The Irish standard., 1904-11-19

Oil eye solely 10 their preferences for
senator and in total disregard of their
fitness for legislation or views on pub.
lie questions or their personal charac.
tiers frequently leads to serious incon-
venience. 1t is no proper part of a
legislators functions or duties to be
an elector for senator and the two du-
ties should not be combined. Members
of congress are not constituted electors
for president. Yet they might be with
as much appropriateness.
The present mode of electing sena-
tors does not give any approximate Sc
curity of selecting the choice Of the
state as its representative to the hall
Of federal ambassadors, each Of whom
should be able to speak for the state
and not as the agent Of the corpora
lions doing business therein or small
manipulated fraction of it's voters.
The change to election by the people
would greatly lessen the chances for
corruption. The members of the party
convention Of the state brought to-
gether directly from the people and so
soon dispersed again among them are
not so subject to the subtle arts of the
corporation lobbyists and wire pullers
which are brought to bear on the men,
Der Of the legislature as soon as his
nomination is probable (if indeed they
do not procure his nomination. and
continued till after the election of SEN
ator is over when, like squeezed
lemon, he is thrown aside. Besides
the party convention is accessible to
public opinion, being conscious that
its choice, if not wisely made, is liable
to rejection at the polls. No such
responsibility attaches to the delibera-
tons Of legislative caucus. A mis-
take there made, or defiant disre-
gard of public sentiment, is subject to
no ratification by the people and is
without remedy for six years. There
can be further check upon the dele
gates to state party conventions in that
popular choice for senator can be indi-
Gated by primary election.
A senator in Office my be tempted
to disregard the will of his state If he
knows he can by use of public patron
age, or other means, secure, as above
shown, the control Of the one-sixteenth
of the voters who compose a majority
in the nominating conventions of those
counties which send majority of the
legislators of the dominant party. But
he will pause, when he knows that
his denomination must command the
approval Of majority of his party con-
vention and that it's action in turn
must be ratified by a majority-or at
least plurality Gf there are more
than two parties)-of the votes of the
entire state at the ballot box.
The two senators are intended to
represent the state. They can not
truly do so unless chosen by the whole
state. At present, as already pointed
out, large sections of each state are
absolutely DISTINGUISHED and have no
weight whatever in the choice Of it's
senators, because not sending to the
legislature members belonging to the
dominant party.
The bill to modernize the choice Of
senators by transferring it from the
legislature to the people of each state
IL khn 40
several times and once at least by a
unanimous vote and once with only
two dissenting votes, but the measure
has heretofore found it's grave in the
senate itself, which does not wish to
go on record on the question. The
legislatures in more than twenty states
have instructed in favor of the meas
ure, Oregon, California, Idaho, Iowa,
Nebraska, New York, North Carolina,
Wisconsin, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky,
South Carolina, Louisiana, West Vir-
ghia and Illinois and there may be
others. The constitution of Nebraska
requires that the choice Of senator
shall be submitted to the people at the
ballot box the same day members Of
the legislature are chosen, but this nec-
essarily has only moral force which
would certainly be disregarded If Gas is
not unusuaD the majority of the state
on the popular vote should be for one
party while the majority elected to the
legislature should belong to the oppo-
site party. In many states the United
States senator is nominated by the
state party conventions and the nomi-
nees of that party for the legislature
are deemed pledged to vote for him,
according to the similar custom now
obtaining as to electors for president.
There are also many states whose stat
utes provide for primary elections for
United States senator. This expedient
is best possible under the circumstan-
ces perhaps and should be resorted to
till we amend the constitution by
frankly giving to the people of each
state the right to choose the two men
who are to represent their state in the
senate. But to be of value the pri-
mary should be Off the whole state and
not merely by counties. If the people
are competent to choose the members
of the lower house Of congress and