People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 December 1894 — BY POPULAR VOTE. [ARTICLE]

BY POPULAR VOTE.

Senator Turpin Pleads for This Mode of Choosing Senators. Washington, Dec. 9.—Senator Turpie (dem., Ind.) presented a vigorous argument in favor of a resolution providing for the election of senators by a direct vote of the people. He said: “When we recall the harsh criminations, the gross charges of pecuniary corruption and of fraudulent combination or intrigue, disgraceful and dishonorable to the whole body with which a prolonged senatorial contest is accompanied, whether in party conference or in the open assembly, the removal of §uch a procreant evil should be deemed a prime political necessity. It has heretofore been said that the Grand Central railway has chosen a senator In a certain state; that the Grand Central bank has chosen another elsewhere and that the Central Association of Mining and Manufacturers have defeated or elected a third. Nothing is intended to be assumed here concerning the truth or falsity of these assertions or accusations. But these malfeasant charges have an existence. The way of |hls riddance is plain. If the choice of the constituent members of this body were left to the mass of voters in the state, these perilous criminations would be infinitely lessened. They would altogether disappear. No reasonable grounds could be given for their support.” Senator Turpie claimed that the proposed change would not disturb in the slightest degree the special relations ’existing between the senators and the states which they represent, and that its only object would be to have senators chosen by the suffrages of the whole people of a state instead of by the suffrages of a very small minority. No action was taken on the resolution.