Evening star., 1926-01-17
BY WILL Z. KENNEDY


T HIS country must begin serious
" to consider making changes
in its system of representative
i government, in the opinion OF
Representative Robert Luce
Republican, of Massachusetts, who has
been characterized repeatedly in Con
gress as the foremost American au-
thority on parliamentary law and It's
history.
There probably has never been a
tine, Mr.. Luce says, when the legisla-
tive branch of Government Doth Ma
utonal and Statel has been held in such
low esteem as il is today. While a
champion of representative govern
ment, who believes that a representa-
tive assembly furnishes the best means
ever devised for determining the will
of the people, he looks with foreboding
70 the future. He Is convinced that
The processes rather than the prin-
ciples of our Government need to be
reformed
The principal fault with Congress.
9 he sees il, Is that Ii Is overwhelmed
with work II is untitled to perform, be-
cause the machinery for choosing Rep
resentatiVes Is not adapted to changed
modern, complex conditions. This is
also true of State Legislatures. The
great need, he Is convinced, Is to re-
ueve Congress and the State Legisla-
lures of the work Of writing admins
trattve law, which should be left to eX-
perts,
Speaks With Authority.
Mr.. Luce speaks with authority on
this subject. lie served as a member
of the General Court Of Massachusetts
Tor nine years, from 1899 to 1908; of
it's governors council, as lieutenant
governor III 1919; as chairman of the
committee on rules and procedure of
its constitutional convention, 19l7-1919,
and is now serving his fourth term as
a member of the House, being chair
man of the committee on the Library.
For more than 40 years he has
made an intensive study of the whole
subject of law making. With unique
combination of original thought, long
research and more than quarter OF a
century of practical experience, he has
compiled four volumes = Legislative
Procedure Legislative Assemblies %
Legislative Principles" and ''Legisla-
tive Problems which the more stu
ious among his colleagues in Congress
describe as the most authoritative and
valuable work on this subject that has
been published in the English Ian
Susge.
The trend abroad toward absolu-
tism and dictatorship is highly signiti-
cant, Mr.. Luce believes, and even more
so Is the cry in this country for single
leadership.
Cites Case OF Greece.
1.-THE resort of Greece to a Dictator
ship adds one more to the serious
occasion for doubt as to the future of
representative government" he says.
The topping of thrones that came
With the World War seemed for the
moment to have ended one-man rule.
Many thought we had not only made
The world safe for democracy, but
established II difinitely as the uni
versal form of government.
Since then we have seen Italy
spain, Greece and Turkey turn to die
tators. Persia has replaced one with
mother. France hangs on the edge of
revolution, with parliamentary insti-
tutions at the lowest point Of dIsfavor.
Russia is republic only In name. The
election of Won Hindenburg in Ger
many Is expected by many to be but
a step toward the return of the en-
pire. England finds herself with
trated In one man, the prime min
ister. And most significant of all, the
cry for single leadership was never so
loud in the United States.
"In short, i'll the 700 years since
representative government was first
established, save perhaps for the
period when under the Tudor mon
archs the Parliament almost diSap-
reared and the brief interval when
cromwell put an end to what he called
tie 'prating' of It's members, there
has probably been no time" Mr.. Luce
reminds US. when the Legislative
branch was held in such low esteem as
it is today.
Dissatisfaction Everywhere.
~Tt Is palpable that everywhere men
are not satisfied with the results Of
having their laws framed by chosen
representatives working under the
conditions that prevail. Many reasons
are advanced for this dissa abstraction.
Only few of them go to the essence.
One of them is found in the belief that
there are too many laws. That is an
inadequate explanation, for the fact is
that While there are innumera bic
critics of the volume of legislation
taken as whole. almost nobody
points out any specific class of legis-
lation as unwise," Mr.. Luce empha-
sizes.
ASK any thoughtful man 10 go
through the enactmentS of a session
Of Congress or a State Legislature
and point out any single law which
he is sure ought not to have been
passed, ana ne VIII nave dlf1lculty In
specifying. Or take the spread Of
governmental activity, which in the
last generation has doubled the tax
rate, and he will be a rare man who
will urge retracing of steps in any
specified direction.
'If the platforms of political candi-
dates be examined, if the speeches of
candidates be apalyzed, if the trend
of newspaper editorials be observed,
81 IA.
be noted, it will be found that the
great burden of complaint is not be-
cause of the enactment of laws, but