The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-03-04
We are not at all.
rrrom n, wv,beyille Enterprise

Amendments TO tho Constitutions.
The following amendments to the Consti.
tuition of Virginia, proposed oy tne denerai
| Assembly of last year, and sanctioned by
the present session, will be submitted to the
voters of the State at the general election
| next fall for ratification or rejection:
LIST. The capitation tax due The preceding
| wear shall be paid before the day Of election
| to entitle man to vote for any officer elected
| by the people. ss,.. :,
I'd. That conviction of petit larceny shall
disfranchise voter. -,
Sd. That after Tuesday succeeding the
first Monday in November, 1879, the House
of Delegates shall consist MOI of more than
one hundred nor less than ninety members.
4tb. That an apportIonment OF senators and
members shall be made at the session begin
ming November, 1879, or sooner, and re-
apportionment in 1891, and every tenth year
thereafter. r... a.., -. e. f.4,...-
9th. That no person holding salaried
office under the State government shall be
elected to either house of the General AS
sembly.
9Th. That the General Assembly shall
meet once in two years.
7th. That the members shall receive a
salary instead Of per diem.
| 9Th. That the Legislature shall have power
to provide for the government Of cities and
| towns.
9th. And that two thirds of the General
| Assembly may remove disabilities incurred
under the duelling clause. ..r .
The bill providing for the submission OF
these amendments to the people requires
them to be submitted as Dhole, and the
question to be decided is, Shall these several
propositions be adopted as an amendment
to the Constitution, or shall they all be re.
iecteds An effort was made to amend the
bill 50 as to submit the different propositions
separately, allowing some TO be ratified and
others rejected. This was defeated, and the
bill passed in its present form.
With the exception of the ninth or last
one az enumerated above, we are disposed to
| regard all the proposed changes as improve.
ments. But our opinion Is only an individ-
uaI opinion, and as such may be at variance
with the opinions of majority of the voters
| of the Commonwealth. 1t would be strange,
indeed, If upon so many questions involving
| principles so diverse in their nature and af-
fecting the rights and interest Of the body
polite so differently ia their workings,
there should not also be great diversity OF
public sentiment. One class OF voters, for
instance, may favor the change from
annual to biennial sessions as a pro-
vision in the fundamental law that would
make our system of government more eco.
nomical and consequently reduce the rate
of taxation; and then, too, looking at it
from the same standpoint, the proposition.
to reduce the number of members Of the
House of Delegates to, one hundred would
be regarded with favor by the came class;
but when voters of this class come to
consider the clause in regard TO disfran-
chsement for petit larceny or the one IN
regard to the payment of capitation be-
fore being allowed to exercise the right
of suffrage, they might regard these as
an infringement upon their rights, or, at
least, as jeopardizing their interests. Others
again may honestly differ as to the wisdom OF
| providing for salaries instead OF per diem as
the mode of compensatipg legislators; and
others, even though they agree to this, may
consider it bad policy to clotbe the Legisia'
ture with the power to provide governments
for cities and towns. For ourselves, while
we do not regard the change proposed IN re-
gard to duelling OF sufficient importance TO
outweigh the good which may reasonably be
expected to follow the adoption of the other
amendments, we would rather not be con-
| strained TO yete for it in order to secure the
adoption of the others. .... j..
Under the circumstances, therefore, we
think the Legislature acted unwisely in re-
quirng the people of the Commonwealth to
take the whole batch or none. 1t is folly, 10
our Judgment, to expect the stronger or
more popular amendments to carry through
the weaker ones, and perfectly rational to
conclude that one weak or extremely I'm.
popular clause may, and doubtless will, de-,
| feat the whole. {.
| And aside from the bad policy of the
present plan and the danger to be appre.
hended from it, 1t betrays a distrust of the
| people on the part of their representatives
that is, to say the least of ii, not reciprocal
spirit on their part towards the 'Tdear
people," ~s
We fully concur with those of our con-
| temDoraries who believe that this whole mat
ter ought to be reconsidered by the Legsla.
ture, and the people allowed to vote sepa-
rately upon the several changes In their
organic law which have been recommended
| to them for adoption, q,