APPENDIX
unless entitled to two or more senators,” must where necessary be overborne, and the districts be created notwithstanding.
It would be an advantage if the houses had counsel charged with the duty of ascertaining the relation of proposed legislation to existing laws, and of seeing that legislation is so expressed as to accomplish the object intended. It is not to be expected that legislators should have technical training in law, and it is fair to them that they should be supplied with such assistance. At the last session, several meritorious acts were necessarily vetoed because of imperfect construction.
It has come to be a custom to provide for executive work by the appointment of commissions by the legislative body to whom it is entrusted. Beginning in a small way, the custom has gradually grown until a large proportion of such measures adopted are managed in this way. The executive is only one of a number of commissioners having responsibility without control, and occasionally it has happened that an official, such as the state treasurer, has been designated in the commission in such manner as to impose the duties upon the individual and not the incumbent of the office. It is a custom more honored in the breach than in the observance. Where governments have fallen, it has generally been because of encroachments by one department upon the province of others. The constitution has given “supreme executive power” to the governor and it is his duty to see that the laws are faithfully executed. It is, of course, a convenience to the governor that he should be relieved of burdens, but it is a relief that ought not to be conceded. He may well appoint commissions when necessary, but it comports neither with his duty nor the dignity of his office that he should be a member of commissions otherwise appointed. A further and very plain objection is that when the governor appoints, in case of incompetency or misbehavior, he may remove, while the legislature, after adjournment, does not meet again for two years and can exercise no control over the appointees.
There are still some of the departments of the government of the commonwealth which are, to a certain extent, supported by the fees collected, and these are received, in whole or in part, by the incumbents. The fee system was convenient at a time when the commonwealth was impoverished and officials had difficulty in finding sufficient employment and needed an incentive. This condition of affairs no longer prevails, and the system which was its outgrowth should be abolished. All officials should be paid
proper compensation for their services and all collections made
