The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1927-01-12
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18TH, 1927

Seems to hover over all.
Land where fearless souls adventured
In the old primeval days;
Pioneers who never faltered;
Men whose deeds have won them praise.
Where the pulse of life is beating
Strong and true in field and mart,
Mnnesota-state Of promise,
You have somehow gripped the heart.
H. Howard Biggar, Omaha.
49,
A NEW LEGISLATURES MAKES IT'S BOW
w IHEN this issue goes to press another ses-
M sion of the Minnesota legislature will
w have begun it's work.
There are many problems that confront the
solons-and they are not at all easy ones either.
No matter what the weatherman does the
legislators have a hard winter ahead of them.
There will, in all probability be from 1900
to 1000 bills introduced. These the members
are expected to scrutinize and be able to vote
on intelgently. Fortunately, of course, much Of
this work is done by committees and vast num-
Der of these bills get further than the COM
mittee room.
But the average legislator has strenuous
task on his hands even if much of the reading
and studying of bills is eliminated through the
These are times when many perplexing
problems uppermost and the public looks
to the legislature and to congress to solve the be-
setting difficulties. Of course, there only
comparatively few who realize the fact that but
a small number of the ills that organized society
is heir to can be cured by legislation. The sup
CRITICAL view is that economic troubles and in
dustrial difficulties can be taken care of by new
or additional laws; hence the clamor for new
laws every time strange cloud appears upon
the horizon of our everyday existence.
Ambitious agitators have made political
capital out of the misfortunes of the people time
and again. 1t has been thus and probably
ever will be.
This is one of the many and varied troubles
that haunt the path of the lawmaker.
1t is quite reasonable to suppose that every
person who goes to legislative body goes there
with the intention of doing his her best for the
state or the nation, but, rule these people
are handicapped in many ways when it comes
to accomplishing the things they set out to do.
The game of legislation-and it is game
lis one of give and take. The legislator who
wants to succeed finds that he has to give quite
as often as he can take.
The legislature that convened in st. Paul this
week is composed of fine, representative body
of men-and women. Many of these are COM
ing here, as legislators, for the first time No
doubt they are all actuated by the best Of motives
and by sincere desire to be Of service to their
districts and to the state. But they will all find
that in cooperation, in teamwork, In consider
ate attention to the aims and efforts of their
colleagues lies the most direct road to the goal
set for their efforts
One of the most important lessons that 9
legislator has to learn, and at the same time
one of the most difficult, is that of the duty OF
supporting good measure regardless OF its
authorship. There is so much prejudice, so much
pride of opinion, so much desire to tack ones
own identity onto a measure, In short so mucf
of human jealousy among legislators-for after
ALL thank goodness they are only human-tha
many time measures that would have been O.
benefit have gone under because Of running ont,
these breakers. Partisanship, personal pride
sectional interests, these are the things tina
stand in the way of beneficial legislation only too
often-that mention not one of the hardes
obstacles to overcome, class interests and clas
consciousness.
These are some of the we'll known breaker
on which are wrecked the best hopes and the bes
intentions of lawmakers in every state-in ever!
country
1t is not our intention to get into any de
tailed enumeration of the measures, the prob
lens that will be handled by the present legisla
ture. Some of these are apparent, others vii
be brought out and developed as the session pro
crosses.
The consideration of the criminal code an,
the report of the crime commission, appointe.
by Governor Christensen, will no doubt occup,
a considerable portion of the legislatures time
and rightly so.
There is probably no subject Of greater i'm
portance than this to the people of Minnesota
or any other state. The fact that citizen Of
the state feel in reality secure either in per-
son or property and the fact that every day the
rights of our citizens to property, life and the
peaceful and unmolested pursuit Of their daily
vacations are being violated by reckless Grimm