The States which have recently adopted constitutions have generally
provided a remedy for the evil by enacting that no law shall contain
more than one subject, which shall be plainly expressed in its
title. The constitutions of more than half of the States contain
substantially this provision. The public welfare will be promoted in
many ways by a return to the early practice of the Government and to
the true principle of legislation, which requires that every measure
shall stand or fall according to its own merits. If it were understood
that to attach to an appropriation bill a measure irrelevant to the
general object of the bill would imperil and probably prevent its
final passage and approval, a valuable reform in the parliamentary
practice of Congress would be accomplished. The best justification
that has been offered for attaching irrelevant riders to appropriation
bills is that it is done for convenience sake, to facilitate the
passage of measures which are deemed expedient by all the branches
of Government which participate in legislation. It can not be claimed
that there is any such reason for attaching this amendment of the
election laws to the Army appropriation bill. The history of the
measure contradicts this assumption.
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