The sun., 1915-11-01

lowing letter to George w. Perkins In
reply to Mr. Perkins's widely advertised
letter attacking the proposed Consltu-
tion:
Your riincipai reason appears to te
'hst the Constitution as revised Is sub
| nitted Practically as a whole. waciyas
IN your opinion 1t should be submitted
| In separate sections.
| you n'ust be aware that thero are
Two quite distinct methods OF changing
the Constitution in this State. One is
the submission Of separate amendments
by the Legislature. Two such amend-
| inents submitted by the Legislature are
to be voted upon this fall. The other
| method Is by having a convention TO
revise and amend the Constitution That
method involves three separate votes by
the people OF the State: First, a vote
that suchSmcthod shall be followed that
| is. that there shall be n convention TO
revise and amend second, IA vote select
ing the men who are to do the work OF
revising and amending; and third, a
Vote approving or disapproving the re-
| suit. Under this method for n hundred
years IL has been the practice in this
state to submit the work of revision
practically as n whole just as It Is being
submitted now and 1t could not be
| done otherwise consistently with tho
4
not merely TO propose amendments: IL is
! to revise and amend the Constitution and
| then report to the people of the State
for their approval or disapproval OF the
work which has been done.
That is what the people Of the State
voted for when they determined TO have
a convention: that Is what they elected
tho delegates to do. ano that is what
| they will have spent over a million dol
a N Va al IN
saet upon the revision which their dele-
gates have made instead Of each voter
! having to make UP Constitution for
himself by putting together q multitude
Of separate provisions.
Thinks II Better to Cure Evils.
This is particularly tho case with
the present revision because all the
| main new provisions are connected by
specific common purpose. the rehabili-
! tation OF the Legislature and its restora-
tion to the performance Of its proper
functions. The relations of the LeEis-
iature to the courts In the control of
judicial procedure. to cities In the con-
| troll OF municipal affairs. to counties In
the control OF county government to
Their Conservation Commission In the
making Of rules and regulations for the
preservation Of game and the conserva-
| ton of natural resources, to the De-
partment OF Public Works In determin-
| ing upon the expenditure Of public
moneys In local improvements. to the
Public Service Commissions in the regu-
lation Of public utilities. to the Court Of
! Claims In regard to the audit OF claims
against tho State. TO the Department of
| Accounts for the making of invcstiga-
| tons and reports necessary for intelli-
gent legislative action 10 all the heads
| OF executive departments and To the
Governor In scrutinizing the grounds
upon which appropriations are asked for
the support Of government are dealt
Dwithin what you consider separate and
Independent amendments but which
really, taken together. establish a gem
eral plan to relieve tho Legislature from
| the pressure of private and local and
special bills which prevent II from per
forming its proper functions and TO Ia
cilitate It In considering the general
laws required by the interest Of the
whole State and In restricting the ex-
penditure Of public moneys by all the
departments Of government.
THE scheme and purpose or the new
| instrument is not merely to reduce the
delay and cost OF getting justice In the
| courts. IL is not merely to substitute a
businesslike organization for the loose
! and wasteful lack Of organization In the
executive departments. II does these
| things. but II aims also TO restore the
| Legislature TO the esteem from which II
has fallen and 10 the effective perform
| ance OF the functions which II IL de-
signed to perform and to defend repre-
sentative government by showing that
II Is better to cure its evils than TO
| abandon II for any other system This
general scheme OF Improvement or State
| government should be considered ana
accepted or rejected as a whole.
You object that there is no adequate
| reason for the submission OF the appo'-
tionment article separately. The seisa-
rate submission OF that article was an
essential condition 10 the non-partisan
treatment of all the remainder OF the
| Constitution in the convention, because
| that Is the only article upon which party
lines are necessarily drawn. The mere
fact that the new article continues un-
changed the existing provision relating
| to the representation Of New York city
| In the Legislature would have made
its inclusion In the general submission
the Inevitable cause Of u division upon
| party lines as TO the whole Constitution,
and the separate submission was to
avoid that most undesirable result
Points to Past Scandals.
'You object that the appointment OF
StIpreme Court COMMISSIONER Dy tne
courts will put the judiciary into the
practical politics OF the State. On the
contrary, the courts now appoint COM
missoners and referees in great num-
bers, and the use of such appointments
as political patronage and on the re-
quest of party leaders has been the
cause of much abuse and scandal and
| OF enormous expense to suitors. The
provision in the new Constitution for
the appointment Of standing commits
eioners Is designed and adapted TO take
the judiciary out OF practical politics,
| TO put an end to the kind OF appoint
ments which have been discrediting the
courts
"You say that under the budget sys-
tenn In the revised Constitution we would
get an independent, responsible budget
system but every other year. because
the first year OF each Governor the
budget for him would be made up by
the department heads that were going
out with tho outgoing Governor This
Is q mistake. The department heads do
not make UP the budget. They merely
furnish to the Governor information.
but by no means all tho information,
upon which he himself makes UP the
budget. and each Governor will do that
for himself In each year OF his term.
"You object TO tho striking out of
the prohibition against the Governor ap-
pointing members Of the Legislature TO
office. That was stricken out with IA
number OF other provisions AZ wholly
useless and unnecessary. There are
many ways In which a Governor might