Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-02-08
THE SIXTEENTH AMENDMENT.


1.-THE SIXTEENTH AMENDMENT.
BY the action Of the legislature Of
Delaware, Wyoming and New Mexico
yesterday the Constitution Of the Unit
ed States has been amended for the
first time since 1870. when the ff-
teenth amendment was finally ap-
states TO make it a part of the funda.
mental law of this country. This
lapse Of 43 years attests to the diff.
Guilty Of securing the approval Of the
peoples representative $ to PROPOSE.
tons for altering the Constitution. In
the course Of these intervening years
between the adoption OF the war
amendments and the final approval
Of the income tax proposition many
efforts heve been made to amend the
Constitution, but without success, the
income tax amendment being the first
to pass congress by the requisite two
thirds vote. The first step towards
this latest change was taken in June,
1903, when "a resolution was intro
duccd in the senate. On the 18th Of
July the house acted and it was then
sent to the states. Thus three years
and a half have been occupied in the
process of ratification, and for a long
time 1t seemed unlikely that the
proposal to give congress the power
to impose an income tax would gain
the assent Of the requisite three
fonrths of the legislatures. 1t was a
rather singular fact that the line Of
approval was passed by practically
three states simultaneously, these
legislatures engaging inca veritable
race for the honor OF casting the de-
Gliding vote. 1t appears that Della
ware has won this distinction by vir-
tue of the difference in time between
that state and Wyoming.
A congressional joint resolution pro-
posing to amend the Constitution is
without limit as TO time. AS soon as
the joint resolution adopted by con-
sress by two.thirds vote in each
house has been approved by the presi-
dent it acquired virtual perpetuity, and
ratification can be had an indefinite
length Of time afterward. There is no
constitutional provision nor the re-
calling Of an amendment resolution,
and thus as far as ~precedents now
go all congresses are bound in this re-
spect by the action of any predeces-
sOr. On the other hand any state
may at any time prior to action by
thr%ee-fourths Of the legislatures with
draw its consent to ratification previ-
ously recorded. This was done by
New Jersey, Oregon and Ohio in the
case Of the fourteenth amendment,
and vas also done by New York in
the case of the fifteenth amendment.
At the same time a state that has once
rejected an amendment can subsc-
qllently ratify it, as was done by North
and South Carolina, Georgia and Vir-
ginia In the case Of the fourteenth
amendment, and by Ohio and New Jer-
sey in the case of the fifteenth amend.
ment. The income tax amendment
that had a similar record, in one or
two cases states reconsidering pre-.
| vious actions.
The sixteenth amendment has been
by two months the longest in the
course of ratification of all the con.
stitutional changes. The first 10
amendments were submitted together
to the states Sept. %, 1889, and the
conclusive ratification was that of
Virginia Dec. Is, 1891. The eleventh
amendment was submitted Sept. s.,
1894, and was declared to be ratified
the Sth Of January, 1898, after a
lapse of three years and four months,
or two months less than the period
covered by the sixteenth. The twelfth
amendment was submitted Dec. H.,
1909, and was proclaimed Sept. 20,
1904. The thirteenth amendment was
! submitted Feb. 1, 1866, and was
proclaimed Dec. IS, 1865. The four
teenth amendment. was submitted
Feb. a. 1889, and was proclaimed
March 80, 1870. The only other amend
ment now pending, which If ratified,
will be the seventeenth IS that for
direct election of senator's, submitted
Ito the legislatures last summer.
NOTICE OF TEACHERS ExAMlNA.
Notice is hereby given that the