April 13, 1911

Mr. FOSTER of Vermont. Under the terms of this proposed amendment the legislature can regulate the time for such elections. It is a question, however, whether the provision should not be in the organic law.

l\fr. HARDWICK. I think the gentleman is right about it. l\fr. FOS'l'ER of Vermont. I certainly hope that such an amendment may be adopted before the resolution passes.

There are those who are strongly opposed to the resolution because under its provisions Congress is deprived of its present power to regulate the time and place and manner of -electing United States Senators. Personally, I would be glad to see that power retained in Congress. But, in my judgment, this is not a vital defect in the proposed amendment. The Constitution leaves to the legislatures of the several States the authority to determine how the presidential electors shall be appointed. For more than a hundred years, under this provision, the electors have been chosen by the people. The results have been satisfactory. If the States can be trusted in all matters relating to the election of presidential electors, they can surely be trusted in all matters relating to the election of United States Senators.

Our fathers in framing the Constitution undertook to safeguard the Republic by removing the selection of the Chief .Executive from the excitement of popular elections. They believed that on election day the people in tlle several States would gather at the polls and elect their presidential electors, and that then these presidential electors would meet on the proper day and, away from the tumult and excitement of the populace, would select for the Chief Executive the one man in all the country whom they believed to be best qualified for the position. Their scheme was an utter failure. Nothing but the letter of the constitutional provision remains. To all intents and purposes the people of the several States register their will on election day, and the presidential electors whom they elect merely convey to the United States Senate the r e ­ sults of the election.

In a similar manner, they deemed it wise to remove the sek :' ­ tion of United States Senators from the excitement of popular elections. They provided that they should be elected by the legislatures of the several States. This provision has already been nullified in many of the States, and the number of States nullifying it is rapidly increasing. The whole trend of public sentiment is in favor of the election of Senators by the people. If the several legislatures could be selected upon the sole issue of the election of such Senators, the situation would be very different. Ilut such is not the fact. The legislatures are not selected for this purpose primarily. Many local issues, not infrequently burning questions, are involved in the election of these legislatures. For this reason, and for many reasons which might be given, it has come to pass that too often the m~m selectecl by the legislature is not the choice of the people. It is desirable that there should be a uniform rule as to the time of electing the s e Senators, and J hope to see this resolution so amencletl. as to provide for the date of such elections.

Mr . SHERLEY. Will the gentleman permit a suggestion there?

Mr . FOSTER of Vermont. Certainly.

The SPEA:h..~. Will the gentleman from Vermont [l\Ir. FOSTER] yield to the gentleman from Kentucky [l\Ir. SHERLEY]

l\Ir . FOSTER of Vermont. Certainly. · l\Ir. SHERLEY. The constitution of my State provides that elections for State officers shall be held in years other than those in which Federal elections are held, the idea being to divorce the consideration of State and National questions that the people might vote more directly on the fitness of men for the positions which they seek; and I simply suggest that idea to the gentleman a.s contrary to the one he suggested a few moments ago.

Mr. FOSTER of Vermont. My suggestion is that provision be made for the election of Senators at the last general election, whether for Federal officers or simply for State officers, prior to the vacancy.

The SPEAKER. The time of the gentleman has again expired. The gentleman from Missouri.

l\Ir. RUCKER of Missouri. l\.Ir. Speaker, I yield 10 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee [l\Ir. Srus].

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Tennessee is recognized for 10 minutes.

l\Ir. SI.MS. Mr. Speaker, the people thought when they framed the Constitution of the United States that they were forming ancl providing for a system of government through which urnl by which the people could rule, with such checks and balances as would prevent hasty, ill-considered, and revolutionary mO"vements. No one at that time perhaps dreamed that United States Senators would be virtually elected by the people by being selected in n dominant party primary election held one, two, three, and. in some instances four years before tlie term of office was to begin, and seven, eight, nine, and in some cases ten or eleven years before the expiration of the term of service of the United States Senator so selected. Political revolutions and political changes that are not revolutionary can and <lo take place in much less time than that. When u United States Senator is elected for this long time he has the power and the right under the Constitution to rellk'dn 1.here and vote in all legislative matters in the Congress of the United States as he sees proper, although his action may be the very opposite to the then existing political sentiment · of his State. FrO'm the fact that the a~encies and instrumentalities of government, both legislative ancl executive, have not, in the opinion of the people, fully lived up to and abided by the popular will ha'\e gmwn up the doctrines of the initiativ e, referendum, nml recall. These doctrines to a great extent have grown out of the failure of the instrumentalities of government, as provided by the Constitution, to carry out and duly reflect the will of the people, as the people themselves judge of that conduct.

conduct. I want to say that the doctrine of the r ecn.ll of a le gis ­ lator is not new, is not recent. It is older than the Constitution itself. It was actually applied to the delegates in the provisional Congress of the colonies, before the Federal Congress under our present form of government was established, when the delegates held their offices for only one year. I want to read here Article V of the olcl Articles of Confederation:

AnTICLE V. For the more convenient management of the general interests of the United States Delegates shall be annually appointed in such manner as the legislature of each State shall direct, to meet in Congress on the first Monday in November in every year, with a power reserved to each State to recall its Delegates, or any of them, at any time within the year, and to send others in their stead for the remainder of the year.

That is a part of the legislation in the nature itself of a constitutional provision older than the Constitution and older than the Po p ulist Party, many times over. It is not a new doctrine. It was an idea so prevalent among the people of the Colonies that they provided for it in the Articles of Confederation as applicable to a legislative office that existed only for one year.

l\Ir . Speaker, I did not know that the committee was consiclering this resolution or I should have conferred with the c ll n irman and members of the committee with reference to o ffe ring an amendment. But the chairman just stated a few 11.! 0lil<.:? nts ago tlrn.t he was so anxious to get through this resolutio n in its present form, inasmuch as it had already been consiUered in another body, where it must pass if passed at all, that he did not want any amendment offered to it, and would ask that every amendment be voted down. Had it not been for that request I should have offered an amendment to this joint resolution, beginning with line 5, on page 2, after the word "years." I will read first the resolution and then the amendment which I expected to offer and which I would offer now if it w e re not for the fact that I do not propose to attempt to change the resolution in any way by any kind of amendment offer<~d here, however proper and however much I would. like to support it, by a provision thnt does not meet with the approval of the gentlemen who have this matter in charge and who have loo~ed over and suneyed. the whole situation. The resolution reads:

The Senate of the Unitecl States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof for six years ; and each Senator shall have one vote.

