Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-07-13

REVISION U. 5. LAWS
Work Of the Rcviscrs n Long and by
\" Means Easy Tnsk.-Navy per-
sonnet Inv.

Tho commission that has been engaged
for tic past three years and a half rpon
u revision Of the general and permanent
laws of the United States secs the end
of its iabors IN sight II is giving a.
preliminary draft of tho successive titles
IN the printer aud ha,nr 4 few copies
struck off for examination ny the execu
tive departments and bureaus concerned.
says the Brooklyn Eagles Washington
correspondent. This viii be followed by
putting the matter in ana! shape, pre-
pairing tn" index and table Ut references,
and submitting the work for the action
of Congress ~ its next session. The
commission having this work in hand
is composed of Alexander G. Botkins,
former governor of Montana: William ID.
Bynum. of Indiana, n prominent gold
democrat, and David *. Watson, of
Ohio.
Notwithstanding the efforts Of the re-
viscrs to eliminate obsolete statutes aud
reduce the others to the shortest possible
form, the report of the commission
threatens to be a cumbersome body OF
laws. The present revised statues was
begun in 1861. completed in 1874. and IN
acted by Congress in Juno of tn, latter
year. From time tn time errors were dis
covered, and these were corrected by an
act in February. 1871. Then the late
George $. Boutwell, was employed TO lrc.
pare second edition cmbodying the cor
rcctions. and this. which was published
in 1875 is the revised statues commonly
in use. II is n volume of more than
1000 pages. The new revision is likely
to ill two volumes OF that size. This
proves that tic past thirtv years have
been highly prolific Of legislation: in
other words. the federal government has
been busily engaged during that period
in discovering itself.
III the previous revision. for example.
the subject of Immigration is disposed Of
in Il single chapter of eight sections. in
tho new revision it will occupy three
chapters with over 100 sections in all rhc
fact is also apt to he overlooked that the
legislation now upon statue books, which
is founded upon authority of Congress
over Interstate con merc, is the growth
of two decades or less
The cmhirrassments Of the commits
sionors hay not been limited to the
voluninods mass of statutes that th"N
are required to digest. Formerly, when
ever Il law was desired on a given sub
.cct Il bill was drafted for that cNprcSs
purpose and no other This WAS consld-
cred in committee, maturcd ana amend
cd. aud when 1t l'ccamc a law clearly
and explicitly cmbC died and set forth its
objects. 1t is now of frcqu, nt occurrence
that n provision OF great and far-rcach-
ing importance is found sn,I,ly tuckcG
away in It few Ines inserted between two
items of an appropriation bill
"fh'n it is painfully true" said z mc.n-
Der Of the commission that Congress
has hecor1e clumsy ana insufficient
law making machine. 1t has ir repeated
instances amended laws in ignorance of
intervening amendments, it has even
amended laws some years after they
were repealed. and dcploralle lack of
clcarncss AMI prcC. sion l. vice common.
to much of its output There is urgent
need Of reform in these respects hut it
not hc realized until Congress holds
longer sessions, so as TO bcstow more
mature consideration upon great mcd-
sur"s OF a general and permanent char
az ter or establishes some nstrumentality
for the critical examination % bills both
in their phras, oloCy ard in their rcln-
ti"ns to existing laws during their pro-
gross through tho two houses.
Following the Spanish War" contnu-
cd tn" &c mn iSSloncr. "CunCresS passed a
law organizing the navy, which *
known as the naval pei sonnet act. The
officers of the government who are re-
CURED to administer it have been cngag.
Cd eyer since in guessing what 1t mcai.s
II is narrated that one Of the rcvistrs
said one clay to Il caller, That naval per
sonnet is the most ambiguous. uhscur.
and unlnt"llciblc piece of legislation that
| ever encountered stop said his cal.
Ter: do YOU happen to know who was tn.
author ii that law Tho successor of
Tr'boriuS confessed his iCnorlnc.
well. for tn" most part, 1t was drawn Toy
a mar who was assistant secretary Of tn,
may IN 1891 ana 1885 he is now WORKING
on another job The rcNiscr hastencd rn
take back all that he said and to prot, Il
that Il law comm. from august Il
source was necessarily a roicl status.
RLt President Roosevelt is not ';iwyrr,
there are those who think that that for
larger purposes than formulatin.
statdte it is as wei! that he is not The
great executives of history are not found
IN the rolls of the legal prof, ssioD.