Vacancies. Certificate of election. The Senate a check on the lower house. shall meet at twelve o'clock meridian of each succeeding day during the session of the legislature, and shall take at least one vote, until a Senator is elected. SEC. 16. Whenever on the meeting of the legislature of any State a vacancy exists in the representation of such State in the Senate, the legislature shall proceed, on the second Tuesday after meeting and organization, to elect a person to fill such vacancy, in the manner prescribed in the preceding section for the election of a Senator for a full term. SEC. 17. Whenever during a session of the legislature of any State a vacancy occurs in the representation of such State in the Senate, similar proceedings to fill such vacancy shall be had on the second Tuesday after the legislature has organized and has notice of such vacancy. SEC. 18. It shall be the duty of the executive of the State from which any Senator has been chosen, to certify his election, under the seal of the State, to the President of the Senate of the United States. SEC. 19. The certificate mentioned in the preceding section shall be countersigned by the secretary of state of the State. 92. The Original Purpose of the Senate* Now that the Senate has been subjected to rather severe criticisms in many quarters,' and its character will doubtless be altered by the establishment of popular election, it is interesting to inquire into the original position which the framers intended to give the Senate in our political system. These passages are from The Federalist. .. Second. The necessity of a senate is not less indicated by the propensity of all single and numerous assemblies, to yield to the impulse of sudden and violent passions, and to be seduced by factious leaders into intemperate and pernicious resolutions. Examples on this subject might be cited without number; and from proceedings within the United States, as well as from the 1 Reinsch, American Legislatures and Legislative Methods, pp. 79 sqq. history of other nations. But a position that will not be contradicted, need not be proved. All that need be remarked, is, that a body which is to correct this infirmity, ought itself to be free from it, and consequently ought to hold its authority by a tenure of considerable duration. term gives Third. Another defect to be supplied by a senate, lies in a want The long of due acquaintance with the objects and principles of legislation. the Senator It is not possible that an assembly of men, called for the most part, experience. from pursuits of a private nature, continued in appointment for a short time, and led by no permanent motive to devote the intervals of public occupation to a study of the laws, the affairs, and the comprehensive interests of their country, should, if left wholly to themselves, escape a variety of important errors in the exercise of their legislative trust. It may be affirmed, on the best grounds, that no small share of the present embarrassments of America is to be charged on the blunders of our governments; and that these have proceeded from the heads, rather than the hearts of most of the authors of them. What indeed are all the repealing, explaining, and amending laws, which fill and disgrace our voluminous codes, but so many monuments of deficient wisdom; so many impeachments exhibited by each succeeding, against each preceding, session; so many admonitions to the people, of the value of those aids, which may be expected from a well constituted senate? Fourth. The mutability in the public councils, arising from a rapid succession of new members, however qualified they may be, points out, in the strongest manner, the necessity of some stable institution in the government. Every new election in the states, is found to change one half of the representatives. From this change of men must proceed a change of opinions; and from a change of opinions, a change of measures. But a continual change even of good measures is inconsistent with every rule of prudence, and every prospect of success. The remark is verified in private life, and becomes more just as well as more important, in national transactions. Frequent lead to elections rapid changes. The Senate will gain the esteem of foreign powers. The Senate gives continuity of policy. A fifth desideratum, illustrating the utility of a senate, is the want of a due sense of national character. Without a select and stable member of the government, the esteem of foreign powers will not only be forfeited by an unenlightened and variable policy, proceeding from the causes already mentioned; but the national councils will not possess that sensibility to the opinion of the world, which is perhaps not less necessary in order to merit, than it is to obtain, its respect and confidence. Yet however requisite a sense of national character may be, it is evident that it can never be sufficiently possessed by a numerous and changeable body. It can only be found in a number so small, that a sensible degree of the praise and blame of public measures, may be the portion of each individual; or in an assembly so durably invested with public trust, that the pride and consequence of its members may be sensibly incorporated with the reputation and prosperity of the community. The objects of government may be divided into two general classes; the one depending on measures, which have singly an immediate and sensible operation; the