RECENT STATE CONSTITUTION-MAKING 73 



tributed to the campaign funds of both the political parties according 

 to the State. 



Another form of this special legislation and bribery which the people 

 desire to curtail is due to the power of the boss in State politics. He 

 is thought by many persons to be the worst source of bribery. In some 

 States he is said to own the legislature. In States where this is the case 

 it is only necessary for those desiring special legislation to deal directly 

 with the boss. The individual member of the legislature may well be 

 ignored. It is in this way that the disappearance of the striker is to be 

 explained. The striker was a member who introduced bills for the 

 purpose of selling out. It was his custom to get up a bill inimical to 

 the interests of some corporation and to draw it in such form that it 

 might have some reasonable assurance of favorable committee consid- 

 eration. Then he would sell out to the corporation. If they would 

 pay him enough, he would get the committee to throw the bill into the 

 waste-basket. This individual has well-nigh disappeared from the 

 legislatures of those States where there is a powerful State boss, and it 

 seems not unreasonable to assume that the boss has usurped the striker's 

 functions along with those of the legislature generally. 



The desire to curb the power of the boss has led to many amend- 

 ments, such as those restricting the power of the legislature to grant 

 special charters or pass special acts and make exemptions to private 

 persons in the matter of taxation. The last amendment to the constitu- 

 tion of the State of New York forbids the legislature to exempt indi- 

 viduals and corporations from taxation. It is due, therefore, to this 

 distrust that the people insist on getting more and more the power of 

 legislation into their own hands by adding new amendments to the 

 constitution. 



The other way in which constitutions have been growing is by revision 

 by a constitutional convention; in short, by framing an entirely new 

 organic law. In most of the State constitutions there is a provision 

 requiring the submission of the question of calling a convention to revise 

 the constitution to the people at specified times. The interval differs 

 in the different States and is usually from seven to sixteen years. Of 

 course, this does not mean that the revision may not be undertaken at 



