The Socialist party platform of 1912 declared in favor of the abolition of the United States Senate, the amendment of the Constitution of the United States by a majority vote of the people, the election of judges for short terms of office, the denial of the right of the U. S. Supreme Court to declare the acts of Congress void. 96 Article V of the Constitution of the United States provides for the amendment of that fundamental law of the country. It says amendments may be proposed by a bill for amendment being introduced into either house of Congress and passing each house by a two-thirds vote, or secondly, by the State legislatures of two-thirds of the States demanding that Congress call a national convention in which amendments may be proposed. If these proposed amendments are ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the States or by conventions called in three-fourths of the States, they become an integral part of the Constitution. 97 Some of this good legislation includes: Child Labor Laws; Workmen’s Compensation Laws; Industrial Insurance for Workingmen; Compulsory Education; Pure Food Laws; Better Sanitary Conditions in Factories; Safety Appliances; Free Medical Inspection for School Children; and Care of the Poor. 98 If you read carefully the fifth article of the Constitution of the United States, you will learn that the Constitution may be amended either by the people’s representatives who sit in Congress, and in State legislatures, or by the legislatures of the States demanding that a National convention shall be called in which the people may choose the members Which ever method of amending the Constitution is used, it is the people who exercise the power of changing the Constitution. 99 Every teacher in every public school ought to feel in duty bound to teach the fundamental principles of the Constitution to all the children in the school. A recitation period ought to be set aside each day for the study of civics of the community, of the locality, of the State, and of the United States. Every pupil in every public school ought to feel proud of the opportunity to learn how his government is made and how his government works, how he may become a helpful citizen by being an intelligent voter when he comes to be a man. Adult people ought to organize civic clubs in the community for the discussion and study of questions of government and politics. 100 The following suggestions have been made by good, honest people who have their country’s welfare at heart. Thus far the people as a whole have not advocated their adoption, but some of them may be made part of the Constitution in time to come. a. The direct popular election of President and Vice President of the United States.