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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 17, 1950)
' MEDFORIMgTRIBUNE Second Section Voter's Legislative Report iThii It the leventh and latt in a leriei of articles regard ing legislative procedure and organization taken from The Oregon Voter.) MINOH SUGGESTIONS FOH TIME SAVING Require early introduction and printing of all the bills required for the budget, with text in pro posed final form. Under present practice, the budget bills usual ly are introduced during the fi nal daj'S of the session. If full text were available earlier, the members of both houses and the public would be better equipped for their appearances before sub committees of joint ways and means committees. Lack of final form before subcommittees oft en has occasioned long delays as a result of misunderstanding. Require early introduction and printing of all bills recom mended by the administrative offices of the state. Different strategies are not resorted to by different administrative agen cies, according to their concept of how committee members will 'react to their proposals. Some committees for years have fol lowed the practice of consider ing administration bills before introduction, so they may be in troduced as committee bills after ihe committee has come into agreement as to substance and text. The result is that the gen eral membership of bo houses and the public have no clear idea of the content of such pro Dosed legislation until late in the session, when it may be in troduced as committee bills with all the prestige of committee ap proval. Often it is difficrlt to up set such committee actio 1, taken after long deliberation n com mittee, or to procure amend ments of a text that in such man ner has been carefully revised and pre-determined. Late in a session, members of both houses are at an extreme disadvantage due to lack of early knowledge' of text, content and substance of bills; the public also is at a dis advantage; usually it is too late to procure revision such as could have been obtained if text had been exposed early in the session. Another strategic approach of bill sponsors, both of state of ficers and of shrewd legislators, is to hold up introduction of con troversial proposals until -late enough in the session to escape the criticism that could arise early in the session when there was ample lime to voice objec tions and to organize opposition for appearances before commit tees. It is almost a maxim among shrewd legislative politicians mat tne surest way to get a questionable bill enacted in full in the session, under the guise of emergency, so it can be rushed through committees and both houses before the general mem bership or the general public has had opportunity to study it de liberately. Only the keenest of alert leadership is likely to dis cern faults in legislation which comes in late in the session, sponsored by the executive branch, or by an administrative commission or a legislative com' mittee, as an 'emergency re quiring suspension of the rules and the rushing through of its enactment. While too rigid a rule on time limit for bill in troduction could prevent the meeting of real emergencies by a legislature, the general rules should be in form to deter the practice of late introduction and printing except in what the most capable leadership would recog nize at once as emergencies so genuine in nature that suspen sion of the rules would be im perative in the Dublic interest. Another device is employed by shrewd sponsors in anonymity. Real identity of sDonsors could be established by rules requiring that each bill, when introduced. set forth the identity of a spon sor or sponsors, and their pri vate relationship with the intro ducing member, it any. Thus: Introduced by Representative uoo, at the request of: John Jones, a client. William Smith, engaged In the 5pme occupation, industry or ' Rlrndr.l WM.krr W Prnf X T l,tin Neutral Sr'"1 Mr Bmrnn Ditttllrr Inc.. Bonon. Mu AMERICA'S FIRST WHISKEY PBRMjOSJ flfilll SIP) ALA X T MEDFORD, OREGON, FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 1950 r-"M.Uu a lne introducer. Oregon Federation of Labor of which and its affiliates the introducer is not a member. re?n State Grange, of which the introducer is a mem ber. Portland Chamber of Com merce, of which the introducer is a member. Association of Tavern Own ers, members of which are cli ents of the introducer. WCTU, of which the introdu cer is not a member. State department of educa tion. State public welfare commis sion. The governor of Oregon. The secretary of state. The labor commissioner. Requirement that such identi fication be made, plus the addi tional requirement that no bill may be considered bv a commit tee Until it had hpnn inlrnrinnoH and printed, for the information of the legislature and the pub- wouia relieve many situa tions. Attorney members would be relieved of emha either by frank admission of re lationship with a client interest ed in a bill, or by clear denial of relationship with members of an association snonsorini! the measure. Non-attorney members vwi-,":." '.." ' 1 1 1 . "', ". ,'i -.. " " 111 i . i ... ii ,t, . nr"j 1 .' 'I - ' - ...,.. - fJ ! I U -7.1 MJ7 s - V y' : - , , . x v 1 . I " v i x- The New "BEL AIR" t Chevrolet's Thrilling -Thrifty -Luxury -Hard Top Coupe ON DISPLAY TOMORROW Saturday, March 18th at BARNES CHEVROLET STANDS ALONE IN THE LOW-PRICE FIELD 1 opeiv y and committee members, like wise would be relieved of em barrassment, either by open revelation of interest or by cate gorical denial of private rela tionship. Each bill, so identified, would have all the prestige to which it was entitled by the standing of its private sponsor. A legislator introducing a bill which was entirely his own idea would be able to identify it as such, free from misunderstand ing as to possible private con nections. Some members who try to cre ate an impression of faithful in dustry insist on seeping houses in session on Saturdays. This is a mistake, except near final ad journment. Time should be af forded members to visit their homes week-ends, not only to try to keep their private affairs in shape, but to confer with con stituents. In no week prior to the closing weeks should an ad journment be taken later than after a short morning session on Friday. The heavy duty days in session arc Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and