| Show LAST HOURS OF THE legislature AGAIN have the wrong and injustice of the one man power as it exists and is exercised in utah received ample and striking illustration 0 for fifty six hours thirty six men the law lav makers of a great commonwealth mon wealth waited through the tedious days and the weary watches of the nights in continuous legislative session in order that the third brinch branch of the legislature the governor might have an opportunity to do his share towards perfecting the important legislation then pending only to be dismissed by an imperious wave of the hand and sent home after the manner of a feudal lord sending his to their quarters and to see nullified the work they had so conscientiously and assiduously labored to perfect three bills than which none of the session were of more importance which had cost coat the assembly a great amount of labor to perfect and which had passed both its branches by overwhelming majorities were destroyed by an autocratic and tyrannical ran exercise of the one man power one of these was a bill amending witt the election law lav where all are agreed that it should be amended and was in part a response to recommendations made by the utah commission it merely sought to guard more perfectly the registration lists and ballot boxes and was an impartial measure as between the two political parties it was confidently expected that this bill would receive executive approval but it was vetoed another was a bill providing for an election code that it bould have become law is a proposition easily supported by logic based upon the fundamental principles of the american system of government but as it would have abolished that imported returning board the utah commission a place upon which is worth a year and certain expenses there was faint hope that a governor who had graduated from that same returning board would destroy his alma water wafer by signing a bill which would render its further existence impossible the third bill which the governor killed was one of urgent importance it related to the classification and govern government went of cities and was designed to cure those ambiguities in the present law which have already been the source of so much costly litigation in ogden and this city and in consequence of chica a cloud hangs over both in respect to them the validity of the government each to is now under it was nota politic a al measure in any sense nor degree and we believe not a party vote occurred respecting any feature of it in either house about twenty four hours after the legislature should have adjourned namely fridge evening the governor returned the bill to the council his veto being based solely on the plea that be had not had time to duly consider it and stating that it had been sent to him on the wednesday previous councilor C C richards called attention to the urgent necessity of having the bill become a law and to the fact that the governor had had it since monday instead of Wednesday and moved the appoint ment of a committee to attend upon his hie excellency notify him that the assembly would wait while he considered the bill aej to urge his approval of it that committee did its duty and through long hours sat with the governor considering and advocating the bill the result was the preparation by them the governor of a substitute bill containing new matter and some provisions which the assembly had previously bejec rejected among which was the veto power of mayors A joint committee of the two houses had a long sitting upon the substitute the result being an unfavorable report upon it which both houses houses adopted the legal limit of the session had aen neen exceeded by twenty four hours before the governor sent in his substitute which was virtually a new bill and an it was impracticable to continue the session long enough to properly consider and mature it the failure of the city bill is a great misfortune true the governor had had it in the exact form in which it pawed passed the assembly only five days but he be had a printed copy of the bill as introduced as w many weeks and might easily have made himself familar with it and the amendments made to it after the assembly had long waited his action upon it a number of amendments offered by him verbally were adopted and the bill so ana ended pawed passed both houses and was engrossed and again sent to the executive A long wait terminated in his offering the substitute the governors governor course is open to the criticism of having been vacillating dilatory trifling sand and autocratic he held the legislature fifty six hours or the thereabouts ts pending his bis use of the absolute veto power and then dismissed the disappointed members whose feelings are better imagined than described |
