Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1914-04-24


Has Plan For Recall of judicial De-
c;-loas by Legislatures - Theorists
Ride Hobbies.
WashingtOn.-The agitation in con.
! grPSS for the passage of Il resolution
I submitting TO the states an equal suf.
! fr@"c amendment to the federal consti.
! tuition has directed attention to the
! many attempts that are being made to
! change or supplement the Fundamental
! law of the land. Every now and then
q resolution Of this character Is drop
! ped into the hopper in congress. but 1t
/ is not until the entire batch Is collected
and laid ont in review that one is i'm
! pressed with their real Significance
There have been periods of unrest
and agitation before, but never has
such Il variety of changes been pro
| posed to congress rs now. Many Off
Gals in Washington even would be
surprised to learn that there are forty
resolutions pending before congress
| providing for changes in the federal
| constitution.
The hmenders want to change almost
| evorytling-t the executive. legislative
and judicial departments of the gov.
ernment-and they want to write into
the fundamental. law also Il good many
things that cannot be interfered with
by any part of the government They
want to settle things for all time, and
the strange feature is that many Of the
proposed changes were considered by
the fathers and rejected as out of har.
mony with the scheme of government
which they We're seeking to establish.
or all the propositions of this charac-
ter now before congress that of Repre-
sentative Doolittle of Kansas is prob
ably the most unique. He proposes to
amend article 5 of the federal constitn.
ton
He has a method for the recall Of ju-
dical decisions by referendum to the
state legislatures and not to the peo-
pie. Mr. Doolittle is a Democrat and a
direct descendant Of the first colonial
governor Of Virginia.
Representative Lafferty. Democrat.
from Oregon. suggests an amendment
by which proposed amendments to the
constitution may be submitted to the
states by majority vote of the two
houses Of congress and be ratified by
two-thirds Of the states.
Representative Hardwick Of Georgia
proposes the repeal Of the fifteenth
amendment and all after the first SEN
tence in the fourteenth amendment. so
that all he would have remain of those
two celebrated amendments would be
the declaration that "all persons born
or naturalized in the United States and
subject TO the jurisdiction thereof are
citizens Of the United States and the
state wherein they reside"
Another group Of proposed constitu-
tional amendments Is directed at the
courts. Representative Cullop, Demo
crat. from Indiana. proposes that all
judges of the supreme court Of the
United States shall be elected at
presidential election. four of whom
shall serve for four years and five for
eight years. After that first election
the term of the judges shall be eight
yVNiS' hC Nouit Shuii ClCNt u SulCl
justice. clerk and marshal. and their
terms shall be four years
Representative Hull of Tennessee
proposes to amend the constitution and
give congress power to abolish any In
ferior court of the United States and
to remove any judges of such courts
by two-thirds vote Of both houses.
II 80 cxI,
Democrat, proposes an amendment that
the judicial power of the United States
shall not be construed to extend to any
suit in law or equity commenced or
prosecuted against any state by citi-
zens OF another state or by citizens or
subjects Of n foreign state or by reason
Of the citizenship Of any corporation.
Mr. Raker wants to keep the Japa-
nese question out Of the United States
courts and leave that whole question
TO California -.
Representative Nelson of Wisconsin.
Republican. wants an amendment CIV
ing congress the power to define. pre-
vent and suppress mOnOpolies, COM
binations and agreements In restraint
Df trade.
Representative Edmonds. Repub.
iican from Philadelphia. suggests that
Congress be empowered to establish
uniform laws Of marriage and divorce
and provide penalties for violation of
the same.
Representative Peters, Democrat
Of Massachusetts. proposes to give con-
gress the power to regulate the busi-
ness or commerce of insurance through
out the United States and It's terri.
tories and possessions
Representative Henry, Democrat
from Texas. proposes an amendment to
change the date OF Inauguration Of the
president tn the last Thursday in April
and the date for the assembling Of con-
gress to the second Tuesday In Jan
nary.
Prohibition is the subject Of an
other group of amendments. Senator
Works Of California proposes to pro-
hibit In the United States the sale.
manufacture and ipspOrta t1on Of diA-