perhaps Thurs day. They also are the principal opportunities for committee meetings and hearings. Commit tee meetings called for Friday arc poorly attended even when many members feel obligated to remain for a short Saturday morning session. As it is. busi- ness Pages 1-6 morning sessions often has to be reviewed later in considerable loss of time, due to absences of members who apply to be ex cused from Saturday attendance so they may respond to urgent demands to attend to affairs at home on that day. A rule could specify that unless otherwise voted, a Friday morning ad journment would be until Mon day morning. Pay for memoers and legisla tive employees could' be dis bursed under rules permitting compensation for only five days a week, or for six if sessions are held on the sixth day. The pay of employees should be higher if this rule is adopted. The idea of paying for non-session days, including Sunday, is too discrim inatory in favor of employees who serve through all the earlier part of the session, with little to do, and then complain and de mand overtime pay for hard work later in the session, or, as some do. quit for other employ ment after having enjoyed an easy time at 7-days-a-wcek pay all through the easy part of the session. Difficulties of transacting leg islative business, with due re gard to the rights of minorities among members, as well as the rights of members of the public to be heard, arc many indeed. To a regrettable extent, legisla tures and legislators are dis- Yes, it's HERE'. . . that modish Chevrolet BEL AIR with the low, swank lines of a smart convertible FIRST. . . and Finest ...at Lowest Cost! POWERa automatic transmission SEE IT TOMORROW! BARNES CHEVROLET 227 EAST NINTH STREET Pick 100,000 Violets And Keep Grower Busy Woburn, Mass. UJ.RI Picking 100.000 violet blooms on their hands and knees is the annual Valentine Day task of James and Robert Shannon, operators of New England's only violet farm. "But," they said, "the lovely small makes up for the hard work we put in each year to make the nation's women happy over their menfolk." Portlapd, Ore., Mar. 17 (U.R) Funeral services were held for Mary Price Slater, 96, pioneer Oregon resident and widow of W. T. Slater, one-time state su preme court justice. credited, sometimes with cruel injustice. Yet no civilization has perfected a better method of lawmaking for as great an area as a state than to have a legisla ture elected from its various dis tricts with their varying social and economic interests. Upon the rules, practices and tradi tions under which a legislature transacts its business depends much in its efficiency in fulfill ing the great function of law making, and also upon its attrac tiveness as an outlet fqr the en ergies of citizens who feel enough interest in the affairs of government to be willing to de vote time to legislative service. So long as our American civili zation can produce men and women who have understanding of the need of good government and willingness to exert them selves to bring it about, they should have every encourage ment that rules and practices can afford to induce them to serve as members of our state legislature. PHONE 2-6115 .... AROUND y VIRGINIA United PreM Hollywood, Mar. 17 (U.R) Take it from the girls who have to do it it isn't easy to turn on the tears the minute the di re c t o r yells "action." Actresses had It soft in the old days. Prop men just squirted g 1 y cerin in their melting eyes . . . or puffed cigar smoke at 'em ...or VlrftrtU rubbed a MxcPhtrwa strong onion on their lips. But today they have to cry real tears. And they do it with psychology. They "think" tears. Jeanne Crain said she does it by remembering the things that happened to her when she was young. For "Pinky" she brooded over nasty things people said to her in her childhood. She cried then, she said, and she still can do it. Maureen O'Hara thinks about Ireland and her parents there. That makes her so homesick she brims right over. Claudette Col bert remembers how much it hurt the time she got hit by a car. Anne Baxter clips a tragic story out of a newspaper and re reads it before she goes into cry ing scene. Demands Mood Music Joan Crawford demands mood music and, funeral pieces, and Irene Dunne hypnotizes herself into the weeps. "I just tell myself: 'I'm going 31 s4necca4 Bert Buy HOLLYWOOD MicPHlRSON Correspoadeel to cry, I'm going to cry,' " she i said. "It takes about five min utes, but I cry." Linda Darnell wants her di rector to talk to her about sad things, and Gene Tierney post pones all her sobbing scenes till the end of the picture. By then, she says, she is so worn out she could cry over anything. Betty Grable does it by re membering the time she tore her panties at the age of nine and everybody laughed. Shirley Temple thinks of a pet kitten that died when she was a little girl. Mule Becomes 'Mulish' Over Caff In Georgia Rebecca. Ga., (U.R) Joe Lami nack has just about broken his mule of the notion that she is the mother of a young calf. Laminack said the mule took over the calf soon after it was born. Laminack had to pull the mule away from the calf by force. Then he locked the cow and calf in a barn. The mule pa trolled the barn, peeping through cracks and trying to coax out the calf. A mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey. Mules rare ly have offspring. Washington, Mar. 17 (U.R) The public housing administra tion today allocated 200, low rent public housing units to Lane county. Ore., which requested a $70,000 preliminary planning loan. HEY! LOOK b a BARGAINS YET!! 20" Shelby BICYCLE Regular $43.95 We didn't tell enough of these last week at $38.95 S-o-o-o SATURDAY ONLY $3795 Complete with Headlite, Chain Guard, Kiekttand and Reflector. Chain Drive TRICYCLE Regular $23.95 Our Price $19.95 SATURDAY SI 295 Ride a Bike For Fun and Health PAL Fire Chief TRICYCLE Regular $17.95 Our Price $15.95 SATURDAY Only S 95 Ten Inch Model 13" and 16" Available At $12.95 and $13.95 Ride a Bike For Fun and Health Fire Chief PEDAL CAR Regular $14.95 Our Price $12.75 SATURDAY Only S 995 Ride a Bike For Fun and Health Chain Drive TRICYCLES DeLuxe Modeli MERCURY 16" Regular $37.95 Our Price $29.95 SATURDAY $27.95 COLSON 20" Regular $42.95 Our Price $34.95 SATURDAY Only $3295 Ride a Bike For Fun and Health LAWN MOWERS $17.95 & up TRADE IN YOUR OLD ONE ON A NEW ONE SIMS BROS. Next to Mail Tribune ii
