provided and used as may be necessary to secure, as far as possible, the lives, health and safety of persons employed in mining; and shall provide for enforcing such enactments by adequate pains and penalties.

ARTICLE XVII – AMENDMENTS

SECTION 1. Either branch of the General Assembly may propose amendments to this Constitution; and if the same be agreed to by three-fifths of the members elected to each house, such proposed amendments shall be entered on the journals, with yeas and nays, and published in at least one newspaper in each county, where a newspaper is published, for six months preceding the next election for senators and representatives, at which time the same shall be submitted to the electors, for approval or rejection; and if a majority of the electors, voting at such election, adopt such amendments, the same shall become a part of the Constitution. When more than one amendment is submitted at the same time, they shall be so submitted, as to enable the electors to vote on each amendment separately.

SEC. 2. When three-fifths of the members elected to each branch of the General Assembly deem it necessary to call a convention, to revise, amend or change this Constitution, they shall recommend to the electors to vote, at the next election of members of the General Assembly, for or against a convention; and if a majority of those voting at said election vote for a convention, the General Assembly shall, at its next session, provide, by law for calling the same. The convention shall consist of as many members as the house of representatives, who shall be chosen in the same manner, and shall meet within their election, for the purpose aforesaid. No

amendment or change of this Constitution, agreed upon by such convention, shall take effect until the same has been submitted to the electors of the State, and adopted by a majority of those voting for and against the same. SCHEDULE

SECTION 1. This Constitution shall take effect on the first day of October, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, and all laws then in force, not inconsistent therewith, shall continue in force until amended or repealed.

SEC. 2. The official term of all judges whose offices are created by this Constitution, and of all elective State officers, shall begin on the second Tuesday of January next succeeding their election.

SEC. 3. The probate courts provided for in this Constitution shall be the successors of the present probate courts; the courts of common pleas the successors of the present courts of common pleas; and the circuit courts the successors of the present district courts; and all business pending in either of said courts shall be transferred to its successor, and proceed as though no change had been made; and all business pending in the general terms of the superior courts of Cincinnati and Cleveland, on the second Tuesday of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, shall then be transferred to and proceed in the proper circuit courts, and such general terms shall thenceforth be abolished.

SEC. 4. The superior courts for the counties of Greene and Montgomery shall cease to exist the second Tuesday of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventyfive, unless sooner abolished by law; and the business of said courts shall thereupon be transferred to and pro

ceed in the courts of common pleas of the proper counties. The superior courts of Cincinnati and Cleveland shall continue until otherwise provided by law.

SEC. 5. All officers shall continue in office until their successors are elected or appointed and qualified, and all vacancies in office occurring after the first day of October, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, shall be filled in the manner prescribed by law, until officers are elected or appointed and qualified under this Constitution. Until the election and qualification of the superintendent of public works, the members of the board of public works shall continue to discharge the duties of their office and receive the compensation provided by law; and, until otherwise prescribed by law, the said superintendent shall have the powers and perform the duties of said board.

SEC. 6. The governor, and all other State and county officers, and members of the General Assembly, whose successors are by existing laws required to be elected in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, shall continue in office during the terms now established by law, and until their successors are elected and qualified. The successors to such State and county officers, and the first General Assembly, under this Constitution, shall be elected at a special election, to be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in November, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, and shall serve for one year, and until their successors are elected and qualified; but such General Assembly shall not be counted to effect the allotment of additional members to the house of representatives or the senate, as provided for in this Constitution. Such successors shall be elected on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in Novem

ber, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six. But this section shall not prevent the General Assembly from abolishing or changing the term or duties of any office not created by the Constitution.

SEC. 7. The first election for judges of the supreme, circuit and common pleas courts, and for all elective state and county officers whose successors, by existing law, would be elected in the present year, and to fill vacancies in the General Assembly, shall be held on the second of October, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, and shall be conducted and the returns made and the officers so elected commissioned in the manner now provided by law for the election and commissioning of like officers. The first election for the judges for the courts of probate shall be held at the election for governor, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six; and all probate judges, in office on the first day of October, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, shall continue in office until the second Tuesday of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five; and all common pleas judges in office on the first day of October, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, shall continue to serve in their respective districts as now constituted, and until the second Tuesday in January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.

SEC. 8. Where two or three counties are joined in the same election district, the returns of elections shall be sent to the county having, by the latest federal census, the largest population.

SEC. 9. The governor shall, immediately upon the taking effect of this Constitution, appoint a commission, to consist of three persons, whose duty it shall be to re

vise, rearrange, simplify and abridge the general laws of the State, so that there shall be but one law upon any one subject, and, as far as practicable, prepare notes of the decisions of the supreme court upon each law. Their proceedings shall, from time to time, be reported to the General Assembly, and be subject to the action of that body. The compensation, tenure of office, and mode of filling vacancies, shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 10. This Constitution shall be submitted to the electors of the State on Tuesday, the eighteenth day of August, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, and at the same time there shall be separately submitted to said electors the following propositions:

PROPOSITION NUMBER ONE- MINORITY
REPRESENTATION

"In every election for judges of the supreme and circuit courts, where there are two or more to be chosen of the same court, and for the same term of service, no elector shall vote for a greater number of candidates than a majority of the judges of such court and term then to be chosen."

If this proposition be adopted, it shall take the place of section three of Article IV of this Constitution, and section twenty of said Article shall thereupon read as follows:

SEC. 20. In case the office of any judge shall become vacant before the expiration of the regular term for which he was elected, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the governor until a successor is elected and qualified; and such successor shall be elected for the unexpired term, at the first election for governor, that occurs more than thirty days after the vacancy shall have happened.