other depending on a succession of well chosen and well connected measures, which have a gradual and perhaps unobserved operation. The importance of the latter description to the collective and permanent welfare of every country, needs no explanation. And yet it is evident that an assembly elected for so short a term as to be unable to provide more than one or two links in a chain of measures, on which the general welfare may essentially depend, ought not to be answerable for the final result, any more than a steward or tenant, engaged for one year, could justly be made to answer for plans or improvements, which could not be accomplished in less than half a dozen years. Nor is it possible for the people to estimate the share of influence, which their annual assemblies may respectively have on events resulting from the mixed transactions of several years. It is sufficiently difficult, at any rate, to preserve a personal responsibility in the members of a numerous body, for such acts of the body as have an immediate, detached, and palpable operation on its constitu ents. . . . 93. Popular Election of Senators in Oregon The law of Oregon (1904) made the following provisions for the nomination and election of United States Senators by popular vote. It will be noted that the Constitution then provided that the state legislature should elect; and, to secure the legislative approval of the popular choice, Oregon adopted the plan of permitting the candidates for the state legislature to pledge themselves in advance to vote for the candidate for United States Senator receiving the highest popular vote. This law is now of historical interest chiefly, in view of the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment. of party candidates. At all general primary nominating elections next preceding the Nomination election of a senator in Congress by the legislature of Oregon there shall be placed upon the official primary nominating election ballots, by each of the county clerks and clerks of the county court, the names of all candidates for the office of senator in Congress, for whose nominations petitions have been duly made and filed under the provisions of this law, the votes for which candidates shall be counted and certified to by the election judges and clerks in the same manner as the votes for other candidates; and records of the vote for such candidates shall be made out and sworn to by the board of canvassers of each county of the State and returned to the Secretary of State at the same time and in like manner as they shall transmit other records and returns required by this law. At all general elections next preceding the election of a senator in Congress by the legislature of Oregon there shall be placed upon the official ballot by each of the county clerks and clerks of the county court the names of all candidates for the office of senator in Congress that have been nominated in any of the methods now, or which may hereafter be, provided by law for the nomination of state officers of the State of Oregon; the votes for which candidates shall be counted and certified to by the election judges in the same manner as the votes for other candidates; and records of the vote for such candidates shall be made out and sworn to by the board of canvassers of each county of the State and returned to the Popular vote candidates. on the party How sena- Secretary of State, who shall transmit duplicate copies of such returns to the legislative assembly at its next ensuing session, one of which shall be addressed to the senate and the other to the house of representatives of the State of Oregon, one copy of which shall be delivered by him to the president of the senate and the other to the speaker of the house of representatives, after the organization of such bodies, which officers shall open and lay the same before the separate houses when assembled to elect a senator in Congress as now required by law of Congress; and it shall be the duty of each house to count the votes and announce the candidate for senator having the highest number, and thereupon the house shall proceed to the election of a senator as required by the act of Congress and the constitution of this State. 94. The Question of Popular Election of Senators * Senator Turpie, in the course of a speech made in the Senate on March 23, 1897, made the following arguments in support of popular election. There is certainly a very clear incongruity between legislative duties and the office of choosing Senators of the United States. This disagreement has become greater as the country has grown older. It is not now uncommon that the legislature of a State spends the whole time of its session in the effort to elect a United States Senator, and adjourns without succeeding in the attempt. This results in the total neglect by the members of the general assembly of their functions as lawgivers of the State. Thus the rights and interests local to the people of the State are submerged, overwhelmed, and forgotten in the struggle over the Senatorial election. Besides this, the condition of political parties becomes sometimes so evenly balanced as that a very small number - two or three members of the legislature belonging to some middle or third party in a small minority among the people—is able to determine the choice of Senator, or to prevent one being made. The inability to elect by the legislative body is becoming more and |