Kow, just following the words " six years" I intendecl to offer this amendment:

With a power reserved to each State to recall its Senators, or either of them, at nny time within the period of their service and to send another or others in their ste:id for the remainder of such perio<l nnd tllc lc;P.slatures of the various States shall by appropriate legislation carry into effect this provision.

I think, in order to retain the confidence of the people in their legislators, their agents, their United States Senators, or even Members of this House, if necessary, whether elected by direct '\Ote of the people or otherwise, they should ha v~ the power to dismiss their agents or other servants whenever in their judgment, properly and deliberatefy ascertained, they no longer represent the people who elected them. I think such n provision woul<l tend to perpetuate our Government in strength; that it would not be an element of weakness. If revolution ever comes in this country, it will come, not because the people have not confidence in the form of government itself, in the principles upon which it is founcled, but because they have lost confidence in those who are selected to execute their will in the method and manner as now provided. Who of you us a business man would without power of revocation authorize an agent to do business for 6 years, 8 or 10 years in advance of the finality of tbat business, with no power to dismiss tha t agent for misconduct or other cause? A State which is rockribbe<l in its democracy or in its republicanism may change, slowly, quietly, but decisively, after a United States Senn.tor has been elected and before his term of office expires, and yet that Senator will continue there to misrepresent the people, not at the time he was elected, but at the time the act of representation must take place. I do not believe such a provision for recall will be otherwise than in accord with public sentiment. But I realize that this resolution must go through another body, and I appreciate the sincerity and honesty of statement by the chairman of this committee [l\Ir. RuoK.En of Missouri] in not wanting to do anything that will give anybody an excuse to '\Ote against the resolution in its main purposes and objects, that United States Senators shall be elected by a direct '\Ote of the people. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, unless the chairman of the committee changes his mind, I will not offer this amendment ancl ask for a vote upon it; but it is time to think about these things.

Re-volution can nearly always be prevented if we will only yield to proper public sentiment, even in a. conservative way. If you think that this kind of sentiment is going backwarcl, you are mistaken. It is coming. Call it populistic or what you please, the doctrine of initiative, referendum, and recall is corning, and it is coming to stay . It is going to be n. part of the national, State, and municipal legislation of •this country ; if not in the form now demanded, then in some way by whieh the same result will be reached.

The Constitution did not provide for direct election of the President of the United States, but we have it. It has been amended by the action of the people in the method of selecting party nominees and party candidates.

The SPEAKER pro tempore ( l\Ir. SULZER) . The time of the gentleman from Tennessee has expired.

Mr . RUCKER of Missouri. Is tile gentleman from Michigan [l\lr. You:irn] prepared to use some of his time now? ·

Mr. YOUNG of Michigan. I will yield five minutes to the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. CANNO:N].

:!\Ir. CA:N"NON. Mr. Speaker, I think five minutes are quite ns much time as I desire in which to discuss this House joint i·- solution. Heretofore I have voted for a resolution in E:ome respects similar to this-two and perhaps three times. I nm inclined to the opinion that the people voting directly for Senators would give as good results as are obtained when they nre chosen by the legislatures under the provisions of the present Constitution, and perhaps better results. If I understand this joint resolution, however, I shall vote against it, for this reason: After providing the proposed amendment for the election of Senators by the people, it proceeds further and amends section 4 of Article I of the Constitution. That section now reads: The times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives shall be pres c ribed in each State by the legislature thereof, but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Sena.tors.

.As I understand it, the last clause in that section is stricken Mr. MANN. .1..T N. So far as Senators are concerned.

Mr. CANNON. So far as Senators are concerned. I am not so sure but what it is also stricken out so far as Representa.­ tives are concerned. But let that be as it may, I will not vote for such an amendment, containing such a provision.

You 1.::lke my house when you do take the prop

That doth sustain my house.

The Federal Government of the United States, a Government of limited power, but supreme where power is granted under the Constitution, should always have tlle power to perpetuate itself without regard to what any State or any States may do in failing to perform their duty.

Let me put an extreme case, and what may happen in the future I do not know. Suppose a State secedes; suppose the man comes on horseback and tries to take the State out of the Union and the State does secede in fact without regard to what might oo the desire of the majority of the people. Is the United States powerless under the proposed amendment in that case to say that a Senator can not be chosen by an election authorized IJy Congress?

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired. ·

Mr. YOUNG of Michigan. I yield to the gentleman two minutes more.

Mr. CANNON. If so, then the Government of the United States, so far as Congress is concerned, exists at the mercy of the States in the exercise of supreme power where supreme power is granted. I say again that I think this amendment applies to the House as well as to the Senate, but the Senate is a coordinate branch of Congress, ancl Congress can not exist under our Constitution without a Senate. Mr. Speaker, I will not vote for such a resolution. [Applause.]

