Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-05-19

What is a jokero 1t is the light
fingered ART in law-making. In it's
simplest form it consists in a word or
a clause, which, introduced into pro-
posed legislation, filches away from the
public its power TO establish such laws
as it desires. either by emasculating
an enactment or by preventing the es-
sence and purpose Of it. Often, too.
it serves as cover for that type of
statesman who prefers 10 work in the
shadow. For example, bill comes
before congress backed by an emphatic
public demand. Bold, indeed, would
be the senator or Representative who
should openly oppose it. Thanks 10 the
joker. such gross methods are super
fiuouS. Some shrewd manipulation in
PRODUCES an amendment which, harm
less appearing, involved. or obscure.
subverts the whole purpose and power
of the bill. The secret opponents of
the bill pass the amendment, and the
law goes on the statute books, a thing
for mirth and derision. The enjoy
ment of the mirth, however doesn't
accrue to You. the public. but TO Your
mis- Representatives who have frustrat-
ed Your will. Almost invariably. when
joker IS put thru. the jokes on you.
Quite appropriately the paternity of
the joker in American legislation be-
longs to that subtle and devious states
man. Aaron Burr. In 1893 Burr intro
duced in the New York State legisla
ture. AN Act For Supplying the City
of New York With Pure and Whole
some Water In period when
ba hiking privileges were far more jeal-
ously and meticulously scrutinized
than are railroad franchises now. this
act managed 10 creep past the guar
dams Of q legislature inimical 10 Burr
notwithstanding that il embodied an
unob,rusively dynamic clause. author
ling Burr's company 10 employ all
such surplus capital as may belong or
accrues to the said company in the
purchas Sc Of public or other stock or
in any other monied transactions or
operations not inconsistent with the
constitution and laws of this state or
of the United States. for the sole bene-
fl OF the said company
This clause is the joker. When the
act became a law, it gave Burr and
his associates not only a water COM
pany. but a bank. Today that bank
is doing business as the Bank of Ma
haitian CO. at 20 Wall street, where
it still operates a small water wheel,
the sole survival of the basic enter
prise of Supplying the City of New
York With Pure and Wholesome Wat
! err" which it honorably carried on as
long as there was demand for il. Few
jokers in the long line of succession
have been as innocent OF anti-public
! influence.
How the Trick is Turned.
What follows is no abstruse political
analysis Of legislative trickeries. II
! is merely an attempt TO select from
hundreds of instances a few conspicu-
I Gus and comprehensive examples
4 showing what joker is, why it is. and
| how it is manipulated, IN its various
forms
Sometimes ii is in one word. as where
the sale of a piece Of property 10 the
( lowest bidder was once authorized.
! Sometimes it may inhere in that elus-
i've character. the /omn1a, as in the
case of the tariff clause of an old
! schedule. providing for the free entry
of fruit plants. where somebody care
/ lessly allowed a comma to creep in be-
! tween fruit and plants" thereby ad-
hitting millions OF oranges and lem
ons into the country. duty free. and
8
thousands of dollars in loss of imposts.
Nobody ever found out whether this
was printers slip. or a cerefully de-
vised scheme. Certain it is that the
trainers Of the schedule never intended
( IL
| Again, the entire body of the proviso
| may constitute the joker, by purport-
+; ing TO carry one meaning when it in
reality carries quite another. Con
! gress still preserves the tradition Of the
unassinlilated Irish representative
/ from Massa chusetts who proposed that
! March II be made legal holiday. in
] celebration of the Boston Tea Party,
1 Several New Englanders whose zeal
exceeded their erudition warmly sup
ported the measure until some one
pointed out that March II was much
more closely associated with the sup
posed birth of the proposer's patron
saint than with the destruction of the
obnoxious tea, which latter, indeed.
| was a mid-winter festival. The pres
ent New York State Public Service
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