branch of the government. We are not dictating legislation but are merely servants of the able and honest legislators of our state, clerks to gather and index and put together the information that these busy men desire; it is a business proposition. Question after question asked of us by the legislature is investigated in as scientific a manner as time and means permit. The legislator sometimes does not know where he gets the information; the professor of economics, of political science, the public men, the chemist or scholar does not know where it goes. The great body of public men throughout the country can be drawn upon for information to help our legislators. Committees too, realize the worth of this research work and a large number of the bills before them are investigated by this department. Committees working upon abstract and technical subjects have at their command in concise form, letters, opinions and other data from experts all over the country upon the particular subjects in hand. We may not have accomplished much but at least we have done something where nothing was done formerly. The department now has four expert draftsmen during the session at the service of the legislature and about twenty-five librarians, clerks, research workers, etc.
Has there been criticism? Yes, but it is chiefly confined to this one point; it makes it too easy for a man to draft a bill! Is it a just criticism to say that the
