THE BONDAGE OF CITIES - The Community Environmental Legal ...

466 THE BONDAGE OF CITIESresolutions and reports come out each year in a volume as bigas a young dictionary. The Massachusetts Public Statutes,compiled in 1882 make a big-paged book of 1,400 pages; thesupplement to these Public Statutes for 1882 to 1888 is avolume of 1,500 pages; the supplement for 1889 to 1895 isan enormous volume of 1,700 pages; three big volumes with4,600 oceanic pages. In addition to all this the legislatureismanufacturing a fat blue book every year andevery one is conclusively presumed to know the law. Thecontrast between the efficiency of our watch factories, waterworks, fire departments, post office and navy, and the inefficiencyof our legislative factories is awful. We have alreadyspoken (p. 402) of New Jersey's delicate creations in the statuteline, occupying over 4,000 pages and five million words. Thecity acts alone fill 360 big pages with the customany repetitionsas to elections, corporate powers, duties of officers, etc.Besides all this, there are 40 big pages on towns, and then wehave 30 blanket pages on oysters and clams,- which are notmore indigestible than these statutes, altho the legislature doesnot put that conclusion in the book.One is tempted to say: "Throw the statutes away and beginall over and make the law simple and concise so that any onecan find it and understand it when he finds it." For all localservices and franchises involving the use of streets, let us haveone little paragraph according full powers of construction,purchase, maintenance and operation of works and systems, tosupply the municipality (city, town or village) and its inhabitantswith water, gas, electric or other light, heat, power, streetrailways or other transit facilities,telegraph, telephone, telelectroscopeor any other local service requiring a special useof the streets or rights of way, and conferring exclusive powersof grant and control upon municipalities in respect to suchfranchises and services. A few such clauses carefully wordedwould cover the whole field of distinctively municipal business,including markets, ferries, wharves, harbors, parks,baths, lodging houses, etc. Add a clause conferring the rightto do anything not forbidden by valid law of state or nation.Put all these clauses in one small section of the constitution,