Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-09-14
INCONSISTENCIES
D|SCOvE RED IN
LAWS Of KANSAS
Wholesale Rewriting and Re-
peaIing Will Be Necessary
In Order to Clarity Them,
Is Claim.
(By The Associated Press.l

Topeka. Kan, Sept. 13.-Whole-
sale rewriting and repeating of the
Kansas laws will be necessary in
order to clarity them. C. d. Yet
ter and D, s, Pipes, experts en-
ployed by the commission APP
pointed by the supreme court to
revise the statutes, agree that even
a Philadelphia lawyer could not in
terpret some of the laws which
have accumulated since 1868, the
date of the first and only previous
codification.
BY wedding out the dead matter
and rearranging the type page,
substituting for 10-point type
and using a double instead of a
single column to the page, the COM
mission hopes to get the revised
statutes in volume no larger than
the general statutes of 1915. That
volume contains ais pages, while
the session laws since then have
brought the total number of pages
up to 1886.
A few of the most glaring incon-
sistencies and conflicts which so
far have been discovered by the
revisers follow:
A 1917 law requires that all
automobiles using the public high
ways between one-half hour after
sunset and one-half hour before
sunrise must show two white head
lights and one red tail light. A
1921 law requires that the number
tag be lighted from one hour after
sunset to one hour before sunrise.
The conflict is obvious.
An 1891 law created n board of
public works, to consist of three
members appointed by the gov
ernor, with the duty of superin-
tending erection OF all public
buildings, including the adoption of
plans and specifications. AL
though this law has never been re-
pealed, it is said the last board
was appointed in 1909. Since then.
however, the state architect, also
authorized by the act, has been ap-
pointed each two years.
An old enactment provides a fine
OF $50 for mistreating a horse, OK
or other cattle. An 1889 law pro-
vides a fine of not to exceed $3.50.
n Jail sentence of not to exceed one
year, or both, for cruelty to any
animal
One OF the earliest laws placed
on the statute books, but now en-
tirely obsolete. regulates steam
boat navigation on the rivers of
the state, providing penalties for
taking on so many passengers or
such a quantity OF lading as to
sink the boat, and for other negli-
gcncies of control.
Three laws are on the statute
books regarding the sale of prison
mined coal by the state. A law OF
1891 permits the sale OF such coal
on the open market, after the state
institutions have been supplied.
This is prohibited by an 1889 law,
but is permitted again under
1921 law. The latest law il as
sumed to be the guiding enact
ment, although the previous acts
were not repealed.
The law providing for the gen.
eral election ballot says that a
circle is to appear opposite the
name Of the candidate for presi-
dent only, making It necessary to
Nott lbI lie Ten eleClOTS III DOOy.
A diagram accompanying the law
shows a circle opposite the name
of each elector. The supreme
court held in test case that the
language of the law governs.
The 1917 legislature enacted two
laws relating to the appropriation
of lands by corporations, which are
alike. One is chapter
122 and the other chapter 1928 of |
the session laws of that year. A
similar duplication appears in the
1919 session laws, in chapters III
and 172, both of which fix the
terms OF court in the twenty-third
judicial district.
The 1917 compensation act Is
ambiguous In its wording. In one
section it provides for payment of
compensation to injured workmen
in lump sums and in anothewstates
that 1t Is not to be paid in lump
sums except when the award has
boen delayed by the court, in which
case the injured would receive the
back payments in a lump sum,