Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1907-08-14
EDITORS AND THE CONSTITU
 TON.


 Those persons who believe the Roosevelt administration alone in the attitude of stretching the constitution to meet the conditions of the time, are not only overlooking obvious historical incidents, but are unobservcnt of popular movement that for the past few years has been rapidly extending from state to state. Reference is had to the tendency to remove tho election of United States senators from the state Legislatures and to place it di- rectly in the hands of the people.
 Section of Article l of the na- tional constitution explicitly says: "Thc Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state, chosen by the Legislature there" of, for six ycars." and no language could make it plainer that it was the intent of the framcrs that the lsgis' lstors should bc free and untrammcled tn their selection that is, as free and untrammcled as representatives of the people ever can be in the face of any general expression of opinion by their constituents. Yet we find that without aay action pro or con on the part of Congress or of the executive or of the judiciary, one state after another is quietly depriving its legislators of any option whatever in tho matter. In epue cases stato conventions of tho pastics and in others direct primaries are making choice of senatorial candi. 1aAes and state senators and represent s&ives are being pledged to register the - popular verdict in almost the samo snsnner as the presidential electors make choice of the nation s chief ex. ssstive. oregon perhaps, in one TO. epect, has gone farther in the move. 0ent, but other commonwealths are at 1ss heels. Their United States senator c elected as openly as governor and eAe legislators are pledged to record ets verdict even though the candidate receiving the most votes shall be in opposite party from the majority in tAe Legislature. But the election binds only the legislators; the governor hss still his right to mako ad interim appointments to All vacancies. Ala. bsma, however, has sought to take this function from the states chief execu. Give, also, and owing to the fact that the Legislature meets regularly only osce in four years a unique provision exists. For example, the present term of Senator Pettus expires not until March 2, 1909, but he has already been reelected to succeed himself for the term ending March 2, 1915. Yet the state had looked still farther ahead, so that when Senator Morgan died last month, Representative John IT.. Bankhcad stood chosen by the last pri. maries as his successor, and as such he was appointed by Governor Conner to scrve nd interim. But q complication then arose, for Conner himself argued that while he felt himself bound by tho primaries, the Legislature on re. convening this month, after n recess
 is not SO bound, as the primaries named Mfr Bankhead for appointment only tc avoid the necessity of calling n special session of tho Legislature.
 However this Alabama ease may ul. timately work out, our point is, that spontaneously In different parts of tho country, popular opinion Is working out . practical evasion of m explicit pro. vision of the constitution, to obviate two generally recognized cvils-thc cor. ruption and deadlocking of state Leg. islatures and the stuffing of the United States Senate with plutocrats and in some cases with scnilc old men. In the very nature of things, 1t was not to be expected that this reform could