Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1919-02-05
ACTIVITIES Of THE
STATE LEGISLATURE
LAWMAKERS BESIEGED WITH
PETITIONS OF ALL KINDS,
MANY TO WASTE BASKETS.
Road Legislation to Come Out Of Pres
ent Session of the Legis.
lature.

Road Legislation to Come Out of Pres
ent Session Of the LegS.
! lature.
Des Moines, Feb. 2, 1919.
1t is only stating a fact when we
say that we believe petitions present.
ed in the House of Senate are about
as useless as prayer to Allah. Be-
tion of circulating petitions to the leg
islature for this, that or the other
thing, let US urge upon them to take
the time and write personal letters,
giving their views in friendly confer
ence with their member.
Petitions to the General Assembly
have been coming in thick and fast
during the past week. Twenty-one
different petitions were sent up to the
secretary's desk in the Senate on
Monday and half dozen in the
House. Among those in the Senate
were. Six petitions relative to the
proposed better housing law; four
relative to improved roads and high
ways; four for increasing the pay Of
county supervisors; one for the pro-
lection of game; and one relative 70
profiteering by public utilities. On
Tuesday so many petitions came to
the Senate members that if taken to
the desk one bXspne.. and presented
to the secretalyin the. usual way 1t
would have required an hour Of time,
instead of doing this a senator sug-
gested that all such petitions be gath
cred up by page and delivered in .
bunch-and there they are and for-
gotten. s...,E ,...e..r
In the Senate petition is present
ed by the member receiving the same
addressing the president and sstating
that he has a petition on this or that
subject. It is then delivered to page
and left at the secretary's desk. But
Iyheen npWsrous tpetttioas are TO- be
dled the. member AsNelly rises and.
motions to. the tpass,y bands Aha. Dsttea
ton to him and in thauf Snal pf TIE
Senate the next morning yon, ,tsead
that Senator So-andrSo presented .
petition from his county. relative to
the road, schools. salaries or other
questisas Ii the Hosse TIE journal
boils this down 70 q report that 1Ssy-
ers. Of, lows county, a petition Re-
ferred to committee on, roads and
highways" And 30 on for half, IN
hours reading, perhaps, while thdps
titions themselves get mo- further
consideration, and reasjuHTih ftAboJt 80
much influence. Nobbdj IL aptsto erSs
1851 af tnem again. r''''
And yet every member of the House
and Senate likes to hear from his
constituents and learn their views.
He often writes scores OF letters to
them to ask their views on some OF
the very subjects for which they have
signed petitions.
The personal letter to member OF
the legislature means that the writer
is earnest and sincere enough in what
he says to take the time to write IL,
to furnish the paper and stamps and
mail it. The petition is known to be
usually REQUEST by some enthusiast
for his friends and anybody or every
body he meets to put their names
down on a piece Of paper, the con-
tents of which they know very little
about. Petitions come in that are
laughable, many of them illegible,an
all of them a waste of the time and
material involved.
Provoking Resolutions
About as useless as petitions to the
legislature is the value many of the
members attach to resolutions" Of
fered in both House and Senate en-
dorsing this or that, or directing con-
gress to do something. Several times
in the past week have members
soaked" such propositions, and one
was the resolution endorsing the
league of nations. Presented in the
House by Nebiker of Burlington at a
time when the members were evil
IDENTIFY in an ugly mood, when some
thing else had gone wrong, or when
too much of the same stuff was ap-
pearing, and also not liking the per-
spicacity of the author of the resolu-
ton, this memorial to congress to put
across what President Wilson and all
our peace ENJOYS are in Europe to
promote, met with disaster, tangled
up in the first barbrwire, fell into the
front trenches, gassed and gone. Like
wise one endeavoring the improve
ment of the st. Lawrence-Welland
canal, etc. But in each case it took
oratory and time to do the useless
job.
Printers Accused Of Delay
Members of both House and Senate
we're more than peeved Monday when
they found the printed copies of most
of the bills offered had not yet
reached their desks so as to enable
them to study these bills and allow
the committees to act upon them.
Two House committees were ready to
report bills out for passage, but the
printed bills were not yet available
after days of elapsed time. The Sen
ate faced like situation and adopt
ed a resolution calling for informa-
ton concerning the delay. The chair
men of the printing committees OF
both houses were ordered to investi-
gate and report on the matter, and