Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-08-23
This May Settle Your Dispute.

This May Settle Your Dispute.
An interesting statement has been
issued from the National Headquar-
tiers at Washington Of the Congress
sional Union for Woman Suffrage. A
careful reading may clear the under.
standing of a much discussed ques-
ton. An amendment to the Constitu-
ton is a pretty big undertaking. 1t
was so calculated. that tinkerers ana
schemers might not carry out their
dangerous dreams or plots. To Sc
cure such amendment favorable vote
Of two-thirds Of the senators repre-
senting the sovereign states. and two
thirds Of the members Of the House
Of Representatives, representing the
masses Of the people, must be had.
followed by ratification by two-thirds
Of the states themselves. The state-
ment above referred to. in part reads:
Some people say that it is impossi-
BILE at the present time to enact the
National Suffrage Amendment into
law. Even if you secure a two
thirds vote in Congress-" they say,
1T would be impossible to get the
amendment ratified by three -fourths
of the State Legislatures. Thirty-six
States at least must pass it, and only
twelve at most may reject it. But we
know in advance that fifteen States,
those belonging to the Southern
group. would absolutely reject it; and
the amendment would have to be re-
introduced in Congress. and a two
thirds vote secured there all over
again."
Fortunately this is not the case. The
great advantages of federal work are:
1-ONcE THE TlONAL
AMENDMENT Is SUBMITTED BY
CONGRESS TO THE STATES, IT is
SUBMITTED FOX GOOD AND ALL,
AND IS THEREFORE BEFORE THE
STATES FOR THEIR CoNSiDERA.
TON.
2-IF A STATE REJECTS THE
PROPOSED AMENDMENT, THIS
ACTION CAN BE RECONSTRUCTED,
AND THE AMENDMENT ADOPTED
LATER.
aIF A STATE RATIFlEs THE
AMENDMENT, THIS ACTION is
FINAL, AND CANNOT BE LATER
REsclNDED.
Once our amendment has passed
Congress, then, our task is limited to
securing a single majority vote in one
State Legislature after the other, each
n al of III
and permitting us to concentrate our
funds and forces on smaller and
smaller number of States with a view
to securing a majority vote in thirty
six Of them.
In twelve of these States. the eleven
suffrage States and Illinois. it Is safe
to assume that the Federal amend
ment would be ratified at once. FIJI
teen Of the remaining States have
within the last few years submitted
the question Of woman suffrage to the
voters. some by the act Of the State
Legislatures, some by initiative petit
ton. A considerable number of these
States would ratify the United States
Constitutional Amendment. At a very
cautious estimate, therefore, half the
States would ratify Federal amend
ment very promptly. and our work
therefore would consist in concen-
trating suffrage funds and energy on
twelve out Of the remaining twenty
four States.
These points Of Federal amendment
procedure are quite clear. All au-
thorities agree that when Congress
has once submitted an amendment for
the consideration of the States, it has
submitted it for good. Attempts
which have been made to restrict the
time during which Legislatures might
consider and act on proposed consti-
tutional amendments submitted by
Congress, have always proved unsuc-
cessful. A constitutional amendment
remains subject to ratification by the
States from the moment Of its original
submission until it becomes law. This
is the position taken by James in his
Treatise on Constitutional Conven-
tions," and by Ames in his History Of
Proposed Amendment to the Constitu-
ton" Watson, in his Treatise on
the Constitution" also maintains that
it does not prescribe the time during
which the States may act on a pro-
posed amendment. "Such q provi-
sion." he says, might have been re-
garded as an attempt to force the
States into a ratification, whereas it
was the desire Of the Convention that
the action Of the State should be de-
iberate and free from influence =
Who but the States can judge Of what
would be a reasonable time? It is for
the State to ratify. and cannot the
State take its own time to do it.?
What branch Of the government can
tell State when it must ratify an
amendment. in the absence Of any
constitutional provision on the sub
tect?"
The precedent that no State, having
once ratified an amendment, can
rescind its action, was established
during the adoption of the Four
teenth and Fifteenth Amendments.
New Jersey and Ohio tried to with.
draw their endorsement Of the Four
teenth Amendment, before 1t had been
ratified by the requisite number Of
States; on the assumption that such
action was lawful before the Amend
ment had been incorporated into the
Constitution. The Secretary Of State.
being in doubt as to the interpreta-
ton of the Constitution on this point,
ias,1ed certificate recitin1 the facts