“Of making many laws there is no end,” one might paraphrase Ecclesiastes. In his remarkably interesting book, “Our Changing Constitution,” Charles W. Pierson points out the growing dangers which confront us, because of our repeated amendments and addenda. He sounds many a warning, and every American should read his brief but profound volume. “Whatever view one may hold to-day,” he writes, “as to the question of expediency, no thoughtful mind can escape the conclusion that, in a very real and practical sense, the Constitution has changed. In a way change is inevitable to adapt it to the conditions of the new age. There is danger, however, that in the process of change something may be lost; that present-day impatience to obtain desired results by the shortest and most effective method may lead to the sacrifice of a principle of vast importance. “The men who framed the Constitution were well advised when they sought to preserve the integrity of the states as a barrier against the aggressions and tyranny of the majority acting through a centralized power. The words ‘state sovereignty’ acquired an odious significance in the days of our civil struggle, but the idea for which they stand is nevertheless a precious one and represents what is probably America’s most valuable contribution to the science of government. “We shall do well not to forget the words of that staunch upholder of national power and authority, Salmon P. Chase, speaking as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in a famous case growing out of the Civil War: “‘The preservation of the states, and the maintenance of their governments, are as much within the design and care of the Constitution as the preservation of the Union and the maintenance of the National Government. The Constitution in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union composed of indestructible states.’” Yet today what do we find? The States renouncing their sovereignty, abrogating their authority to the central government, time and again diminishing their own strength, losing sight of one of the very things on which the safety of our country depends. Worse than that, some of them have attempted to pass laws which seem totally unnecessary, in the light of the already rigid Volstead Act. Witness the State of New Jersey, for instance, with the iniquitous Van Ness Act, which, fortunately, was deemed unconstitutional.