The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-11-25
Atty. Gen. Dawson Says Legal
Machinery Is Inadequate
For the Proper Enforcement of
All the Statutes.
MORE WORK CREATED
For Officials by the Lawmakers
of the State
Without Amy Increase in Facili-
ties for Doing 1t.

John Dawson. attorney general, af-
Ter three months of strenuous work
in his office and over the state, in
the task of enforcing the prohibitory
and other laws, is of the opinion that
the machinery of the state and coun-
ty organizations for law enforcement
IS not adequate for present conditions.
He argues that this machinery was
provided for in simple, pioneer days
for rural communities and will not
meet the conditions that progress now
presents He believes that the county
attorneys of the larger counties have
more than they can attend to proper
~. He finds that the new laws, the
prohibitory law, the pure food and
sanitation laws, the vital statistics
law, the antitrust laws, all these tend
to overwhelm the county officials with
business.
In my peregrinations up and down
the state" said Mr. Dawson today, I
am overwhelmed with the conviction
that the machinery provided by law
is inadequate to deal with conditions
of the present. This machinery was
provided in pioneer days when the
state was composed of small and SIM
pie rural communities in which
farming and stock raising formed the
principal occupation When the anti
horse thief association and the jay
hawkers commended with the only law
breakers not under the province OF
county attorney or justice OF the
peace. NOW many cities anu pOpuiOuS
communities thrive in this state
where complex conditions confront the
law enforcement officials Maybe
Stenographer has been added to the
county attorneys force and a turn
key to the sheriff's department. That
is all. Yet in WyandOtte county the
same complex civilization confronts
the county and sheriff that the Off
Gals of Cook county, Illinois have to
meet. Not so MANY. or so large, may
he Ix.& II {rac fTa CO..
NO provision has been made by law
for these officials to deal with their
larger and growing responsibilities and
labors. A half dozen new laws to en-
force and office work multiplied. I
tell you, no one but d lawyer can know
how much a county attorney of a big
and busy county has to do to keep
out from under his work. In my office
1 find the same problems. We work
twenty hours out of the twenty-four.
have only been in Topeka long
enough and often enough the past
three months to get change of
clothes. With time all taken up with
the prohibitory law alone. what are we
to DO with other laws? take it that
murder or burglary are as serious
crimes as violation of the liquor laws.
Yet my office force and the county at
torneys of the larger counties of the
state have our time all taken up with
the prohibitory law. The machinery
u me Jaw SAl OASSiilSlit uSpe'A lA4Si4
should be readjusted to meet new con
ditions
The simple pioneers who made
Kansas are gone or growing old. The
population of today is cosmopolitan.
The factory and mines and workshops
and commercial emporiums TEEN with
people of every nationality and walk
in life They offer more and tangled
problems for the executive and judi
cial departments to solve. The work
is being pushed as energetically and
succ essfully as possible. but additional
means are needed to perfect the work
and make it more effective"