The Lewiston teller. (Lewiston, Idaho) 1900-1905, 1901-06-20

ne seen that said resolution did no,
receive the votes of two thirds of all the
members of the house. Section I. article
20, OF the con.titution is as follows: .Any
amendment or amendments to this con.
stitution may be proposed in eithe,
branch OF the legislature, and if the same
shall be agreed to by two thirds of all the
members of each of the two houses, vot.
ing separately. such proposed amend.
ment or amendments shall, with the yeas
and nays, thereon, be entered ON the
journals, and it shall be the duty of the
Legislature to submit such anne udment or
amendments to the electors of the state
at the next general election, and cause
the same to be published without DELAY
tor at least six consecutive weeks prior
to said election, in not less than one
newspaper of general circulation pub
lished in each county; and if a majority
Pf the electors shall ratify the same, such
amendment or amendments shall become
part of this constitution.
ut will thus be seen that the people,
in adopting the constitution, pointed out
the manner in which amendments there
to might be proposed by the legislature
and submitted to the people. Section 3
and of the same article provide the
the manner in which constitutional con.
vention may be called, and constitution
as revised and amended by such coven-
ton adopted.
There are two questions raised in this
proceeding. The first involves the va
lidity Of the said constitutional amend
ment. The other is, if said constitu-
tional amendment be invalid, is the said
act creating. or attempting to create
Clearwater county valid, notwithstand.
ing9
"If the said constitutional amendment
be valid, then the act attempting to
create Clearwater county is void-un-
constitutional for the reason that said
amendment requires that the territory
comprised within the boundaries or q
proposed new county must contain tax
able property to the value of one million
dollars, as shown by the last preceding
assessment. before such new county can
be created and is is stipulated and
agreed that the assessable property with
in what is to be Clearwater county does
not exceed 100000. On the other hand,
it is contended that even though the
said constitutional amendment be de-
clared void, Of no effect, yet the said act
does not, in terms. create the so-called
county of Clearwater and that no such
county exists.
"The 6rst question presented is
fraught with much embarrassment. The
court is asked to hold that what is
claimed to be part of the costitution, is
unconstitutional; very delicate ques-
ton, to say the least.
at will be seen from reading Of the
provisions Of section I article 40, quoted
above, that the power to propose amend
ments has been granted by the power Of
the legislature. While the power of the
legislature to enact laws is inherent, so
far as legislative enactment is concerned,
yet the power to propose amendments is
not inherent. The power to make con-
stitutidns and amend them is inherent,
not in the legislature, but in the people.
This being true, should the so.called
amendment be held void for the reason
that the resolution proposing it did NOT
receive sufficient number Of votes in
lower house Of the LEGISLATURE
1.-THE amendment was proposed by .
department of the government author
lied to propose it; it was duly published
and every voter must be presumed to
have been familiar with its terms; it was,
in the manner provided by the constitu-
ton, so far as the question OF Its adoption
or rejection 10 concerned, submitted by
ballot to the voters Of the state for adop-
ton or rejection, and it was by large
majority (I3.372 for, 2677 against) adopt
ed. The only irregularity is the fact that
it did not receive the votes of two thirds
the members Of the house.
ut cannot be questioned but that any