23. How has initiative and referendum legislation increased this burden? 24. What plan has been advocated as a remedy for the evils of the long ballot? 25. Point out the chief advantages which are claimed for this plan. 26. What is the goal of election reformers? CHAPTER XXXVI HONESTY AND EFFICIENCY IN OFFICE Some factors influencing legislation in the United States. Defects of American legislation: (1) lack of responsibility. 211. Obstacles to intelligent legislation 1 In both state and national legislatures lawmaking is notoriously inefficient and defective. American legislators are not always public-spirited or competent, but even where our lawmakers are conscientious and capable, it has been shown again and again that the laws which they turn out are often defective and ill-considered. We must admit, therefore, that regardless of the personnel of our legislatures there are in this country serious obstacles to intelligent legislation. These obstacles are discussed by Professor Freund in the following passage: The shortcomings of our present system may be said to be lack of responsibility, lack of expert advice, and lack of principle. 1. Responsibility. . . . Any member of the legislature may introduce any bill he pleases, and his doing so does not even necessarily mean that he assumes any responsibility for its form or contents. . . . It has been suggested that it might be well to limit each member of a state legislature to a small number of bills, to induce him to exercise some care and discrimination. If this were regarded as [unreasonable], he might at least be required, as a condition of having his bill considered by a committee, to state at whose request, at the instance of which interest or organization, he introduced a measure; still better to furnish a memorandum of the purpose of the bill and an explanation of its provisions, as is now common in the national legislature when a bill is reported favorably by a committee. This would ensure the correction of many errors and would tend to fix responsibility. . . . All this could be accomplished by rules of the 1 From the American Political Science Association, Proceedings at its Fourth Annual Meeting, 1907. Waverly Press, Baltimore, Md., 1908. Ernest Freund, “The Problem of Intelligent Legislation”; pp. 71–74, 77. legislature. The publication of bills in advance of their introduction would be even more desirable. While the executive cannot initiate legislation directly, he can The part do so practically through friendly members, and assume the political of the ex ecutive in responsibility therefor. Thę practice is not uncommon now, and will securing probably grow in the future. ... The share of our executives in better laws. legislation at the final stage of the process is much larger than it is in most European states, but at present the sense of responsibility for its exercise is limited. While governors regard it as their duty to veto measures that are plainly unconstitutional or unworkable, they generally yield to the legislature in matters of policy. A freer exercise of the veto power than is now common, based upon looseness and faultiness of provisions, would, however, be tolerated not only by the people, but probably by the legislature itself. ... 2. Expert Advice. There are two distinct kinds of advice that (2) Lack of the legislature stands in need of, the first as to the content of legis expert advice, lation, the second as to its legal form. As to the first, the theory is that the legislature is acquainted with the circumstances and needs of the people, . but as a matter of fact, most of the information necessary for intelligent legislation cannot be acquired without special study or even special training. . . Where the subject to be legislated on is one not supposed to be technical, the legislature commonly acts upon the vaguest impressions, reflecting popular beliefs and prejudices. As regards the correct legal form of expressing the subject-matter of legislative proposals, it is recognized that this is a task requiring technical learning. . . . The technical shortcomings of our statutes are chiefly due to the fact that they come from so many hands working without supervision and without a concerted plan. Each statute is apt to create to some extent an administrative machinery of its own, to have its own peculiar provisions for sanction and enforcement, to frame anew rules and principles applicable to already existing acts in pari materia. The multiplicity of separate provisions for separate statutes produces dis-harmony and confusion, and unnecessarily encumbers our law. ... 3. [Lack of principle]. – By principle I understand the permanent and non-partisan policy of justice in legislation, the observance of (3) lack of principle. the limits of the attainable, the due proportion of means to ends, and moderation in the exercise of powers which by long experience has been shown to be wise and prudent, though it may be temporarily inconvenient or disappointing in the production of immediate results. 1 The movement to employ expert billdrafters, and to establish legislative reference bureaus. The best way to improve legislation 212. The legislative reference bureau The activities of political reformers have not markedly reduced the evils of unintelligent legislation; nevertheless there are here and there indications of a new attitude toward the problems of the lawmaker. There is a growing tendency for state legislatures to employ an expert bill-drafter to draw up laws on technical matters. Often this bill-drafter works in conjunction with a legislative reference bureau, provision for which now exists in a number of states. The first of these bureaus was the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Department, established in 1901. The following is an extract from a publicity bulletin of the Department, issued in 1908: Our short experience has taught us many things. We have been convinced that there is a great opportunity to better legislation through work of this kind, - that the best way to better legislation , is to help directly the man who makes laws. We bring home to him and near to him everything which will help him to grasp and understand the great economic problems of the day in their fullest signifiance, and the legislative remedies which can be applied and the legislative limitations which exist. We must take the theory of the professors and simplify it so that the layman can grasp it immediately and with the greatest ease. The legislator has no time to read. His work is new to him, he is beset with routine work, he has to have conferences with his friends upon political matters, he is beset by office seekers and lobbyists, and he has no time to study. If he does not study or get his studying done for him, he will fall an easy prey to those who are looking out to better their own selfish ends. Therefore we must shorten and digest and make clear all information that we put within his reach. Some essentials in carrying on this work may be summarized briefly: 1 From the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Department, Publicity Bulletin, 1908. is to 1. The first essential is a selected library convenient to the legis- Importance lative halls. This library should consist of well-chosen and selected of a library in material. A large library is apt to fail because of its too general helping the lawmaker. nature and because it is liable to become cumbersome. This library should be a depository for documents of all descriptions relating to any phase of legislation from all states, Federal government, and particularly from foreign countries. . . . Books are generally behind the times, and newspaper clippings from all over the country, and magazine articles, court briefs, and letters must supplement this library and compose to a large extent its material. 2. A trained librarian and indexer is absolutely essential. The The librarian. material is largely scrappy and hard to classify. We need a person with a liberal education, who is original, not stiff, who can meet an emergency, and who is tactful as well. 3. The material is arranged so that it is compact and acces- Arrangement sible. of material. 4. Complete index of all bills which have not become laws in the past should be kept. This saves the drawing of new bills and makes the experience of the past cumulative. 5. Records of vetoes, special messages, political platforms, politi- Political cal literature, and other handy matter should be carefully noted documents and records. and arranged, 6. Digests on laws on every subject before the legislature should Digests of be made and many copies kept. Leading cases on all these laws and laws should be kept. opinions of public men and experts upon the working of these laws or upon the defects, technical or otherwise, should be carefully indexed, and, as far as possible, published in pamphlet form, with short bibliographies of the subjects most before the people. 7. The department must be entirely nonpolitical and nonpartisan Importance or else it will be worse than useless. If you have the choice between of nonpar tisanship. establishing a political department and no department at all, take the latter. 8. The head of the department should be trained in economics, The head of the political science, and social science in general, and should have also department. a good knowledge of constitutional law. He should, above all, have tact and knowledge of human nature. 9. There should be a trained draftsman connected with the depart |