Evening star., 1938-04-27

IN the making Of their laws (Which
President Monroe regarded as merit
ing consideration as far back as 1879.
can be best remedied, not by setting
up an inferior legislature for limited
purposes. but by admitting the people
OF the District of Columbia to a voice
IN national legislation which possesses
ana must continue to possess the ex-
elusive power of government over
them. In this way the supremacy
OF Congress is reconciled with the
fundamental principles of representa-
tive government; the object which the
Jurlsdlctional provision was intended
10 secure Is completely attained with
out condemning the population of the
National Capital to status of politi-
cal degradation inconsistent with that
great truth on which our Government
is founded.
ID. c. Representation Deprives No
State Of Equal Suffrage in Senate.
IL remains to consider an objection
sometimes urged upon the last clause
OF Article X of the Constitution, pro-
Vldlng that no State without its con-
sent shall be deprived of its equal suf-
frage in the Senate" But how will
the admission of a Senator, or even
two Senators, elected by the people
OF the District of Columbia. deprive
any State Of its equal suffrage in the
Senate? The plain meaning of this
provision Is that no State shall have
any greater numerical representation
In the Senate than any other State
1t cannot mean that the aliquot share
OF the legislative power possessed by
a State at any given time cannot be
reduced, as the proportion of that
power, which was originally two as
to 26. has been steadily diminished
by the admission of new States until
it is now two as to 96.
Nor is 1t of any Importance that
the people by whom this Senator or
these Senators would be elected
would not have any separate legis-
lature.
Even when Senator's were elected by
State Legislatures, the Legislatures did
not act as the Legislature in the sense
Of the lawmaking body of the State,
but as a specially designated body
Of electors by virtue OF an express
power conferred by the Federal Con-
stitution itself Senators are no longer
elected by the State Legislatures. but
by the people. Under the proposed
amendment the people of the District
OF Columbia, in choosing their Sena-
tors. would, to that extent, but tc
that extent only, stand on the same
footing with the people of the States
But as the people of State, in the
election OF Senators. as in the election
Of Representatives in the lower house,
exercise this right without regard to
the form and organization of their
respective local Legislature, so would
the people OF the District of Columbia
elect their Senator's and Representa-
tives without regard to the existence
or non-eXistence of a local Legisla-
ture.
1t is, of course, no answer to say
that the Senate is composed only of
members selected by the several
States. That is merely to declare an
obvious fact as the Constitution now
stands. The Senate shall be COM
posed OF two Senators from each
State" Before the 17th Amendment
the Constitution went on to say
chosen by the Legislatures thereof" +"
But, as We have seen, that is no longer
true. What remains is no less SUBJ
ject to amendment. There is no
principle of our Constitution much
less any specific provision in its ar
ticles. which forbids its amendment
so as to admit into the Senate, as
well as into the House, members who
shall represent an integral part of the
country, such as the District of Co.
lumbia, without requiring that such
area shall be for all purposes what