The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1928-07-01

against the entertainments of the equal
protection of the lays" the due pro-
cess of law" clause, the privileges and
immunities" clause, and rightly SO. But
how could he do it, though, knowing it
was secured in manner not legal, and
one which he subsequently condemned
when arguing against the Eighteenth
Amendment.
If he was right when arguing for the
Fourteenth Amendment, he was wrong
when arguing against the Eighteenth. He
cannot blow hot and cold at the same
time. From his own mouth, he con-
dennis himself.
How about the Fifteenth Amendment!
Does this one stand on any better footing
than the last two? In February, 1868,
after all the late seeding states, except
Georgia, Mississippi and Texas, had been
restored to representation in Congress,
and the members had taken their seats,
the resolution proposing the Fifteenth
Amendment was taken up. In the Sem
ate, the vote stood 80 for, and Is against.
There were 66 members elected. Only So
voted with the above result, making a
three-quarter majority of the votes cast.
1t required A votes to make two-third
majority of all the members. Thus, the
vote cast was S short of the two-third
majority commended for. The House vote
was las ayes and ID noes, total 1879, making
10 more than a tWo-third majority of
those voting But there were 230 of the
House elected. Forty-one were absent or
not voting. Two-thirds of 230 makes 1853
and one-third. So the vote cast was
actually and one-third votes short of
the tWo-third majority of the whole
House; and one-third votes more than
the Senate cast. Both House and Senate
lacking the necessary tWo-third majority
of all the members of each branch re-
spectively, as contended for, the Fifteenth
Amendment as adopted is invalid. and
therefore, null and void
FAILED TO IMPRESS COURT
Had Mr. Root, in concluding his argu-
ment, said, Your Honors, have but two
or three minutes remaining, and in all
fairness before closing, am bound TO say
to you that this Eighteenth Amendment
is invalid and cannot stand. The Civil
War amendments are void for the same
reason. In fact, Your Honors, the whole
Constitution itself and all the amend
ments under it are without law. They
are without authority. Those fifty-five
drafters of this document did not do that
which they were authorized to do, they
broke faith with the people and set up
another government which the people
had not known. They were faith break
ers and trust violatorS. And even though
the people might have ratified that which
they did, they did not do it in valid
and legal manner.
1.-The first bad and Illegal step, such as
was taken by the legislature of PennSyl-
vania, in using violent, criminal and I'M
lawful methods, corrupted the whole pro-
ceeding of ratification, and you must hold
that this so-called government is no gov
eminent; the president is an usurper; the
Congress are uSurperS, they must abdi-
cate; and you, your Honors, must vacate
this bench and go home, and we will go
back to the only honest-to-goodne gov
eminent there is, and that is under the
old Articles Of Confederation"
Had he made this speech, he would
have gotten just as far and won over
just as many of the Court as with the one
he did make-and that was NONE.
PUBLIC SENTIMENT RECORDED
Public Opinion
How does the public sentiment, in re-
gard to the adoption and ratification Of
the Eighteenth Amendment, compare
with the same as to the other amend
ments and the Constitution itself? This
can be answered only by studying the
statistics as shown in the records, all
amendments having been secured by the
same procedure.
The Constitution itself became effective,
and the Government under it was func-
tioning many months before North Caro-