Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1913-07-02

NJ Legislator knows that his cOnStttur
ency will think that he is no good. not
on the job, unless he introduces lot
Of bills. He has got to do it.
And SO he does it. 81 >,|i.
concocting Laws.
The chances are that the poor fellow
is sitting up nights trying to concoct
some kind Of q new tangled law, trying
to make over some old law SO that it
will look new, all in order that the dear
people back home may see that he is
doing something. - IL.
I sometimes think that he does his
state the most service who is instru-
mental in killing the most bills.
The trouble is not that we have not
got laws enough-we have too many. .
We have so many laws that we cannot
enforce them all and there is the troub-
lie. = ~ - - :.
You can write the ten commandments
on the palm of your hand, but, funda-
mentally speaking, what other laws
would you need were these enforced?
All this agitation for new laws and
new reform puts the law making bodies
Of the land into state Of mind that is
anything but wholesome.
The legislators know that their USE
fulness and ability is going to be meas
ured by the number and kind of new
laws that they can get onto the statute
books and, so they are going to make
most desperate effort to get the great
est number possible and Of the most
radical kind possible. ~.
This might be well enough II these
laws were we'll considered, we'll thought
out, well formulated and constructed
with view to the needs Of the state
or locality they are to serve.
But this is seldom the case.
A Hasty Iawmaker.
recall one instance this winter when
a certain legislator introduced bill
with this enacting clause: BE it en-
acted by the State OF Wisconsin,"
The fellow had been so faithful In
copying that he had overlooked to
change Wisconsin to Minnesota.
Now Wisconsin has multitude Of
good laws but there Is always this dan
ger that even the best Of Wisconsin
laws may not be at all suited to the
state Of Minnesota
The law making bodies the land over
are busy grinding out laws and the
courts. from coast to coast, are equally
busy cooking up decisions. ..@
Did it ever occur to you that the per-
centage Of cases that deal with the
merit Of the issue in controversy is
portion that deals merely with the ques-
ton of what the law is? - = Is
We elect men to make laws to make
- 81 n&~k~e AI~$ f~,.A 49,
Is our system that before we, Or they,
know what they have done we must
submit their work to another set of
men who have absolute power to put
whatsoever meaning they desire into
the words and acts Of the first set. :
Lawmeking Serious Business.
The thought that want to leave
| with you in this connection is that this
| matter Of making laws is serious bust
: ness. ..--> - -.
Instead Of urging upon your repre-
| sentatives to get through this or the
! other half-baked reform bill you
| should urge them to kill as many fool
laws as possible. T.. 49,.
Much has been said in praise of the
legislature that just closed and it has
| generally been held up as one Of the
| things for which it deserves especial
| praise that it did so much; that it en-
| acted into law so many bills; that the
| very volume Of business it transacted
was greatly to it's credit. =.
It is not for me to gainsay this
praise. But let me say that I believe
that two-thirds of the laws enacted by
the last legislature might just as well
have been killed as far as real benefit
| to the people is concerned. -s.~@7> ="
Not that these laws are bad: not that
they even are not good. But rather
that they are notifications of existing
laws and laws dealing with this or the
other minor detail that could very well
have been disposed Of under existing
laws or else allowed to worry along
without legal recognition. 2.
I sometimes wonder why Solomon in
all his wisdom did not say of making
laws there is no end. a. s.. :.
Surely he would have said it had he
lived in Minnesota the year 1913.
Multiplicity Of Laws Confuse.
What I am trying to get at is that
this. multitude of laws, instead Of serv-
ing a good purpose and making it cas-
| Ter for us to do the things that we want
/
we desire, actually, by their! multipl-
icity and complexity, SO confuse, be-
muddle and confound that it, becomes
next to an impossibility to extricate
ones self from the network in one gets
in OF has to seek aid or assistance from
the legal source. ! 5s..5.
think that this can be said with es-
pecial aptness of the conditions that
prevail in Minnesota have seen II
stated on good authority that the state
Of Minnesota is the only one In the
Union hat has in its Constitution the
word 'peddler". Is %E,..z
Even our constitution is so filled with
miserable detail that we want to change
the simplest thing we are up against
the organic law. 81
I have dwelt at length and In conclu.
sion on this particular kind f.of speed
because the mental attitude Of the PEG.
pie with regard to he making Of law:
is responsible for much, IL not. all, c1
the miserable hasty legislation that
our statue books are encountered with
i S. Another reason for dwelling on this
subject is that we are threatened will
an extra session OF the legislature fol
the purpose Of still further adding tt
the enormous grist turned out BY tn.
Legislature Of 1913. s.:.
Extra Session Agitation
} The attitude Of those pushing thil
extra session agitation Is but another
ILLUSTRATION Of the point that Il hav,
J been trying to make, namely. that there
q prevails an opinion that the salvation
Of the state Is depend lent upon the en-
J. actment Of certain laws, and that ii
! each case that enactment must be In