The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-08-15
nY TIprnN MULLINS.

The democratic platform demands Tn su bstance the election of United states Senators by direct vote Of the peopie and the legislatures of some or the states including Alabama aye tahins steps to bring about an amendment or the Constitution of the United states to that end. The method adopted py the State Legislatures for this purpose maye be of some importance ao venture to suggest some points Tn this connection which have occurred 10 me, and, although they may have been well considered by others, I do not recail any discussion of them
 On the subject of amendmet the Con-
 stitution of the Uited States reads as
 follows:
 aconRress, whenever two thirds of
 both houses shall deem 1t necessary. shall propose amendments to this Con stituton. or, on the application of the liegisiatures of two-thirds of the sew
 eral states, shall call coyentio Tor proposing amendments, which, Tn either case. shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this consti tuition, when ratified by the legtsla- lures of three fourths of the several l states, or by conYeptionssast in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed II Amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hum dred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; land that no state, without it's consent.
 shall be deprived of ist equal suffrage lin the Senate"
 All of the amendmets of the Con-
 stitution of the United States which Aa. (or i0fr f0A
 with Congress and not with the lesfs- latures of the states and hence there is precedent as well as law for that
 method of amendment. but there is
 no precedent to regulate the procee- dure or details in adoptig amend
 ment applied for by the legislatures
 of two thirds of the states and the | meagre provisions of thearticle of the | constitution quoted above is the writ ten law upon that subject. A
 It will be seen that when Congress
 takes the initiative and proposes an l amendment no national convention can | be called. but when the legislatures of the states take the initiative. and
 apply to Congress for amendmets 6 | national convention becomes a necessi- l ty. For such @ national convention
 there is no precedent and. there are | no accepted rules for it's constitution I
 such a convention and the relative
 strength of the states in its delibera. tions have not been fixed. Since Con- Igress must call convection 1t will probably have the power. by necessary hmplication, to provide the details for
 assembling the convention. and incl
 dentally to prescribe the qualifications
 of voters who may participate in the
 selection of delegates. If such be the
 case. the question arises what quali- hoatfon will Congress prescribe. Will l it provide the uniform qualifications 1 recognized by the constitution and Iiaws of the United States. or will it
 recognize the qualifications provided
 involves questions which are entirely
 Of the states take the initiative an l by the several states? This subject
 ew and the present tendency of Con-
 gross Is toward greater power in the
 natioal government.
 ~Again the voting strength of each | state in such a ational covetion must
 be determined in some way. In the
 absence of Negotiations or precedent on
 this point must Congress, the only au- thority which can call the convention.
 determine this matter, or will the con- ! vention itself determine it? If Con-
 gress deals with the question will the
 voting strength of each state in the
 national covention be fixed by analogy
 to the electorial college. or how will 1t be fixed. If the convention itself | be left to deal with the question, then | the voting strength of each states in
 the convention will be the first ues- 1 ton before it and how will the vote
 be taken on the first question? wilI
 such first vote by analogy toa vote of the law making body. the Congress,
 be a majority vote of the members, or how Twill the first vote be takenf This question arose in>> the first and only natianal constitutional conven-
 ton which the country has had ana it
 was not settled there, but. by reason of the great necessity of the times was practically avoided and the con- stitution of the United States, as final ly adopted, shows on its face that u
 was adopted "by the unanamous con- sent of the states present" and hence there Is no precedent found in the first and only national convention on the subject of each states strength there- in. It was then, not as now, contemp. lated that each state which was to be l bound tNr the constitution should ratify | 1t as was afterwards done. At that | time there was no irrevocable constI- | tutional obligation among the states.
 The amendments proposed by a na- tional convention must, as will be | seen from the quoted provisions of the constitution, be ratified by three fourths of the legislatures of the sev- eFal states or by conventions in three fourths of the states as Congress may propose. Article V of the constitution