Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-03-08
Communication
March G, 1920.

lldItlI VI iJ-Us
To the Editor of the JouInal:
Your editorial in Your issue of
March ., in which is quoted let
ter from Mrs james Bennett, of
Richmond, Ky, is certainly inter-
esting, Mrs. Benefits argument
that members of the legislature of
a state the constitution of which
limits to men the right to vote,
violate their oaths to uphold the
constitution when they vote to
ratify the proposed suffrage
amendment to the federal constitu-
ton, is hardly worthy of respectful
consideration, and | assume that
you printed it only out of proper
courtesy to a Kentucky lady. Her
argument would be equally appli-
cable to an attempt to amend such
a state constitution so as to give
women the right to vote, or, in
deed, to any amendment of the
constitution.
You will, however, l am sure,
pardon the suggestion that your
remarks do not give proper con-
sideratiOn to the real argument
against the amendment which is
equally applicable to the fifteenth
and eighteenth amendments. |
never have seen and can now see
no sufficient argument against al
lowing women to vote, but the
question is or ought to he, is this
the right way to bring about the
change or is this a matter which
Under the constitution of the United
States should be left to regulation
Ey each sovereign state? For
more than 1870 years, we have been
Boosting about our unique and
wonderful frame of government by
which large number of independ-
ent sovereignties, with greatly
worrying local interests. have been,
except from 1861 to 1865, held har-
moniously together in a national
s. stem without any sacrifice of the
rights of each sovereignty.
The original extreme view as to
tho rights of the states, that the
national union was a mere compact
of Independent autonomies, from
which any one of them could
Withdraw at pleasure, or the laws
of which could be by them disre-
gagdcd or nullified, was destroyed
by the great civil war and is no
longer a subject for practical dis
cussiCn. but the constitutional pro-
vision which declares that THE
powers not delegated to the United
States by the constitution nor pro-
hibitedJ by it to the states are re-
EaNynI n bn OF q
or to the people" still has some
meaning. Certainly the power to
fix the qualifications of voters was
mot delegated to the United States
by the constitution and the argu-
ment is strong that 1t was reserved
to, the states. and that any interfer-
ence with that power, whether by
congressional enactment or by con-
stitutional amendment, is equally
violative of the fundamental con-
stitutional principle, and if the
powers of the states can thus be
frittered away one by one that
there is no limit to the destruction
of the independence of the states,
and that. as matter of principle,
if thirty-six states would ratify it,
all dbltIlbitltilA "tdl' 'N NNuullN
iustifiable, which would completely
abolish all powers of the states and
extinguish their separate existence,
transferring all governmental
power and functions to the central
federal authority of the United
States tsa
It is difficult to answer that ara
gument. Can it be said with any
force or even plausibility that the
power to amend the constitution
carries with it any rightful power
to Destroy the essentially neces-
sary features of the government
created by that constitution
Let us suppose that a corporation
should be formed for the avowed
purpose of manufacturing pedal
lied bronze and spreading the use
of that desirable commodity, with
out which the heart of the world
would be broken and for the pur-
pose of opposing the making or use
OF vile automatic brass which
, threatens the destruction of our
civilization, and that, lured by
these declarations, you and | with
hundreds of others invest our
money in say 2,490 shares of stock.
the total number being 5000, and
after time the holders of 2.510
shares determine to abandon pc
dalized bronze and devote the cor
poration to the production Of the
vicious automatic brass to suppress
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