Wichita eagle., 1889-01-17
under existing constitutional conditions is
not a brilliant success
CLASSIFIED MEMBERSHIP

: under existing constitutional conditions i
: not brilliant success.
CLASSIFIED MEMBERSHIP.
Other changes in our fundamental Law
are suggested by experience and demanded
by our altered conditions In revising tn
legislative article, it wonld seem wise tt
classify the membership of tho two houses
providing that the classes shall be choseI
at different times So that at the com
mencement of each session. a considerable
number of members of either house vii
have had legislative experience.
This would greatly facilitate the worl
of organization, save time, insure accura
cy and efficiency in the transaction of pub
lie business, and be of incalculable beneh
In many ways.
LIMITED SESSIONS.
Under our biennial system the Limitation
of the session to fifty days is no longer adj
visable. Excluding Sundays and counting
out the time necessarily consumed in or
ganiZation and in the election of state
time remaining is wholly inadequate
to the legislative needs of a
great state. Local and special bills con
sumo much time, the work done is often
crude and incousiderate and important
general measures die upon the calendar
This limitation should be removed or eX-
tended and members allowed reasonable
per diem or fixed salary. The present
compensation of members of the legisla-
ture is inadequate, unjust, parsimonious,
niggardly.
! SPECIAL LEGISLATION.
Special legislation is great and grow
ing evil. notwithstanding the evident pur-
pose of the trainers OF our constitution to
prohibit it. The provision that mo special
law shall be enacted where a general law
can be made applicable" with the con-
struction placed upon 1t by the courts, is
easy of evasion and utterly fails OF its we'll
meant purpose. The result is that special
bills crowd the calendar each session, pro-
| viding for remedies in special cases. often
times mischievous, if not vicious, in char
acter and design. adding much to the gen
eral expense, retardlng public business
and consuming time that should be de-
voted to measures of general Importance.
An amendment specifically forbidding the
passage OF any act to change name,
comforting the rights of majority, to au-
| thOrlze the issue OF bonds, or a special tax
levy IN any particular case by any mu-
ncipality, to legalize the acts of any pub
lie officer or body, to authorize particular
roads or highways, or to vacate streets,
would be effective and wise Parties
| should be compelled to seek IA remedy, in
all such cases, in the courts or the board
| of county commissioners, upon whom the
needful authority should he conferred if it
| does not exist
THE JUDICIARY.
Scarcely anything can be more impor-
tant to the people than the prompt dis
| patch of business in the courts, partlcu-
| larly to the ordinary litigant, to whom
tie laws delays are especially grievOus
And this applies with added force TO the
courts of last resort Our supreme court,
created when we had but l20 900 people, is
/ trying to do the business of million and
three-q quarters of people. 1t should be
! better paid and relieved by an amend
menJ adding more justices, or an inter
mediate appellate court should be created.
with final jurisdiction in many cases
| that now come on appeal or error
| from the courts below. Provision
! should also be made for increasing the
number of district judges in those COM
! ties constituting a single judicial district,
where one district judge cannot transact
the business. 1t might be well, also, to
prohibit the creation of a judicial dis
trict containing less than given popula-
ton, or the reduction of any existing dis
trict below such IA basis.
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
Changes in the fundamental law can
come only through a convention, or by
amendments. Ii would take several years
to reach the end by a convention, if the in
itial steps were at once taken, though |
am sure that such convention would af
ford the most satisfactory means of curing
the MANY inirmlties that have crept into
the constitution by the lapse of time. |
am further persuaded, however, that a call
for convention can never receive the in
dorsement of majority OF the people of
Kansas, unless some assurance could be
DIy nf4itb ar of INN NJ inf
features of the present constitution should
be in any wise altered, impaired, or
put in peril, of which | may
mention the prohibitory amendment
and the homestead exemption. And
a proposed new constitution which should
not preserve these provisions substantially
as they are would be overwhelmingly re-
jected by the people when submitted to
them for ratification. As no restrictions
res pecting these features could be imposed
upon convention that would necessarily
bind that body when once called into eX-
istence, it is doubtful if such call would
meet with popular favor; and the surest
cheapest and speediest mode of relief
would seem therefore TO be through care
fully prepared amendments.
AMENDMENTS.
No more than three propositions to
amend the constitution can be submitted
az one time; but it cannot well be doubted
that each proposition may include all, or
any number of the sections of any article:
so that three propositions could embrace
amendments to all the sections of as many
articles-legisl ative, judicial and eXecu-
tive for instance The remedy by amend
ments judiciously devised. could thus be
given width of scope sufficient to reach
at once the existing defects calling most
urgently for Immediate cure.
TIME OF SUBMITTING
The practice as to the time when amend
mentS should be submitted, has followed
the generally accepted though doubtful
conclusion that they can be legally voted |
upon only AT elections for representatives |
III the even-numoered years. The sound /
ness of this opinion or practice may well /
be questioned. AT the next election for /
is the time indicated by /
section l, article IA, when proposed amend !
ments may be submitted; and lat the next |
election of members to the legislature" is |
the time fixed by section of said article, /
when call for constitutional convention |
may be submitted. Accordingly, up to /
1879 there was no question about submit /
ting amendments annually, or call for d /
a convention biennially, tor the house and |
senate terms were one and two years re-
spectively, But the amendment to the |
legislative article adopted in 1915 extends [
these terms TO two and four years. begin
ming with the election III 1876 the first IN
der the biennial plan; and it is contended
that this change operates to extend the
limitation of time in said sections one and
two OF the apportionment article fourteen.
accordingly, so that propositions to amend
the constitution can be properly submitted
only every second year, and a call for a
only every fourth year, begin
ling with 1876.
II this is the correct conclusion. then ar
5icle fourteen has been altered aud amend