The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1913-04-09

washington, ApIl D. ne HoW
amendment to the Constitution, for
the popular election of United States
senators, is the seventeenth to be
adopted. 1t reads:
The Senate of the United States
shall be composed of two SEN
ators from each state, elected by the
people thereof, for six years; and each
senator shall have one vote. The cleo
tors of each state shall have the quail
tications requisite for electors OF the
most numerous branch of the state
Legislatures.
when vacancies happen in the
representation of any state in the
Senate, the executive authority of
such state shall issue writs of cleo
ton to fill such vacancies, provided
that the Legislature Of any state may
empower the executive thereof to
make temporary appointments until
the people fill the vacancies by cleo
ton as the legislature may direct"
The amendment primarily transfers
the power of electing senators from
the state legislatures to the people at
/ the polls. To effect this change it
was necessary to alter the machinery
for the filling of vacancies in the Sen
ate
For more than sixty years prnpos-
ais have been made to change the
Constitution so as to provide for the
direct election of senators. 1t was
not, however, until June "a, 1911, that
the Senate was induced for the first
time in its history to give its consent
to the change. On that day it voted
to submit to the states the proposed
amendment. The resolution to sub
nit had already passed the House in
somewhat different form. Before
adjournment of the session, both
houses agreed to the language to be
employed, and the resolution was de-
posted with the Secretary of State
May 16, 1912, for distribution among
the states.
The original theory in establishing
represented the states, whereas the
members of the House represented the
| people Of their districts 1t was be-
cause of this theory of the state as a
unit that all states, large and small,
were given equal representation in
the Senate, Rhode Island having the
same number as New York or Penn.
sylvania. In the theory of the Con
stitution trainers this entity of the
state was thus made more distinct
under the federal system, and the state
Legislature was regarded as the suit
able medium for expressing this state
entity. Later it was contended that
state entity would still be preserved
if the people of the entire state, in
stead of the Legislature, chose the sen
ators, and this view has now beer
accepted as the basis of the new sys
TEN.
In 1926 the first action was taken il
Congress looking to change. In tina
year Representative Storrs, of New
York, introduced a resolution making
senators elective by the people. An
other resolution of similar import wal
introduced by Representative Wight
of Ohio, in 1929. In 1850 Senate
Clemens, of Alabama, introduced tn,
first senatorial direct election resolu
ton in the Senate. Nothing resulted
from these movements.
1t was Andrew Johnson who re
vived congressional agitation for TIL
direct election of senators. AS a rtem
Der of the House of Representatives
he introduced two resolutions fort tn
change, and in 1860 renewed the lag
tation as a member of the Senate i
1868, as President, he sent a sp ia
message to Congress advocatinertth
| measure, and then repeated his stet
concentrations in his annual message
The subject was revived in 1877;
1876, 1886 and 1888, but without su,
cess. In 1898 the House agreed to tn
proposition, as it did in the succeedin
Congress, and still again in 1898, 1870
and 1902. The proposed change 0
l none of these occasions won a favo
able report from committees IN tn
Senate.
With the House thus arrayed yea
after year in favor of the change, tn
Senate became the battle-ground. Sci
ator Bristow, of Kansas, took the lea
in advocacy of amending the Const
tuition along this line. In Decembel
1909, he introduced his drst resoll