The Falls City tribune., 1909-09-24

with the facts know, that the laws gov
erning the practice In the courts, the
descent of property, and those pro
yiding for the settlement Of the
estates of deceased persons aid the
like, are nearly all taken from the
laws of other states, which III turn
derived them from the parent ma
ton. so that about all the legisla-
ture of the new territory had 10 do,
was to copy all such laws and con-
form them to local requirements, a
task not at all difficult or complex.
In any new country, however, much
of the legislation consists of special
acts of a local. or in many cases, of
a personal character, such as char
ters for universities, colleges,
academies, and the like to be erect
ed at particular towns and places in
the territory; acts granting ferry
charters, the right 10 build mill dams,
and providing territorial roads in all
directions, and appointing commits
sioners (members of the legislature
in many cases), To lay them out. Ne
braska had all that experience and
more. but the way they did the bus-
mess was the funny part, sometimes.
The country was a treeless plain
and the first legislature, while rec
ognizing the fact, expressed its sense
of the situation in the shape OF a
joint resolution. 1t was introduced
by a member of the house from
Pierce county-not the Pierce county
on the present map of the state.
1t read something like this;
Resolved, hat where there Is no
timber it is desirable to have coal"
Just what effect the resolution was
to have in the matter of supplying
the deficiency in the fuel yielding
capacity of the country, was made
plain neither by the resolution itself,
nor by the reasons given by its u
thor for its introduction. One mem
Der said it looked like an attempt to
locate a coal bank (mine) by legis-
lative resolution, and he was inclin-
ed to think it couldn't be done,
though he admitted that q tefritor-
ial Legislature vas almost as omnip-
otent as the British Parliament which
is said TO be equal TO any job it might
tackle. except the impossible. An
other said he was in favor of coal
but thought that mines could not be
located in that way; another that it
was foolish, another idiotic, and the
debate becoming so warm and a
fist fight SO immanent,it was thought
best to table the resolution-some
thought under the table would be
better and it was SO ordered.
Now, according to some very emf
nent philosophers, that Nebraska So
Ion was nearer right than he wot of,
as it is maintained by them that
there is no difference between
a thing and the idea of it; and in that
case the idea of a coal mine, and a
coal mine itself being identical, coal
fires could have been made to blaze
all over the cherries wastes by
the mere force of that resolution; but
as most of that legislature were
pimarily from Missouri and had TO
be shown" the thing wouldn't work,
and a great theory in metaphysics
was thus mercilessly exploded.
Richardson county contributed the
next clown to the legislative circus at
Omaha, but it was the second in the
series of sessions. | knew the act
or very we'll in after years, and he
was a first rate fellow, and nobody's
fool by any means. His mishap up
there came about by his trying to
appear more learned than he really
was. In one way Or another he had
picked up a few Latin phrases and
which he wanted to fire al