Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-05-30
THE NEW CONSTITUTION (?)
TCommunicated.1

Ine late lamented CouStitut tiOnal
Convention has passed away, but
not so the members thereof, more.
the pityl They were desperatel,
sparing with their printed matter
for it was only by earnest inquiry
and mere accident that / happened
to corner a copy of their brave draft
will herewith proceed to (dis)cuss
that instrument in my own sweet
| way.
The first line of the first article
starts of with that much. hackneyed
phrase, to Wit "Fhat all men are
by nature equally free aud inde-
Pendent-which is a palpable mis-
statement, and they 60 on to prove
they were only joking further on in
their preamble.
In Section 2 of the same article:
"That all power is vested in, and
consequently derived from, the peo-
pie; that magistrates are their trus
tees and servants, and at all times
are amenable TO them'-and pro-
ceed to show the people they are
Joking by making them swallow
their mess all in a pile.
Section 4: "Tbat no man, or set
of men, are entitled to exclusive or
separate emoluments or privileges
from the community"-except them
selves! But enough of that incon-
slstency. / am no lawyer--and am
mighty glad of it-but have an idea
what ought to be done In some
cases. never was a violent advo-
cate of new Constitution-didn't
vote for or against it, because |
wanted them to make botch Of it
free and easy, which l knew they
would do, without my connivance.
| thought they were going to say
what must be done and must not be
done. Instead they suggest what
ought to be done and not done, and
very benevolently grant the General
Assembly the privilege to make
lawsl We didn't want that; they
already have that power. That is
something like pouring water on q
drowning man.
would like to write seventeen
days and nights on the subject, but
it is not worth it.
Article is clearly written to show
that all men are not by nature free
and equal, aud if the concern is pro-
claimed or adopted, !, with count
less Others, lose franchise forever.
for | never fought IN any war, nor
my fathers, and there are parts of
the document that l can't explain
or understand, not being a lawyer.
1t shows great gall in that BODY
of men to even mention proclaiming
such mess of inconsistent legal
verbosity. 1t would be hard lines if
L were to hire a man to buy piece
of beef for me at trust price and the
beef should prove to be rotten, or
partly so, that / should have to
swallow the whole mess because il
came high. But such is the case. The
members of the Constitutional Con-
yention were hired by the people
(majority) to make a Constitution
subject to acceptance or rejection,
and they had such a very fat time
and made such botch of 1T that
they know the only way to per-
petuate their absurdity is to force it
down the peoples throats, scales and
all. 1t is well known that the Gen
eral Assembly has the power to
amend the present Constitution, and
it ought to have been left TO them to
do so. The entire document was
made by lawyers, for lawyers, and
corporations and trusts-and poll
tlcians! Any smart lawyer can take
any section of any article and con-
strue it to have any meaning to fit
any case at issue. Therefore the
whole thing would have to be de-
cided by the Supreme Court, and
goshl how fat the lawyers would live
in the meanwhile.
am going to quit. The more
write and think about it the madder
l get. When our delegate was pro-
posed he made speech and clearly
stated that no one need be afraid of
an Objectionable Constitution being
foisted upon them, as it was bound
to come back to be accepted or re-
jected by the people.
If it is ratified / will swallow it
with as good grace as any other of
the large minority, although it will
be . scaly dose. Iam going to stop
before | say something mean, for /
am getting cross. Poor old Vir-
ginial She has had hard time with
her feeble Constitution, actual and
proposed. A weaker organism woald
have been disintegrated long ago.
The present Constitution is called
the "Underwood" Constitution; the
one proposed should be called the
Overdose" Constitution. Girls.