The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1916-05-04

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ed to relieve our officers from their
present embarrassment and make pos
sible a government under the law.
Section /, article Xxx, of the con-
stitution provides method for Its
amendments to this constitution may
be proposed in either branch of the
legislature, and II the same shall be
agreed to by two-thirds Of all the mem
bers Of each Of the two houses, voting
separately, such amendment or
amendments shall, with the yeas and
nays thereon, be entered on their
journals, and 1t shall be the duty of
the legislature to submit such amend
ment or amendments to the electors
of the state, at the next general cleo
ton, and cause the same to be pub
lished without delay for at least six
consecutive weeks, prior to said cleo
ton in not less than one newspaper
of general circulation, published in
each county; and IL majority of the
electors shall ratify the same, such
amendment or amendments shall be-
come part of the constitution"
You will observe that it requires
only a majority of the electors to rat
ify an amendment, while to remove
a county seat, as provided in Sec. III,
article XVIII, it requires that two
thirds of the qualified electors of the
county, voting on the proposition at
a general election shall vote in favor
of such removal.
The second amendment to the Ida
no constitution was known as the
xxrn e,rrffr
submitted to the electors at the gen
eral election in November, 1896, but
failed to receive the endorsement of
even a majority of those who voted
at that election, and certainly did not
receive the support of a majority of
the electors. However the returns
from the various counties were event
ually assembled at the capitol in Boise
and placed before the state canvassing
board, but that board having no in
formation as to the number of cleo
tors in the state could not decide the
matter In favor of the amendment hav-
ing been adopted, hence the advocates
of female suffrage appealed to the
supreme court and that tribunal de
cided in substance: That the SEN
tence, IF a majority Of the electors
shall ratify the same, such amendment
or amendments shall become part of
the constitution" did not mean what
1t said, but meant, If a majority of
those voting on the question, and that
being shown by the returns, their de-
cision was that the amendment be
came part of the constitution.
That incongruous decision was not
rendered In spirit of disloyalty to
the constitution, but rather as a COM
pliment to the wives and mothers of
Idaho, without thought of the far
reaching effect of establishing as a
precedent the possibility of minority
of those voting at an election adopt
ing, without even reading the same,
amendments of the most dangerous
character; yet that has been the re-
suit As many as from four to six
amendments have been submitted to
the electors at one general election,
they having been published, as the
law requires, in at least one newspa-
per in each county within the state.
but as Is well known, such publication
Is usually in some little partisan pa
per that Is read by very few persons
and as consequence the first knowl-
edge the average elector receives that
he or she, Is expected to vote upon
the ACCESSIBILITY of changing the con
stitution, is just before entering the
booth to vote, when a large blanket
ballot containing the several amend
ments proposed is handed to him or
her, as the case may be Upon enter
ing the booth the light is usually.
found to be very dim, which makes
1t embarrassing, if not physically inn
possible to read and study the several
amendments proposed, in the limited
time each elector is presumed to oc-
cupy a booth; consequently many do
not vote on any of the amendments
proposed, while others vote YES or
no, at random. Not one elector in
ten ever read the amendments pro
posed at the general election in the
year 1910, hence the limited vote
thereon.
In the foregoing described helter-
SHELTER manner more than twenty al
legged amendments have been added to
our constitution; the barriers which
the trainers of that instrument erect
ed to limit taxation, Articles VII and
VIII, have been emasculated by 80
called amendments, with the result
that taxes have become burdensome
Being one Of the few men, now liy-
ing, who participated in framing the
constitution of Idaho, / am sensitive
regarding its violation, and l feel it
to be not only my right, but my duty
TO call your attention to the foregoing
and respectfully ask that you in turn
lay the matter before the governor
with your suggestions as to the proper
remedy.
Sincerely yours.
w. j. MCCONNELL