youth enjoyed a membership in the German republic of learning long enough to become imbued with its ideals; but, both as respects the value of truth seeking for its own sake and in the application of science to life and industry, our intellectual leaders have learned much from Germany.

Nor has this influence been one-sided; but from the deep interest and honest admiration with which Kant followed the events leading to the formation of our Government, down to the scientific study of our constitutional history by Professor von Holst, the American ideals of political and social life have found their way into German thought. Happily, the United States is now represented at the German capital by a man whose character and scholarship preeminently fit him to be an exponent of the community of interests between the two nations at its highest point. One of the most famous members of the University of Berlin has expressed himself to the effect that within his knowledge no foreign diplomat had ever shown the deep appreciation of German intellectual life of which Ambassador White has often given evidence.

Though humorously observant of the foibles of German private and official character, the many Americans who have dwelt in Germany for a time usually look back with great admiration to the careful methods pursued in industrial and political life; to the genuine loyalty of the public servants, and their attempt, though they may sometimes be unduly meddlesome, to do justice and show no favor; and to the easy social arrangements which enable a man of much work and exacting occupation still to find recreation and enjoyment in social intercourse. But it is when the Germanic enthusiast comes to speak of the music of the Fatherland that superlatives come into use most abundantly. As a matter of fact, though German music is worldwide in its power, and belongs to humanity rather than to any one nation, it still owes so much to German artistic tradition and folklore that it constitutes a bond which draws all the votaries of that great art together in an admiration of the country of its origin.

But the strongest bond of sympathy which ties Germany to the great American Republic is the large number of her sons who, seeking broader fields and freer opportunity for their activities, have come to the United States to join heart and soul in the upbuilding of the new nation. It is not here necessary to mention individuals, although there are many prominent names in art, music, the industries, finance, war, and politics which might be enumerated. It is rather the great mass of citizens of German origin who have through their inherited ideas exerted a profound influence upon American life. The rank and file engaged on farms,

in shops, and in commerce, the modest ministers and teachers it is through these that German ideas and modes of life take part in the moulding of American character.

The Germans are often taunted with being too readily assimilated to other nations; but it is certainly not true in general, although they are ready to identify themselves with a country in the institutions of which the higher ideals of their own life find expression. The reason why the German element in America has become so rapidly assimilated to our institutions lies in the fact that many impulses could here find free expression which on account of the political situation of Germany had to be suppressed in the Fatherland. The Germany of Cæsar and Tacitus was the home of individual liberty and popular institutions; but in the course of history the old country has become so beset with external dangers and enemies that it has been forced to assume the organization of an army and bend its energies upon self-protection, in order to avoid being made again the bloody battle-ground of a thirty years' war. But the German is still essentially a liberal and individualist, and only makes concessions to the necessities of national self-defence when they appear inevitable.

In the United States, however, the emigrating Germans found full opportunity to follow the instincts of their nature. This is shown even in the organization of the German-American churches, which are most democratic. Therefore, in giving in their fullest allegiance to the institutions of their new home they have not changed their political ideals. Among the founders and early leaders of the Republican party were many Germans like Carl Schurz and Francis A. Hoffmann, who had left Germany in the forties, when nationalism and liberalism were still frowned down by the authorities. It is also interesting to note that the imperialistic tendency, both in America and in Germany, has found but few adherents among the ranks of German-Americans.

But while the German element has thus become part and parcel of American life and has fully identified itself with the destinies and interests of its new home, an event like the coming of a representative of the German nation and member of the house which has taken such a part in the upbuilding of German power has aroused within GermanAmericans many fond memories. And though many of them are men, or sons of men, whom a harsh Government in the days of particularistic Germany drove from their homes for daring to wish for changes which have now been at least partially realized in the new German Empire, they all wish Germany well, and rejoice in the hard-earned successes of its national and industrial life. PAUL S. REINSCH.

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.

THE Constitution of the United States was adopted in 1787 by a convention of delegates from the thirteen original States. From that time to the present, a period of one hundred and fifteen years, no other constitutional convention has been held in this country.

