The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1915-01-22
BRIDGES THINKS
LEGISLATURE IS
A NIGHTMARE
A Glance at Statesmen Shows
What Ais Country, Writes
Cape Representative.
SAYS NEW LAWS ARE
PROBABLYBAD DREAMS
Doesn't Believe Sane Men Could
Conceive Ideas With Stomach
of Limburger and Mince.
By H. w. Bridges.

BY H. w. Bridges.
Jefferson City, Mo-, Jan. 20-When
the Legislature adjourned Saturday
until Monday, there had been intro
duced in the House of Representatives
384 bills and two concurrent resolutions
and 232 bills and 5 Joint concurrent:
resolutions in the Senate.
If a man desires to know what IS
the matter with the country, all he
has to do is to attend a session of the
Legislature and listen to the bills m
troduced. They come in all sorts Of
subjects, and some of the subjects nc
sane man would dream of after eat
ing nince pie and imburger cheese be-
fore going to bed. Not all of the bills
now before the General Assembly are
intended to correct existing evils. No,
sir. Some of them propose to add new
zest to life by creating new annoyan-
ces for long suffering public.
What Missouri really needs is re-
pealing session, without power to
enact any new laws. A small step in
that direction has been taken by the
House. One hundred and twenty-five
bills have been introduced in that
chamber to repeal obsolete and con-
fiicting laws.
The drys have majority in the
House and Senate, and there have
been a number of dry bills introduced.
A bill has been introduced giving
prosecutiog attorneys right to search
for liquor. This bill passed the House
at the last session, but it was killed
in the Senate. Another bill prohibits
the location of a saloon within five
blocks of city school, or within five
miles of university or normal school.
Still another requires the saloons in
the city to close at 10 o'clock at night
and not reopen until 6 o'clock in the
morning. There is also bill to pre-
vent the shipment of liquor into dry
territory, and one to compel the re-
ceiver of package to sign up for it
at the express Office and prove his
age. In short, if the dry program is
carried out, the public will not be able
to get a drink outside of st. Louis,
Kansas City and St. Joseph. Of course
the vets in the Legislature are almost
Frustrated with grief.
The Democrats started out with the
announcement that they would give
themselves only 1S9 clerks in the
House, one for each Democratic Rep
resentative and the balance for the
official family. Now they have IT'S
employees in the House, including
clerks, pages. and stenographerS, and
they are constantly slipping on more.
Indications are that by the end of the
session the clerical force will be larger
and more expensive than two years
ago.
Thursday the Republicans introduc-
ed a resolution requiring the clerical
force to be enrolled that time should
be kept on them, and that they should
be paid only for attendance and work.
This met with bitter opposition from
the Democrats, and they succeeded in
getting it side-tracked to the commit
tee on clerical force where it will rest
in peace during the balance of this
session.
The last session of the Legislature
cost the state over one hundred thou
sand dollars for clerical help, and the
Republicans propose that this waste
full SYSTEM shall be done away with
that is, if they can do it, and if they
can't they propose to place the blame
where it belongs-on the shoulders of
the Democrats. Mr.. Wilder of Ste.
Genevieve County has prepared a bill
for the Republicans which will. cut
down the cost of clerk hire from over
hundred thousand dollars session
to $4,000. The Democrats will be
asked to help pass this~measure, and
if they do not do so they will be placed
on record as favoring useless extrava-
gance.
A contest has been filed in the
House against John McArron, the Re-
publican elected in Dallas County. Mr..
McArron received majority of 10,
and the Democratic candidate, j. R.
Cox, is trying to Dust him, claiming