voters on the second Tuesday of March, 1889. Five of these were ratified and became a part of the constitution of the State. The text of the amendments and questions voted upon together with the result of the vote is given on pages 234-238. This convention by resolution fixed the time when the several proposed amendments to the constitution should take effect, provided any or all of them should be ratified by the people. The convention after having provided by resolution for their reassembling at the call of the president or Governor of the State, should such action seem to either of them necessary, on January 12th adjourned sine die. By order of this convention the journal of its proceedings was published. Art. 6. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. PROPOSED IN 1889. BILL OF RIGHTS. Strike out this article and insert the following: "Art. 6. As morality and piety will give the best and greatest security to government, and will lay in the hearts of men the strongest obligations to due subjection, and as the knowledge of these is most likely to be propagated through a society by the institution of the public worship of the DEITY and of public instruction in morality and religion, therefore, to promote these important purposes, the people of this State have a right to empower, and do hereby fully empower, the Legislature to authorize, from time to time, the religious societies within this State to make adequate provision, at their own expense, for the support and maintenance of public teachers of piety, religion and morality. "The several religious societies shall at all times have the exclusive right of electing their own public teachers, and of contracting with them for their support and maintenance; and no person of any one particular religious sect or denomination shall ever be compelled to pay toward the support of the teacher or teachers of another persuasion, sect, or denomination. 66 And every religious sect or denomination demeaning themselves quietly and as good subjects of the State shall be equally under the protection of the law; and no subordination of any one sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law." Rejected. PART II. Arts. 3, 25, 32, 33, 42, 43, 60, 66. Strike out the word “ June wherever it occurs in these articles and insert the word "January” in place thereof. Arts. 10, II. Strike out these Articles and insert the following: "Art. 10. Whenever any town, place, or city ward shall have less than six hundred such inhabitants, the General Court shall authorize such town, place, or ward to elect and send to the General Court a representative such proportionate part of the time as the number of its inhabitants shall bear to six hundred, but the General Court shall not authorize any such town, place, or ward to elect and send such representative except as herein provided.” Art. 15. Strike out this article and insert the following: "Art. 15. The presiding officers of both houses of the Legislature shall severally receive out of the state treasury, as compensation in full for their services for the term elected, the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars, and all other members thereof, seasonably attending and not departing without license, the sum of two hundred dollars, exclusive of mileage; provided, however, that when a special session shall be called by the governor, such officers and members shall receive for attendance an additional compensation of three dollars per day, for a period not exceeding fifteen days, and the usual mileage." Art. 34. Strike out all after the word "State" and insert the following: 66 All vacancies in the Senate arising by death, removal out of the State, or otherwise, except from failure to elect, shall be filled by a new election by the people of the district, upon the requisition of the governor, as soon as may be after such vacancies shall happen." Art. 49. Add to this article the following words: "Whenever the chair, both of the governor and president of the Senate, shall become vacant by reason of their death, absence from the State, or otherwise, the speaker of the House shall during such vacancies have and exercise all the powers and authorities which by this Constitution the governor is vested with when personally present. But when the speaker of the House shall exercise the office of governor, he shall not hold his office in the House." Add Article 102 as follows: "Art. 102. The sale, or keeping for sale, or manufacture of alcoholic or intoxicating liquor, except cider, or of any compound of which such liquor is a part, to be used as a beverage, is a misdemeanor, and is hereby prohibited." Rejected. The convention of 1889 submitted to the people its proposed amendments in the form of the following questions: I. Do you approve of changing the time for the meeting of the Legislature from June to January, and of changing the time when the terms of office of the executive and legislative departments shall commence, and the other amendments in conformity therewith, as proposed in the amended Constitution? 2. Do you approve of compensating the members of both houses of the Legislature by a fixed salary, as proposed in the amended Constitution? 3. Do you approve of filling vacancies in the Senate by a new election, as proposed in the amended Constitution? 4. Do you approve of having the speaker of the House act as governor in case of vacancies in the offices of governor and president of the Senate, as proposed in the amended Constitution? 5. Do you approve of inserting in the Constitution an article prohibiting the manufacture, or sale, or keeping for sale of alcoholic or intoxicating liquor as a beverage, as proposed in the amended Constitution? 6. Do you approve of amending article 6 of the Bill of Rights making the same non-sectarian, as proposed in the amended Constitution? 7. Do you approve of amending the Constitution with reference to representation in classed towns, as proposed in the amended Constitution? (J. 1889, pp. 254-5.) VOTE ON SEVEN AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION SUBMITTED TO THE PEOPLE ON No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5. No. 6. No. 7. COUNTIES. Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. No. Belknap Cheshire. Total... 2,280 453 2,252 504 1,959 601 2,081 456 1,593 1,568 1,133 1,266 1,466 548 323 510 566 3,028 2,378 2,649 3,242 1,565 2,294 2,359 |