Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-04-11
SENATORS BY POPULAR VOTE
Important Change in the Constitution
Now Affected.

| Now Affected.
Direct election Of United States sen
ators became one Of the provisions o
the Constitution last Tuesday by Con
necticut's ratification Of the amend
ment to that effect Thirty-s six states
the requisite three -fourths Of all in tn
Union, now have approved the change
II remains only for the governors Of al
states which have acted favorably, t,
formally notify Secretary Bryan ant
for him to issue a proclamation an
nouncing the change.
The Amendment. ~
The new amendment to the Consti
4 tuition, for the popular election of Unit
ed States senator's. Is the seventeenth
to be adopted. 1t reeds:
"The senate Of the United State.
shall be composed Of two senators from
each state, elected by the people there.
Of, for six years; and each senator shall
have one vote. The electors in eacf
state shall have the qualifications re.
quisite for electors Of the most numer.
Gus branch Of the state legislatures.
When vacancies happen In the rep.
resentation Of any state in the senate
the executive authority Of such state
shall issue writs Of election to fill such
Il
Of any state may empower the execu-
tive thereof to make temporary ap.
pointments until the people fill the va.
cancies by election as the Legislature
may direct" ,.s,sf g
The amendment primarily transfers
the power Of electing senators from the
state legislatures to the people at the
polls. To effect this change II was me-
cessary to alter the machinery for the
filing OF vacancies in the senate.
Of state May 16, 1912, for distribution
have been made to change the Consti-
tuition so as to provide for the direct
election Of senators. It was not, how.
ever, until June "a, 1911. that the SEN
ate was induced for the first time in Its
history to give its consent to the change
On that day II voted to submit to the
states the proposed amendment. The
ed the house In a somewhat different
form. Before ad journment of the ses-
sion, both houses agreed to the Ian
guage to be employed and the resolu-
tion was deposited with the secretary
Of state May 16, 1912, for distribution
among the states.
Theory Of Choice.
The original theory in establishing
the choice Of senators was that they
represented the states, whereas the
members of the house represented the
people Of their districts. II was be-
cause this theory Of the state as unit
that all states, large and small, were
given equal representation in the SEN
ate, Rhode Island having the same
number as New York or Pennsylvania
In the theory Of the Constitution franz
ers this entity Of the state was thus
made more distinct under the Federal
system and the state legislature was
regarded as the suitable medium for ex-
pressing the state entity. Later II was
contended that state entity would still
be preserved II the people Of the entire
state, instead Of the legislature, chose
the senators. and this view has now
been accepted as the basis of the new
system. ~ tr
In 1925 the first action was taken in
congress looking to change. In that
York introduced a resolution making
senators elective by the people. An
other resolution Of similar import was
introduced by Representative Wright
Of Ohio in 1929. In 1850 Senator Gle
mems Of Alabama introduced the first
senatorial direct election resolution In
the senate. Nothing resulted from these
movements.
A Long Fight.
1t was Andrew Johnson who revived
congressional agitation for the direct
election Of senators. AS member of
the house of representatives, he intro
duced two resolutions for the change,
and In 1850 renewed the agitation, as a
member Of the senate. In 1868, as pres
ident, he sent q special message to con-
gress advocating the measure, and then
repeated his recommendations in his
annual message.
The subject was revived In 1878, 1876,
1885 and 1883, but without success. In
1893 the house agreed to the PROPOSE
ton, as 1t did in the succeeding con-
gress, and still again In 1898, 1900 and
1902. The proposed change on none Of
those occasions won a favorable report
from committees in the senate.
With the house thus arrayed year af-
ter year In favor of the change, the
senate became the battle-ground. Sem
ator Bristow Of Kansas took the lead
In advocacy Of amending the Constitu-
ton along this line. In December, 1909,
he introduced his first resolution, A
year later he obtained report from
the committee, but feature had been
tackled on to his proposal which brought
on fight in the senate, threatened to
kill the entire proposition. This inter-
posed feature was to amend other pro-
visions of the Constitution 80 as to de-
prive the Federal government Of power
to supervise the state regulations as to
the time and manner Of election. The
votes Of 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 en-
ployed by southern states in depriving
negroes Of the right Of suffrage. Sena-
tor Bacon replied that the Federal gov
ernment was being given the power
send armies and rnarshals into south
ern states to intimidate voters. On
February %, just before the end Of the
session, the resolution was defeated by
four votes.
Resolution Comes Again.
Senator Bristow reintroduced the
resolution in the special session imme-
diately following. The fight Of the pre-
ceding session was refought, but this
time the friends of the resolution won
by a vote Of 81 to "a, or five more than
the required two-thirds.
The house had passed resolution
which made 1t clear the Federal gov
ernment was not to interfere with sem
atorial elections in the states. Finally
the house conferees receded and the
house agreed to the senate measure
by a vote of 237 to 80. e..
Previous to this time, the several
states had taken the bit In their teeth
by enacting laws which in effect did
not wait for a constitutional amend
ment on the subject Probably the most
successful Of these was adopted in
Oregon. It virtually directed the men,
bers Of the legislature to elect the per-
son who had received the majority vote
81 the regular election, when the
placing Of the name Of a candidate for
United States senator upon the tickets
was authorized.
The control Of legislatures by great
corporations was assigned by Senator
Bristow as one Of the maiE reasons for
the demanded change. With the de-
velopment during recent times Of the
great corporate interests Of the coun-
try" said he, "and the increased i'm
portance of legislation relating to their
affairs, they have tenaciously sought to
control the election Of senators friend
ly to their interests. The power Of
these great financial and industrial in