Mr. FULLEil. Mr . Speaker, it would be manifestly impossible for me to enter upon any extended discussion as to the merits of this resolution in the short space of five minutes allotted to me; but this question is not a new one; it has been discussed time and again, ever since and before the adoption of the Federal Constitution. It therefore needs no great amount of time now for any gentleman to make up his mind how he should Tote on the proposition. For myself, I have long been in favor of the direct election of United States Senators by the people themselves. I run on record in favor of that proposition . More than 30 years ago, ill 1879, in the Legislature of the State of Illinois, I introduced a resolution requesting the Senators a.nd Representatives in Congress from that State to support a proposed constitutional amendment providing for the direct election of Senators by the people. I have more than once introduced such a resolution in this House, and at the time I was action. first nominated for Congres:s I announced that as one of the planks in my platform nncl us a measure which I should ad\o­ cate at every opportunity . I believe in the people and nm willing to trust them at all times. I believe the people are and of right ought to be supreme in this Government, and that when they have fully studied and digested any question they are tlmost universally right. I know, and every man in this House md in this Congress knows, without any shadow of doubt whatever, that the great mass of the people of the United States are desirous of ha nng adopted an amendment to the Federal Constitution that shall give them tlle right t.o say directly who their representatives in the Senate of the United States shall be. As a member of the Illinois General Assembly and State Senate lt has been my fortune to have participated in six different elections for United States Senator, and at each time I have become more and more convinced tha.t the election should rest with tlle people and not with the legislature. At one time in the legislature of that State, the two political parties being u tie, we balloted for more than four long months before a Senator was elected, and then ills election was made possible by the fact fun.t a member belonging to one party died and was suc­ ?.eedcd by a member of the other party, thereby giving that ~arty a majority. Of course, such a condition of affairs is not ilesirable, and could not by any possibility occur if the election was directly in the · hands of the people.

At another senatorial election iu which I participated, where two or three men held the balance of power, they were able to dictate the election of a Senator, and after a deadlock lasting several weeks the will of the majority was trampled under foot and these two or three independent members were able to <.lictate the election of a United States Senator, although they represented only the smallest kind of u minority of the people of that State. True or false, justly or unjustly, l\Ir. Speaker, the people of this country, or the great mn.jority of them, have come to believe that it has occl1rrell. in not oilly one case, but in many ca.Bes, t.hat great interests, great finuncial institutions combined, have dictated and corruptly controlled the election of United States Sena.tors by the legislatures of more than one State. The people are now asking and demanding, regardless of party, all over this country that they shall have the right to say by direct vote who shall represent them in the Senate of tllc United Stutes. I believe, l\!r. Speaker, that it is our duty to give them that privilege, if it is their right; and if this country is to continue to be "the laud of the free and the home of the brave," if it is to continuc to be a government "of ancl by and for the people," if it is to continue to be the foremost leader in the civilization and progress of the world, we must see to it that in reality, as well as iu theory, the people are supreme; that their wishes mmt be heeded, and public servants in the Senate and in all departments of the Government must be responsive to the will of the people. [Applause.]

The SPEAKER. . The time of the gentleman has expired.

Mr. RUCKER of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield five minutes to my colleague on the committee, the gentleman from Georgia [1\fr. TnrnnLE] .

l'ifr. TRIBBLE . Mr. Speaker, I consider it a great privilege to appear as an advocate of this bill on the floor of this House fol· lowing the distinguished ex-Speaker, Mr. CANNON, who has just taken his sent. I consider it a great honor to appear on the floor of this House to speak on the first bill reported to the House; I consider it a great honor to be on the committee that reported the first bill to a Democratic House in 16 years; but, sir, I consider it a still greater honor to stand on the floor, representing the people of the old red hills of the eighth congressional district of Georgia, delivering their message of almost unanimous demand that the United States Senators be elected by the people and calling on you to heed their demand.

.Mr. Speaker, I would not rise to speak to-day, being a new Member of the House, except for the fact that an error has crept into this discussion in regard to the action of the com · mittee . .Being a member of that committee, I am familiar with what occurred in the committee room. I would correct the statement that only one of the minority side of the House was present, because there were two present who cast their votes, as the record will show, in the committee room. Furthermore, Mr Speaker, the chairman of the committee went to the telephone and tried to secure all the members of this committee, and did all in his power to secure full attendance, and it was the sense of the committee, after he had laid the matter before them, that we proceed at once, by reason of the fact that everybody throughout the Union is familiar with this bill, it having been oftentimes introduced in almost the so.me language in which it is here to-day and discussed in this House. Therefore I can see no reason why anybody could raise complaint of hasty It seems to me that recent performances of the different legislatures in many States of the . Union should convince any man that we have reached the stage in our natlonn.1 history when we should no longer allow legislatures to elect United States Senators. It is a well-known fact, although it is denied, that the interests, corporate interests, enter the .fioor of the house of the different legislatures frequently; that they influence the election of Senators. When men arc elected to office it makes no difference whether they are Senators or ordinaries, or what position t.hey occupy, when they get into office and come to discharge their duties they are naturally influenced by and sympathi7.e with the people and the interests who elect them .

When you go to the farms and seek a vote for United States Senator, or for any other office, you find an unprejudiced voter generally . Most of the people are interested only in good go'\"­ ernment, and when they walk up and cast their votes they cast them for the man they think will represent the mass of the people and the interests of the people, and not the interests of a corporation or any other interest that may have secured hl:s election on the floor of the legislature. As I said, I know it is denied that the interests and the corporations enter upon the floor of the houses of the legislatures of the different States, but there is no use to deny the truth. I can remember when I was a boy of hearing it charged in the State of Georgia, my own State, that good old pious State, that the general assembly in the eighties was tied up for weeks and months, and I can remember that it was asserted then that certain corporate interests tied up that legislature. That was denied, of course . One of the men who then participated and undertook to go to the Senate against whom the charge was made that he had entered :the floor of the house with his corporate interests and corruption fund backing him, afterwards moved to the State of California, and it was charged in recent years that he brought together the greatest corruption fund that was ever put up in the interest of legislation in this Union. Whether or not that is true I do not know; but these things were brought into tlle courts and criminal charges were made against him and he was tried. This history is well known of all men. [Applause.]

Sir, it was my privilege to introduce on the first dny a similar bill to the one under consideration, which when enacted into law would read as follows:

· The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senator!'! from each State, who shall be chosen by a direct vote of the people of the several States, for six years, and the electors of each State shall have the qualifications requisite for e l ectors of the most num e rous branch of the State legislature, and each Senator shall have one vote. \\Th e n vacancies occur in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the executive authority thereof shall make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election, as the legislature may direct.

This amendment has no application to Senators chosen before it becomes valid as a part of the Constitution of the United States, and shall not be considered to affect the term of any Senator chosen IJefore it becomes T"alid as a part of the Constitution.

