Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-08-30
100 MANY LAWS
SAYS JUDGE parker
The Former Presidential Candi-
date Delivers Address Before
the Bar Association
SEES EVIL. IN NUMEROUS LAWS

SOUCTCy ~ SNStsSS " ~ 'N'''S
Great Harm to Nation - Executives
Who Try to Influence Legislation Se-
verely CRITICIZED - Asks Lawyers to
Aid in suppressins Unwise Laws.
St Paul, Aug. 3O.-The feature of
today of the. session Of the American
Bar Association was the annual ad-
dress. which Judge Alton B. Parker
has been in the habit of delivering to
the association. There was a full at
tendance of members. Judge Parker's
theme was the Congestion Of Law"
and he deplored the tendency of all
legislative bodies to multiply laws. He
said in part:
Few questions have been more dis
cussed during recent years than the
increasing tendency of legislative bod
les to propose and to enact new laws.
Scarcely any agitation of aypublic or
moral question is so unimportant
that it does not produce. in nearly
half a hundred state capitols, a series
of bills supposed to represent 1t in
all it's varied and shifting phases. 1t
has become far more common to look
for new law for the punishment OF
an old offence or for defining anew
the relations of individuals to each
other than it is to invoke those powers
or remedies by which, over many CEN
turies, while law has been gradually
taking fixed form. men have been able
to punish crimes against society, or
to settle their own differences
"And yet every man who has had oc-
casion to study the question, even IN
its narrower bearings, has been forc-
ed to conclude that but small per-
centage of proposed new enactments
involves Il new principle, or even
new policy. It rarely happens that an
offence is committed for which no
proper punishment has been PROVIDED,
and it is long time since any real
question has arisen between men TO
den(nd legal settlement imposslhle
under existing law.
eft is not alone in the domain Of law
making and the legislator that these
abuses are potent They add to the
labor of the judiciary. Upon it Is
thrown for adjudication, year after
wear, a body of work absolutely unnec-
essary. and at great expense to the
public and often to private individu-
ais The constitutionality of much of
this new legislation is continually
questioned So true Is this that
substantial percentage of the questions
brought before appellate courts are re-
Hated to doubts of the validity of the
| laws under which actions are brought.
indeed. in the state of New York, in a
period covering about twenty years,
| the constitutionality Of over 500 stat
utes was challenged in the court OF
appeals. The dove-tailing of new leg
|islation into existing law, and the cost
| of constituting the possible meaning OF
a legislature, also enters into a con-
siderable part of the annual output OF
twenty thousand decisions rendered by
| the appellate courts Many of these
mushroom enactments are permitted to
slumber by common consent. But this
is dangerous, because, i'm such cases.
offensive laws remain upon the stat
ute books, and may later be evoked for
mischievous purposes. The continual
resort-nearly always for spite, and IN
almost all the older states-to the So
called blue laws, never properly killed
off. well illustrates the perils which
lurk in the carrying Of inert laws up-
on the statute books.
sIn like manner there should be add
ed to the causes of over-legislation al
ready enumerated the industrious and
persistent efforts of executive officers
to procure legislation which is either
agreeable to their parties or to the
ideas they represent as individuals. 1t
was the fundamental idea Of the foun-
ders of our government that the three
branches of government should be kept
distinct with certain well-defined and
understood differences. The executive
officer might recommend legislation,
but it was assumed that any interfer-
ence on his part to command it would
not Only be going beyond his power,
but would also excite resentment.
Nov, however, this idea has gone
to the limbo of other beautiful but dead
ideals. An executive officer may not
only recommend but is expected to
urge and, if necessary, in order to cara
ry his point, to use the great power Of
his office to compel the enactment of
laws. He may call in the presiding Of
ficer and leading members of the legis-
lative department of the government
Of the government of which he is the
executive, and demand of them such
legislation as he deems wise, and will
be considered justified if he distributes
or withholds his patronage for the
avowed purpose Of inducing or forcing
legislation, if at the time there is a
public sentiment in favor of such legis-
lation.
Instances are, however, not uncom-
mon, in which such an official will
make short work of corrupt combina-
tions to get public money, or Of bills
intended to promote class interests, or
of others whose simplest purpose is
theft or misrepresentation. Legislative
bodies, all the way from congress to
village council, pass bills dealing
with their own employees, with letter
carriers or other classes of officials,
with departments and bureaus, or,
with police and dremen, with NO other