The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-09-12
LEGISLATIVE REFORM.


 The views of former Speaker Mich ael Kenealy of Stamford upon the subject of legislative reform are of more than passing interest. He has served in both houses and has come more intimately into contact with the members than any man of recent years. AS the presiding officer of the house of representatives he set out to make record in the way of short sessions only to find his progress im- peded and his ingenuity baffied.
 MT. Kenealy's schemes for shorten ing the sessions of the General Assem- ply have the merit of originality but we are not sure that they are as prac- tical as he thinks. He would have the Legislature come together for the purpose of receiving new business. This would require three weeks. He would then have the legislature take recess for four weeks during which time the committees would devote themselves to the consideration of the bills. At the expiration of the four weeks he would have the legislature reconvene and confne itself to the business in hand. The chief merit of this proposition is that 1t recognizes the soundness of the principle which places a time limit on the legislating body Presumably all the business that could be received would be received during the first three weeks, while during the remaining four weeks there would be no sessions of the General Assembly, thus meeting to a certain degree the objection raised by Mir. Banks that the members go home too early in the day to make commit tee hearings profitable.
 The Hartford Times is fearful lest the KeneaIy plan would of itself fail for the very reasons which have oper- ated against the prevailing system. It asks: twill it be easier to induce the members to come here every day and work on committees than to induce them to come under the old plan? It seems likely that many members will absent themselves from committee hearings and this will be pre1udlcial to the value of the reports. It Is at least possible also that lobby influ- enees may be used to greater advan- tage under such conditions. It Is also a matter of fact that no rule can pre- vent the recommittal of measures when the legislature reassembles. and all know that recommittal may some- times accomplish at last what should lnot be done. The trouble is to get members to stay here and work, and It is by no means clear that they would do 1t for committee work alone when they will not do 1t for varied and more interesting work"
 It is not likely that Mir Kenealy felt that he had a sure cure for the Ills complained of, but we do wish he had mentioned what In his judgment would be the effect all around of the elimination of special legislation and the enactment of general laws for the control of corporations. The impres. sion has gained headway with it's tha the true key to the situation is to be found in those experiments, if exper. iments they can be called. It Is thu Legislative habit of giving special leg islstion which has created the lobby with all of it's sinister influence ant 1t has been the refusal of the Genera Assembly to pass general laws iron which there Is to be no appeal tha
 has encouraged the lobby to continue its work. If the legislature could b, induced to make these changes as result preferably of lively campaigi for educational purposes 1t is possibl ) that further reform legislation woul, be unnecessary. In the meantime le
 the agitation go on. It is doing mucl
 good.