Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-04-03
LETTERS FROM BEE READERS
Wilbur F. Bryant Throws Light on Author
ship Of Juvenile Court Law.
NEBRASKA MEASURE COPY OF ILLINOIS
ed A. Fry Calls to Memory Inceptions
of Fight which Has illuminated
In the Present session of
the Legislature.


,D SU9tFOg gta7 on timely tgBc' s ere
Communications should be written
leglbly on side Of the paper only
dress o. the Writer. The The name name viii not
be used II tho writer asks that II be
not be returned Correspondents are ad-
vised to limit their letters TO 800 words
o. 9Th they VIII b, subject to being cut
the editor. Publication Of views OF
correspondents must not be taken 10
commit The Bee TO their endorsement.
HARRINGTON, Neb.. April Ito the
Editor Of The Bee: 1 have read and heard
much Of the authorship Of our Juvenile
court law. The writer was chairman of
the committee appointed by the state con-
| ference of charities and corrections and
had the bill in charge from it's introduce
ton till It became a law on March 8, 1905.
1 confess that have been stunned that
any person in this state should claim the
authorship OF that law. The bill which
was introduced in the legislature Of 1903
was copied, verbatim ct lteratim ct pune
| tum, from the statutes Of Illinois at the
instance of a lot of grafters who were
| trafhcling In children, for what there was
| in IT, and the bill was amended till its
father would not have known it. On the
advice of the attorney general the gov
ernor vetoed It on alleged constitutional
grounds. In 1906 the same original bill
was introduced at my request by Senator
Mockett, section being added, at my own
suggestion, to meet the constitutional
scruples of his excellency. Now the
stenographer who copied the Illinois law
did his work with the faithfulness of
Hebrew scribe. He even copied the black
| letter catch words at the beginning of
each section (Which are no part Of the
statute). While the bill was pending some
good friends of the measure from Omaha
(they have never claimed its authorship
proposed certain amendments. I did not
and do not deem these amendments neces-
sary, but, as Omaha was more interested
than all the state beside, I yielded, and
am glad that I did So with the excep-
| ton of these slight amendments and the
sixth section, to which have already re-
| ferTed, the law is a Chinese copy of the
law Of Illinois on the same subject That
law was the first juvenile court law ever
| enacted on the planet. It's author was
| Harvey B. Hurd, professor in the law col
! lege of the Northwestern university. If
any person wishes to verify these state
ments let him or her consult the Illinois
statutes in the state library at Lincoln
and compare the Illinois law with ours,
paying particular attention to catch words
! Without these statements from the writer
he or she would come to the conclusion
that it was the work of a verbal copyist
or case Of unconscious absorption. Yours
for truth, WILBUR F. BRYANT
Reminiscence of Nebra Ska Legislators.
A u Nab ~ n
| tor Of The Bee: have never watched the
progress Of legislature more intently than
the one about to adjourn But how many,
many years 1t has taken for the republican
| party of Nebraska to follow the will of
its constituency!
Looking backward, I remember the first
meeting had with the late Edward Rose
water. 1t was in the memorable Hitchcock
senatorial fight just thirty years ago.
was a mere cub, having gone down to do
my mite for the return Of Hitchcock It
| was to help pay debt in which Senators
Hitchcock and Paddock had Joined in caus-
ing the removal of the United States land
office from Dakota to Niobrara Several
legislators and myself boarded with Major
and Mrs, Brad D. Slaughter. Brad having
began his first service as chief clerk Of the
house, and both factions Of the republican
legislature were represented about that hos
| pitable board. The issues in those days Of
! 10000 republican majority were very in
tense on railroad matters. One OF our
boarders was the late Perry selden of
| Washington county, who was a strong
| Crounse follower, and he denounced the
pass as a bride in as early a day as that
A young man named White, who was treas
urer of Burt county and a very ardent
| friend Of Mr.. Rosewater, took to me be-
cause OF my own pronounced views Of in
dependence, and introduced me to The
Bees founder l explained to him that
admired the men in. general that he was
training with and especially thee he so
strenuously advocated. and he was most
! generous in excuSing my position under the
| circumstances. The anti-monopoly upris-
ing in those days was very pronounced. It
was not long for me to settle down into
my own ideas of politics. and having re-
lIeved myself of further obligations to SEN
ator Hitchcock. naturally drifted into the
antl-monopoly wing of the party. The Mo
brara Pioneer under my ownership was the
first journal in northern Nebraska to cham
| pion the cause OF the late Senator Van
wyck II led TO a heated warfare from
the ''stalwarts," who combined to smirch
me in every possible way / had some
! pretty heavy loads to carry In the name
OF reform, must confess, but I did my
best to keep my own record reasonably
! decent, and routed the ''stalwarts" on sew
eral occasions. For eight years Knox
| county had the distinction OF going down
to state and congressional conventions with
! double-header delegations and many
amusing stories could be told OF these
battles
! These battles were not so much for men
as principles and today the stamp of those
| early day struggles Is a part OF our poll
! tics. Knox county has been 800 or 600 either
! way-fusion or republiean-and today In
| it's official makeup IL is mixed with a ma
iority of county supervisors fusionists. II
is difficult to figure what the next year
may bring, though surely the republican
| party has done its best. Notwithstanding
the fact that our own representative failed
to remember party pledges.
Thus 1t is that the republican conscience
! has. after thirty years Of hard work by
| The Bee. with only one republican governor
in ali those years who came anywhere near
being his own man, been truly aroused to
duty / do not wonder that the last rec
orded words OF Mr., Rosewater, in which
he referred to Governor Sheldon as being