The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1915-03-19
ONE REASON WHY THE LAW
is NOT MAGNIFIED.
(Lew;ston Tribune


There was long period of time
during which the ancient augurs be-
lieved that they possessed powers OF
divination. So long as they did, their
counsels and prophecies commanded
obedience and respect. But it is fur
Their narrated in history that their dis
illusionment, although it preceded
that Of the multitude, marked the be
ginning of the end OF popular respect
for their counsels and prophecies.
May not one apprehend that laws
are susceptible to the same corrupting
influence; that they will cease to com
mand obedience and respect as they
whom they are meant to constrain
come to suspect the sincerity or com
potency of the men who enact them ?
To make an analogy less classical, is
not even one insincere or prejudicial
law in the statute book somewhat as
single rotten apple is to the whole
barrel?
We make no reference here to sub
Jects OF public contention, which have
been fought over and fought out, and
which the sovereign people have au-
thoriZed or even commanded to be
enacted. We refer only to broad and
general tendencies, and to no special
act or policy whatever.
The legislators, like the augurs Of
old, themselves have come to realize
the insincerity of their craft and the
tutility Of their necromancy. They
have caused to be printed at Boise
An Act to Regulate Farmers and
Farming" The provisions of the act
are the richest sort Of burlesque, serv-
ing to illustrate as clearly as anything
can the drift of legislation. as well as
its impolicy and its injustice.
This act, regulating farms and farm
ing, specifies that only one price for a
given commodity shall be lawful, and
any producer desiring to change such
price must present his case to the
commission. with the burden of proof
upon the petitioner. The farmers
hired man may not work above eight
hours per day, and must have had 10
hours absolute rest before going on
the job Every farmer shall have one
more hired man than his york re-
quires. Sheds shall be built over all
felds GneTe the hired man works in
summer. Similarly. all barns and
others places used. by the hired man
shall be adequately heated, lighted and
policed in cold water.
The right to mortgage real estate is
a franchise reserved to the state. A
commission OF FIVE persons shall be
appointed to enforce the act, appoint
ed with a view to placing as many
shades of political opinion as possible
No commissioner, however, shall be
deemed disqualified by lack of pre-
vious political or other experience.
There is much more in the printed
text to the same purport, evidently
adapted from some regulatory statute
already in force, or perhaps pending
in the then assembly. One result. ap-
parently, of this parody was the dis
appearance of the railway full crew
bill, whose exit seems to have beeS
| accomplished with little ceremony A
sense of humor is an American trait
that averts many dangerous situa-
ton and clarifies many muddled pro-
position and it does good service in
this instance, even in disclosing to
legislators the faulty or emptiness
of purposes they had been taking all
too seriously. but which were really
Of no more effect than the auguries
and the omens of old, excepting only
in derogatory way, and with the ulti-
mate consequence Of discrcditng, at
tanning and destroying the whole in
Stitution.