The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1905-03-04
EVERYBODY CONVINCED

The position taken by h e G 10 b e
and by it alone from the very begin
ming, that the revised code for Mime
sofa ought not to be adopted at this
session, and could not be without the
gravest treachery to public interests, is
now accepted on all sides as sound doc
trine. The vacillations of private judg-
ment and the attachment of partisan
ship yield before an issue at once so
momentous in its consequences and so
clear in its practical bearings. II it
| was evident enough at the outset to the
clear sighted that this code revision
could not be forced through without
danger and even ruin to many vital in
| terests, it has now become so obvious
that nobody outside the legislature de-
MES it.
1t is sufficient explanation of the
whole situation to say that some $500
| amendments have been found neces-
| sary thus far to the code as submitted
| to the legislature. These cover glazing
| errors of omission and commission due
| to the revision commission. They are
cred in special sections of the code by
special interests employing special at
torneys to look into it. How many
more there may be we do not know,
and could not until all the manifold
sins of this proposed body Of law
should be disclosed by years of sitting
in the courts. How many ideas of
their own these same special attorneys
| have incorporated in these 1900
| amendments, how many fat little wood
chucks have made their nests there, we
do not pretend to say. Undoubtedly
the amendments are full of these crea-
| lures Between the original mistakes.
| the valid and necessary corrections and
the little jobs that have been woven in
with the latter, the whole revision is a
very network of live wires, a pressure
upon any portion of which may be
fatal.
What else could anybody expect?
From the moment it was found that the
! revision commission had exceeded its
| proper function, had attempted to leg
islate in addition to codifying, it was
apparent that the work must be done
again al fhaf h. CT
accept on trust the private opinion of
| three gentlemen as substitute for all
e'labors of all its legislatures, and all
the decisions Of all its courts, ever
| snce it was admitted to the union.
| American commonwealth have tried
some curious experiments, but none so
bold or hazardous as this. These are
the only two alternatives. They still re-
| main such. Either the state must ac-
| cept the code with its still undiscov-
| cred errors and dangers; with the
amendments that have been made to
reform some of them, with the other
| and perhaps greater dangers that lurlx
in those amendments themselves:
either it must elevate this unexamined
hodgepodge to the position of supreme
law for all the people, or it must hand
back the work to be put into proper
shape and submitted in proper time for
thorough examination before it shall be
acted upon.
No man would hesitate for an in
slant were this a question of the con-
duct of his private business. No man
would dream of mourning the risks that
are invited by the proposed tanning
| through Of a code which not a single
| member of either house can by any
possibility have examined with suffi-
Gent thoroughness to entitle him to
vote upon it before the hour of adj
| journment arrives. Public opinion Is
now somewhat thoroughly aroused on
| this question, and we do not believe
that the legislature will for an instant
follow this unheard Of course.