The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-01-03
BAR ASSOCIATIONS
ANNUAL MEETING
Continued from first page

nate regulations and ordinances, whic
are imposed upon us by annual or bier
NAL legislation we wonder how nation
of earlier days grew numerous, prosper
GUS and powerful, governing distan
provinces and alien races in widely ex
tended zones for periods of many cen
turtles, with many thousand fewer law
| than are considered and enacted in
year by the American legislatures. TIL
paucitv of laws that could be written upo
| IL tables that suffice for world empire
seems trivial matter when compared wit
the great mass of laws that furnish u
with the rules of civic conduct. Tn
world has made remarkable strides in tn
progress of intelligence, and natural,
we would conclude that this progress
would diminish the number of laws
Granted sufficient intelligence to eacl
unit of population, there ought to result
sufficient amount of intelligent con
duct to minimize, if not eliminate, th'
necessity of imposed social regulations
But the reverse appears to be true, Sc
that the more You educate the individual
the more you must regulate him by law
This paradox springs in part from in
creased complexity of affairs due to in
creased intelligence itself. Rights anc
duties are multiplied with the diversifi'
cation of activities The ancient and
comparatively uneducated world was
largely agricultural and military, tc
which was added the commerce of tide
less seas. To-day occupations and en-
terprises have increased manifold. The
pursuits of agriculture and war have
become complex. Farm products are
marketed in distant sections of the
earth. Martial forces are no longer di-
rected by the plumed charger, but by
arithmetical processes aided by the cour-
iers of the air. Commerce, once limited
to a days journey of The camel, the OK
or the ship that did not venture from
the sight of the shore, traverses conti-
nents and disregards horizons.
But while the complexity of modern
life and the worlds sweep of commerce
may, at first, seem sufficient explana-
ton for the multiplication of laws, it
does not account for the fact that our
own country is conspicuous among ma
tions for the number of its laws and
legislative proposals. Some causes are
operative in this country that are not
found elsewhere. If we look at the Eng
lish parliament, we find that it considers
many thousand less bills than our Con-
gress. Twenty-Five years ago, Mr. Bryce
upon this discrepancy. He
noted that up to july of the first year
Of the 49th Congress (lSS5-7), 1906
bills, exclusive of 277 resolutions. were
while in the British House
Of Commons in the session of 1855 only
49, bills were introduced The contrat
Is more striking when we consider that
The American Congress has a much
smaller field of legislation than the Eng
ish parliament. We have not the figures
30 that we can compare the number of
pills introduced in parliament at the
present time, but we know that the
number introduced in Congress has ris-
m to 10000 in year. If the same pro-
portion is maintained, the English par
lament would consider only about 1900
)ills.
"We look in vain to any special pro-
'ision in the British constitution or our
'wn for the cause of this difference. We
must find il elsewhere. BY looking at the
'raetice and customs of the two coun
ries, we will find some explanation. Po-
itical parties in England are more
trictly accountable for legislation than
5 the case with us. Every bill, as a |
ule, that is enacted there, must origi- |
ate with, or receive the approval of, |
he ministry in control With us, any /
member of the legislature is free to in |
reduce bill. There is the formality of |
skiing leave to do so, but leave is grant
d as a matter of course. When a bill I
introduced, it is referred to a COM
littee, whose favorable or unfavorable
eport usually settles it's fate. In the
'nglish parliament, bill is considered
efore it is introduced, while with us,
fter it is introduced. On all impor-
ant bills, the cabinet there is prepared
, give full explanation, and the parts
n which test votes will be asked are
etermined upon in advance of their in
while with us nobody has |,
wen bill before introduction any con-
Iteration unless it be the introducer.
ction upon any bill with us does not
feet members term of service, while
England it may. If a congressman's
'rm of office depended upon his vote
pom a bill, he would naturally be more
Ireful in scrutinizing it. This differ
ice in practice between the two legisla-
We bodies in a measure accounts fo the &
ference in the number of bills intro Il
iced and laws passed i
But there are other fruitful sources q
bills and laws that operate more ex- !
nsively, perhaps, in this country than i
any other, and the people are largely I
sponsible for them. A candidate for {
lice generally feels compelled, in an I
YER to popular demand to advertise i
rye assortment of millenial proposals 7
at he will try, if elected, to have enact I
into law. If he is a candidate for re-
eetion, he seeks to gain votes by the y
lmber of bills he has already intro :
ICED, although they be neither fish, nor n
sh, nor good red herring Judging by i
G amount of use that is made of this q
gument, we infer that candidates have h
und it effective. Our people seem to =
rget that the statesmen whose names 3
We become household words have not
me down TO us on the filings of bills.
'body cares for Wilmot, but the world
II long remember some of the men :,
10 debated his proviso. The introducer :
bill is often entitled TO as much !,
dit, and no more, as the owner of the :,
W that kicked over a lantern and set :
p TO great city.
Another staple argument of equal :,
light is position on a committee. even
that position is due to a rule of senior
and not to the merits of the candi- -