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Show THE PEOPLE DEMAND IT. J Men of eminence have asserted time j and time again, that the interests of jthe general public would be better served if this country had fewer lawyers law-yers in the make-up of its legislative bodies and more representatives of the different interests of the people. It is true that a lawyer knows more about the manner in which to frame an enactment, en-actment, and he is certainly more qual-i'aed qual-i'aed to tell concerning its legality. This all are willing to concede. But there are matters that interest the gen-, eral public that never receive much, j if any, attention, and it is this sad ne- j gleet that has caused even statesmen ! to deplore the fact that so many of the I political manipulators of our country deem it of the utmost importance! to send only men to our legislative halls who are versed in the technical-j ities of law. I The people of the Eastern and Southern South-ern States in fact all over the Union-are Union-are becoming to learn the folly of this idea, and as a result are inaugurating a change a change which will prove of the utmost benefit to the masses. It is not an essential feature or a requisite qualification of a member to any legislative legis-lative body to be a professor in legal ore; rather is it more requisite to be possessed of sound pense and good judgment. Even in Utah we have proven, to some degree, the truth of this. Possibly Possi-bly nine-tenths of all our statutes is the work of lawyers. Manv of these are cumleisonie, inoperative and useless. use-less. Enactments concerning the farming farm-ing interests of the territory have found their way to the statute books, and before they have been there bu a few months have been demonstrated to be practically mill, and that, too, by the common plowman. Take the es-trav es-trav law, and a more abominable, unjust un-just and worthless enactment never rolled from any legislator's hands, and t e father of it is the Republican candidate can-didate who now seeks an election to the Council on the grounds that ha succeeded suc-ceeded in having passed more bills than any other member of the last Legislature. Leg-islature. Lawyers have gone to the Legislature with t!ie idea that to have their name immortalized it was but only necessary to break the record introducing bills. The more measures he framed and succeeded suc-ceeded in having passed, the more marvelous mar-velous and the more powerful would lie become in the eyes of the people. And not only has this been the hidden thought of such men, but they have even prided themselves so much upon even prided themselves so much upon saeh an achievement as to even flaunt it before the public when seeking a reflection re-flection at their hands. In no other connection could the saving be more irite that "self-praise is no recommendation." recom-mendation." When a politician has to beg for public favors by rehearsing to them the "enormous"' amount of bills he has succeeded in having passed, then it is time he was dropped, and some one elected who has more at heart the interests of the people-It people-It is easy to pass laws, but it is harder to tell what effect they will have upon the country. In fact, the territory is cursed with too much legislation. Some men, for the want of better argument, have gone so far in the present pre-sent campaign as to use asrainst the election of one of the candidates on the Democratic ticket, the fact that "he is a doctor," or, as the Repub lican organ of this c;ty puts it. "'we want lawyers in our legislature and not doctors.'' A thousand times better would lie the condition of our territory, in many vital respects, had we only had in our legislature six years ago, at least, one man who was sufficiently qualified in medicine, sanitation and surgery to I Secure the pussaee of meacurps Wikinc vo ure proper regulation vt: wiese viial subjects. The lives of K)or unfortunates, unfortun-ates, the victims of either the inexperienced inexper-ienced druggist or the villainous quack, would have been saved. The mental faculties of numbers of those who are now in the asylum and many who have succumbed to their affliction, would have been restored without doubt had we but had in our legislature men who were qualified in these most essential departments of public benefit. As it is, to-day any man can come into in-to this territory and bv attaching ;;m. d.,'; "B. to.," "F." r. c s." or "A. S. S." at the end of his name cv. periiuent with the lives of a confiding community. How often have ive heard of "doctors" fatally treating a disease of which they knew nothing, or of taking tak-ing a mother's life while pretending to be thoroughly skilled in obstetrics? And if perchance such men were arrested for malpractice, the law as it now stands only allows such to be punished for a simple misdemeanor; and if a suit for damages was brought against the defendant, de-fendant, possibly a verdict would be se cured and possibly it would not. Then, again, we need laws that will pi event tne common iiawt ot allowing a young man, simply because he is good looking, to go behind the counter coun-ter of the drug store, and fill prescriptions, pre-scriptions, the nature of the drugs composing com-posing which he is entirely ignorant of. How often do we read of the fatal results of this practice! Many a mother's heart has been broken through such criminal carelessness. There are matters also of a general sanitarv nature tiiat require the attention at-tention of our law-makers. Our Insane Asylum, and its several interests, also demand the thoughtful consideration of men thoroughly qualified in such matters. In fact we need the presence of a graduated and experienced member mem-ber of the medical faculty in our - Dext Legislature as " we do the presence of the most brilliant lawyer we have, and the IVmncrui;,. party of Utah county has shown its good judgment and superior wisdom in j placing on its ticket for the suffrages of the voters in the Eleventh Representa tive District, such a pop jlar man as Dr. W. R. Pike. That he will be elected next Monday, only the most radical or the most ignorant will deny. The people peo-ple want him in the Legislature, and no matter how much his personal feelings may be against going there he will be among the next body of our law. |