Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 June 1920 — GROWING DRYER ALL THE TIME [ARTICLE]

GROWING DRYER ALL THE TIME

Another Prop Is Knocked From Under “yVet” Hopes. The U. S. supreme court Tuesday held unanimously that amendments to the federal constitution could not be submitted to a popular, referendum, and that referendum laws, as applied to such amendments, were of no force. When the legislature of a state acts, its decision is final, since the federal constitution provides that amendments shall be in force when ratified by two-thirds of the legislatures, thus excluding direct action by the people. The power to ratify amendments is, the court says, derived from the nation, and not from the state. And the states can not change the methods prescribed in the constitution. The ruling disposes of the argument that the prohibition amendment had failed of ratification in those states in which a referendum wae required, but had not been taken.