The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-31
GET CLOSER TO THE PEOPLE.

Congress may change the method of rstifying
amendments to the federal constitution A
measure is pending which provides that all
amendments shall be acted upon within eight
years after submission and that amendments
shall be submitted to direct vote Of the people
OF the several states, instead Of being subject to
ratification of state legislatures The constitu-
ton has this provision as to the methods of
making amendments:
The congress- whenever two-thirds of both
houses shall edeem it necessary shall propose
amendments to this constitution, or, the ap
plication of the legislatures of twothirds of the
several states. shall call convention propos
ing amendments which, in either case. shall be
constitution, when ratified by the legislatures Of
three-fourths of the several states, by
tons in threefourths thereof the the
other mode of ratification be proposed by the
congress; provided that no amendment which may
+ be made prior the year thousand eight hun
dred and eight shall in manner affect the
first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the
first article; and that state. without Its
sent, shall be deprived Of its equal suffrage in the
senate.
The usual method of ratification is by the
Legislatures Of the several states. 1t seems
consistent with the advancing tide OF democ-
racy and direct government in this land to-
change this, and the method Of electing United
| States senators was changed a few years ago so
that the people by direct vote, instead Of state
legislatures, shall have final voice in these mat
tiers. No harm would be done and no violence
Ito the spirit of the constitution would be COM
mitted, it would SEEM if the process of adopting
i unconstitutional amendments were altered as pro-
lposed.
4 The first instance In which the food admins
tration has found it necessary to use It's power
to revoke dealers license is that of Morris
Singer & Co., wholesale produce dealers, OF
Washington D. G. The grounds upon which
Of two
carloads of potatoes consigned to this concern
/ by Chatterton & Co., of Mount Pleasant, Mich,
which Morris Singer & Co. failed to promptly
accept and permitted to deteriorate 1t has
been for many years an unhealthy feature of
| the distribution of perishable foods that deal
| er would order consi gnInent from a shipper
or farmer and If the market price for the prod
uct had declined when the shipment arrived,
the consignee would take advantage of the
situation to reject it, the shipper having only
i the choice of lawsuit or a compromise with
the consignee, always to the advantage OF the
latter. Such rejected shipments cause conges-
ton in railway yards and delay in car move
lments.
81 British consumers have little occasion to com
|plain OF the work of their home food admins
tration as directed by Lord Rhonda. Nothwith-
standing a most serious shortage in the supply,
bread is cheaper in every city in England than
!, in Keokuk, and comparison of meat prices in
the two countries shows difference in favor of
the English buyer. Present conditions in Eng
land have been established through the exercise
of broad powers of control. Restrictions i'm
posed may seem burdensome to bakers and re-
tail meat dealers, but results Of Lord Rhonda s
policy are seen to be satisfactory when viewed
Il from the consumers standpoint.
] With the publication Of purple book by Nor
nd hook h1r Tho 9th lie