An unfamiliar provision of the Constitution provides that upon the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the States Congress shall call a convention for the purpose of proposing amendments, which shall be valid when ratified by three-fourths of the States. Already seven States, or slightly more than one-fifth of the required number, have, through legislative action, conformed to the constitutional requirement. These States are Michigan, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, and Tennessee. In other legislatures, notably in Massachusetts, resolutions of similar import have been introduced. Declaration is made in each case that the convention is desired for the purpose of securing the election of United States senators by the direct vote of the people instead of by the State legislatures, as is now prescribed. This evidently concerted movement to secure a constitutional convention has received but slight attention in the public press; and, although for reasons to be hereinafter stated it is not likely to be successful, it may be of interest to discuss some of the efforts which have been made in the past to amend the Constitution, and to consider the conditions which, at the present time, inspire the attempts to secure some change in the timehonored document.

The original Constitution consisted of seven articles, to which fifteen articles have been added by amendment. Of these fifteen, however, ten were proposed at the First Session of Congress, being necessary to complete the document, and were promptly ratified by the requisite proportion of the then existing States. The eleventh amendment, which declared "that the judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens or subjects of any foreign State," was finally ratified in 1798; and this, as well as the twelfth

amendment, prescribing the method of electing the President and VicePresident, which was proclaimed in 1804, must be regarded as belonging to the formative period of our Government.

From 1804 to 1865 the Constitution remained intact. The Civil War brought new conditions which could not be adequately treated except through additions to our fundamental law. In the white heat of political exigency the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments were forged. The thirteenth amendment declared that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction,” a declaration which is now violated, in a literal sense, in the Philippine possessions of the United States. The fourteenth amendment asserted that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the States in which they reside ”; that when the right of suffrage is in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or any other crime, the basis of representation shall be reduced in proportion to such disfranchisement; that persons who had engaged in insurrection were ineligible for holding federal office unless their disabilities had been removed; and that the United States was not responsible for any obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion, although the validity of the national debt was assured.

The last amendment adopted, the fifteenth, is, perhaps, the most familiar of all. "The right of citizens of the United States to vote," it declares, "shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." This amendment was ratified by the legislatures of twenty-nine of the thirty-seven States. It is a fact not now generally remembered that the legislatures of Ohio and New Jersey at first rejected this amendment, although later agreeing to it, while in New York ratification was accorded and then withdrawn. California, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Oregon, and Tennessee also rejected the amendment.

More than thirty years have elapsed since the proclamation of the last amendment to the Constitution. During this period, however, the advocates of further change have not been idle. Almost innumerable amendments have been proposed, all of them lacking, however, the vitality of a popular demand. It is safe to say that at no time since the close of the war has any movement looking toward addition to or alteration of the Constitution reached the headway gained by the present agitation; for, in addition to the formal demand upon Congress for the

calling of a constitutional convention, more than thirty States have expressed, through resolution, a desire to supersede the present method of electing United States senators.

In proposing a convention, rather than the usual plan of Congressional enactment ratified by the legislatures of the several States, the promoters of the movement have apparently written its death warrant. The fact that its avowed purpose is the election of senators by the people is sufficient in itself to excite the hostility of the upper branch of the National Legislature; and enough senators control their legislatures to make it certain that more than fifteen States will decline to join in the appeal to Congress, thus making affirmative action impossible. Apart from this, however, it would seem as if a constitutional convention, for whatever purpose called, would be unwise. It would be a most disturbing element in the national serenity. It is true that the legislatures which have already acted have specified only one desirable change; but all authorities agree that if the convention assembled it would not and could not be restricted to this single consideration. Every proposition, no matter how radical, which might be conceived in the fertile minds of would-be statesmen, would be offered for discussion. The convention would, in all probability, be in session for a year, during which time the business interests of the country would pass through a period of uncertainty that would be almost disastrous. Besides this, the spectacle of such a revered document lying helpless in the hands of those who would possess the power to mar its beautiful symmetry, to alter its familiar and oft-construed sentences, to introduce new and possibly dangerous phrases would be a shock to the moral sense of the nation. After all, the American people are conservative. Their Anglo-Saxon blood teaches them to revere tradition and precedent. The document which has been almost untouched during the nation's evolution has become sacred. Those who believe, with the late Mr. Gladstone, that our Constitution is the greatest instrument ever struck off by the hand of man could hardly view with equanimity any effort to alter materially its stately form.

While we may, therefore, dismiss as an improbable contingency the holding of a constitutional convention, there still remains to be considered the fact that Congress can adopt, and the legislatures of two-thirds of the States can ratify, proposed amendments. The effort to accomplish something in this direction, more or less sporadic during the past century, has of late years been quite pronounced. Indeed, with each succeeding Congress the number of suggested changes has steadily in