The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-03-06
FRANK E. HOWE. Editor and Pub.
BENNINGTON. VI. MARCH 6. 1913
THE LENGTH OF SESSION

IHE LEN0tH OT 0E00tON
The public acts Of the legislature Of
1912 in printed form We're sent Out
yesterday by The Banner. If any
subscriber failed to receive a copy he
can get one by calling at The Banner
office or by sending a card II he lives
out of town. The circulation Of
these new laws is more prompt this
year than ever before, due to the
foresight and executive ability Of
Secretary of State Guy w. Bailey, un
der whose supervision the work has
been done.
The public acts of this legislature
cover % newspaper pages OF seven
columns. each, and 1t is to be borne
in mind that this does not include
city and village charters and amend
ments thereto. charters of power
companies, railroad companies, and
other acts of incorporation. Neither
does it include bank and trust CON-
pany charters, municipal water sup
| ply enactments and similar matter.
| Were these things included, the law
supplement would be nearly twice as
large as it is now.
We have heard good deal recent
| ly about the length of the session,
but when the amount of work is look.
ed over, it can be seen that this talk
is largely by men who. do not know
what they are talking about. Consi-
der for moment that all this inn
| mense bulk of matter has to be gone
over separately by two district bod
les, and one of them a body OF 24S
men, of whom only eleven were re
elected members, and majority OF
whom had never been in the state
house until they went there as mem
bers.
Consider, too, that the great bulk
OF the work, that Is the creative
work, and the getting of matter into
proper form has to be done by COM
paratiyely few men. Most of these
men work even beyond their strength.
The Banner can name a score OF
members of the recent Legislature
who were i'll from over work. The
wonder is not that the legislature SEES
sions are so long, but they are not
longer
Some people will say that a lot OF
this legislation Is unnecessary and
ought not to be enacted, and to GER
tain extent this statement is true. but
this has nothing to do with the
length of session. That body Is like
a court, in that II must consider the
matters that are brought before 1t.
1t has no choice II Its members obey
their oath. They are compelled to
consider the bills that are brought
forward and to act on them accord
ing to their judgment. 1t makes lit
tie difference in time whether a bill
is passed or killed. The considera-
ton of the matter in committee and
on the floor is what takes the time.
The most severe critics OF the
length of session are men who we're
members of the legislature years ago
and tell us that they did the work In
two months, and that 1t ought to be
done in the same length of time now.
The writer happens to have in his
possession a legislative law supple
ment Of twenty-four years ago. II
includes all the public acts OF the leg
islature of that year. The supple
ment consists Of one newspaper page
printed both sides-just about one
tenth of the work of similar charac-
ter done by the legislature OF 1912. If
the legislatures of twenty years ago
we're justified in sitting for two
months. the legislatures OF today
would be justified in taking year to
10 tue WoEh tndl 10 DiOu6hl Oimaiu
People are often mislead when 1t
comes to talking OF matters with
which they are not personally famil-
lar. A few squalling newspaper
writer's, who never saw the legisla-
ture more than half a day at a time.
and few old men, who were in the
legislature twenty years ago, when
the principal business was legalizing
grand lists and riding on passes fur
nished free by the railroads, have led
a good many people astray on the
matter of the length Of sessions.
Sessions might be shortened some
what by the people at home IL they
would send back men Of experience
when they have one who has done
the state good service. but with legis-
latures made up as they now are the
sessions are not too long TO properly
transact thesbusiness introduced.
state Of C,.i1. st roiedo.
lueas COauiy,