Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 July 1907 — THE MONTANA LEGISLATURE. [ARTICLE]

THE MONTANA LEGISLATURE.

Its Statute Boole, Jnat leaned, a Maaa of Hldlcnloua Error. The laws passed by the last Legislature of Montana have been issued in book form by Secretary of State Yoder, and it It the opinion of lawyers and others tbat never before did a ,, Legislature in any State have so many careless authors and incompetent enrolling and engrossing -Clerks. — Montana has some of the most ludicrous laws t'hat ever graced a statute hook. In fact, so numerous are the errors that the Secretary of State was impelled to put this notice in the fly leaf: “The within are exact copies of the enrolled laws as the same reached this office, and neither this office nor the printers employed in the work are responsible for spelling or punctuation.” it is thought, will not be serious, as the Supreme Court, in passing upon laws, tries to determine the infPrvf" of the "Legislature. One law was passed to prevent the sale of diseased meat, while the enrolled and engrossed copies thereof read “deceased meat.” Thus, literally speaking, it is against the law for butchers to meats except upon the hoof, and if they obeyed it they would be compelled to drive cattle around to purchasers and dispose of them while alive. A bill was passed relative to the measurement of hay. It provides certain rules for determining the amount “when it has been in the stack six months, provided it has been in the stack three months.” The intention of the Legislature was to make allowance for shrinkage after the hay had stood three and six months. Still another law requires boarding houses, restaurants and hotels using adulterated foods “not” to post uotices in plain sight of patrons and customers, when its intention was just the opposite. Another law, dealing with the land question, refers to “parented” instead of patented lands. ~