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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 3, 1909)
w ffm" - rjKmvu&fi' "wje! -sp5w?j3 2 - I t ; n ft t M I 5 :sr 1 It t t oo towards a more popular government. Take for instance the direct primaries laws adopted by many of our states and bo ably championed by that groat lawyer and governor, Charle E. Hughes of New York. Never has there been enacted a sot of laws which has done moro for tho politics of the nation. In these states, at one blow it has crushed the power of tho bosses, a most potent influence towards corrup tion under present conditions. In order to bo consistent wo must revise tho method of select ing senators so as to make it conform to our changed political ideas. But this last assertion will, no doubt, bring down a storm of condemnation from those who are popularly known as the "watch dogs" of tho constitution, and in fact has been attacked by tho so-called ultra-conservatlsts as being ex tremely radical. I will admit, and rejoice in the admission, that no instrument of its kind In the history of tho world has ever compared with tho constitution of tho United States, and that on it rests tho burden of this great govern ment; but does not Article V of the instrument itself give to congress the power of amendment, and has not this prerogative been exercised time and again as the exigencies demanded? The set tled conviction of time and experience that the constitution as a whole is good and wise has our heartiest approval, but devotion to tho con stitution should stimulate us with the desire to repair the few parts which have not insured to tho people every reasonable liberty. "Nothing is well done that can bo made better; and he who conforms to the idea of well enough has not only ceased to advance, but has actually turned tho wheels of progress backward." In one form or anothor the legislatures of thirty-one states, more than the full two-thirds prescribed by tho constitution, have formally communicated to congress their approval of the proposed change. Indeed, if the votes in the house be taken aB a fair criterion of the will of the people, then only two states have failed to give their indorsement. Is this not irrebuttable evidence that the people of the country desire ,a change? , Previous to the year,.! 872' there had been nine resolutions befo.ro congress to chauge the pre valent manner 'of choosing senators' to that of - Jeflioirby the people and since 1872 up to the close of tho fiftieth congress this change had been urged some thirty times. An examination of the Journals of congress for the years subse quent to March 4, 1889, shows that the number of resolutions proposing this change is unpre cedented. The house of representatives of tho fifty-second and fifty-third congresses passed by very pronounced majorities a joint resolution to submit such an amendment to the states, but the senate as on previous occasions failed to advance either of these resolutions to a vote.. True tho defenders of the present system number among their ranks senators of ability and men who are honest and unselfish in their convictions, and it is to these men who are willing to accept the ' , en(lG' tnat we desIre t0 address ourselves. ?T ? ifrmx the le&islatures the selection of united States senators and inside of six years the personnel of the senate will have changed beyond recognition. The fundamental principle of republican governments is based upon the idea that they "derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." Take from the legislatures the selection of United States sen ators and you will destroy tho most potent power by which corporate influence now holds its sway. PART II ?lilie, ftrst place the Proposed chang would end the legislative deadlocks which have clwed so much difficulty and been a source of so much SSV?nSCS u lnthe past- Xt would settle once and for all time the question of equal representa tion the senate. Under the constitution each . of the several states is entitled to two senators but under present conditions scarcely fSon BtaSRDgirqeSn"fSSeS that Bome one of the sovereign states is not unrepresented by at least one of them; an injustice to the people of the state and a great wrong to the country at large. Of tSe frpl nlght Se8'll0nB ,only ono ha be entirSy free of vacancies of this origin and in the fifty sixth congress there were four such seats un- w1; n t , ? thre recent cngresses Detawwe ?EU wbUti n? 8 ator whIle frora 1901 to 1903 her voice in tho senate was as mute as f she had suddenly ceased to exist, all of which was brought about by tho shameful dead-loWne ' of "or legislature, produced by thHggressivI deterjninntIon of one pJch man foregg into the upper house of congress. Brazen nre- , ,. '"""'' uu e carrieu further Hinn was Indicate,! 1 the language used I by a poiuf- The Commoner. cian the day of tho election of Allee and Ball, March 2, 1903. "With Mr. Allee in the senate wo will be able to get rid of all traitors in the camp, such as postmasters throughout the .state, and fill their places with our own men. We will also get rid of all the bolters and two years from now, in full control of the state I will elect . a legislature which will send mo to the United States senate." From 1895 to 1906, there were but two congresses in which Delaware was fully represented. During the past eighteen years in fourteen contests in ten different states the body charged with the duty of electing sen ators proved absolutely powerless to perform Its office and four states have undergone the cost and inconvenience of a special session of tho legislature for tho sole purpose of filling vacancies caused in this way. The legislature of Illinois was deadlocked for. five months in an effort to elect a successor to Senator Albert J. Hopkins. The direct primaries system is in vogue in this state and by it the people indirectly choose their senators, but in order to evade the . third section of Article I of the Constitution of the United States the legislators actually elect the senators, supposedly guided in their selec tion by the voice of the people at the primaries. Now Hopkins defeated Ex-Governor Yates by a small plurality at the polls, but many of the legislature have refused to abide by the will of the people and consequently no definite conclu sion could be reached. In the meantime the great state of Illinois had to be content with but one representative in the United States senate. Space forbids us to delve deeply Into the shameful regularity with which many of the states havo been confronted with this great menace to public policy and for the sake of brevity I shall diagram the deadlock record from 1891 to 1905 showing the date, number of days in deadlock, number of ballots taken, and the name. of the senator (if any) finally elected. Thousands upon thousands of dollars have been wasted in this way and many incapable and unfit men have been chosen as eleventh hour com promises. If the question were to be asked, "Do we need state legislatures?" our opponents would in all probability tell us that we undoubtedly do. And why do we need them? Experience has shown us that we need them primarily to