Show Ratification by Legislatures Sufficient federal constitutional con con- 1 HE supreme c court urt decision holding that THE submitted I amendments cannot legally be to a popular referendum dum will settle n a question that has bas states state those in of the people agitated the minds of many having r referendum laws Many constitutional lawyers Theodore Theodoro A. A Bell of ol have ha held beld to the tho contrary notably California who advised tho the people of that state na ns well ell I after as fla others to d disregard the tho prohibition amendment the legislatures had bad ratified it unless the people also ratified the action of the legis legislatures A satisfying feature of the opinion also is that tb it ii itis itis is unanimous instead of being a II split verdict n as asman court decisions havo have boon of the recent supreme man many th tho The Tho case was carried up from Ohio where amendment and th tho legislature ratified tho the Eighteenth people a afterwards by referendum vote ote re refused used to sanction sanction sanction sanc sanc- tion the legislative act net Tho The supreme court of Ohio constitutional constitutional constitutional which had bad decreed d that flint a n referendum vote on amendments was as leg legal l is reversed and the method meth ineth od of ratifying amendments is held to be bo a national power specifically granted b by the tho federal constitution otherwise and the states have no authority to pro provide de The rho courts court's opinion will put an nn end to tho the contrOversy contrO versy as to whether Ohio had bad really ratified both tho thi prohibition amendment and the woman suffrage amendment amendment amendment amend amend- conclusive in al all will be equally ment and of course courso raised Tho Thc the tho other states where tho the question was of th the not into tho the question opinion however does docs go amendment or of the tho act validity of the prohibition which was passed to make mako it operative known as M th thoV tho V act upon which the states of Rhodo Rhode Island and New Jersey have instituted proceedings There seems to be no ria disposition on the part of th tho Republicans in their campaign to to tomiso miso the issue 03 ns to tc the tho validity of the prohibition amendment but unless decision is handed banded down by the court before the tho Demo Demo- Democratic Democratic a cratic con convention meets there is no doubt but that it with Governor Edwards Edvards Ed Ed- will be a 3 bone of contention there wards of Now New Jersey and William Villiam Jennings Bryan a athe as ns the chief contenders Is the Farm Fann Shortage Serious T I F the shortage of farm labor is as ns great as has ucon reported it is doubtful if any such makeshift t remedy rem rein cities edy as has been suggested in certain eastern will be adequate It has been proposed that professional professional and business men in the big cities devote devot one ona days day's work in each week during the comin coming summer to assisting the farmers who are now unable to got the labor they must have in order to raise and harvest their crops Perhaps if the need is urgent any sort of assistance assist assist- ance auco would be welcome yet jet from a practical stan standpoint standpoint stand stand- point labor on the tho farm of the professional or business business busi busi- ness man would seem to be desultory Work V ork on the farm is ia hard manual labor and city chaps are arc not atall at atall all adapted for it It would probably take thorn tho the remaining six days of tho week to get over the re results results re- re suits of the one days day's work ork The rhe hitherto unused muscles would be bo tremendously sly sore the morning after niter there would be bc pains between the shoulders and at nt the back of the neck neek and there thero would be blisters on the hands Of course there were large largo numbers of city people who during tho the stress of th the war made notable successes sue suc UC- UC but even these would woul find of home gardening it irksome to attempt a full days day's labor of tho the average average aver aver- farm hand As one Indiana farmer expresses it age ae II They dont don't even een know how bow to spit on their hands bands Instead of following out this suggestion if a n operative co movement to return the tho thousands of Cf former farm hands who h have he e had experience in actual hoeing and mowing and reaping and binding and threshing and digging potatoes and shucking corn and and perhaps running a tractor or tho the picking cott cotton n dozens of other farm implements in daily use nse but who have been lured away from the country to engage in manufacturing or or r mercantile or other urban pursuits another it would be much more mOTO for one reason or sensible It is reported that only a small percentage of tho the young men who ho followed farming before tIle they entered the tho war returned to that vocation Either they considered considered considered con con- it too laborious or they were attracted by the better wage offered in the city Possibly after the tho excitements of the battlefield or the army camp life lifo on the farm was considered too humdrum tame or commonplace Any movement having for its object an improvement improve improve- improvement be discouraged discourage eJ me ment t of present conditions should not or discounted but if substantial results arc aro to bo be secured tho food administration or some authoritative b body dy u should take hol hold of the 1 1 subject with vim 1 and andU U aria LU LUa intelligence as aa things were aono iono in wui LU wm a patriotic call for volunteers to sa save savo o the tho nations nation's food supply Tho The American people never failed to respond to tho the call of duty and they would not Ls i l now flow Conditions are not as S serious as QS reported or ora ora orn a n movement to remedy them lacks initiative I 1 I |