Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-11-21
rBy Ora williams.l

| Des Moines, Nov. 81. Governor
, Clarke is going to have one very fine
advantage. when he comes to making
his second inaugural address, that he
would not have so fully enjoyed II ne
could have had the laying out OF the
! battle lines in the recent political Skin
mish in Iowa He will he able to
discuss and present to the people the
really big things Of his administration
with freshness and with assurance
that to the most of the public they Will
not be threadbare subjects. Now II ne
could have chosen the issues OF the
campaign for himself he would have
had these things considered by the
voters. Fate decreed otherwise. how
ever. and the governor accepted the
situation as he found it. He found the
enemy entrenched on ground selected
as best for offense, and he went forth
! to battle, leaving his own well con-
structed defense works unused. Now
he will be able to present. II he so de-
sires, word picture of the really i'm
portant things done in his first two
years, and especially by the Thirty
fifth general assembly. These things
| Will be new to many persons. Some
who knew of them have forgotten, but
as is usually the ca sc. the best things
done by legislature attract little at
tention at the time and are discussed
only by a few. At the time Of the in
ton will be a fine ccasion for
recalling some of these things. The last
legislature carried out a pretty well
defined program of legislation on So
Geological. educational, health and
moral questions and il did this despite
some hendlcaps that were wholly
without reason. and in :he knowledge
that much of the best work would
bring criticism and condemnation. 4
calm review of this work by the gov
ernor on the occasion of the Inaugural
ton Jan. II next ought TO be wei
coined by all who have the good of the
state at heart;
| Now that it can not become mat
ter of controversy for political reasons
1t is interesting to recall that there are
plainly recognized causes Ter the fact
/ that as to each of the last Swo sessions
OF the legislature, the red. legislative
program attracted small attention. II
! is not surprising. in view Of the record,
that some persons really believe that
important legislation was purposely
concealed from the public.
! AS for the Thirty fourth general as
senloly, its work was but little ex-
| plotted in the newspaper headlines at
least here at the capital city, for the
reason that the entire session was un-
der the strain OF trying 10 solve an
ugly sena torial problem. That was the
session that met every day in joint
convention at noon and ba,loted for
senator and didn't find itself until the
last day when Kenyon was elected 1t
vas very largely because this sena-
torial matter. overshadowed all else
that the work, of that session was little
known to the people.
Then as TO the Thirty-ifth general
assembly there were two things which.
so far as newspaper publicity in Des
MONIES papers could go, We're made to
obscure nearly all else The first of
these ives the work OF The extensive
lobby maintained for the purpose OF
coaxing the legislature to attend to de-
tails of internal management of the
state educational institutions by pass
Ing bill TO direct the board Of educa.
ton how to shape up the curriculum
ct each one. The Des Molnes papers
were filed with dozens OF columns Of
! stun on this subject. Men In the state
and out were induced to write long
/, dissertations and they were printed.
Legislators were several times on the
point OF doing something desperate to
escape from the iobby-and finally the
bills all went into the waste basket ex.
cept one
The other thing which overshadowed
the most OF the work OF The Thirty
NTH general assembly was the lobby
maintained at least in part by the
bridge contractors and the county Of
ncials to prevent any effecti> legisla-
ton for state highway commission.
"A joint sub committee of the legjsla.
ture was engaged in working out a
plan for putting business methods into
road work. 1t is recalled that this
committee was subjected 20 the most
violent attacks and fierces: denuncia-
ton FOR It's work. 1t was ridiculed, de-
fided. almost insulted-but II went on
and finished its work with loyal spirit
The dust stirred up by this lobby OBJ
scured very much that was good In the
legislation of the session.
But for the space occupied by these
two topics there would have been
more room for discussion OF capitol
extension.
AHcie was another phase OF the Work
OF the last session that has been, per-
haps. almost entirely forgotten. There
was great deal Of pernicious lobby
ing. not so much as in the session be-
fore, but far more than was good for
the state. For instance. there was the
fight on the tax commission BILL The
intent Of the bill was to make just such
condition as came about in matters
OF taxation in Iowa this year impos-
sible. 1t was to put business methods
into the handling of the assessment
and taxation questions But there are
large interests that would be adverse
ly affected. or thought they would be.
and they did vast amount of WORK to
Kill off all legislation affecting assess
ment and taxation. They maintained
a well organized publicity bureau. They
employed. for instance, very promi-
nent politician to work among his po
litical associates against all this sort
OF legislation. They hired man who
had formerly been connected with the
state grange to work among the farm
ers and secure signatures to protests
against any reform in taxation. mat
ters, and ne secured thousands of