The legislature in each State shall prescribe the manner, place, and time of holding the election by the people for Senator in the seYeral Stat es .

This bill is in substance the same as the one now under consideration, and I cheerfully adopt the chairman's bill. The people of this Union have demanded this legislation for a time the memory of we young men runneth not. It is no new question. It has been strengthened in the public demand by years of thought, sober and earnest deliberation. Resolutions by the legislatures favoring this bill have been sent here by 31 States. Extra sessions of the legislatures are often called in States to transact the State's business, the time of the regular session having been consumed by senatorial scrambles, and often the whole State is humiliated and demoralized by scenes in legislative halls. The strongest argument used against the bill is reluctance to change the framework of our Government. Our fathers in making the framework of the Government were confronted with the European forms of government and long precedents of centralized power. It was considered dangerous to load the new Republic with too many experiments, and there we . re many advocates of a monarchy. .

The evolution of free government by the people demamlecl many changes from the old landmarks of the mother country. All men in those days were not prepared for a government by the people. Strong minds like Hamilton were battling for centralized government and feared the voice of the people expressed at the polls. Suffrage was almost unknown. Not one man in five hundred voted in the mother country. Time has proven that the people can be more surely trusted with the elective franchise than legislative bodies with the various interests camping on the floors of the Capitol. No one would charge corruption to legislative bodies as a whole. _ e. The report expresses clearly the thought I would here convey, it reads as follows: No one contends for a moment that it is the universal practice or the general rule that legislatures are thus corrupted, but it must be admitted bv all that l! those who desire to corrupt enter the field at all, it ls after the legislature has convened.

How often is it true that no taint of wrongdoing or corruption attaches to the election until the legi s lature has convened? The small number of parties to be controlled, the possibility of logrolling with different local interests, of trading this or that for votes, is tempting indeed to those who seek a senatorship, not upon merit, but through sinister means. In the early days of the Republic very few of the important offices, National or State, were filled by direct vote of the people. The President was named by an electoral college. Jefferson was elected both governor and Member of Congress by the State Legislature of Virginia. Many statehouse officers and all judicial officers were elected in the various States by the legislature. This era of our history is now relegated to the past, and almost the last remnant for legislative lobbying is the election of United States Senators. All officers are elected by direct vote of the people in all the States with a very few exceptions. The rule of the people, as exemplified in this Republic, has swept across the ocean ; monarchies have crumbled before the demand of the people for freedom and suffrage, and even in countries where the throne was law the voice of the people is now heard in the land. Have gentlemen contemplated the fact that this office is oftentimes no longer a reward to men of true worth, true patriotism, and great ability? How many Senators come to this Senate on account of the influence exerted by their wealth and the wealth of their associates-the giant corporations? Our forefathers did not confront this situation . We will act wise to grapple the situation that confronts us, they could not foresee our present needs. They did well for their county, what wm we do? So, sir, I say, let every man, I do not care if he uses his pick and shovel to make his daily bread, be as free to cast his vote as the president of a steel trust in the election of the higlle~t oflicial of his State . We can no longer turn a deaf ear to the demands of the people.

The Democratic side of this House would do well to learn a lesson by the vacant seats on the Republican side. The Republicans have been warned time after time on the floor of this House that tl!ey were straying too far from the people. To this timl other warnings tl.Jey haYe paid no heed, and now, sir, I call you to witness how their ranks have been thinned and tllnt many new Democrats are here from districts that have never sent Democratic Representatives here before. You can not ignore the just demands of the people. Fellow Democrats, the country will commend 11s in the organization of this House for heP.cling the general demand for retrenchment and reform in Government extravagance. . The official force of the Rouse waR reduced to tlle extent in money total the sum of $180,000. On the question of extravagance the people have appealed to this House, just as they have long been knocking at this door for the election of Senators by the people . What re1ief has the Republican Party offered to a tax-burdened people? Only 10 years have expired since the billion-dollar Congress was ushered upon the people . The country was stirred with indignation and alarm at such an enormous expenditure. In 1010 Congress appropriated $2,206,774,010.01. This shows an increase of more than 50 per cent in 10 years. The increase since 1890 has been OT'er 75 per cent. In this estimate the increased population ls considered . The per capita tax in 1890 was about $6, and it is now over $12. It is estimated that there is one Government employee for every 21 voters . In the year 1850 the expense of the Government was $60,407,019; population was 23,191,870; per capita, $2.60. In 1910, expense of one year, $1,103,387,508.01; population, 01,972,2()7; and per capita tax, $12.60 . The comparison staggers comprehension . I realize tlle fact that it takes an enormous amount of money to run the Government, and I am willing to appropriate the people's money if it serves the great mass ot people. As an illustration of what is being appropriated, I refer you to the appropriation for Government detectives. In the Sixtieth Congress the gigantic sum of $7,126,000 was appropriated for this purpose alone. Forestry is a question of no great magnitude, and yet $4,000,000 was appropriated for forestry at last session . Such approprintions are condudrn of little good . On the _ other hand, farming is and has ever been the backbone of this country, and yet the appropriation for agriculture in all the departments is only fi-re million more than these two appropriations of spoil anu plunder. The Republican Party was warned, - even at the other end of tlle Capitol last year, and even by that great apostle of high tariff, Senator Aldrich, that the people would not always strive with the Republicans for economy. He said the Government could be run on a saving of $300,000,000 every year. Taking this estimate as true, you are wasting more of the people's money than was required to run the Government 10 years after the Civil War.

For a decade the Republican Party has been under the lash of a few multimillionaires, arrayed like Solomon in all bis glory, who toil not and neither do they spin, but have their toilers and spinners in the Republican Party. In serving that master the party has ignored the people. Now, sir, I warn the Democratic side of this House that the people have spoken at the polls and said, by leaving Republicans at home, that their demands shall be heard, and we must heed their demand by speedily passing this bill.

FEDERAL CONTROL.

