Daily Kennebec journal., 1911-01-06

way.
Gentlemen (political gentlemen) may
profess to believe themselves doing
| Gods service in bettering the land by
disposing of a law conceived. con-
structed and accepted in fear OF an
evil. but the people know it is hy-
| pocrisy. The repeal of the prohibitory
| law, if accomplished, will be for the
sake of benefiting financially and po-
! lltlcdlly. mot moralIy) from tho licucr
traffic, the people know taat. whether
! they believe in Temperance or not-anl
any other pretcnse is a frard.
The multiplicity of laws in the yari-
Gus states Is becoming a serious mem
ace to good government. That seems
| to DE. lii other words, Gov. Plaist.d' 8
| meaning in that portion of his mes
sage unCer the caption The Cry for
| More LaW?' But government is not
to be bettered by striking at the heart
| of one of our most potent.
Gov. Plaistcd says
Every unprejudiced person mns-
admit that in the cities and larger
towns of our state many good citizens
whose regularity of life and honorable
| conduct place their motives above sus.
| pieion. disapprove of our present meth
| od Of dealing With this great social and
economic question and desire the srb
| Sfit ,,f1 I, h.,
enforced in city as we'll as in country i"
No law can be honestly enforced
when large portion of the public. bv
| example and word, constantly OPPOSE
| it.
AS a rule, the majority of the mem
bers of our legislatures are entirely in
experienced in the work of making
laws. The average member of the
State legislature is IL farmer. mer
chant, lawyer or banker, with fine in
tentons SO far as his duty to his state
| is concerned. Immediately on his cleo
ton he begins to outline a program OF
! what he will do when he reaches the
State capital. His constituents make
all manner of suggestions to him, and
in consequence lie feels that unless
he manages to get few laws passed
on his own account he will not have
made a success of his work.
Recognizing Governor Plaisted's In
| tentions along with those of mis- law
| makers as being for the best interests
of the State, so FAR is he and they un-
| derstand pubic questions we would
yet question the probability that he
| Will be able to bring out of the dis
| cussions and deliberations of his law
making body many laws that would
on The statutes. The result of a
| scramble fer various bills designed for
| various purposes is usually a trading
OF votes. often without regard to the
merit Of the measures they pledge
themselves to support. III all this
| noise and oluster of SO called discus :
| SION there is little chance for the av-
| erage legislator to learn about real
| conditions or get any very connected
| idea Of the cause and effect of the
| measures which leaders advocate.
Governor Plaisted, as we have said,
| may have the best of intentions and
! may give the best that is in him for
| the service of the State, as he inter-
prets that benefit. and at the same
time be unable to control his law
makers to an extent that will bring
anything better than confusion out or
the present session. One legislator is
quite apt to spend the entire session
lobbying for his bill to regulate the size
OF pickle Jars and to bring about the
| the benefit of his vote for a dozen 9TH
er measures of which he knows moth
ing and cares less. This he is willing
to do in order to have himself emblaz-
oned in the history of his little district
as the author of the famous Bill pickle
law.
If such an aggregation of entirely
| now lawmakers, of which the n.ajority
of the present Legislature is made up,
attempt to "equalze taXation," what
will be the result? Governor Plaisted
says that our present system Of taxa
| tiUn presents many Inequalities, and
works much injustice. and goes on to
say tha, TO euualize, 50 far as MAY be,
the tax burden, is a serious work to
which you should dedicate your best
| effort. The work of tax reform should
go OF in this State until every vestigo
of d special privilege disappears from
our tax laws"
This appears we'll enough in the
reading ard in its principle, but Gov
ernor Plaisted does not offer any plan
for equalization, and we should not
hesitate to consider Governor Plasted
yaStIv hotter "a bla 70 Law ont stIri, :,