The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1908-07-31

powerful legislative body in the
world and its members should be
elected by the people.of the country
just the same as the Representa-
tiyes in congress are elected. This
! is Of the utmost importance to the
+ wage-earuers Of the country, be-
+ cause when the Senate is directly
responsible to the people they will
control it; and then, and not till
then, viii that august body respond
4 TO the viii of the people.
The right to elect United States
. Senators by direct vote Of the
people is a step in advance. and In
the right direction. [ hope it viii
/ speedily bee brought about. 1t is
the right kind Of reform, and !
/ hope it viii BE succeeded by others,
until this Government becomes in
deed the greatest and the best and
the treest Government the world
has ever seen, where the viii of the
\ people shall be. as it ought to be,
the supreme law Of the land.
The people all over the country
demand this much needed change
in the Federal Constitution, so that
1 they can vote directly for Senators
I i'm Congress, and they appeal to us
( to enact this law to give them that
right is not a partisan ques-
1 ton, neither is it sectional issue.
+ The demand reaches us from all
parts IF the land and from men in
all political parties with a degree OF
manimity that is quite surprising
/ Ii is our duty to respect the wishes
I Of the people and To give them a
uniform law allowing them to vote
for Senators in Congress Just the
same as they now vote for Repre-
sentatives in Congress.
I am opposed to deIegating away
the rights of the people, and where
they have been delegated away !
would restore them to the people.
| trust the people and / believe in
the people. | believe that all gov
ernments derive their just powers
from the consent of the governed,
and hence [ want to restore to the
people the right now delegated to
the legislatures be the trainers Of
the Constitution, 50 that the Senate
as well as the House viii be direct
~ responsible to the people and
the Government become more and
more a pure democracy, where
brains, fitness, honesty, ability, ex-
perience, and capacity, and not
wealth and subserviency, shall be
true qualifications for the upper
branch of the Federal Legislature.
Already twenty seven States have
passed joint resolutions through
their respective legislatures de-
handing this change in the Consti-
tuition. These States are Pennsyl-
vania, Indiana, Texas, California,
Nevada, Missouri, Nebraska, Ar
kansas, Wyoming, North Carolina,
Illinois, Colorado, Louisiana, Kan
sas, Montana, Wisconsin, Oregon,
Michigan, Tennessee, Idaho, South
Dakota, Washington, Utah. Ken
lucky, Minnesota, Iowa, and Oko-
homa.
The action Of these twenty-seven
States of the Union demanding this
change IN the Federal Constitution,
SO that the people shall have the
right to vote directly for United
States Senators who are doing all
in their power to prevent the en-
actment of law that patience has
almost ceased to be a virtue, and
unless they take heed in time these
and some Of the other States favor
able TO this reform viii call con
stitutional convention on their own
initiation and amend the Constitu-
ton IN accordance with the wishes
of the people. This is most inn
portant question to all the people
and the Senate will make a sad mis-
take if it attempts longer to ignore
it, The people are in earnest in
this matter and any attempt to
thwart their will in this reform
viii only hasten its contamination.
The adoption of this Joint res0lu-
ton VIII prevent corruption in
State legislatures, stop scandal and
end to q great extent the tempta-
ton of political parties to gerry
mander legislative districts for par
tisan purposes. Let me say to this
House that this legislative gerry
Wandering has been carried further
by the Republican party in my
own State Of New York than per-
haps in any other State in the
Union. In the State of New York,
under the present outrageous Re
publican appOrtionment the people
can not secure a Democratic legis-
lature unless the Democratic party
carries the State by at least a plu-
rality of 80, 900 votes.
The Republicans in their parts
anship went so far that they wrote
in our State Constitution that no
matter what the population of |
Greater New York should be, no
matter if it were twice as large as the
of the rest of the State, /
the city of greater New York should |
never have more than one-half the
mem bers in the upper branch of
The State Legislature. | believe the
change in our Federal Constitution
sought to be made by this resolu-
ion will almost entirely prevent
hese unfair and outrageous appor-
comments and at the same time
1--WE the worthy man the same op-
under the law as the cor
)OratiOD's man to submit his cause