Constructive and far-reaching measures are suggested pertaining to public health. A decided awakening is noticeable in this field. Eight governors recommend more or less definite reorganization of the public health service and an extension of the powers of the public health authorities, state and local. In one additional state (New York) the governor has appointed an important commission. The results of its labors will probably be enacted into law at this session of the legislature. Pure food legislation and better protection of weights and measures receive attention in two states each, as does the greater restriction of the liquor traffic in two states. Special provision for the care of tuberculous persons is mentioned in five states.
Another important and popular subject of recommendation, in which the results of the last annual conference of governors are noticeable, concerns the better care of prisoners—their employment in outdoor work and opportunities for earning wages, part of which shall go to reimburse the state for the cost of their maintenance and part to the support of their dependent families. These matters are subjects of favorable recommendation in nine states. The general reform of the criminal law, especially the shortening of legal processes and the restriction of the right to appeal, is urged in four states, including Iowa, in which the governor recommends the abolition of grand juries.
A direct tax in support of higher education is urged in three states, and provision for the wider use of school buildings as social centers in the same number. Even more significant, the governors of two states (North Carolina and Tennessee) urge state-wide compulsory education. In four commonwealths co-operation with other states is proposed in accordance with the recent recommendation of President Taft addressed to the governors of several states. This urged an extension of rural credits and the provision of some plan similar to the land banks in foreign countries, to help the farmer get the necessary capital for a better system of agriculture. Minimum wage laws are proposed in five states. In two of these and one additional state public aid to dependent widows and mothers with children is recommended.
Curiously enough, the reform of marriage laws and of those providing a remedy for desertion and non-support, a subject reported upon by the Uniform Law Commissioners, does not figure so largely in the governors' recommendations as would be supposed. The uniform law commissioners have proposed an excellent and very carefully worked out statute for uniform marriage and marriage license laws. This receives only partial endorsement at the hands of three governors, while stricter desertion and non-support laws also have the endorsement of three governors.
Guarantee of bank deposits is proposed in three states and three of the western states (Arizona, Missouri and Tennessee) have recommendations for an extension of state authority, or the establishment of a state department, to induce immigrants to settle within their borders. A better regulation of prize-fighting is being agitated in Nevada. Its prohibition, along with that of gambling, is strongly urged by the governors of New Mexico and Oklahoma. The governor of Arizona asks for a statute prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons, while the governor of South Carolina asks the legislature to repeal the present statute on this subject in that state.
Non-partisan election of judges is recommended in Idaho and Pennsylvania, and the Kansas legislature is asked to petition for an amendment to the constitution of the United States to provide for the election of federal judges.
Better care of juvenile delinquents, state-wide supervision of moving picture shows, stricter regulation of loan sharks, better inspection of mines, and compulsory arbitration of labor disputes are each recommended in at least one state.
Thirty-nine legislatures have already met this year, and some of them have completed their legislative sessions. Two more will convene within the next three months, making forty-one in all which will play a part this year in the formulation of the statute law of the country. Our statute law is already increasing in volume at a rate that has caused some alarm. It is sorely in need of revision in many important particulars. Statesmen and reformers alike desire earnestly that it be undertaken with greater care and more painstaking labor in order that our state laws may give better expression to the present standards of conduct and to the needs of our own times.