=The Senate: Its Organization.=—In the constitution, as originally adopted, it was provided that each state should have two senators, elected “by the legislature thereof”. For more than a hundred years that method of election was followed. The two houses of the state legislature chose the senators. But this plan became unpopular and in 1913 the constitution was amended to provide that the senators should be chosen in each state by popular vote. The term remains fixed at six years, but one-third of the senators retire every second year.[110] Every state, large or small, has two senators. Nevada, with only 80,000 population has equal representation in the Senate with New York, which has above ten million people. Proportionally, New York ought to have about two hundred and fifty senators. This may seem to be unfair to the larger states, but it was a necessary concession to the smaller states at the time the union was formed. [Sidenote: The principle of equality.] Population, moreover, is not the only thing that should be taken into consideration. A state may be large in area, with great natural resources and a splendid future before it, and yet be very thinly settled. The Senate was created to represent the states as such, and all the states are equal in rights, if they are not equal in area or population. At any rate the provision for equal representation is in the constitution and if you read the provision, you will see that it cannot be easily changed (Article V, last clause). [Sidenote: The Senate’s procedure.] The Senate holds regular sessions each year at Washington. It may be called in special session, even when the House of Representatives is not sitting. This is because the Senate has some special powers apart from those which it shares equally with the lower house. It makes its own rules of procedure, decides any disputes as to the qualifications of its own members, and has power, by a two-thirds vote, to expel any senator from its membership. Most of the Senate’s routine work is done by committees, the members of which are assigned every second year by an unofficial “Committee on Committees” subject to the approval of the whole chamber. There are about thirty of these committees, but many of them are of small importance. The more important are those which deal with revenue measures, appropriations, foreign relations, and interstate commerce. Each committee has its own chairman. =The Senate: Its Exclusive Powers.=—The Senate has three special powers in which the House of Representatives possesses no share. These powers relate to impeachments, the confirming of appointments, and the ratification of treaties. [Sidenote: 1. Trial of impeachments.]