The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1927-02-17
THE STATE LEGISLATURE
AND ITS WORKINGS TODAY
Hurried Legislation Prevents
the Discovery of Snakes Hid
den In Many Bills.
(From The Marylander)

ing to the precedents of the past CEN
tury and a half. The routine is sub
stantially the same, and the changes
that have been made from time to
time since the revolution of 1776, as
the records all show, have not been
materially of any great Importance.
Efforts have been made at the begin
ming of every session to bring about
changes, but before a month of the
session had passed the work was back
in the age-old rut, as it is now, and
this age-old way is probably as good
as any other way would be, and no
improvements are necessary and none
are desired.
Almost daily during this, as was the
case all previous sessions, newspa-
per CT tics, as we'll as other faultfnd-
ers, have solemnly raised their pro-
tests, because, as they say, nothing
has ben done at Annapolis" The
truth is the members are not to blame
and rarely ever are for the delays in
cident to the work of the session. A
large proportion of the time is taken
up with the consideration Of measures
presented by various official and other
bodies from every section of the state,
the largest proportion of which come
from the municipal authorities Of Bal
timore-none of which have been sent
in. Next in Importance are the great
masses of local bills from the twenty
three counties-they are not on hand,
and probably will not be until late this
month. Next comes the large num-
Der of measures prepared by the Bar
Association. They are never in be-
fore the first of March, and, while
what are known as the State Admins
tration measures, are supposed to be
in, the chances are that there will be
many more of that character, and
they will be coming in to the end Of
! the session. In addition to all the
above classes of measures, there are
always all sorts of amendments to
charters, many in number, and prac-
! tlcally none of them are not even for
mulated up to the present time. And
/ it should be remembered that the leg
islature is really court, that its bus
mess is to decide what laws should be
passed,and that it is not expected that
the members should prepare the pro-
posed laws-that is the duty of the
officials and others who represent the
various municipalities and other or
CARNATIONS, whose executives are
familiar with the needs of the public
not forgetting the large number of
those who represent private and semi
private interests, who have axes to
grind, and who may need Legislative
action to further, and give legal sane
ton to all sorts of schemes, legiti-
mate and otherwise-and these mat
tiers require time for consideration,
and few of them have appeared at
Annapolis, many of them never ap-
pear until late in the session-and it
should be taken into consideration
that large proportion of the evils
and mistakes that arise from the
work of the legislature are brought
about by haste on the part of those
who wish to get measures drought
without proper care and careful con-
sideration-all of which takes time.
Hurried legislation is apt to be i'll
considered and bills with snakes con-
cealed in their folds are usually those
which are rushed through by means
of deals or other questionable meth
DDS. The longer & bill is delayed in
its course through both houses the
more likely it is that defects or ques-
tionable features will be discovered,
and lead to its amendment or defeat.
The greatest dangers in legislation,
therefore, arise from i'll considered
haste. And nine times out of ten the
haste does not arise from any fault of
the Legislators but from the delay in
the introduction of the measures caus-
ed by those whose duty 1T was to have
them at Annapolis long before the
session was nearing its final stage.
Bills cannot be taken up and examined
until they are before the committees,
and when the law department of the
City does not begin to prepare its long
list of bills until the session is half
over, while the Bar Association never
takes up its long list of amendments
and repeats, until the middle of March,
when the County Commissioners Of
the twenty-thres counties do not make
up their minds as to what they want,
and when dozens Of other associations
and bodies, both public and private,
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