Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-01-15
Popnlar Choios Of senator,.


committee on the proposed constitu-
tional amendment for popular choice
Of United States senators signals the
rapid elimination Of the movement
that has had that object in view.
what has brought about this change
in the senate. hitherto invariably OPP
posed to such plan, is unquestion-
ably the gradual accumulation Of reso-
lutions by state legislatures demand
ing constitutional convention to for
mulate and submit the desired amend
ment under that section of the consti-
tuition which makes it mandatory on
congress to summon a convention
when three-fourths OF the states join
in the demand.
The movement for popular choice Of
United States senators must not be
COMPOUNDED with the so-called Oregon
plan or the initiative and referendum
or similar devices to circumvent rep
resentative government. on the con-
trary, many of the advocates of the
popular choice Of United States sem
ators. including The Bee which has
favored this reform year in and year
out, take no stock in the new-fangled
schemes for direct legislation Matched
out in Oregon and Oklahoma, and
there is a plainly discernible line of
demarcation between them.
The trainers of the constitution had
before them as models the legislative
bodies of Europe, and particularly
that of Great Britain, most of which
consisted OF two houses, one the pop
ular branch and the other with hered-
ity membership. With no royalty or
nobility in the new republic, their
problem was to differentiate the house
and the senate so as to make one re-
act quickly to popular sentiment and
the other serve as a check and bal
ance for more careful consideration
and sober judgment. Our senate,
therefore is made to reflect the equal
ity of the states rather than their pro-
portionate population. The age quail
: fication for United States senators
calls for greater maturity by five
years. The term of the senator is
three times as long as that of the
house member and the senate is a con
tinuous body only one-third of its
membership being replaced every time
the house is completely renewed. But
while house members are directly
elected by their constituents, the sen.
ators receive their commission indi.
rectly through the Legislature.
other conditions might have beer
prescribed with equal reason. al
though they were not The majority
required for the election of senators
might have been, increased to a two
| thirds or three-fohrths vote, service il
the lower house might have been de
manded as prerequisite to eligibilit!
in the upper house, the senators nigh
have been given life tenure the same
as the federal judges.
Popular choice of United States sen
ators, therefore, could effect only on,
element of difference between the TIVE
houses and would in no way put then
both on the same basis. 1t woult
eliminate the legislature as a piec
of intervening election machinery ant
make responsibility to the people i'm
mediate and continuous, but the sen
ator would still look to the entir
state as his constituency as agans
one congressional district and a fraC
tional part Of the state. With popula
choice of United States senators tn
senate as a body would still consist o
two senators from each state wit
equal voice and vote; their term
would be for six years, only one il
three going out at a time; the mem
bership would be of mature age, an
the smaller numbers, as compare
with the multitude in the house
would keep it deliberatiye body
SO long as the senate is made up o
equal representation from the states
and under the constitution no stat
can be deprived of this right withou
its own consent-the senate will oC
cupy in dignity. power and influenc
: the predominating position in nations
law making as much with popula
choice of senators as at present