The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-07-17
CURRENT COMMENT
Clements Weak Position.

If Governor Clements contention
that grave evil exists in our method
of effecting amendments to the con
stitution, he doesn't mend matters by
fighting it with another evil Espe-
cially is this true if the evil he is fight
ing is imaginary, and the one with
which he meets it is real--that of per-
sonal as against representative gov
eminent, of which we have had quite
enough for the present. To make
matters still worse, the Vermont gov
ernor gets out of calling the state leg
islature in extraordinary session to
vote on the suffrage amendment by the
fiimsiest kind of special pleading, and
question begging by the easy process
of raising another and irrelevant ques-
tion.
Governor Clement is presumably OPP
posed to woman suffrage He says
he has learned that an overwhelming
majority of the legislature is prepared
to vote for ratification Of the amend
ment. Thereupon he discovers that
while for nearly century and half
we have amended the constitution by
legislative or convention action this
Is subversive of state rights, that no
legislature ought to act upon an
amendment unless it is elected upon
the issue created by the submitting of
the amendment, and that the constitu
ton ought to be amended so as to ca
tablish this rule. This is the pith and
substance of his objection to calling a
special session, although in justice it
must be said that he admits the alter
native of a constitutional change in
the state of Vermont to bring the
states organic law into harmony with
that of the nation. In either event,
however, the governor assumes the
right of frustrating the public will as
represented by overwhelming majority
sentiment in the legislature, he refuses
to convene by merely begging the ques
ton at issue and raising this other as
to whether or not the federal or state
organic law ought to be changed. All
the history of amendment making is
ignored. The fact that this is the way
we do things is set aside. And the
sole will of the executive is set up
in opposition to a nation wide current
of opinion, against q statewide sen
tlLHPHt, against the uehHt Oh MS pdiby
in state or nation, against the ma
jority of the members of the legisla-
ture And all this, upon the flimsy
ground that a defect in the amend
ment process has been discovered.
Governor Clement processes to be
greatly alarmed over the POSSIBLE
ties Of lobby influences upon legisla
lures in relation TO constitutional
No doubt these are
many and grieyous. Perhaps he can
show us howe these dangers can be
avoided. Possibly he can explain how, |
even in the event of each amendment |
being made the subject of referen-
dunn, the public, as we'll as the legisla-
lures, can be protected against the in
fluences OF interested persons or or |
Meanwhile he may feel in
clined to set in motion the processes |
looking to an amendment to the consti- /
tuition providing new method of |
making amendments. But he might I
WE'LL find a moment 10 inquire /
or not il is healthy for the /
country when one man blocks pros
pectiye legislation which he doesn't |
favor personally on the ground that |
the process isn't satisfactory to him.