251 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
.year being, because of the great European war, peculiarly 
.inducive to greater activity in new legislation) shows 
•that 197 public general laws were enacted. This num¬ 
ber is principally made up of those laws, the object of 
which is to provide the necessary state revenues, the 
.regulation of official commissions, officials, army, navy, 
jet cetera. A careful examination of these 197 British 
■laws shows that only sixteen acts of Parliament of every 
.name and nature regulate or restrict commercial trans¬ 
actions. On the other hand the casual examination of the 
65.000 American laws above mentioned shows a large 
proportion of so called police laws, that is, laws which 
principally regulate commercial transactions. This com¬ 
parison is quite instructive. Many conclusions can be 
drawn, but for the purpose of this address, we can well 
confine ourselves to a few obvious deductions. 
There is no merit in the inference that American bus¬ 
iness men are not so upright in their business dealings 
as Englishmen, hence requiring greater legislative con- 
reached the highest court of our country, for how else 
can we interpret the recent decisions of the Supreme 
Court of the United States, which has, after long years of 
silence or inaction, by judicial explanation and definition, 
prevented the aggressive and destructive interpretation 
and prosecution of the Anti-Trust Laws. We also note 
that our highest executive governmental officers are not 
attacking so relentlessly our business corporations and 
individuals. 
It is impossible to suggest methods of opposing unfair 
legislation, the subject before us, without saying that 
the greatest of these methods is for the citizens of our 
splendid country seriously and intelligently to perform 
their duties and exercise their rights by voting for and 
electing as their legislators men of character and intelli¬ 
gence, and not those who see in political office an oppor¬ 
tunity for political and financial profit, or the advantage 
of any certain coterie or class. Will it not be possible, 
for more business men, so able and honorable in tin 1 di- 
B WjiitliM 
mwwuf 
nlntion, Detroit, Michigan, Jane 23—25 th, 1915 
'trol. The truth of the matter is that the American legis¬ 
lation is, for the most part, not ill considered, but rather 
without consideration, fickle, the results of whims and 
passing fancies, and the stock of trade of aspirants for 
political favors or official positions. One of the many 
proofs of this criticism is that in the year 1907, I find 
that the Supreme Courts of the States declared 98 
statutes unconstitutional because they violated the con¬ 
stitutions or were unfair, unreasonable, or class legis¬ 
lation. And the saddest part of this is that these 98 
statutes are a mere handful compared to the greater num¬ 
ber of void statutes. The constitutionality of which was 
not made the subject of judicial inquiry. 
Our legislators and executive officers of ability and un¬ 
derstanding are becoming alarmed over the fatal effects 
of this mushroom legislation. Business men, almost al¬ 
ways inattentive to legislation or political affairs not 
directly affecting their own business, are feeling the onus 
of this irresponsible and unreasonable legislative inter¬ 
ference with legitimate business, and their protests are 
becoming forceful. This unrest and protest have even 
rection of their own affairs, to make a sacrifice for the 
good of the state by taking their place in the councils of 
the nation? In the early history of our country this 
class of men were in the front, and we continue to 
honor their memories. 
Let us now consider those methods of defeating bad 
laws which may be easily and honorably used by their or 
other associations of business men. 
As above shown by the statement that 65.000 laws 
were passed in this country in four years, tin* natural 
result is that the largest part of these laws was hurried 
through without proper consideration. This means that 
the business men who are so vitally affected either never 
knew that these laws were being considered, or that they 
failed or refused to demand a hearing of their objections 
to the law. As to the former reason, your association 
has given sufficient evidence. I note from tht' 1914- an¬ 
nual report of the chairman of your Legislative Com¬ 
mittee these instructive words: 
“In conclusion, your Committee begs to suggest 
that it is difficult to keep track of proposed legisla- 
