Bisbee daily review., 1906-08-30

aspirations of men, and, necessarily,
 of !he scope of purpose of legislation"
 James C. Carter dec.ared that the
 American people are afflicted with a
 passion for legislation amounting al
 most to a disease. It is undenlably
 true that the average mind believes
 in the possibility of remedying every
 evil by statutory enactment. That | this idea is a false and dangerous che, | all human experience attests. IC is a significant. perhaps ominous. evidence
 Of the changes in the popular idea of |, the legislative function, to note the vastly increased range Qt subjects with which our statutes now zeal | They are becoming largely-too large l ly, tbink-merely administrative and , ,2egulattve; establishing rules for the |
 direction and control of business acu- yities. drawing lines of separation Je-
 tween that which is, and liwaycs was
 pe-missibie. and that which shall no longer be so: establishing boards and
 commissions; and providing for a scrutiny which. moTs and more, pries
 Into affairs that once were suppos ad Ito pertain eXciu'3ively to the individual
 Ip-imarily interested. All this is more
 or less irritating, for the shrinkage i'll
 Individual liberty involved in it hurts.
 iBut it is folly to suppose that modern
 life can go on with its ever Increasing
 complexity, and legislators be dumb and silent When legislators are con sidering d subject with which hey
 lmay rightfully deal. the temptation IS strong upon them to go further than is necessary. or proper. but this is an infrnity of human nature. Tn the , summary of legislation which is con-
 municated to you from year to year Ithere are many statutes which mlShI
 well have been omitted from consider z alton bv the legislatures that DasSed them. Of all the bills introduced in any , iC gislative body a comparatively small
 peTcentage become living enacimCntS, and of these but few ever really en' tr into the life of the community. A mere glance at this report confirms , MT. Carter'S assertion as to the pass . ion of the American people for leglS'
 lation. I do not believe in LaisSoz
 Tairo and yet as we all know a very
 large number of statutes are enacted . for no reason whatever except 70 . gratfy the ambition Of some legis
 lator to have his name attached tO a , law. Every act passed. adds more CT less to the individual 'shrinkage ot
 which Maeterlinck speaks, but often : without any corresponding advantage ito organized society, and undoubtedly
 the citizen gets the worst of the bar , gain whenever this happens.
 , 'I shall not believe that the great
 volume of legislation enacted by the 7 last Congress was inspired by mere
 wanton lust of power. It lad back ot , it something higher and better than
 that; an earnest desire to deal with 9 conditions not very well understood; , land a conviction that the time had , come for doing something. l do not F close my eyes to the fact that we can I rot have a bewildering cOmplicity III F all our affairs, and at the same time r have perfect simplicity in government l. But in all this turmoil. the whirl o I machinery. governmental and me
 chanical. the organization of labor anC f of capital. the throbbing of ever, s pulse. and the strain of it all, to brair Q and 10 nerve-what has become of tn r. individual man? The development O c the state and of the institutions tha f collectively compose it. is steadil! V proceeding, but how about the units | have pointed out what seemed to m IF to be the causes for the incrt ase' 6 legislation which marks the presen a. age. This legislation has not beeI = the cause of the tremendous activit l. of modern times. but the result Of Ii Q We did not. perhaps, choose the Slar if and confusion of the life in which W a find ourselves entangled-but here W