The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-12-30
A nErEnrAsr srArKsnAn.

done to others or to the country. John c. spooner. former Senator from Wis consin. repents having voted while in the Senate for the sherman anti-trust law. as we'll as for some of the other laws of Congress. '.one regret of my. life is." he told members of the New England society the other night. that voted for some of the laws on ac- count of which men and corporate en- titles are being prosecuted who do not know and will not know soon what the law means or whether they have violated it. Pessimists will tell you" he continued, that in the strife for wealth the American people have lost their delieacy of sentiment. For my part. do not fear that the people of this country will ever grow disobedi- ent of the law. but many men are puzzled to know what the law is.-
 Without going into details as to the provisions of the sherman law, or en- tering into any inquiry ss to whether its provisions can or should be enforc- ed. we can commend Mir. spooner's sentiments on the general subject of legislation. It is one of the serious hindrances connected with our system of government--whether it is true of others we cannot say--that there is altogether too much law-making. Some of the laws are so conflicting that the courts themselves cannot con strue or reconcile them with any sat- isfaction; some are so intricate and involved that none bu the best law yers can understand them,-and they often fail; and some are so badly framed that neither lawyers. judges nor laymen can get any sense or meaning out of them.
 Tt would be a good thing" rumi- mates The Butte Inter-Mountain," to know just what the law really is," and adds that no doubt many people have violated the sherman act with out the least Idea that they were do- ing so. No doubt of that It would be good thing if all people could always know just what the laws are, and sometimes 1t would be to their advantage to know what the laws are not. and thus escape the penalty of having violated some of them, but this is hardly to be expected, in this day of regulation and reform.
 Unfortunately the Idea prevails all over the country that all things may be regulated and controlled by law. Thus 1t comes about that all the law-mak- ing bodies. beginning with Congress, are continually adding to the already overloaded statute books. As a gen. erai thing the legislator seems to think 1t solemn and imperative duty to get a law passed that will regulate something or somebody. and in too many cases he neither knows what effect 1t will have or whether 1t will be possible to enforce 1t: neither does he know what other laws 1t will con flict with; what he thinks he knows is that there is something very wrong somewhere and that he is called on to rectify it.
 We strongly suspect that the Wis consin statesman would not be soli- tary and alone if all others among the law-makers of the country were equally honest and open about ex- pressing themselves as to their &C., lions in Congress or in State Legis- latures It is fair to presume that he either did not understand the sher- man act when he voted for 1t or else he supported 1t in a spirit of com plaisance and out of dererence to it's supporters. or through a desire to please them. and perhaps to lay them under obligations when he wanted something done.
 Neither explanation is creditabie to a member of one of the most honor able legislative bodies on earth. If man of his calibre and attainments failed to understand a proposed law he certainly has no right to blame the average citizen who violates it through ignorance. If he could not comprehend what the law meant and what would be It's effects, or whether Or not 1t could be enforced, it was his bounden duty to refuse to give 1t his support That. 1t will occur to most people. was the proper thing for him to do, if there was even a doubt on his mind as to the nature and ef- fleets of the bill that he was asked to support. On the other hand, if he supported it only to please others, or to secure the assistance of others for some measure of his own, his action was still less defensible. However that may be, his repentance comes too late to do much good. but the fact that he admits his regret at having voted for some of the laws is at least an evidence that he has seen the er- TOT of his ways.
 The ex-Senator's remark that he has no fear that "the people of this