Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-01-09
REFORMING THE LEGISLATURES

year, after a period of four years, and
only for fifty days. The issue of how
often and how long a legislature
should sit is now \ live one. How to
safeguard and improve legislative &C
ton is becoming a study, and great
good should result.
The New York Post has an excel:
lent discussion on reforming the leg
islatures. We quote:
Man is a Tool.using Animal" con
cludes Teufelsdrockh in his abrupt
way; "of which truth Clothes are but
one example; and surely if we consid'
er the British House of
Commons, We shall note what prog.
ress he has made = he col
lects, apparently by lot, six hundred
and f~1fty.eight miscellaneous individ-
uals, and says to them: Make this
nation toll for US, bleed for us, hun
ger and sorrow and sin for us; and
they do it." 1t has been eighty years
since Carlyle wrote this sarcastic de-
scription of the Mother of Parlia-
ments, but We are still taking pretty
much his view Of legislative assem-
blies. The Boston Transcript, in an
editorial, entitled, THE Miracle OF
Our Legislature" expresses wonder
that any good thing comes out of a
state house.
The States perennial miracle is
about to be performed again. With
the New Year for patron saint, the
Great and General Court of Massachu.
sets will go once more into action.
And then once more the public will
see a mystery in process; it will
watch a body, from whose uneven
membership, imperfect machinery,
and cumbersome practices the most
calamitous things might be expected,
proceeding on it's way without wreck
ing the State and achieving in the
end a sum of good results that not
only outweigh its mistakes, but also
keeps Massachusetts in the van of
progress.
This miracle Massachusetts sees
performed every year; most of her
sister states are content to witness it
every other year; and as they have
pumped upon the odd-aumbered
years for the spectacle, 1915 is seeing
or will soon see the legislature of
every state but five in operation. Even
Alabama, which allows her law.mak-
ers to come together only once IN
four years, ana for Only fifty days, is
marching with the rest.
Dissatisfaction with the work of
our legislatures has been crystalliz-
ing into definite diagnoses and reme-
dies. This year in particular the ap-
proach of the new year has been her
aided by a flood of newspaper COM
ment in a large number of states up
on ways and means of iproving these
bodies. The thing that stands out
conspicuously everywhere is the mass
of bills introduced and even passed.
Columns are filled with suggestions
for keeping this number down to
manageable proportions. A bill is to
be introduced in Massachusetts SUBJ
stituting biennial for annual sessions.
This may be a mistaken remedy, but
the evil of too many bills is a real
one. What is to be said in defense Of
a legislature that amends, supersedes,
extends, repeats, or otherwise affects,
sixty-six of it's own measures? Legis.
lative reference bureaus have been
devised to meet this evil, among 9th.
ers, but in too many states they are
tolerated rather than used.
New Jersey is considering another
legislative reform. She has radical.
minded citizens who favor law.mak.
ing in the open. At present, the title
Of a bill may tell nothing specific
about its contents. What is a mem
Der of a legislature to gather from a
title like this: AN act to amend an
act, which is supplemental to an act
to amend an act applying to courts
having criminal jurisdiction? In
I New York, the law provides that the
! title of a bill shall define it; but the