The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-02-15
n LONG LOOK AHEAD.
Is The Present Popular Tendency To-
ward Abolition OF Senate?
(From the New York Sum-

"'oio uiVSIiy ny liic peOple ONCE du-
opted as a system throughout the
country may not end popular agira-
ton concerning the second chamber
of the American Congress- Certain
very conservative newspapers which
are opposed TO the popular election
Of Senators are suggesting that if the
method Of election is to be changed
much more radical alterations shou:L
follow. The Richmond Times Dis
patch declares that the Senate itself
should be abolished and a single
chamber be depended upon for legis-
lation. The Sun proposes that Sena-
tors be appointed among the States
according to their population in or
der that the present inequality Of
representation may be remedied.
Neither suggestion seems to be made
very seriously, except In so far as a
hope Is entertained that a back fire
may be started against the move
ment for the election of Senators di-
rectly by the people. Yet in these at
tacks upon a popular agitation for
more democratic control Of our pow
erful second chamber one may find
perhaps the beginning Of a formidable
movement in the future to make over
the Senate on basis more truly
democratic.
1t must be admitted that the Sen
ate would not become a body estab-
lished in accordance with democratic
principles simply because the State
Legislatures had been deprived Of
their constitutional right to choose
the members thereof. A body that
has two Senators from each State, no
more and no less, and thus disregards
the distribution of the country's pop
ulation, is not so far as the British
House Of Lords from being a demo-
cratic chamber; but 1t would be diff
ficult to make the inequality in rep
resentation more pronounced than II
Is In the second chamber at Washing
ton. The statistical facts are thor
oughly familiar and need not be pre-
sented with any elaboration, since
every one knows that States like
Rhode Island, Delaware, Idaho and
Nevada exercise a political power in
the Senate as great as that exercised
by such States as New York, Penn
svlvenia, Ohio and Massachusetts,.
Tho time might come when It would
be more easy Tor the people in the
more thlci,ly populated states or sec
uons 10 believe that they had gr!e-
vance in this condition Of affairs.
We can think of three influences
that in the future might create a
popular sentiment in the larger States
against the present constitutional
structure OF the United States Sem
ate. One is the gradual weakening
Of the Federal ideas as contrasted with
the national idea. Much in reality
depends upon whether the United
States "are" or whether the United
States "is." If the republic should
become more and more centralized, if
the Washington Government should
absorb more and more the functions
hitherto belonging to the separate
States. there would develop an even
stronger tendency than one sees to-
day to forget the Federal principle up
on which the United States Govern
ment was originally founded, and
which is more conspicuous perhaps
in the equal representation of the
States in the upper house OF Congress.
A second influence is an increasing
rather than a diminishing inequality
In the distribution OF the population
of the country. 1t has already been
pointed out by the Director Of the
Census Of 1910 that the growth of
population Is these Eastern States
during the last decade has been rela-
lively much greater than in large sec
tlons OF the West and South. The in
equality In representation in the Sem
ate Is today much more fagrant than
1t was in 1890 or 1900. Consider New
York and Iowa, the one having gain
ed several millions OF inhabitants
since the last census, the other hav-
ing actually lost inhabitants. Or COM
pare the East as whole with the
West as a whOle-is it not evident
that the East at present is gaining
population the faster and Is conse-
quently more and more sacrificed in
the constitutional distribution OF po-
litiCal power In the United States
Senate?
A third influence one may refer to