The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-16

present. law provides that THE Legislature
Of each State which is chosen next preced-
ing the expiration of the time for which
any senator was elected to represent such
State in Congress. shall. on the second Tues
day after the meeting and organization
thereof, proceed to elect a senator in
Congress" This puts it out of the power
Of either house or any party or faction TO
stave off voting for a senator and requires
the Legislature to take first vote on the
second Tuesday after it's organization. The
law further provides:
Such election shall be conducted in the
following manner: Each house shall openly,
by a viva voce vote of each member present.
name one person for senator in Con-
gress from such State. and the name of the
person so voted for who receives a major
ity of the whole number of votes cast in
each house shall be entered on the journal
of that house by the clerk or secretary
thereof; of if either house fails TO give such
majority to any person on that day the
fact shall be entered on the journal. At
II O'Clock meridian of the day following
that on which proceedings are required to
take place, as aforesaid the members of the
two houses shall convene in joint assembly
and the journal of each house shall then
be read, and if the same person has re-
ce1Ved a majority of all the votes in each
house he shall be declared duly elected SEN
ator. But IT the same person has not re-
CelNeu a majority OF the votes IN edcn mousse,
or II either house has failed to take pro-
ceedings as required by this section. the
joint assembly shall then proceed to choose,
by viva Voce vote of each member pres
ent, person for senator, and the person
who receives a majority of all the votes of
the joint assembly, majority of all the
ent and voting. shall be declared duly
elected If no person receives such a ma
Jority on the first day, the joint assembly
shall meet at II o'clock meridian of each
succeeding day during the session of the
Legislature and shall take at least one vote
until senator is elected.
Under this section nothing but an extraor-
binary combination of circumstances can
prevent election of a senator either on
the second Tuesday after the organization
of the Legislature or soon thereafter. Where
either political party has majority in both
houses a caucus nomination nsures an cleo
tion on the first ballot by the two houses
separately, and if the majority is on joint
ballot the election will occur in the joint
convention on the following day. The pres
ent law is wise one and it is surprising
that so long a time elapsed before it was
enacted. Of course, neither the Constitu-
ton nor the act of Congress takes any ac-
count of caucus nominations. and the dis
bates in the constitutional convention show
the members expected that senators would
be selected for very different qualities from
those pertaining to members of the other
house. During the debates Mr.. Dickinson,
of Delaware who moved that senators
should be chosen by the several Legisla-
lures said:
: He had two reasons for his motion
sE@irst because the sense of the States would
Tbe better collected through their govern
ments than Immediately from the people at
large; secondly. because he wished the Sen
ate to consist of the most distinguished
distinguished for their rank in
life and their weight of property, and bear
ing strong a likeness to the British House
of Lords as possible; and he thought such
characters more likely to be selected by the
state legislatures than in any other mode.
1t would not be considered strong argu-
ment nowadays for the election of senators
by the Legislature that it assimilates the
Senate to the British House of Lords. Nor
does it in fact, for legislatures record the
will of the people.