Show pao SED constitutional CONSTITUTION At MENTS on il the esth of next month the peo ole of utah will vote for two state and awl lists of county officers in their res V counties not only for these sat bior for or against five proposed constitutional tut ional amendments these have not 2 sufficient attention so ao far and aft it 18 time that thad those who are not familial with them should become so in or 1 that t they may be able to vote ln in ii gently thereon they have been weekly or posted up in conspicuous places in every county but everybody Otery Very body Is not presumed to read the vapors capers in which the proposed amend have appeared nor to have passed sed the places where the posting has awn done certain it to Is that there is a tj melc of familiarity with the provisions JW h the suggested changes to ow om carter contain cointa ln and in view of the importance of the subject and the near of the election the press generally auld aa come to the rescue the first amendment is senate joint resolution no 9 which proposes to son erid section ten of article seven so it shall re read ad as follows section 10 the governor shall nom cupie and by and with the consent of the senate appoint all state and district officers whose offices are established dished by this constitution or which ramy be created by law and whose ap or election Is not otherwise ovidea for rt is IB simply a reiteration of the as far as it goes the amendment provides that if during a coo ot of the senate a vacancy shall i occur in any state or district office the nd r shall nominate some fit per att to hold the office ad interim but fie shall nominate no one who was pre 0 o ly rejected by the senate for the place this provision being the gravamen of the amendment the de sita idzi being of course to prevent the executive 3 from taking advantage of the reccea of the senate to make an ap upon which that body had aa atthe the seal of its condemnation the next amendment is TO section six it ten and provides as follows see sec 6 in cities of the first and sec fload 0 class the public school system shall 18 1 controlled by the board of education 49 rt budh uch cities separate and apart from doi bounties in which said isaid cities are lo 10 aced er only chanse in this from the vim pres ding ng esthe to the of the maintained and before the word controlled the object Is id plain it means that there shall be a sort or of taxation without representation outside o of the cities of salt lake and ogden in their respective counties that is the country districts may be be required to contribute to the support of the city schools but the latter shall be controlled by the board of education of those cities respectively I 1 the next proposition is as to article sixto six to which it is proposed to add anew a new section as follows section 32 82 every bill and joint resolution signed by the presiding officer of each house of the legislature as provided in section twenty four of this article and signed by the governor or passed by both houses over his object tion sas provided in section eight article seven of this constitution and deposited in the office df the secretary of state shall in all courts be taken and treated as conclusive evidence of ltd ith due enactment and authenticity I 1 number four proposes an amendment to section nine article eight which when amended will read as follows j the supreme and district courts shall have such appellate jurisdiction as may be provided by law provided that from all final judgments of the district courts there sh shall all be a right of appeal to tc the supreme court bourt the constitution at present defines the jurisdictional powers of the coutts courts in a tolerably lengthy section the amendment would leave all that with the single exception of preserving the right of appeal from the final judgments of the district courts in the hands hanas of the lawmakers this amendment was the cause of considerable discussion in committee and in open session of the last legislative assembly and arose out of the claimed necessity for some means of invoking the power of the supreme court available in such cases where attorneys or parties are dissatisfied with interlocutory orders or proceedings anterior to final judgment the amendment is decidedly sweeping as we look at iland breaks down a bul it would seem should be essentially maintained however much it might need improvement in detail derail the fifth of at the series proposes an amendment to section 3 article 13 so that it shall read as follows the legislature shall provide by law a uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation on all property in the state according to its value in money and shall prescribe by general law such regulations as shall secure a just valuation tor for taxation of all property so that every person and cor corporation poTation shall pay a tax in proportion to the value of his her or its property provided that a deduction of debts from credits may be authorized and that no tax shall be collected on household f furniture r kiture when the value of the same 1 is two hundred dollars or less provided fur ther that the property of the united states of the state counties cities towns school c districts municipal corporations po rations and public libraries lots with the buildings thereon used exclusively for either religious worship or charitable purposes and places of burial not held or used for private or corporate benefit shall be exempt from taxation ditches canals and flumes blumes owned and used by individuals or corporations for irrigating lands owned by such individuals or corporations or the individual members thereof shall not be separately taxed so long as they shall be owned and used exclusively for such purpose the principal if not the only essential change in this Is the exemption of worth of house household holc 1 furniture from taxation a proposition which if carried will exclude nearly all renters and the mAjo majority of the govaller em aller householder from that burden of citizenship altogether As to whether this wouldga would be ba salutary or not would be for each to determine for himself 1 there is one thing in this connection connect ioA however that should not be altogether overlooked and that Is the desirability or otherwise of patching up the fundamental law so soon after its adoption undoubtedly the instrument is imperfect in places and should receive attention at the proper time but Is this after it has been in operation less than three years the proper time none of the defects sought to be remedied la 40 vital none is of that oppressive character that demands immediate action the charter of a state is a solemn document of such vast consequence to the people that it should enjoy some degree of immunity above and beyond that accorded to legislative enactments at least it should not be pounced upon every time some slight or even material defect not in itself amounting to a grave and threatening danger is discovered the most probable thing in the world when a tyro lawmaker settles down to busi businesses that he will begin a dyste system of constitution tinkering andraw and law amend ing and in unskillful hands nothing te 16 more dangerous to the body politic e es specially pec lally ally when such work gets through the lawmaking law making processes and before the people undoubtedly in the case caim of proposed amendments they then haye haw their remedy the referendum to Is brought into play and that can knock down drag out and scalp if it so please them the present would seem to de be a propitious time for them to act in thue the manner indicated let the stand as it is for the rest of this cew century anyway |