Arizona republican., 1906-08-31
TOO MUCH
 LEGISLATION
Chiet Topic Before the
 Bar Assn. Yesterday
Synopsis of an Interesting Address By Judge Alton B. Parker.

St. Paul. Aug. 30-The feature of today's session of the American Bar association was the annual address by Judge Alton B. Parker.
 Judge Alton B. Parker's address was long but an interesting one it's tenor being the evil of too many laws. com pllcating situations already well pro Vided for. the cause and growth of this evil and the duty of lawyers 10 lead in educating the public mind to reform in that direction He said in part:
 Few questions have been more dis cussed during recent years than the increasing. tendency of legislative bod ies to propose and to enact new laws. Scarcely any agitation of a public or a moral question is so unimportant that 1t does not produce. in nearly half-a- hundred state capitols. a series of bills supposed to represent it in all it's va ried and shifting phases. It has be- come far more common to look for a new law for the punishment of an old oHense or for defining anew the re- lations 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 10 punish crimes against society, or to settle their own differences
 It rarely happens that an offense is committed for which no proper pun isment has been provided. and it is long time since any real question has arisen between men to demand legal settlement impossible under existing law Most of the laws proposed in such number and variety are assertions n he cry which they create-under the fond deiusion that it is nevis as old as western civilization itself.
 It was one of the many wise sayings of Montesquieu that:
 Tt sometimes is necessary to change certain laws, but the case is rare, and. when it occurs. one should touch them only with a trembling hand"
 If this were taken to heart by the members Of congress and of the state legislatures of the American union. who annually turn out an average of nearly fifteen thousand laws-two- thirds of them devoted to private or special questions-it is certain that there would be greater satisfaction. both individual and public: more knowledge of what the law has done and can do. and more respect for it: fewer regulations and ambitions built upon the shifting sands: and a general recognition of the fact that quality of laws. and not their number counts.
 Although each new migration. as 1t spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific. has carried with it rules of life and conduct long and successfully tried on many scenes, it has scarcely reached the vestibule of a larger career and op- portunity of it's own before it's Iegis- lative body has launched upon the world new line of enactments deal Ing with marriage, inheritance indi- Fldual rights and property. and all the manifold interests Of life, in a manner which its people have thought new. Especially in the relations of corpora tions to society and business. many states. distant from the scene of origin and development of these organiza- uons, have begun the work of reguIat- ing and tinkering with them almost before their people had passed out of the individual or partnership period 1 The result has been a great mass of l legislation that was crude. much that | defeated it's own ends and still more that was hurtful to the communities most concerned It was only when the earlier of these laws were repealed or modified that the commanding natural resources or such states really had an i opportunity to find development. and that their people could enjoy the nat ! uraI reward of their own courage. in | dustry and intelligence.
 Legislation of this undesirable order is promoted in many ways, one of the most efficient agencies is popular clamor. This may be produced by the demagogue, whose interest it is to make the part appear to be the whole It may be started by the robbery of a savings bank, or by adulteration on the part of some manufacturer, or dis
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