Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-06
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.


TN the last 81 years 1850 pro-
posals to amend the Constitution
of tee United States have been
i made by members of Congress.
That is something to think
about. Many of these proposed
amendments have covered the same
ground. But a wide range of sub
jects is included in the list of amend
ments, from proposals to limit the
hours of work in factories to a pro-
posal to change the name of the
United States of America to United
States of the World, and to a pro-
posal to abolish the Senate.
In those 38 years, however begin
ming in 1889, only four amendments
to the Constitution have been adopted.
Indeed only 10 amendments all told
have been made in the 40 years since
the adoption of the Constitution.
Tinkering with the Constitution has
been a favorite pastime, however,
with many people, who believe they
can improve on the work of the con
stitutional convention, which drew up
the historic document in 1887.
Many proposals to amend the Con-
stitution are pending in the Senate
and House today. Perhaps the violent
reaction which has arisen in many
ment. the dry amendment, may give
pause to Congress before it submits
further proposed amendments TO the
States for ratification.
Amendments Are Listed.
A document, recently presented in
the Senate by Senator Dill of Wash.
ington, after being prepared under the
direction of Fl. II. b. Meyer. director
of the legislative reference service of
the Library of Congress. gives q com
plete list of the proposed amendments
TO the Constitution offered in Con
gress from December. 1889, to July.
1926. They total 1.316. In the present
session a score or more additional
amendments have been introduced
There is one amendment at least
which has strong support and which
undoubtedly would be submitted to
the States for ratification if the Re
publican leadership of the House
would withdraw it's opposition and
allow the resolution to come to a vote
This last is the Norris proposal to
change the time of meeting of Con
gress, the beginning of the terms of
members OF Congress and of the Presi-
dent and Vice President, and to do
away with the present short" sessions
of Congress. This proposal has been
passed by the Senate overwhelmingly
three times. But always it has been
held back in the House, though it is
now on the House calendar, and If
its friends can prevail on the Re.
publican leaders of that body. it may
be permitted to come to a vote before
i the close of the present Congress
March a.. Otherwise, it will have to
| be reintroduced and passed through
the various parliamentary stages in
the Seventeen Congress.
While this proposed amendment TO
| the Constitution now bears the name
| of Senator Norris of Nebraska. in
various forms it has been before the
| Congress for long time Indeed an
examination of all proposals to amend
the Constitution shows that those
which have been adopted have had
| long years of waiting before be
| ing approved by the Congress. eXcept
in the case of the first ten amend.
| ments-the bill of rights, so called.
which it was virtually agreed would
be offered soon after the ratification
| of the Constitution itself.
Two Before Civil War.
After the adoption of the first 10
amendments, only amendments were
adopted until Civil War DAYS. when
the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth
amendments were included in the
Constitution. Since that time four
amendments have been placed in the
Constitution, as follows: Authorizing
Congress to levy an income tax,
February %, 1918: providing for the
direct election of Senators of the
United States. May 81, 1918; providing
for Nationwide prohibition, pro
claimed January 90, 1919, but not eff
fective until a. year later and finally
providing for woman suffrage, August
20, 1920.
1t is a. matter of some interest that
the late William Jennings Bryan was
Secretary of State and issued the
proclamation regarding the ratifica-
ton of the seventeenth amendment
providing for the direct election of
Senators. Years before, while Mr.
Bryan was a member of the House,
he introduced several resolutions to
amend the Constitution by providing
for the popular election of Senator's
The first of these Bryan resolutions
was offered January 5. 1892, but reso-
buttons by other members of Congress
for the same purpose had antedated
the Bryan resolution: for example. one
offered in 1889, and there We're still
earlier proposals of this character, one
as far back as 1926.
The trend of public opinion regard
ing subjects which have come before
the people for discussion is clearly
indicated in the lists of the proposed
amendments to the Constitution, as
Mr.. Meyer points out in a, brief intro
duction TO the document recently pub
lished. While there was interest in
some quarters in the proposal for the
direct election of Senators years ago,
the sentiment did, not really begin to
crystalize until after 1890 In 1892
the Populist party was launched and
one of it's planks was the direct cleo
ton of Senators. Many resolutions
were introduced in Congress, some %
in number, for the direct election of
Senators. With the decline of the
Populist movement, however, the
sentiment in favor of direct elections
of Senators cooled, az was reflected in
the dropping off the resolutions intro =
duced in the following years. But i'll
1910 there was a revival of interest in
the matter, and two years later the
amendment was proposed by Congress
to the legislatures and ultimately
ratified.
First Dry Amendment.