The Jeffersonian. [volume], June 23, 1910, Page PAGE SIX, Image 6

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PAGE SIX
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THE AUTHORITY NEEDED TO
CALL A CONSTITUTIONAL
CONVENTION.
Dear Sir: —By what authority
may the people of the United States
call a Constitutional Convention? Is
the present the original Constitution?
When a constitutional convention is
so called and assembled, is it within
the province of the people to make
a new Constitution? Wherein lies
the necessity of such convention?
Would the holding of such conven
tion, and the making a new Consti
tution, be likely to cause a revolu
tion?
My reasons for asking these ques
tions are two-fold. First, I desire
your readers to know the facts in
question. Second, I am not satisfied
with some explanations on the sub
ject made by a local wiseacre.
I note in the last Jeffersonian you
say twenty-nine States have already
passed upon the subject of holding
a constitutional convention. How
many States are necessary to call and
organize said convention for the en
actments of amendments or the mak
ing of a new r Constitution, if such a
prerogative belongs to them? Kindly
give them names of the tw r enty-nine
States that have acted.
Trusting you will answer the fore
going questions for the benefit of
your readers, lam
Very truly, etc.,
CHAS. M. SPEER.
McDonough, Ga.
Answer.
Government emanates from the
people. They have a right to change
it at any time. The old Confedera
tion which existed during the Revo
lutionary War was formed by the
voluntary compact of the people act
ing through the separate colonies.
After Great Britain had acknowl
edged the independence of the origi
nal thirteen States, naming each one
of them separately and acknowledg
ing the independence of each of them
separately, a sufficient number of
them acted in concert, State by State,
to call a Constitutional Convention.
In making this call, each State acted
separately, at different times, each .
through its State organization, viz.:
the Legislature.
After the Convention had met at
Philadelphia (1787), and had fash
ioned an entirely new Constitution
instead of amending the old Articles
of Confederation, as their instruc
tions directed, the work of the Con
vention had to be submitted to the
States. It was not submitted to
“We, the people of the United
States;” nor was it ever ratified by
the people. It was submitted to each
State, separately, and each State,
separately, acted upon it. In the pre
amble, “We, the people of the United
States”, the names of the thirteen
different States appeared in the first
draft of the Constitution. Thus, as
originally adopted, it stood in this
form, “We, the people of the States
of Georgia, South Carolina, North
Carolina, Virginia, New York,” etc.
A delegate to the Convention made
the point that some of the States
might not adopt the new Constitu
tion, and that, therefore, the names
of the States had better be omitted
until it could be seen whether the
new Constitution would be ratified
or not.
THE JEFFERSONIAN
As a matter of fact, several of the
States refused at first to adopt the
new Constitution, and stayed out of
the new Union after it was organized
and put into operation.
The people have just the same
right, at this time, to call a new Con_
stitutional Convention, and to adopt
an entirely different Constitution
from that now in force than they had
when they changed the old Articles
of Confederation. The Constitution
itself provides that it can be amend
ed or changed at any time when two
thirds of the States demand it.
Twenty-nine States have already act
ed as stated in The Jeffersonian.
When two more unite in this course,
the necessary two-thirds will have
been obtained.
A new Constitution is absolutely
essential to prevent a revolution, for
it is practically certain that the Sen
ate and the Federal Judiciary, as.
now constituted, will continue to be
the fortresses of special privilege. A
Constitutional Convention would be
the shortest, easiest way to bring
about necessary reforms. The fol
lowing changes should be made:
United States Senators should be
elected by a direct vote of the people.
Federal Judges should be chosen
in the same way, and their terms of
office limited to four years.
The power to create money should
be taken from the national banks.
The government itself should create
and put into circulation every dif
ferent kind of currency intended to
be used as money.
The bi-metallic standard should be
restored by plain, positive provision
upon that subject. The present gold
standard violates the Constitution as
it now’ stands, and is antagonistic to
the practice of our government dur
ing more than a hundred years.
Express provision should be made
to put into circulation the $150,000,-
000 of idle gold now lying in the
Treasury.
An absolute divorce of the Federal
Treasury from Wall Street should be
declared and enforced. Whatever sur
plus of money the Government has on
hand, over and above its current ex
penses, should either be held by the
Government itself in sub-Treasuries,
or loaned to the States, at a reason
able rate of interest. It is simply
infamous that the banks should al
ways have it in their coffers, and in
their private business. Vast sums of
the people’s money are loaned out to
the owners of it, (when they can put
up security satisfactory to the bank
ers,) at usurious rates of interest.
Our militia system should be put
back upon a Constitutional basis.
Each State to control its own mili
tary forces, which are not to be used
excepting through the Governors;
and which are not to be under the
command of Federal officers, unless
actually called into the field for ac
tion as in the case of the whiskey
rebellion in Pennsylvania during
Washington’s administration.
The Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments should be knocked out.
The franchise, and the privilege of
holding office, and of serving in the
army and navy, should be rigidly re
stricted to white people.
We should not admit into govern
mental service, civil or military, the
brown people, the yellow people, the
red people or the black people. This
is a white man’s civilization, built
without the help of the colored races,
and it should be maintained and per
petuated by the great white race
which evolved it.
Our system of taxation should be
changed. The Federal government
now lives most extravagantly by tax
ing poverty and the necessities of
the people. The burdens of the gov
ernment should be distributed, ac
cording to the citizens’ ability to
pay. The citizen should not have
to pay Federal taxes through an ad
ditional price for food, raiment,
building materials, farm implements,
house furnishings, and other neces
saries of life, but should only be
made to pay upon actual accumula
tions of property. Os course, each
should pay in proportion to that ac
cumulation. Therefore, the Federal
government should be sustained by
direct taxation, which enables the
citizen to see what he pays, and
which will, therefore, make him
careful about the conduct of public
affairs. Indirect taxation not only
puts the burden upon those least able
to bear it, but conceals from the vic
tim the actual amount of taxes wrung
from him. Where this dishonest
system of taxation is in operation,
the inevitable consequence is that
one kind of business or industry is
nourished to the detriment of others.
Under our present tariff system, the
manufacturers are simply given the
power to literally rob the other in
dustries. So great is this power of
legalized exploitation that the Steel
Trust alone divides among its mil
lionaires a greater amount of the
net proceeds every year than all the
sixteen millions of people engaged in
agricultural pursuits have ever gain
ed any year since the Civil War.
There should be a tax upon in
comes: a tax upon inheritances.
European governments have adopted
this form of taxation, and the duties
paid by the heirs who succeed to
large estates, and the income tax paid
by the wealthy, constitutes a very
large proportion of the revenues of
foreign governments.
The new Constitution should ex
pressly declare that the Federal gov-
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HON. MORRIS SHEPPARD EX
PLAINS.
My Dear Sir: —I have noted in a
recent issue of The Jeffersonian the
reference to the fact that I did not
vote at several roll calls on March
15, 1909, the opening day of the ex
tra session of the 61st Congress. My
failure to vote was due to the fact
that I did not arrive in Washington
until after 4 o’clock in the afternoon
of that day. I left Houston, Texas,
where I had been attending a fra
ternal order convention during the
interim between the close of the 60th
Congress and the assembling of the
61st in ample time to have reached
Washington at the hour of the open
ing of the extra session. On account
of heavy rains my train was delayed
to such an extent that I missed con
nection at Denison , Texas, by about
eight minutes and was compelled to
take a later train, with the result
that I did not reach Washington un
til rather late in the afternoon of
March 15. You will note on page 18
of the Congressional Record for that
day that I was sworn in shortly be
fore the vote was taken on the Fitz-
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