The amendment looking to placing the election under Federal control is here for the purpose of frightening southern Representatives in States having legislative qualifications for electors. In this you propose to extend Federal authority, thus crushing forever the constitutional right the States have enjoyed from tlle foundation of the Government. We passed through the Civil War the days of reconstruction, with no authority in the Federal' Constitution to interfere with the manner of electing United States Senators, and yet in this day of peace and harmony you undertake to force upon the people of the South n: new constitutional provision whereby Federal soldiers can be sent to camp around our election precincts. To make myself clear, the people elect members of the legislature with no Federal interference and none is provided under the provisions ot the Constitution. These legislators so elected elect Senators with no Federal interference and none is provided. Now, you propose to extend the provisions of the Constitution and throw around the elections of Senators Federal control. You are seeking to take from the States their constitutional right and tion? centralize the power of the Federal Government. The Supreme Court has cleci<leu that tbc States can determine who should be registered and who should not be registered in the several States. This is a settled constitutional question. What man among you ever e.A-pect s to see the clay when Federal otliceholtlers gather around election precincts in the South or any other State to say who shall and who shall not vote? Time after time the force bill has been here threatening the South, but long years ago it was driven from this House disfigured, <lisgrace<l, ilisowned , and denounced as infamous; no one to rise up auu call its author blessed. Thus it sleeps in the potter's field a peaceful <.lesertion. Is there a man in this House that desires to sec the days of reconstruction repeated in the South? I o; not one. No part of this Union ouh-nnks the South on the :tloor of this House, evidenced by the fact that you have given us an equal share of the honors and responsibilities in the Sixty-second Congress . Will the opening of our wounds never cease to be an agreeab l e performance to some of the Republicans from the other side of the House? From wrecks of fortunes and burning homes we have fought and regained our former prestige, and to-day tlle South is the garden spot of this Union . I can not believe any man in this House is sincere in pressing this amendment.

The day has been when such an amendment would have received strong ancl aggressive support, but that clay is gone for C\"er in this end of the Capitol, thank God . You men who injected this sectional issue in this question will feel th e sting of repudiation when this vote is counted . This House has long since ceased to be u forum for an exhibition of skill in tram pling upon the South. I warn you that instead of stirring up bitterness and hate in the hearts of your brethren from North, East, and West you have insulted their intelligence ancl brought down upon your own heads their just condemnation. If you be men, then rise up · like patriots and strike down this amend- ment, which would destroy rights of a State and again carry hack to tlle days of reconstruction our peaceful southern homes. Let ns dwell together in union, forgetting that there is a North, South, East, or West, sympathizing with each other in the problems that confront us in the several sections .

We of the South have patiently and faithfully borne the burden of an inferior race; that we have borne it well is known throughout the civilized world. Other sections are being confronted with serious problems . To solve them you need our help and you will have it . No section can truthfully boast of more genuine loyalty to our Government or more pride- in her achieve ments . Standing here on this floor, the home of the Union. where Hamilton and Jefferson, Webster and Calhoun, Stevens and Lincoln stood battling for what each honestly concei-ved to be a common heritage of freedom, I thank God the day has come wllcn men who rise to the magnitude of statesmanship, even on the Republican side, desp i se any effort to gain public notice by attempting to inject sectional animosities into any question in this House. Sir, let us strike down the staff that wa-ves this sectional banner, and let us banish even its shades forever from this House and bar eternally the doors to futu r e reproach on the honor and integrity of the South. The defeat of the amendment to this joint resolution will send a thrill of joy to every southern home and return southern Representnti,es to their people to be greeted, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." [.Applause and congratulations.]

Ur. RUCKER of Missouri . I yield five minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky [l\{r_ James]. .

l\fr . JAl\IES . Mr . Speaker, the gentleman from illinois [l\Ir. Cili""lNON] in his speech a moment ago stated that he was not so certain but what this amendment repealed the right now existing in the Congress of the United States to regulate the elections of Representatives in Congress . I submit that the gentleman had not read with much care the amendment, or he could not have made that statement with a very great d al of confidence, because the amcncllllent reads ns follows :

.Ancl In lieu of all of para g raph 1 of section 4 of said Article I, in so far a s tho same relates to any authority in Congress to mn.ke or alter regulations as to the times o r mnnner of holding elections for Senators, tho following be purposes s ed a::i :m amendment to tho Constitution, which sllall be ·rnlid to :i.11 intent s and furposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the J e ~latur c s o three-fourths of tho States.

Not so far us it relates to the election of Members of the House of Representatives, but refers only to " Senators." This amendment in no way affects whatever authority or- right Congre£s has to regulate tlwt. and how the gentleman from Illinois could preilicnte llis opposition upon the theory that it did affect the power of Congress to. regulate the election of Members of this House is not very apparent to me, nor, I do believe, to any one w llo will examine it with care .

l\Ir . YOUNG of Michigan. Will the gentleman permit a question? . JAl\IES. Yes .

:Hr. YOUNG of Michigan . The part of the resolution which the gentleman has read would form no part of the Constitution, would it, if this resolution should be adopted and the amend ­ ment adopted by the people?

i\fr. JAMES . Oh, but that part of the amendment which I will read does control it, and that is this :

'rhe times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators shall be as prescribed in each State by the legislature thereof.

Does the gentleman see anything in that which affects the right which Congress now has to control the election of Representatives in C-Ongress, if it has any such right? '!'here is no part of this amendment which refers in any way to Mem bers of the House of Representatives.

l\Ir . YOUNG of : Mich i gan . Ah, but it is said that is in lieu of certain provisions in the Constitution.

l\Ir . JAMES . But it nowhere uses any language that according to a fair construction of it would be a foundation for a statement that this amendment undertakes to affect in any way the election o:f Representatives of this House.

