The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-09-10
Experts Have Difficult Time in
Revising Kansas Statutes.
Philadelphia Lawyer Could Not
Interpret Some Of Them.
MANY CONFLICTS ARE FOUND
To Weed Out Dead Matter and
Rearrange Type Pages.>
Completed Volume VIII Con
tain Almost 5000 Pages.

Wholesale rewriting and repeating
of the Kansas laws will be necessary
in order to clarity them. c. D. Yetter
and D. S. Pipes, experts employed by
the commission appointed by the SUI
preme court to revise the statutes,
agree that even a Philadelphia law
yer could not interpret 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 typepage, substituting
for 10 point type and using double
instead of a single column to the page,
the commission hopes to get the re
vised statutes in volume no larger
than the general statues OF 1915. That
volume contains ATS pages, while
the session laws since then have
brought the total number of pages
up to 1886.
Many Inconsistencies.
A few of the most. glazing incon-
sistencies and conflicts which so far
have been discovered by the revisers
follow:
A 1917 law requires that all auto
mobiles using the public highways be-
tween 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 and one hour
before sunrise. The conflict is obvl-
Gus.
An 1891 law created a board of pub
lie works, to consist of three members
appointed by the governor, with the
| duty of experimenting erection of all
public buildings, including the adop-
ton of plans and specifications AL
tho this law has never been repealed,
| it is said the last board was appointed
| in 1909. Since then, however, the
state architect. also authorized by the
act, has been appointed each two
years.
| of $50 for mistreating a horse, OK or
other cattle An 1899 law provides a
| fine of not to exceed $3.50, a Jail SEN
/ tence of not to exceed one year, or
/ both, for cruelty to any animal
Ito Regulate Navigation.
One of the earliest laws placed on
the statute books, but now entirely
| obsolete. regulates steamboat nav1-
| gation on the rivers of the state, pro-
Viding penalties for taking on so
so many passengers or such quantity
I of lading as to sink the boat, ana Tor
other negligencies of control
! Three laws are on the statute BOOKS
regarding the sale of prison mined
coal bv the state A law of 1891 per-
! n1its 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 a 1921 law. The latest law Is
assumed to be the guiding enactment
aItho the previous acts were not re-
pealed.
The law providing for the general
election ballot says that a circle is to
appear opposite the name OF the can
didate for president only, making II
necessary to vote for the ten electors
in a body. A diagram accompanying
the law shows a circle opposite the
name of each elector. The supreme
court held in a test case that the IAN
i guage of the law governs.
The 1917 legislature enacted TWO
laws relating to the appropriation OF
lands by corporations, which are prac.
ticalIy alike One is chapter 122 anc
the other chapter 123 of the session
laws of that year. A similar duphca'
ton appears in the 1919 session laws
in chapters III and 172, both OF whicf
fix the terms of court in the twenty
third judicial district.
: The 1917 compensation act Is am
biguous in its wording In one sector
) it provides for payment of compensa
ton to injured workmen in lump sum-
and in another states that it is not u
: be paid in lump sums except when TN
award has been delayed by the cour
= in which case the injured would re
ceive the back payments In Iuml
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