The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1933-01-23
Missouri Is 36th State to Ratify
Amendment Which Bars
Defeated Men
FIRST REVISION SINCE 1911:
intention Is to Make Congress
and Government Respon-
sive to Voters


the required ratification Of thirty
six states Monday when the Missouri
house Of representatives approved the
measure.
The house. meeting four hours a.
head Of schedule, completed ratifica-
ton by giving unanimous approval.
American politics shook off the grip
Ct the stage-coach era with this
twentieth amendment to the consti-
tuoin which proclaims that hence
forth officials defeated at the ballot
Eox shall have little voice IN govern
n,ent.
In near record time, less than a
year, 36 states have ratified the
Lame Duck" amendment. Congress
lad taken ten years to agree on pro-
posing it. It will go into effect next
Oct. Is, controlling the terms of con-
gress and the president from then
on.
This Is the first fundamental mod
ernization In the federal government
since 1918, when the seventeenth
amendment took election OF senators
from the legislatures and placed il
directly in the hands of the people
Like that amendment. the twentieth
is intended to make congress anc
the executive branch of government
more quickly responsive to public
opinion.
What 1t does Is this: The congress.
elected in November of any year viii
meet on Jan. 3 of the next year. The
president elected in November viii
take office the following January.
Contrast Is Marked
Contrast that with the existing sys-
tenn. established in 1888: In De.
cember, after the November election.
the old congress, full of defeated
members. comes back and legislates
until March 4 when It goes out. The
new president takes office on that
date but unless he calls q special
session, the new congress does not
meet until next December, l3 month.
after election.
Had the Goth amendment been In
force last October, Franklin D
Roosevelt would be In the White
House today and the new congress
would Re at work in place of the
present gathering, doomed to inef-
fectuality.
Chaotic confusion would result
from an immediate transfer so franz
ers Of the resolution provided for the
Oct. Is effective date.
The old order was founded in the
day Of stage coach travel, when II
took months for members from dis
tant parts to move themselves to the
capital. and 1t took weeks at least 70,
the election results to become known
at the national center.
It was chung to by the ultra-con-
servatives who were fearful Of too un-
limited sway for public opinion; by
those lame ducks" and members an.
ticipating defeat. who favored long
adjustment period during which they
could look around for new job while
clinging to the federal payroll: BY
executive officials who found that de-
feated members looking for appointive
berths were more responsive to their
desires than when the will Of consti-
tuents controlled them.
It was fought also by those who OBJ
jected to unlimited sessions Of con.
gress. Among these was the late
Nicholas Longworth. speaker and Re-
publican chief Of the house, who re-
peatedly killed the resolution.
Norris Put It Over
Senator Norris Of Nebraska Is the
man who put it over. With unshak-
able patience he kept on adocatine
his reform.
It was submitted March 2, 1882. Two
days later the Virginia legislature
ratified. Before the legislative season
Of last year ended, II states had given
their approval.
Legislatures all over the country
met this month. AS soon as they or
ganized. Publications began to pour
In. There was not q dissenting voice
The manner In which the amend
ment disposes Of the lame ducks L
simple. It provides two things: first
that the terms Of members ct congress
expire at noon Of Jan. Of the year
following election and that the term
Of president and vice president end
and begin at noon on Jan. "a. Sec.
ond. that congress shall meet every
year on Jan. 3. unless another date 4
fixed by law. No adjustment date 4
fixed. 50 there Is no short session and
filibusters lose the power that limited
time confers.
The twentieth amendment also pro.
vides for the first time for succession
to the presidency II the President.
elect dies Or fails to qualify. The
vice president-elect takes over unit
congress provides for selection Of Z
president, which it Is given specific
Continued on page five)