I am for this amendment to the Constitution, and I regret to see in this House. an effort made to try to bring up that old scare that has too long affected the- affairs of political parties of this country . Let me warn you gentlemen of the other side of one thing. The southern people are handling now the subject of election of Senators and Members of' Congress to the satisfaction of this House and. to the approval of you your ­ selves, because you have never unseated a single Member by reason of the laws under which he was elected. The Supreme Court of the United States has approved the election laws under which they are now acting, and to try to place upon this amendment a provision that would mean its defeat-because it \Yns placed upon it in the Senate and it meant its defeat there-aJmost forces me to question the good faith of those who propose it and to believe that the amendment is offered for no other purpose except to try to defeat the election of Senators by n direct vote of the people. [Applause . ]

I am in favor of the election of Senators by a direct vote of the people because experience has proved its wisdom . In the days when our Constitution was formed Gouverneur Morris was the spokesman of those who doubted the wisdom of the people to control themselves. Gouverneur Morris used this language, that the Senate slloultl be made up of men of " great and establi s hcll wealth," and that thus they might keep down the "turb1tle11cv of tha <lemor::rocy . "

l\Ir . Speaker, I am not prepared to deny but that what Gouverneur Morris wished. to do has been accomplished. The Senate has been made up of men of great and established wealth, but the rules of this House deny me the right to discuss its personnel, and I shall not violate them . But the one reason that spurs the people on in their advocacy of this amendment for the direct election of Senators by the people is to keep out of the Senate men of great and established wealth and allow the voice of tlie people to control and the reforms desired by them to be enacted into law .

I am one of those who do not fear the people. Gentlemen, the men who bear the guns that defend this Republic must bear the ballots that preserve it [Applause . ] I do not belong to that class in this country which says to the great populace. "You can ,shed your blood to keep the flag of the Republic in the skies, but you can not name the men who make the laws for you.” . " [Applause.] I share the opinion expressed by them.aster mind of Thomas Jefferson when he uttered these words: : I 1 0 0 1 1M rather be c.xposca to the incom:eniencc .< 1 attcn<li119 too mucl~ llb ff ty than those - attending too slight a degree of it.

This is the ground rock upon which republics rest, and when maintained can not be shaken .

Ur . Speaker, some people seem to believe tlle Constitution of the United States should not be amended, and was not made to be amended; but in this they are grievously in error . On of the greatest speeches ever made in the Constitutional Convention was that one uttered by Patrick Henry in opposition to the Constitution, based upon the theory that it was too hard to amend ancl that it would be practically impossible to do so . And for more than a hundred years of our history the Constitution has not been amended except by the sword. But the men who made the Constitution themselves gave the people two modes by which they might amend it. They made it hard, exceeding hard, to amend it . For the day in which they lived it met every requirement, but they could not peer through the centuries of the futu r e and see the requirements that advanced civilization would make necessary. Thomas Jefferson himself I used these words :

Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and d ee m them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. Th e y ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment . I knew that age well. I belonged to it and labored with it. It deserved well of irs country. It was very like the present, but lacked the experience of the pres e nt-anrl 40 years of experi e nce in government is worth a century of book readin g -and this they would say themselves were they to rise from the dead. I am certainly not an advocate of frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had bett e r be borne with. because when once known we accommodate ourS C' lvcs to them and find practical means of co rr ecting they evil effects . But I know also that laws and institutions must go hand and band with the progress of the human mind. • • • We might as well require a man to wear the coat that fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the rl'.!gime of their ancestors . . It is this preposterous idea which has lately delug e d Europe in blood. Their monarchs, instead of wisely yielding to the gradual change of circumst:mces, of favoring progressive accommodation to progressive improve m e nt. have clung to old abuses, entrenched themselves behind steady habits, and olJli ge d their subjects to seek through blood and violence ra sll and ruinous innovations, which, bad they been referred to the peac efu l deliberations and collected wisdom of the nation, would have been put into acceptable and salutary forms. Let us follow no such exampl es, nor weakly believe that one generation is not as capable as another of taking care of itself and of ordering its own affairs. • • • Each generation is as indep e nd e nt of the one preceding as that was of all that bad gone before. It has, like them, the right to choose for it se lf the form of government it believes most promotive of its own happiness; consequently, to accommodate to the circumstances in which it finds its e lf that r ece ived from its predecessors; and it is for the peace and good of mankind that a solemn opportunity of doing this every rn or 20 years should be provided by the Constitution, so that it may be handed on with periodical repairs from generation to the end of time , if anything human can so long endure.

These words are prophetic; they are almost inspired. They come from the one unmatched champion of the liberty of men, "·llo battled in tlle twilight of tlle Republic's existence for the greatest liberty to tlle people. He has been vindicated by the events that have followed as no statesman who lived before him and, as I believe, by none who will come after him. No one d.oubts, Mr. Speaker, that if the honest, patriotic men who made the Constitution could have looked down the long vista tlrnt hll;S follow e d them that they would have provided for the ele ctio n of Senators 'Uy the State legislatures. No millionaires lived in that heroic age, no trusts, monopolies, and lawless combinations banded themselves together with bags of gold to control one of the lawmaking branches of this Republic. Bribery and corruption of members of thelegislature had not been heard of. It was the purest and best age of our American life. But even then Jefferson thought, and Wilson, of Pennsylvania, thought, that the :Members of the Senate should be elected by the direct vote of the people . This amendment, that gives to the people the right to elect their Senators by a direct vote, will make unnece ss ary, after its adoption, costly investigating committees, holding long-drawn-out sessions at great governmental expense, inYe st igating how many members of the legislature were bribed, or whether a man really confessed he was bribed when he was not. They will no longer have to investigate how great a co.r­ ruptiou fund. was collected by the trusts and monopolies to con- . trol and buy up members of the legislature.

