The Portland daily press., 1893-02-06

1t is only within the last half century
that proper balance of the centripetal
and centrifugal forces has been reache d.
1t was done by the adoption OF constl-
tuition confessedly modelled upon our
own, though differing in some important
respects.
The points of difference are all in the
direction of what is called "pure" in dis
tinction to representative democracy;
and as the most notable of them, ''the Ref
erendum'' and 1.-THE Initiative are SUBJ
jects of CO sideration in some of our
Western States, where there are strong
movements toward their adoption, their
discussion by Mr.. McCrackan is of great
and immediate interest, and indeed in
many respects the most valuable feature
of his work.
The Referendum is in effect the New
England town meeting writ large" The
term is part of the old formula, Gd ref
erendum ct audie1duna, and means that
the laws framed by their Representatives
must, when demanded, be submitted to
the people for acceptance Or rejection, as
constitutional amendments are in this
state. Thus, under the Swiss methods,
the acts of our legislature this winter
would have to be submitted to the popu-
lar vote and be sustained before they
could become laws if the demand for
submission were made by stated pro-
portion of the people. This is expressly
provided by the Federal Constitution of
Switzerland, which reads: Federal
laws as well as Federal resolutions which
are binding upon all, and which are not
of such nature that they must be de-
spatched Immediately, shall be laid be-
fore the people for acceptance or rejec-
ton, when this is demanded by 10000
Swiss voters or by eight Cantons." AS
the population of Switzerl nd is about
three million, the number of voters in
this country required to demand the
Referendum would be about 100000,
and in this state in the neighborhood of
six thousand. The number of Swiss can
tons is twenty two, and therefore at the
demand of about a third of them must
recourse be had to the Referendum. 1t
would require fifteen of our states. In
some of the Swiss cantons the compulsory
Referendum is in force; that is, all laws
must be submitted. In other cantons, the
optional Referendum, that recognized by
the Federal constitution, has been adopt
ed.
The Initiative is the right of the people
to propose measures themselves, to ini-
tiate proposals for the enactment of new
laws, or for the alteration or abolition of
existing ones. S venteen out of the
twenty-five cantons have Incorporated
the Initiative into their constitutions;
and in 1891 an amendment to the Federal
constitution was passed providing that
1.-THE Popular Initiative may be used
when SO, 900 Swiss voters present a petit
ton for the enactment, the abolition or
the alteration of certain articles of the
Federal constitution" 1t is further pro-
vided that petitions may be presented in
the form of general suggestions or of
finished bills. When apetition is present
ed in the form of a general suggestion,
and the Federal Assembly answering
to our Congress) agrees thereto it is the
duty of that body to elaborate an amend
ment in the sense of the initiators, and
to refer it to the people and the Cantons
for acceptance or rejection. If the
Federal Assembly does not agree to the
petition, then the question of whether
there shall be an amendment at all must
be submitted to the vote of the people,
and if the majority express themselves in
the affirmative, the amendment must be
taken in hand by the Assembly. When
the petition is in the form of a finished
bill and the Assembly adopts it, the
measure goes to the people for action.
If the Assembly does not agree to it, that
body can elaborate a bill of its own, or
move to reject the petition, and submit
it's own bill or motion of rejection to the
popular vote.
Such are those famous provisions of
Swiss law, the Referendum and the Ini-
tiative, as explained by Mr.. McCrackan.
1t is to be wished that he had also ex-
planned, in his useful history, how the
non-sectarian, free, public schools of
Switzerland are conducted without fric-
ton in both the Catholic and the Protes-
tant Cantons. That is a matter of con-
siderable interest to this country just
now.