230
The Green Bag
institutions; that it involves an altera tion of the whole machinery of the Constitution by removing the checks and
balances
therein
so
exquisitely
adjusted, a step may be taken without the people realizing the grave conse quences it involves. I respectfully
dissent from the view that this move to change the manner of electing Senators is a popular one, or that there is any clamor of public opinion demanding it. On the contrary, notwithstanding many states have pronounced in favor of it,
I believe that the people at large have taken very little interest in the question. Certainly as a separate national issue it has never been seriously discussed.
In the last Presidential campaign Mr.
tendencies of the people. These can always be changed by legislation to suit existing conditions. They are not unlike fashions of dress which are often
altered to meet the whims and caprices of the people, and if they do not suit they can promptly be modified or abandoned. Constitutions are bodies of permanent rules, general and wide in their language and application, and intended to meet every condition and
phase of national life. These monuments of wisdom comprehending in their text and spirit the humanity, justice and freedom of a people, are made to endure and like the magnificent architectural structures of the world, have been
Bryan distinctly tendered it and the
erected to withstand the storms, changes and ravages of centuries. Unhappily
people distinctly voted against it. It has been largely engineered by a class
this important distinction has been frequently overlooked, and many state
the
Constitutions are unnecessarily loaded
lurking dangers involved in the change, has blown the infectious doctrine through out the land upon the wings of a false vox Populi. After examining with more than superficial attention the small library of official and academic literature ac cumulated upon the subject, I have not seen a solitary ground based upon principle, reason or fact to sustain this proposition. On the contrary in my
with provisions whose subjects should be dealt with by the legislatures. This has encouraged a looseness of thought among many of our public men and prop ositions to change the organic law are often treated as if only ordinary legisla tion were involved.
result in the absorption of the two houses of legislation as now constituted by one
humble judgment history, reason and
large popular Assembly.
principle unite in an emphatic and deep
asked, of what eflficacy are two houses of legislation chosen in the same man ner? Two legislative bodies popularly elected? And a resolution has already
of
reformers
which
protest against it.
overlooking
In unfolding my
views I shall in the proper places en deavor
to
fully
answer
the
several
grounds urged by the advocates of the amendment.
Any change of any kind in the organic law is a serious event and unless there be plain and very substantial reasons demanding an amendment it should not be encouraged.
Constitu
tions are not like laws, which closely follow the temper, customs and present
A change in the method of election of
United States Senators will eventually
For, it may be
been introduced in the Michigan Legis lature asking for the abolition of the Senate. The Thane of Cawdor had but one bloody step to take and he would
be King. This legislator of Michigan, gifted with the prophetic vision of the witches, would hasten the course of
evolution and precipitate a result which must inevitably
follow a change
in
