The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-03-01
PEOPLES FORUM
RepIics, TO Mr.. Garneff-

Editor of The Virgtnian:
Slr,~-SCanniug the arguments Of Mr. Garre++
aneht the above subject ! beg leave to break in
ana say a word, II is easy to make a special
pea on such subject much like the preacher
! IN me pulpit where there is no one to answer
pack But really when one thinks a little on
lhe subject II rs easy to that much that is
| written and especially much that Mr. Carnett
writes is special pleading
AS to the assertion that the people took out of
tue hdhds OF the legislature the making of laws
! ana that the constitution of the State was the
outBIoWth of conviction that the legislature
couId not be trusted TO make laws for the State
and that they result of this conytction sent
special men to make laws that the legislative
BODY would not or could could not owing to in
aniHy 70 perceive what was needed or were
( oVeraWed by corporations and SO hndered if
can be said that at least many Of the delegates
! 70 the constitutional convention of 1902 were
me same men who represented the State in the
ana a. a matter Of fact not
specially instructed by the people at large AS 10
what was expected of them, 1 take it that the
Ihet5nefs or mat convention We're men who
realized that changed conditions made changes
IN the constitution necessary, and that the ordi-
nary evolution OF political affairs made needfuI
/ amendments of many sorts inevitable do
not recall that in any convention Of the people
Of the State special instructions were given IN
the delegates or that they We're bound bv any
promises by the communities that elected them.
Al VINO remember the conditions under which
the Underwood constitution (I869) was moulded
/ by the trainers thereof viii readily recall the
hampered conditions of that day. | need not
/ repeat these, but we all who are old enough TO
remember those crampng times, and remember
! the curiously composite quality of that conyen-
uon' VIII wonder that the State ever got along
with such an instrument long as it did That
I a new and more elaborate constitution was in
evttable is one of the matters Of fact that was
recognized by all legislators That il grew from
twenty-onc 10 scvent-two pages was not sur
prising at all The wonder is that the pages
few as they are. Remember too that
our legislative body is not made up-sorr.y to re-
late-of the best men of the State In DOR busy
days a man has little time for surh work little
( inclination indeed to lay down his business and
/ spend sixty or even thirty days in Legislative
work, when no credit is to be earned by such
husiness sacrifice, and when he make twenty
times the sum of the salary, il he be a lawyer,
in the same period ] have heard complai int
made that our legislature is made up largely of
lawyers, young lawyers but then the old ones
will not sacrifice the time and labor Possibly
we may censure these for lack Of patriotism but
/ when we find that the commonalty shrink from
jury service and dodge that patriotic work how
can blame a lawyer If he declines to leave his
practice for a service in which he earns little
and gets sim less credit for the service and
sacrifice?
Mr. Garnett AYERS at least infers that the
legislature has been under the control of the
corporations that laws made to protect and
favor these bodies were passed and that the
Legislators we're dictated to by the great cor
porations But even were this true, it was an
honest step forward for the who framed
the last constitution to place the organic law
out of the reach OF these controlling conditions.
md remember again that the Very men who
took steps TO make these bad conditions impos-
sible ut least difficult pretty much the
same men who served in previous legislatures
That they realized the pressure on them and
sought 10 protect themselves from such influence
was I might say, patriotic. There is another
word also 70 be said in that connection--in the
evolution Of law-makng, it surely must come to
pass that less and less legislation was needed Ii
the legislators, the members Of tho conven-
ton, that by placing on the pages of the
constitution statutes defining the government of
the state. this would lessen the work of COM
ing legislative bodies and fix in a more
permanent form the law of the land For legis-
latures come and co. the scene shifts and new
men, absolutely untried men, come TO the front,
and what more natural thing than for body
Of experienced men than to make more stable
the constitution and put in this things I'M
I changeable but things that otherwise might be
changed any year by antried and possibly unwise
men?