Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-10-31
TINKERING WITH THE u. S.
CONSTITUTION SOON
Daily Letter BY Frederic D.. Hasktn

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2S.-Tinker-
ing with the constitution will lie a
subject much discussed whel con-
gress gets hack on the job after
the elections. Several changes in
the organic law of the nation will
be proposed and at least one of these
will be directed to the pul pose OF
making 1t easier t. ertect coustitu-
tional amendments.
In short. not only is there a mani
fest disposition to do some tinker
ing with the venerable document
but there is insistence that the tink-
ering should be made less difficult
of accomplishment.
The latter proposal is a decided
departure from the ideas of the
| forefathers who framed the consti-
tuition and in doing so made clear
their judgment that 1t should be
safeguarded in every way against
hasty or ill-advised alterations. They
undertook to see That no amend
ment could be effected that had not
| been scrutinized carefully and th3t
did not have back of it overwhelm-
ing sentiment of the people of the
country, and that they made a good
Job of it Is attested by the fact that
since the constitution was adopted
in 1889 it has been amended only
nineteen times and ten of these
amendments embodied the so-called
bill of rights which had been Vlrtu-
ally agreed upon at the time the
constitution was drafted and were
adopted in 1891.
The eleventh amendment, provid-
ing that a state can not be sued by
a citizen of another state. or by citi-
zens or subjects OF any foreign
country, and the twelfth providing
for the naming of candidates t2r
President and Vice President sepa-
rately followed within a few years
the one in 1898 and the other In
1904. Then there was a lapse OF
sixty-one years without a single
change in the constitution, With the
three growing out of the civil war
coming in 1865, 1868, and 1870.
Forty-three years passed and two
amendments were declared in effect
in 1913-the sixteenth, known as
the income tax amendment, and the
seventeenth. which provided for the
election of United States senators by
direct vote of the people of the sew
eral states. Seven years later the
dlltlluIltlllo "SL0 AiaAS
which gave the country prohibition
and woman's suffrage.
Four Carefully Considered
The last four of the amendments
appear to have passed the test con-
templated by tho foretathers. Ger
tainly they were debated pro and
con for years and were considered
with care and elaboration. and ii
| would seem that they must have
been demanded by an overWheIn'
ing public sentiment. Indeed II
was the difficulty with which these
constitutional changes were brought
about when it was evident that a
majority of the people wanted them
hat led to the proposal that
amendments be made easier. :.
Senator owen of Oklahoma is
the for this idea and has
introduced resolutions on the sub
| ject in several congresses. One Of
these resolutions is now pending
before the senate committee on thu
judiciary. 1t provides that the con
stitution may be amended in the
following and in no othsi
way:
IAN amendment or amendments
or the calling/ of a constitutions
convention may be proposed:
by a majority vote of the mem
bers of each house of congress-;
by either house should the other
house twice reject the proposal, anc
a failure for three months to ac'
favorably shall constitute a reJec'
ton.
Congress shall propose an
amendment or amendments or the
calling of a constitutional conven'
ton when requested by a majority
of the state legislatures. Congress:
! or either house may submit compel
ing measures"
This differs radically from the
original provision of the constitu'
ton under which congress can pro
pose amendments only when two
thirds of the members OF botf
houses shall deem it necessary, ant
can call q. constitutional convention
only on the application of the legls
latures of two-thirds of the severa
states. The constitution stipulatel
that amendments so proposed shat
become effective only when ratified
by the legislatures of three-fourthi
of the several states, or by conven
tons thereof, as the M or III
other mode of ratification may b'
proposed by congress.
Senator Owen would change tia