Mr. Speaker, it will, in my judgment, make unnecessary llereaft e r the use of so much whitewash in making reports upon bribery charges, and the people may have whitewash for their fences throughout tlle country in which we live at a reduced price. [Applause.] When the Constitution was formed we had just gained our ind.ependence horn the mother country. Tll e people were di v ided between democracy and monarchy. A republic to them was an experiment, never having been blessed br n free government, and many of them yearned for it; others fe feared it. These two contending forces were re:presented in tb e constitutional convention . England had a House of Lords, and that was the idea that actuated those who desired that th e Senate should be made up of ambassadors, as some called tll r m. from tlle various States, and should be as nearly as pos sible like the House of Lords. Yet England, in the few months re c ?ntly passed, has been in a terrific political uplleaval in orcl e r to try to abolish that body, after which this very provi sion ill our Constitution was patterned. [Applause.] The people of the various States-30 of tllem-have approached as nca rly as they could, by primary-election laws, tlle election of Senators by direct vote of the people. The Democratic national phi tform for many years has urged this great reform and has de c lar ed that it is the gateway to all other reforms. [.A.p­ pln n~e . I And I am delighted now, ll!r. Speaker, to know that this reform for which the Democratic Party was the pioneer in its adn X'acy meets to-day practically the unanimous approval of all .Americans .

Who is prepared to say that it was a mistake to lodge in the bands of the people the right to elect Members of Congress. The great reforms that have blessed this country have originated in this body at the hands of men sent fresh from the people, men who had listened to the heartbeats of those whose votes they asked and received at the polls, those who had been trusted by the people, and who were willing to trust those who had trusted them. [Applause.] This amendment, Mr. Speaker, will reduce to a minimum the opportunity for corruption in the election of Senators to the Senate of the United States. One of the most favored means of corrupting men under the system as it now exists in the election of Senators by the State legislatures is by the candidate for tlle Senate going into tlle various counties in a legislative district and saying to John Jones, "You are a candidate for the Democratic nomination," or the Republican nomination, as the case may be; " I want to contribute to your campaign fund to aid you in getting your nomination," and then going to another one in another county and saying the same thing, and thus spreading his money around in the various legislative and senatorial districts under the pretense of aiding the candidate to secure the nomination, when his real purpose was to secure the vote of that candidate in his race for the United States Senate. And when the candidate had been successful and was commissioned by his people as their representative, he felt that he was obliged to vote for the man who had helped him to secure his election. Th~ amendment to the Constitution will give to the poor men of this country a chance to go before the people and submit their claims . It will make hereafter, 1\Ir. Speaker , unnecessary the monotonous reading in the daily newspa1 1e rs that the legislature of such and such a State cast the eleven thousand nine hundred and ninety-eighth ballot and tlle result was no election. It will result in sending men fresh from the people, men who truly and really repre se nt them. . It will give the people confidence in their Government.

Mr . Speaker, those who oppose this amendment to the stitution do so because they really believe that a few men are wiser than all the rest. This was the argument upon wllich thrones were builded and dynasties perpetuated, but it has no place in a Republic like this. [Applause.] That government will live longest which is best loved, and that one will be best loved that gives the greatest liberty to tlle people. Adopt this amendment; meet the desires of the American people; give the States of the Union an opportunity to make it a part of our Constitution; make the Senate what it ought to be, a. body in which the representatives of the people, elected by tlle people, represent truly the people; and. I sincerely trust, l\Ir. Speaker, the day is not far distant when the Senators in every State in this Union will be, under this amendment to our Federal Constitution, elected by the direct vote of the people. [Loud applausc. l l\lr. RUCKER of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield u minutes, or 10 if he d.esires it, to my colleague from Alabama [Mr.

CLAYTON].

[l\Ir, CLAYTON addressed the House. See Appendix.]

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from · Missouri.

Mr. RUCKER of Missouri. I yield five minutes to my colleague from .Missouri [Ur. BORLAND].

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Missouri [:Mr. LAND] is recognized for five minutes .

l\lr. BORLAND. l\Ir. Speaker, I am heartily in favor of this proposed amendment to tlle Federal Constitution as it is drawn and as it comes from the committee.

When the United States Constitution was formed, democracy itself was on trial. There were not lacking those in the Federal Convention who desired to see a constitutional monarchy or nn aristocracy clothed with permanent political power. A leader who has since been adopted as the patron saint of a political party of these days believed in the election of United States Senators for life. Unquestionably out of that conflict of opinion grew the compromise that the choice of Senators should be removed one step from election by the people. It was honestly believed by · many that democracy could not secure absolute safety of life and property; but a hundred years of test have proven that democracy is no longer on trial. Democracy has shown that it can secure the safety of life and property; that there is no need for the checks and balances between the will of an intelligent people and the power of those to whom they delegate their political rights. It is not from the people tllat corruption comes, and that has been the lesson of the century of American history. The man who takes his dinner pail in the morning and leaves his humble home to perform eight hours' honest work in creating the wealth of the Nation; in add.ing to comfort and civilization; in making the world a better place to live in, and goes back to his home to sleep the sleep of honest toil, is not hanging around the State legislature with a design to corrupt it, to send men to the Senate. [Applause.]

The man who feeds his team before daylight, and at the first streak of dawn is in the field tilling the soil or garnering the golden harvests that shall be sent abroad or bless the homes and fill the dinner pails of countless thousands of his fellow citizens has no time to corrupt the State legislature to send men in his interest to the United States Senate, but these are the men upon whose broad shoulders rests the perpetuity of the Republic. [Applause.] This amendment is designed. to place the power of choosing Senators where the right to choose them belongs-in the common, everyday, intelligent, honest, patriotic voters of the country. [Applause.] A hundred years have proven that the corruption incident to free government does not come from the homes of the average voters, but does come from special interests so equipped as to make their influence predominant in the choosing of select bodies. It is to cure that evil that the American people are now demanding the right to the direct election of United States Senators. And now, on this 13th day of April, on the day that over 7,000,000 American freemen are glad to celebrate as the birthday of him whose influence has echoed down through all the corridors of time in the forming of the American Republic; on the natal day of the Sage of Monticello, this House of Representatives can do no better than to perform its part to crystallize into law the will of the American people and the expressed belief of Thomas Jefferson by passing this amendment to the Constitution. [Applause on the Democratic side.]

Mr. RUCKER of Missouri. Will the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. YouNG] use some of his time now?

