The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-08-11
FoR coXGERSG-AEoOED DSTncT,
JAMES C. NeGREW,
o. Preston County.
PoE coXsRESE-5HIED DtSTEIcT.
JOIN S. wITCHER.

C80utAAkE bUt lC-CbSSNON So
and in this capacity made = speech al
Norefeld on the Goth ult, a report
wbeueof is printed in the R4g1tsr. Its a
curious compound ofingenious error and
erroneous ingenuity single instance Of
which We wish 70 notice here. He says !:
The much talked Of 18th Amendment
was forced upon the people contrary TO
the PRINCIPLES Of our State Constitution,
which SAYS that NO amendment shall be
made until submitted TO the people.
Its NOT tor u State Constitution toPre-
scribe how IN amendment shall be made
10 the Constitution Of the United States.
An ameudmeut to the State Constitution
must BE- submitted to the people, but a
different mode is prescribed for amend
mentS to the Federal Constitution: and
the rule in the latter case Is not in the
slightest degree dependent on that in the
iormcr. Congress proposes and the Leg
blatures, (<hich are the embodied people,
ratify orFeject. tConst L. S. Art. W
Mr.. DAVIS continues:
This amendment was passed as q reso-
luton by the Legislature OF West Viz
ginia, as one ,Of the, tweutJ-eight State
forming the three-iourths required By the
Constitution Of the United States, BY 2
votes, when % constituted majority Of
the House, and by ten votes in the Senate
when twelve was a legal majority. The
STATE Constitution says that DO law shall
he passed, except majority Of the mem
lJefs elected TO each House vote GorIt The
Court Of Appeals Of this State has decided
that resolution Is not law, and yet the
adoption Of the 18th Amendment wa
passed By the Legislature, in the manner
stated, as a resolution, when it had nc
power 10 grant additional power TO ever
the lowest public officer.
Mr.. DAVIS mscOnceives the rule tina,
governs the action o.; Legislature. The
general law that obtains in all deliberative
bodies, and that Is as old as parliamentary
history, Is that quorum Of any legislative
body. Is the body. Our Constitution makes
amAjoriiy Of each branch "a quorum to do
businssu 4 majority Of q quorum
decides all questions in the transac-
tons Of business where dtSereu: rule is
not expressly prescribed in the COns'itu'
tionitseh An exception is made in our
Constitution. Laws are TO be proposed in
the shape ofbills, and NO bflI shall be
passed By either branch without the
Affirmative vote Of majority Of the mem
bers elected thereto" That is not an ex'
ception strictly, for bare quorum may
pass bill Unanimous, though a majority
Off bare quorum cannot But majority
OF quorum can do everything else, ex'
cept 70 extend the session or suspend the
rule Of the constitution in regard to read
ing bills
The enactment Of laws can only be
effected by certain formalities prescribed
for bills. Everything else may be done
by resolutions (which are recognized in
the Constitution as a means Of legislation
as we'll as biIlS1 tSec. 81, art iv.D A
resolution may be passed by majority Of
quorum, and may be employed to &C.
cOmpliSh any purpose of'the Legislature
except 70 cnAct law.
But Afr. DAVIS assumes that an amend
mcnt to the Constitution Of the Cnltcd
States cannot be ratified" except by the
enactment Of a law. Why! The term
Flaw" is recognized in our Constitution as
an enactment. the authority for which is
limited To the powers Of the Legislature
/ as defined in that instrument. The Legs,
. Iaturs can enact no law outside Of thai
authority, and within it can enact none
for anybody outside Of the State That
is, the Legislature cannot, BY enactment
add TO or take from Federal law, statu.
tory or organic. When the Congress o
the United States proposes to add TO Oh
alter the organic Federal law, the question
tor the legislatures is simply one Of assem-
or dissent 1t is simply to say yes or no
The response OF the Legislature is purely
declaratoy. Ii does not by enactment
incorporate the amendment into Law
OF the State for it cannot be q
law till three.fourths Of the legiSla
lures have ratified it, and then 1t is Law
without such Incorporation. But VIVA
Is there IN the nature OF a law, a!
contemplated in our Constitution, in tn
simple declaration that TO o certain prop
oSition the Legislature responds yes or re
spends no: Why should the record ofthG
declaration go into the statutes instead o
the legislative journals: r-
But aside from the reason Of It, it is (
sufficient answcrto Mr.. DAVIS suggestion
70 say that II Is the usage Of Legislature
here and elsewhere to act upon PROPOSE
tons TO amend the Federal Constitution
by declAratOEy resolution and not by bill
passed into Law. II his point were goot
against the XVIII Amendment it would bC
equally fatal to the XIIIth and XIvth
and to all, the Amendments ever adopted
but in fact it is totally harmless agains
any Of them.
Since Mr.. DAVIS Is looking out Tor res
olutions that ore not law but need to be