The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-04-15
Senator EberhaIt Outlines Some That
Is Needed in Minnesota.
The Divorce Laws Are Not Strict
Enough At Present.
And Good Roads Legislation Is 4
Prominent Feature.
"A New State Constitution Is Among
the Things Needed
From Wednesdays Daily.

From Wednesdays Daily.
The Social Science club held an un-
usually good meeting last night, the sub
ject for the evening being Needed State
Legislation" Senator A. o. Eberhart
road the paper, which was as follows:
The question of what shall constitute
the proper scope of legislation is one of
great Importance as well as difficulty.
1t is impossible to determine where re-
preventative government ends pure dem
ocracy begins, because both forms of
government naturally blend into each
other and the scope of lawmaking natur-
ally changes as conditions vary and civ
ilization retrogrades or advances. When
civilization advances there should be no
tendency to extend the powers of govern
ment and multiply legislation, but on
the other hand to exalt individualism to
lessen the necessity for additional legis
lation, and to make the existing laws
more permanent and uniform.
In determining the proper scope of
legislation there are two very dangerous
extremes to be avoided, the one seeking
to vest every possible exercise of author
ity in the government and the other
seeking to vest the same authority in
the individual. The former is socialism
and the latter anarchism when carried
out to their extremes: the one all gov
eminent and the other no government
whatever. While the two extremes are
often coufounded and used indiscrimin-
ately, they are Numerically opposed to
each other. Between these two stand
the various forms of representative gov
eminent under which the exercise of
certain powers are vested in represent
atives of the people and others prohibiting
or restricted by constitutional enact
ments
The constitution is the fundamental
law which determines the scope of legis-
lation. 1t may be a very liberal one,
in which case the legislative bodies are
left to enact laws on any conceivable
subject, or it may be restrictive, thereby
lessening the authority of the lawmaking
bodies and the scope of their activity,
the former tending towards socialism
and the latter towards individualism.
That the exact golden mean will never
be determined is fact which needs no
comment. In a free government like
ours, there will always exist an element
which would make the authority of the
legislatures almost unlimited and an
other element which would restrict their
authority and cut down their scope of
activity to the lowest possible limit,
consequently the question as to what
may be needed legislation will depend
greatly upon the view taken with refer
eHce thereto.
To one, who has had the occasion to
study the multiplicity of legal enact
ments during recent years, it is not
necessary to say, that what we need is
not more laws, but less laws. A large
number of our laws should be stricken
from our statute books, and those which
are to remain should be as uniform and
permanent as possible. From October
/. 1862 to October l, 1908 the legisla-
lures of the several states passed 1884
laws and resolutions and during the
biennial period of 1902 and 1908 not less
than 1884 laws were passed and more
than 100 new boards and offices created.
This enormous output of good, bad and
Indifferent laws is merely a fair average
of the legislative grind during the last
twenty years. Again only small pro-
portion of these laws are genesal in their
application and comparatively few are
permanent. Of the l4,394 laws passed
during the year ending October u, 1908
only 5,4O6 were general and permanent
The legislature of our own state MS not
very far behind the average. The aegis-
lature of 1908 passed Alp laws, that of
1901, Sill, that of 1899, $50, that of 1897
1916. and that of 1895, 40 laws. A large
number of these consists of amendments
and repeats of former session laws, and
a still larger proportion is local and
special in application. Under our pre-,
sent state constitution special legislation
is prohibited, but the result of this pro-
vision has been the enactment of laws
general as to form, while local and spe.
cial in application. Here is an ilinstra'
ton. During the recent session of the
legislature a bill was introduced to mod
ify an existing law in all countries of the
state having a population of not less
than $4,000 nor more than 10000 in.
habitants, with an assessed valuation Of
not less than two million of dollars
not more than three millions of dollar:
and organized prior to the year 1862
One member of the judiciary committee
knowing the application of this proposed
law, moved to amend the same by re
stricting its application to every count.
in the state having bowlegged count.
surveyor, one armed county superin