elect sena tors and only secondarily to attend to the affairs of the respective states. Surely this was not the intention of our constitutional fathers. In many of our states It has become a notorious fact that the legislatures are rendered less fit instruments for their important law making, financial and administrative duties by reason of the fact that In at least two out of every three of their biennial sessions they must sub ordinate all their business to the struggle for the choice of United States senators. That a candidate should be elected on account of his national party badge alone and not on account of his fitness and probity is of course destructive to the idea that a public office is a public trust derived from the people and answerable to the people. Have we not here the germ of most of our civic corruption? The very existence of the machine and the boss is involved in keeping up this viciouB confusion of things and in hindering the subservient partisan from voting on the real local (state or munici pal) issue, or upon the character of the candi date. The voter's paramount concern is the success of the national party. So long as this state of things continues, it seems hopeless to look for any such purification of our political life as will tempt men of refinement, honor, training and public spirit to seek a statesman's career. The federal senate, which should be the assured goal of men competent to govern and a model of legislative dignity, capacity and behavior, can not be expected to fulfill these functions while the state legislatures remain vulgar, petty and sordid; and the state legisla tures in their turn can not avoid these vices so long as their excuse for being is primarily to elect senators and only secondarily to attend to the affairs of their respective commonwealths. The two seats in the senate for each state have come to be the most highly coveted prizes in American public life, and since legislatures have to choose the senators, the would-be senators make it their business to choose the legislatures To one who is unaware of existing conditions in the various states this last statement may seem impossible, but allow me to cite just one example wliich conclusively proves how easily this can be done. Take the state of Rhode Island, where senators are elected by the state senate and tho state house of representatives in accordance, with the federal constitution The VOLUME 9, NUMBER 34 senate is composed of thirty-eight members to gether with the lieutenant governor, who is chosen by the entire state. Each of the thirty eight members represents one town or city in the senate. Each town and city is entitled to one state senator regardless of population or wealth, and as a result of this unjust and moro or less ridiculous regulation twenty of the pres ent state senators (a majority of the entire sen ate) were elected last fall by less than ten per cent of the total vote cast for state senators. The town of West Greenwich, with 110 votes, is entitled to the same representation as the city of Providence, with over 30,000 votes. In the house of representatives, while the dispropor tion is not so great, it is still greater than it should be. Twenty-five per cent of the voters of the state elect a majority of the seventy-two representatives in the lower house. You can readily see that all a United States senator from Rhode Island needs to regard is ten per cent of the voters of the state so far as the state senate is concerned and twenty-five per cent, so far as the house of representatives is concerned. Now do you see the reason why the senators of Rhode Island do not want popular election of United States senators and why they can afford to go on and do as they see fit regardless of what their constituents or the people of the country think or feel? And who are their con stituents? Are they the great mass of people of Rhode Island? I need only refer you to the afore-given statistics and you may judge for yourself. No system should be capable of such terrible and far-reaching abuses. And now another strong argument against the present system is that it leads to the corruption of legislatures and to the selection of men whose only claim to office is their great wealth or their subserviency to corporate interests. On the other hand it is maintained that the proposed change would lead to the choice of deserving men reflecting more truly the' sentiment of the people. James Bryce, England's learned ambassa dor to the United States, writing of the United States senate in his American commonwealth, very aptly remarks: I'Soma, are senators be cause they are rich and others are rich, because they are senators." The United States senate -of today has been likened unto the Roman senate of old. Rome at the zenith of her power boasted of. the learn ing of her senators, which has been handed down to posterity and forms today the master work of the Latin tongue. But her senate be came the goal of those who bought their seats with their gold, thus driving out the men whose brilliancy shone in brains alone; their laws be gan to decline; the people lost their virility; they lost their manhood and they lost Rome. "Money is forever the same. Its one inherent quality in the social universe is cohesion. Its power wherever exercised is proportionate to its mass. Separated from the individuality of its owner it becomes a menace to the body politic, the destroyer of social equality, the creator of caste. Tyranny flourishes where money rules." Whatever grounds there may have been for the criticism of Randolph on the follies of democ racy, It is certain that many of the evils of the present day may properly be ascribed to the reckless selfishness of aggregated wealth. The immortal Lincoln, with keen Insight, fore saw the future of the United States senate when he prophetically admonished his countrymen to "beware of the money power which seeks to perpetuate its reign until the wealth of the country has passed into the hands of the few and the nation is lost." Far he it from us to condemn a United States senator simply because he happens to be worth millions, if with these millions he can couple true worth and a degree of fitness in keeping with his position; but an alarming number of these senators have, of late gone into the upper house as men of moderate means and mirabile dictn, in a suspiciously few years have amassed im mense fortunes and all on a salary of $7,500 per annum. How can this be possible? Something is vitally wrong and the scandals brought to light during the recent presidential campaign seem to lend great weight to the logical con clusion. It is a sad state of affairs when many of these individuals or groups of individuals havo come to be familiarly known as the "oil senators," "steel senators" or the "railroad sen ators," significant of the different corporations, trusts and monopolies whose interests they ille gitimately represent in the halls of congress. When we recollect that in the senate of the fifty-eighth congress at least one out of every ten members, had been put on trial before tho courts or subjected to legislative investigation --. ., .. r,7,,itl.,tJWifc8afc?itMUwii(a.