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must be ratified at the polls as by the first method. In order Cleveland, Growth of that all amendments may stand upon their own merits, they Democracy, are submitted separately. Some States are so fearful of fre- 120-127. quent changes that they limit the number of amendments that may be proposed at one time, or within a certain number of years. In spite of these precautions, many people think that too many changes occur in the constitutions, and all know that very few of the amendments awaken the popular interest and receive the attention that they should.

tional

wealth,

abr. ed.,

306-316.

163. The Contents of the State Constitutions. The sub- Constitudivisions of our constitutions are four in number. (1) provisions. There are the Bills of Rights which state some general principles of liberty and government, specifying the individual rights that shall not be disturbed by the state or local Bryce, Am. governments, or by any public official. (2) The principal Commonparts of the constitutions are the frames of government, including the sections devoted to the composition and powers of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the state government. (3) We have the miscellaneous constitutional provisions, the chief of which are the articles upon suffrage, the method of amendment and general revision of the constitution, and upon local government. (4) In addi- Statutory tion to these constitutional provisions there are other sup- provisions. plementary provisions on education, corporations, taxation, public lands, and public institutions. Most of the paragraphs in the articles last mentioned, and many of those in other parts of the constitution, do not deal with really constitutional laws, or fundamental laws. They are, in truth, only important statutes, supplementary to the constitutional laws, which are placed in the constitutions in order that the people may vote upon them, and that they may not be altered by the legislatures.

codes.

The main differences between the older constitutions and The constithose of recent date is that the later constitutions contain tutions as a larger number of these statutes than is the case with the earlier constitutions. The charge has consequently been

M

Common

Bryce, Am. made that the newer constitutions are becoming more like codes, or summaries of statutes, which must, of course, be revised much more frequently than would be necessary for true constitutions.

wealth,

abr. ed., 317-323.

Increase of interstate travel and business.

Conferences to secure

uniform action.

Outlook, 89 (1908), 144-148.

UNIFORMITY AND DIVERSITY IN STATE LAWS

164. The Increasing Need of Uniformity in State Laws. Since the States have the power to make such laws as they please in relation to the subjects we have considered in previous chapters, it is quite interesting to know whether the laws of the various States are very much alike. If the States have a dozen different kinds of laws regulating the making and enforcement of contracts, persons in different States cannot do business with one another. Nowadays we feel that these laws not only should be, but must be, more or less similar, for no State is willing to depend upon its own people for all that it needs. We believe that state boundaries ought not to be division lines between radically different systems of law. Interstate trade or interstate travel is no longer a thing of rare occasion, but an everyday affair, and the need of uniformity in all of the great principles of state law is becoming constantly greater.

In some cases where the national Constitution has left a subject to state direction and concerted action was necessary, conferences have been called by the governors in order to agree upon desirable legislation or improved uniform methods of administration. The Annapolis conference (1786), which led to the constitutional convention in Philadelphia, was of this character. Many anti-trust conferences have been held by central Western States, and some Western commonwealths have participated in irrigation conferences. The most notable gathering of all was held at Washington in 1908. The governors from forty of the States met in a conference called for the purpose of discussing the need of concerted action in the preservation of natural resources·

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From stereograph, copyright, 1908, by Underwood and Underwood, New York. FIRST WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS (1908) AND OTHER PUBLIC MEN

See page 170)

water, forests, minerals, and lands. One important object of the meeting was the creation of an Appalachian forest reserve under national control from lands owned or supervised by the different States of the Atlantic border.

inal laws.

165. Variations in State Laws on Important Subjects are Corporation quite numerous, and often objectionable. An illustration and crimof the disadvantages due to a lack of uniform legislation is furnished in connection with corporations. We noticed in § 141 the very great difficulty in making and enforcing adequate corporation laws under our present system. The laws which define crimes and provide penalties for criminals vary to some extent. In one State an offense may be merely a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment for a short time, while, in an adjoining one, it may be considered a felony, conviction for which means from ten to twenty years of hard labor. Differences of this nature are not only unjust, but lead to a greater amount of lawlessness than would be the case under uniform laws.

Divorce laws are very dissimilar in some of the States. Divorce South Carolina does not permit her courts to grant divorces laws. for any reason whatever, and the laws in a few of the other States are very strict. In most sections, on the contrary, divorces are granted upon slight pretexts. For many years the more conservative States were unable properly to enforce their divorce laws, because their citizens, by temporary residence where the laws were lax, could easily obtain divorces. This practice was at one time so common that the courts became more lenient everywhere, but it has been discontinued, as the United States Supreme Court has declared such divorces illegal, unless they are granted to bona fide residents of the State and unless the party from whom the divorce is given receives notice of the action.

in essentials.

166. The Degree of Uniformity in State Laws is much Uniformity more marked than the diversity, because the differences are ordinarily in DETAILS, while the GENERAL PRINCIPLES of state law are everywhere much the same. As President Woodrow details.

Variety in

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