Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1913-04-08
NEW MEXICO AMONG STATES
WHOSE VOTE PUT EPOCH
MARKING CHANGE IN EFFECT

Clemens, OF Alabama. introduced the
first senatorial direct resolution In the
senate. Nothing resulted from theeo
movements.
Il WAS Andrew Johnson who revived
congressional aaitetion for the direct
election ot senatora Az a member OF
the house Of representatives. be intro
dnced two resolutions for tho change.
and IN 1850 renewed the agitation AZ
member os tho senate. In 1855. a.
president, he sent a special messages
10 congress advocating tho measnFc,
and then repeated his recommends
lions IN his annual message.
The subject Wax revived IN tB7s.
ls1s. Lass aud. tkss. but without suc-
cess Ia 1888 the house agreed 10
tho proposition. as il dld IN the suc-
ceedinR congress. and still again In
tsss, 1900 and 1909. The proposed
change on none OF these occasions
won favorable report from commis@
tees In the senate
with the house thus arrayed year
after year IN favor Of the change, the
senate became the battle-ground. SEM
atur BristoW Of Kansas. took the lead
ln advocacy ~ amending the consti-
tuition along this line. In December.
1909. he introduced his first resolution.
A year later he obtained a report from
tho committee. cut a feature had been
tackled onto bis proposal which
brought on q nght In the senate. and
threatened To XIII the entire PROPOSE
,ion. This interposed feature was to
, amend other provisions Of the constl-
tuiion 50 as 20 deprive the federal gov
crnment Of power to supervise the
state regulations as 10 the time and
mnuner Of election. The votes %
/ southern senators threatened TO defeat
/ the main proposition II the federal
government was given this power.
senator Root made speech. IN which
he criticised the method employed by
southera sti,ses IN depriying negroes
az the right Of suffrage. senator f'a-
con replied that the federal govern
mont wus being given the power once
more 10 enact force bills and send
lnrmies and marshals into southern
states TO lntimldate voters. ON Feb
ruary 2s. Just before the end ~ the
session. the resolution was defeated by
four votes.
senator Bristow relntroducad the
resolution ia ihe special session im-
snediateiy following. The iizht Of the
preceding session was refonght. but
this time the friends 81 the resolution
won by a vote of 6A 20 "a, or ive more
than the required two-thirdA
The house had passed a resolution
which made Il clear the federal gov-
ernment was not "a Interfere with
senatorial elections in The states For
weeks the measure was IN conferences.
Finally the house cOnferees recoded
and the house agreed 10 the senate
measure BY vote OF aa7 70 80.
previous 20 this time. the several
, states had taken the hit In their teesn
bv enacting laws which in effect did
no, wait Tor constitutional amend.
meut on the subject Probably tne
most successful Of these was adopted
In Oregon. " virtually directed tns
memnors OF the legislature TO elect the
person who received the majority vote
nt the regular election, when the piae'
Z ing of the name OF candidate foi
United states senator upon the tickets
was authorised.
The control of legislatures BY HFeai
= corporations was assigned BY Senatoi
. Iiristow as one of the main reason'
= for the demanded change. with th'
q development during recent times @
{ the great corporate interests of M
q country" suid ne. and the Increased
q Importance Of legislation relating q
}. their anaira. they have tennciouFn
Is sought 10 control the election % sena
e tors friendly 20 their interests. TN
paweF 0f these great financial and IN
n dustrlal Institutions can be very Pf
q fectively used In the election 81 aena
u tors by legislators. and they hav
8 many times during recent years neel
l- that power In a most reproheuH.ri
ls and ncandalous manner They nav
" anent enormous amounts of money 4
lg Corruptlng legislatures to elect % ~