The Delta independent., 1911-05-19
Republican Newspaper Asso-
ciatiun Publicity Departn


general assembly will hardly wit
ness a complete knowledge by any
one of the laws passed by the as
sembly just closed. An attempt TO
review all of them would be foolish
because they were passed in such
rush that not even the authors OF
the individual bills know what they
contain. Between 10 O'Clock on
Thursday morning and the time OF
adjournment Saturday night 2S9
bills were delivered to Mr.. Malone,
secretary to Governor Shafroth,
practically all of these bills passed
both houses after Monday OF last
eek. Uniy the test OF them In
the courts can be the final means OF
determining what was and was not
enacted into law.
However, the statement can be
made that in the entire list there
is moot a law which Can be said
redeems a platform pledge. True
1t is that Two measures were put
through which will be claimed as
pieage redeemers. but such is not
tne case. The registration law which
was pledged is before the governor.
but even its strongest supporters
aumit tnat ii was drawn purely for
the purpose of defeating the pri-
mary law Under its provision the
pig mitt' and machines can regis
ter enough fake names to control
my party primary. There is no
penalty for registering fake names
Tor a primary. There is a penalty
for votIng them at the general cleo
uon. Thus they can register them
and vote them at the primaries with
out violating the law, and nominate
whom they please with them, and
then purge the lists before the gen.
eral election and they are law
abiding citizens.
me bank guarantee bill that is
before Governor Shafroth contains
four guarantee sections, and these
sections are all referred to the peo-
pie under the referendum. They can
not go into effect until after the
people have voted upon them. Thus
| If the people adopt one of these,
| Colorado cannot have a guarantee
| law for 6ver two years, and it is
very doubtful il she will have one
then, because the initiative and ref
| erendum provides that a bill refer
red to the people must secure the
suprvrt of a majority of all voting
before it is a law. With four differ
cnt sections being voted upon it
will be dimcult Tor any section to
secure the support of a majority of
all voting.
OF the principle bills that were
enacted, perhaps the most important
were the two bond issues totalling
| fourteen million dollars and provid-
ing for their sale for the construc-
ton of good roads and the Moffat
tunnel. Next in Importance comes
the general appropriation bills total
ling over five and a half million and
exceeding the states estimated reve-
nue by over three quarters of a
million. and exceeding the state S
former appropriations for a similar
period by over 100000. Incidental
ly. in this connection, IL will be
remem bered that the Democratic
party promised to turn the internal
improvement fund over to the stase
highway commission. This legisla-
ture. instead of doing this appropri-
ated the money to the use of the
individual communities from whence
the members came and passed a
law turning the fund over to the
commission beginning with the end
of this biennial period.
Other bills of more or less import
ance include the game and fish
| bill, which makes only a few minor
changes in the present open season
law the coal mine inspection bill,
which was drawn by n commission
after q study of three months of
coal mining conditions, and which
Was so changed that the coal op-
orators are more intrenched than
ever before. 1t provides for the
installation of safety appliances
when convenient" To cap it all,
the bill was signed by the two pre-
siding officers in blank Saturday
night and was enrolled by the clerks
Monday. No one knows how it was
enrolled. Governor Peabody was
forced to call an extra session of the
| legislature to re-enact his general
appropriation bill because this oc-
CURED in connection with the pass
ing OF that bill.
The grasshopper bill provides for
the creation of anti-pest districts,
the same as irrigation districts are
now created. The farmers can vote
bond issue for the purpose of ex-
terminating pests and then work in
connection with the state agricultur-
al college. The pests to be de
stroyed are grasshoppers, moths,
beetle, etc. The aricultural element
inserted a joker in this bill, which
forces railroads to cut the weeds
| nlnnY their rihfs of wnN Thi, ,,.ns