Note and Comment by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 9, 1913

Note and Comment

By Editor

"Tacked On" Legislation

THE New York Weekly Witness bears sensible testimony as to the enactment of legislation by the method of tacking some measure onto annual appropriation bills, thus making them a part of a bill which must be passed, when on their own merits they would be unlikely to command serious consideration. We quote:—

During the present session of Congress there have been conspicuous instances of a vicious legislative practise which ought to be made impossible, if not by constitutional prohibition at least by the creation of a wholesome tradition in condemnation. Reference is made to the mischievous "tacking" of original legislation to appropriation and other bills with which the subject-matter of such legislation has no legitimate connection. The motive for the practise is sufficiently obvious, and the practise is not confined to one party nor to recent times nor even to our own country.

There are certain great measures the passage of which is compulsory upon Congress, as, for example, the annual supply bills; and the temptation to carry through various projects under the cover and by means of the urgency and prestige of the greater measures has been too great for legislators to resist. The practise is most commonly employed in behalf of measures which by themselves, as independent legislative projects, would have small chance of passage, because of their triviality, or because of the popular opposition they would be certain to arouse, or because of the prospect of an executive veto. Many projects slip through in this way because the executive is unwilling to risk the greater convenience for the minor defect, and the custom has grown and waxed strong until it has reached the proportions almost of a national scandal.

It was by that unwise method that the closing of post-offices on Sunday was effected. It was made a rider on the Post-office Appropriation Bill, and became a law when that became a law. As a separate bill there is serious doubt as to its enactment.