Mr. YOUNG of Michigan. I yield five minutes to the gentleman from Iowa [M:r. PICKETT].

l\1r. PICKETT. Mr. Speaker, I do not rise to discuss that part of the resolution relative to the election of Senators by a direct vote of the people. I do not regard that part of the resolution as being in controversy here. There is little, if any, division of opinion in this body on that question. If the resolution was confined to that proposition alone, it would have been passed before this, and this debate would not now be in progress.

The · resolution, however, contains another proposition separate and distinct from the proposed change in the method of electing Senators. It is proposed to withdraw from Congress its control over the time and manner of holding elections for · United States Senators, as prescribed in paragraph 1, section 4, Article I, of the Constitution.

The framers of our Constitution vested in Congress unclcr :Mr. YOUNG said section 4 the power to review and to make or change the regulations of the States with respect to the time and manner of holding elections both for Senators and Representatives in Congress. That this was a proper grant of power seems clear. It can not be urged that thus far in our history it has been improperly used. It is unlikely that it may ever be necessary to use it. On the other hand, some . occasion or exigency may arise, which we can not nOJV foresee, when it would be quite . necessary for Congress to have such power. The fact that the power exists will have the effect to prevent the occasion for its use. It is now proposed to withdraw that power in so far only as it applies to the election of United States Senators. While I am not familiar with the debates of this body in past years when resolutions relative to changing the method of electing Senators were under consideration, I am informed by those older in the service that the proposition involving the withdrawal from Congress of its power over regulations as to the ­ time and manner of elections for Senators has never been emboclied in any of the resolutions heretofore presenteu, and that the question has never been considered in this House. It is before us for the first time. It involves a change in our fundamental law without any apparent or statecl reason for doing so. It is concededly not necessary to give effect to the pro11osed amendment for the election of Senators by a direct vote. No such contention is even made. In fact, the author of and sponsors for the proposition advance no argument in support of it. I am not prepared at this time to discuss the question either as to the wisdom of the change from a governmental point of view or as to the construction that may be given to · it in the form in which it is presented, with the care and preparation which a question of so much importance demands.

Serious controversy has already arisen as to its effect. On the one side it is urged that it will withdraw from Congress the control granted under section 4 of Article I, both as to Senators and Hepresentatives. On the other side it is claimed that it applies only to Senators. It is to be regretted that the propositions are not presented in separate resolutions, as they ought to be. The people have a right to pass on these questions separately. Why encumber the proposition to change the method of electing Senators by another proposition, separate and distinct from it and on which there is already serious controversy and the effect of which on the general resolution we can not foresee? When the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. JAMES], a few mornents ago, in reply to the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. CANNON], was urging that the amendment would only apply to the power of Congress over election of Senators and not as to Representatives, it occurred to me to be a most peculiar and anomalous position to say that Congress, composed of both Senate and House-one legislative body-should have control O-\er the election of the Members of one of its branches and not of the other. If the power should exist as to one, why not as to the other? If the grant of power is proper in one case, why not in the otller case? The analogy is complete. The principle is the snme. There is and can oe no distinction.

Tlle gentleman from Kentucky, turning to this side of the House, expressed regret that we should raise this question, and charged that we were trying to bring up and revive sectional differences. I want to say to the gentleman that we have not revived that issue. You yourselves have presented the issue. The resolutions heretofore presented to this House for submission to the people of an amendment to the Constitution provid ing for election of Senators by direct vote did not contain the further proposition now presented, and when the commit~ee composed of and controlled by the gentlemen on the other side of the aisle brought in the resolution before us containing for the first time in this body the proposition in controversy, they tl1cn1sclves raised the question and are responsible for it.

l\lr. JAMES. Will the gentleman yield?

The SPEA.KEil. Does the gentleman from Iowa yield to the gentleman from Kentucky?

1\lr. PICKE'".rT. Certainly.

1\Ir. J~UfES. Is the gentleman aware of the fact that the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, composed of a. majority of Republicans, reported this identical amendment m the very language we propose it, and that the author of it was Senator IloRAH, a Republican?

Mr. PICKETT. It has been stated a dozen times during this debate that such is the fact.

1\Ir. JAl\lES. · Then why docs the gentleman say that we brought up and precipitated the issue? Why do you not put -it on your own party?

The SPEA.KER. The time of the gentleman from Iowa has cxvirc<l. of l\Iichig:m. l\lr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman two minutes more. .

Mr. PICKETT. There is no point in the obsern.tion of the gentleman from Kentucky. I was referring to the history of the praceedings in this House. He pointed his finger over here and observed that we had raised this question. I say to the gentleman from Kentucky that your committee raised this question so fnr as this Honse is concerned.

Mr. JAMES. The gentleman from Iowa dodges the issue . One of his own party raised tho issue in the Senate report.

Mr. PICKETT. l\fr. Speaker, I refuse to yield unless the gentleman from Kentucky wishes to ask a. question. This side of the House is not responsible for what any Senator may or may not do or for what any committee of the Senate may or may not do. This Ilouse is governed lJy its own precedents, its owu nets. I was speaking of this body and not of another body; but I will say that if we are to loo-k for precedents, as the gentleman insists, then we should take the action of the Senate wllcn it struck from the resolution the part now in controversy and left the resolution as a simule and direct proposition to amend the Constitution with respect to the method of electing United States Senators.

Mr. COOPER. Will the gentleman permit a question?

The SPEAKER. Does the gentleman from Iowa yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin? ·

Mr. PICKETT. I will.

l\Ir. COOPER. I heard the gentleman say that Congress retained the power by virtue of the Constitution as to the time and place and manner of electing Representatives in Congress. I would like to ask what section that is.

Mr. PICKETT. Paragraph 1, section 4, of Article I of the Constitution. In conclusion, I wish to emphasize the importance of due deliberation in passing on a question of so much importance as the withdrawal from Congress of its power over the election of its own Members, and I certainly hope that the amendment offered by the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. YouNG] to the resolution may prevail. [Applause.]

The SPEAKER. The time of the gentleman from Iowa has again expired.

Mr. YOUNG of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I would like to inquire how much time has been consumed on the one side and on the other?

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Michigan has 1 hour and 5 minutes remaining and the gentleman from Missouri 46 minutes remaining.