Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1905-12-20
Legislature Forecast.

legislature will do this winter are
being freely made bv some of our ex-
changes as the time appi caches for the
assembling of that body. 1t is safe
to say that both the Senate and House
will be flooded with bills of various
kinds, most of which will never see
daylight after they have reached the
committees to which they will be
sent. This is always the case. Com
mittees judiciously constituted are the
safety valves of legislation. Not one
in ten of the measures usually proposed
ought to he enacted into law, fer the
reason that not one in ten is of general
utility. Some propositions of purely
local interest are allowed to go through
because they are not of a nature to
antagonize the larger interests of the
state. Others, however, meet with
scant favor because they are merely
personal. intended only to promote
the designs of some ambitious member
for political or other advancement.
Moreover, every member is presumed
to have a laudable ambition to appear
well in the eyes of his constituency
and one way to reach that end is sup
posed to be through the introduction
of bills, resolutions, memorials, etc. !,
to which his name is attached. The
most useful member, however, is the
man who says little, but who makes
himself acquainted with every measure
proposed, and then does his best to
squelch those that are without suffi- :
cient merit to warrant their enactmen
into law. even though they may not
be positively vicious. The danger lies
in having too much legislation ra ther
than too little. 1t is better to be
undergoverned rather than over
governed. Overgovernment is what
has been ailing Russia for the last five
hundred years. Now, the reaction
has come. Some changes will doubt
less be made in existing statutes this
winter and some new laws will be
made. But, let us hope that our law
makers may be sufficiently con-
servative and level headed enough
to check all hasty, unwise Legislation,
no matter who may demand it.
Among the things most talked Of,
On fp hn
are:
Primary elections.
Educational board of control.
Railroad passes.
Pure food law.
Child labor.
Sanitarium for consumptives.
Reformatory.
Abolition of the lobby.
Marshall law.
Adjustment of terms of office to
biennial elections system.
Wage exemption law.
State certification of all teachers.
This list does not include appro-
priations, redistricting the state con-
occasionally and to make l07 members
VI tiiC AoWOA hOuoC, VIC lOuTtteu
pardons asked of the assembly, the
woman suffrage and tile drainage
amendments to the constitution,
prohibition of cannon crackers, re-
gulation of automobiles, state super.
vision of private banks, loan and trust
companies, etc., enlargement of the
supreme court to seven members,
creation of an appellate court, pro-
vision for a hall of archives, establish
ing an epileptic colony, prohibiting
deferred dividends ON life insurance
policies, regulating sale of merchandise
in bulk, repeating the tax ferret law,
providing for further Improvement
OF the state house, the election of a
state printer and binder. regulating
divorces, establishing state accountant
system. and a thousand and one other
important matters which will come
before the assembly that convenes in
January.