Arizona republican., 1901-01-08
TWENTIETH CENTURY .

Senator John M. 'Thurston has pres pared an article on .Popular Election of United States Senators" for the Christian Herald. which Is published in the Twentieth Century Symposium of that journal and reproduced below:
 General interest and discussion. beth in and out of congress, have been aroused by the question of the electio~ of United States senators by pc"",.i vUte ,and some of the senator !, con. tests of the last few years ave ap1 p.taled strongly to the v Jular judg- ment in favor of an e~l .idment of our constitution permitting senators to be elec.,'d by popular vote.
 In the older s.ates, especially in New England there has been nothing so far to serious'y challenge the wisdom or proprie,y of the present method of lection. and it may be assumed that th New Erg.and senators will corr!H .e to stand a 'ainst any charge. They would resr.lt s"-h u change, looking upon 1t as casliny reflection on the
 gn-d will of ,Ge,r r.Ssent constituency and their rest ntnent would be just.
 In the New England states, where they still retain township organization and have very large legislative bodies, the result of the senatorial elections arr almost always in accord with the
 popular wish. and senators can almost
 be said to be elected by the popular | will.
 In the newer states. however. and es>
 pecially in those of the west. the leg tslative bodies are much smaller in
 number, and. as experience proves. | may be found subject to the manipula- | ticn and control of candidates who
 would never be seriously presented or | supported by the people themselves.
 Not infrequently serious oharg:s have been made concerning the use of mon- ey to control members of the legisla- turc in the interest of senatorial candi- | dates, and undoubtedly the use of mon- | ey in such cases Is becoming one of the crying evils of our political system. | Tolay three states have only half their
 senatorial representation in the United | States senate because of deadlocks in | the legislatures resulting in no cleo | ti>n. In one we'll known recent case | the governor of a stalte in collision
 with majority of the legislature, pre- | vented the organization of enc of it's | branches for the avowed purpose of defeating the senatorial candidate, who
 unIuestionably had the support of a
 ma ajority of the legislature. None of | these things could happen if a senator | were to be nominated in a state con | vention and run the gauntlet of a pop | ular vote.
 The most serious objection to the
 prt sent system as it has developed, is
 the fact that the legislatures in many | of the states are now almost wholly selected in the interest of senatorial
 candidates. and with little regard to
 their general fitness.
 It is impossible to set out in this aIti- cle the many reasons which naturally
 suggest themselves in harmony with
 the broad suggestions made above. On | the whole, my own judgment is that | the best constitutional amendment
 would be one permitting the several
 stirtes to decide for themselves as to
 whether they would continue the rlec-
 tion of senators through their leglsia- { lures or by direct vote of the people,
 and of such an amendment have for
 years been an earnest advocate.