme court has looked it up, and then
it may not be worth the cost of les
son, "the ignorance of which" excuses
no one"
Our constitution is, however, not to
blame entirely for the manifold sins
committed against the Goddess of
Justice" which have been recorded in
our statute books. By far the greater
number owe their conception to the
changed environments of the average
legislator, who naturally reasons by
analogy, that successful lawmaker
must make laws. Being usually a man
of transcendent ability and profound
craftsmanship, both of which he may
owe to his geographical location, his
political friends, or his turn at the
"wheel of government" he looks about
for some subject on which to legislate.
He finds the field quite well covered, but
he must legislate on something, that is
what he is elected for. In Michigan the
legislature endeavored to prohibit the
printing of hotel menus in foreign
languages. Nebraska has tried to pene-
lie football as a misdemeanor, Missouri
to prohibit Irritation by or
with railroad employees, Kansas would
forbid the wearing of corsets and bloom
ers, Pennsylvania would require every
man to pay for his own drinks, and in
Wisconsin some farmer statesman intro
duced a bill to Shorten the period be-
tween Easter and Penticost, so that the
farmer would have sufficient fodder for
the cattle, till they were turned on the
grass" In our own great state the
statesmen of our legislature have had
under consideration the placing of a
red light in front of every saloon with
the word Danger" displayed thereon,
and during the 1903 session, the genial
statesman from Lyon County became
famous by his championship of bill
for the abolishing of several
state normal schools and converting
some of them into cheese , and butter
factories.
Leaving out this freak legislation there
is still scarcely subject whether high
or low, whether strictly private OF per-
sonal, which has not been passed upon
or inquired into by some legislature.
1t would therefore seem that there are
sufficient grounds for mistrusting the
The history of every state
constitution leads to this conclusion.
When the question of calling consti-
tutional convention came up before the
last legislature it failed to pass, be-
cause it was feared by the opposition,
that the time was not ripe, for it, and
that the new constitution would place
too much power in the hands of future
legislatures. The reasoning used was
quite amusing. Corporate interests did
not want too much power placed in the
hands of future legislatures, because a
"populist Legislature" as they called it,
might be elected, and those opposed to
corporate interests did not want to give
the legislatures very much power, be-
cause the corporate interests might Sc
cure a working majority, both factions
of the opposition, however, admitting the
necessity of revised constitution.
Although we have such a superabund-
ance of laws, there are certainly wide
fields for improvement. What we need
IN the first place is a better recognition
Of the true sphere of legislation. We
need legislatures who have sufficient
moral courage to refuse the introduction
and support of measures calculated to
benefit a few at the expense of the
many, even if the few benefited con-
stitute a political working majority in
any legislative district. The direct cause
of the large amount of local and special
legislation on our statute books, is the
narrow conception many legislators have
of their constituency. Altogether toe
many are guided by what a few infiuen,
tial politicians in their home district may
want, irrespective of the damage such a
measure may cause to the entire balance
of the state.
In the second place we need new
state constitution. The present eonsti.
tuition was adopted February 26, 1857
nearly fifty years ago. Since then con
ditions have shanged in many instances