How To Pass A New Law
We venture to say that the average citizen little realizes how possible it is to secure the passage of a law that is clearly necessary for the better protection of wild life and forests. Because of this, and of the necessity for exact knowledge, I shall here set down specific instructions on this subject.
The Personal Equation. —One determined man can secure the passage of a good law, provided he is reasonably intelligent and sufficiently determined. The man who starts a movement must make up his mind to follow it up, direct its fortunes, stay with it when the storms of opposition beat upon it, and never give up until it is signed by the governor. He must be willing to sacrifice his personal convenience, many of his pleasures, and work when his friends are asleep or pleasuring.
In working for the protection of wild life there is one mighty and unfailing source of consolation. It is this:
Your cause always gains in strength, and the cause of the destroyers always loses strength!
The Choice Of A Cause. —Be broad-minded. Do not rush to the legislature with a demand for a law to permit the taking of bull-heads with June-bugs in the creeks of your township, or to give your county a specially early open season on quail in order that your boy may try his new gun before he goes back to college. Don't propose any "local" legislation; for in progressive states, local game legislation is coming strongly into disfavor,—just as it should! Legislate for your whole state, and nothing less.
Do not bother your legislature with a trivial bill. Choose a cause that is worth while to grown men, and it shall be well with you. It takes no more time to pass a large bill than a small one; and big men prefer to be identified with big measures.
Before you have a bill drawn, advise with men whose opinions are worth having. If the end you have in mind is a great and good one, go ahead, whether you secure support in advance or not. If the needs of the hour clearly demand the measure, go ahead, even though you start absolutely alone. A good measure never goes far without attracting company.
Drafting A Bill. —As a rule, the members of a legislative body do not have time to draft bills on subjects that are new or strange to them. A short bill is easily prepared by your own representative; but a lengthy bill, covering a serious reform, is a different matter. Hire a lawyer to draft the bill for you. A really good lawyer will not charge much for drafting a bill that is to benefit the public, and grind no private axe; but if the bill is long, and requires long study, even the good citizen must charge something.
Your bill must fully recognize existing laws. It must be either prohibitory or permissive; which means that it can say what shall not be done, or else that which may be done according to law, all other acts being forbidden. Your lawyer must decide which form is best. For my part, I greatly prefer the prohibitive form, as being the stronger and more impressive of the two. I think it is the province of the law to forbid the destruction of wild life and forests, under penalties.