Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 24.pdf/549

 Ohio's New Constitution OHIO has long been classed as a conservative state. Its new consti tution now places it in the category of progressive, not to say radical states. Liberal as it is, however, the new funda mental law is nevertheless differentiated from those of western states which have taken up "advanced" positions on the recall of judges, woman suffrage, and various other questions. The most radi cal features of the new constitution may be said to be those respecting the initiative and referendum. The provi sion that the Supreme Court may not declare a law unconstitutional when more than one judge dissents is hardly to be called radical. Many provisions are novel, such as those relating to threefourths verdicts in civil cases, to the removal of public officials, including judges, to excess condemnation, and to progressive taxes on incomes and in heritances, but are not therefore to be classed as revolutionary or inconsistent with sound principles of government. Others are novel and also in some degree experimental and hazardous, as the pro visions regarding minimum wage for instance, and the entrance of munici palities into the field of publicly owned business undertakings. On the whole, however, while Ohio's new constitution is certainly "up-to-date," and shows the influence of the latest political and social fads, it does not yield blindly to the newer tendencies, and minus the direct legislation features it might be in a way to be regarded a fairly con servative and moderate scheme of gov ernment. The people voted on September 3 on forty-two proposed amendments to the constitution of 1851, and all but eight

of them were adopted. These proposals practically amount to a new constitution, and the resulting instrument will be likely to serve as an example influencing various other states in future. It can of course hardly be considered a perfect model, in view of the piecemeal method by which it was formulated. Really the work of the convention, rather than of the voters, it bears evidence of the conscientious effort of a body of dele gates not selected on a basis of distin guished ability, but nevertheless show ing a respectable general average of capacity, to evolve, in a short session of 82 days, a consistent and sensible frame of principles from the mass of 340 proposed amendments and 162 reso lutions, 502 questions in all, submitted for their consideration. This convention defeated the more radical proposals of judicial recall, and recall of decisions, and voted for woman suffrage merely in order to give the people a chance to decide for or against it. The initiative and refer endum provisions were drawn with un usual care, as may be perceived from the fact that the possibility of two con flicting laws being approved on a refer endum in different parts of the state, with absurd consequences, was fore seen, and provided for by making certain requirements regarding signatures on initiative petitions, and by prescribing that the bill or constitutional amend ment receiving the highest number of votes on the referendum should be the law. Thus was wrought a constitution which seems well knit together except as regards the home rule provisions for municipalities — just what the state retains in the new distribution of powers has already caused some perplexity.