The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1913-01-16
lI|EE:IN ORDER COMING
ELECTION OF OUR SENATORS BY
THE PEOPLE DIRECT is Al
MOST ASSURED.
CHANGE GENERALLY FAVORED
State legislatures Are>SSspecseo 20
Ratify the constitutionahe>Snaeho
ment-Provision for FederaT or
troll Has Not Been Eliminated.
BY GEORGE CLINTON.

"udI IL ID SApSSIcQ Uey "AAA wv ~ 40
virtually assured that every United
States senator sworn into Office two
years from next March will present
credentials which are direct gifts
from the people.
Ten years ago If 1t had been sug-
gested to the elders Of the senate that
in little more than decade the exist
ing system of senatorial elections
would be thing of the past they
would have said that such thing was
only dream of the dreamers. 1t
would have been too radical PROPOSE
ton then to have been received with
anything but smiles and some sneers
from the conservatives Of the day.
The terms of thirty senators will ex-
pire March 8, 1915, and it is entirely
probable that every one of their sue
cessors will be elected under new
provision of the constitution which
will give the people the right directly
"to name their men," In recent
dispatch the possibilities in the case
of the income tax amendment to the
constitution were discussed. The
amendment which provides that
United States senators shall be di-
rectly elected by the people Is in less
danger of defeat than its companion
tax amendment, although the latter
probably will successfully travel the
road to accomplishment.
Last Spring-May 13, to be exact
congress passed joint resolution pro
osing the amendment to the const-
tuition for the direct election Of sena-
tors. Three days later the secretary
of state received an embossed parch-
ment copy ;of the resolution. 1t was
transmitted to the states Of the Union
for ratification. The legislatures OF
only two Of the states have been in
session since the action Of congress on
the amendment was taken. The leg
islatures of Massachusetts and. Non.
tana considered the resolution and
ratified y What Massachusetts, and
Ncuta2 done 1t seems virtually
certain the other states will do.
No Opposition In Sight.
In January, 1913, the legislatures Of
thirty-three states meet. This num-
Der includes Massachusetts, and Mon
tana, leaving thirty-one legislatures
in session whose duty 1t will be to
ratify or to reject the amendment
which will put senatorial elections di-
rectly into the hands Of the people.
Thirty-six states must ratify before
the amendment can take its place as
an added paragraph to the great docu-
nent. If all the legislatures which
meet in January sanction the amend
ment it will be within three votes Of
the adoption stage. There is no rea-
son to believe. in the light Of recent
advanced legislation. that the legisla-
ture Of any state will withhold its ap-
proval.
If, by chance, objection should be
raised in some Of the more conserva-
tive commonwealth there are still
fifteen legislatures to meet In January,
1914, and no leader Of any party In
Washington seems to doubt for an in
slant that by Feb. l, 1914, the consti-
tuition of the United States will pro-
vide for a new way to elect members
Of the upper house. 1t will be posi-
bic, unless things go Unexpectedly
awry, fer the people to take advantage
of the new provision in the fall Of the
year of 1914 and in the states where
senatorial vacancies are to occur IN
March, 1915, to name men to fill
them by direct vote expressive OF
their vii, in the matter. The new or.
der will have come.
The fact that the Democrats, like
the Progressives and the Republicans,
seem to think that the amendment for
the direct election of senators Is to
prevail helps one in forecasting sue
cess. The Democrats take some pride
in the claim that the direct senatorial
election was fathered and fostered by
them. The constitution provides for
federal control Of senatorial electors.
This is in the constitution, and it is
not part Of the proposed amendment
Federal Control to Continue.
The Democratic party, through its
leaders in congress, voiced a desire
for the direct choice Of members OF
the upper house, but it wanted to give
charge and supervision Of the cleo
tions into the hands Of the states. This
neither the Republicans nor the pro
gressive Republicans in the senate
would stand for. The house was Dem
ocratic, and for long time the upper
and lower house men were at logger
heads on the form which the amend
ment was to take, or rather on the
question of striking out the federal
control provision"
The majority in the senate insisted
that the amendment should not change
in any way the article prescribing fed
eral authority over senatorial cleo
tions. The joint resolution, as the
house passed It, gave the states abso
lutte authority. There was years
delay before the Democratic majority
in the house yielded, and so it is thai
| the states today have an amendment
before them which does not interfere
in any way with tie existing provision
of the constitution giving the fedora
government the rights which it rai
had for years.