People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1893-02-24
INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM.
Their Adoption Would Purify Politics and
| Give the People Just Laws.

/ 1hclE AuopllOn hOulu anu
Give the People just Laws.
A friend of mine advises me to go
back every week to the beginning in
preaching direct legislation. He says
that the general reader, unless he
knows what direct legislation" means,
what the initiative" means, and what
''the referendum" means, will have a con-
fused notion that am dealing with an
abstruse philosophical enigma, and will
skip my articles My friend shall inhu-
ence me this week, at any rate, for my
preaching may not yet be clear to some
general readers, and will begin at the
first step And, really, the first step is
the whole way, so far as merely under
standing the idea is concerned
The word initiative" has acquired
in politics a special meaning. In this
special meaning initiative" signifies
the proposing of law, by those who
have the legal right to do so, to the
body which may accept or reject the
law. When the citizens themselves so
propose law they exercise the 'initia-
tive" In this latter case the term
initiative designates the act of citizen,
or certain proportion of the citizens,
in proposing a law through the legisla-
ture to the whole body of citizens
Referring law to vote Of all the
citizens is 1.-THE referendum" By the
referendum the majority accepts or re-
jects law. Wherever the referendum
is employed the veto rests with ma
jOoity Of the citizens only.
Direct legislation" signifies the ex-
ercise Of the initiative and referendum
together. Where both initiative and
referendum are practiced, law-making
is directly in the hands of the citizens.
No longer is law, then made indirectly
by the power of the citizens, transferred
to representatives in a legislature.
Hence the term direct" legislation.
Where direct legislation is practiced,
the whole body of citizens becomes a
Legislative body, in perpetual delibera-
tive session. Its votes, however, are
taken only at stated times, usually
about twice year
With these explanations before him,
the general reader may follow, per-
haps with interest, the subjoined notes
on direct legislation.
London, Canada has recently had
trial at direct legislation. Four pro-
posed municipal laws, deemed desirable
by some of the citizens, were submitted
to popular vote on the ID of January.
The first of these propositions was:
Shall the city have free Hbrary?"
The second: Shall licensed bars be
closed at p. MP" The third: Shall
the city purchase an electric light
plant, not to cost more than $50, OOO?"
The fourth: 'Shall the wards of the
city be reduced to four?" In view of
the then approaching election, the con-
tents Of the London Daily Advertiser of
December 81, were highly interesting
The first column of the Advertisers
editorial page contained fac SMILES of
the ballots to be used in voting on
the four questions. The second
and third columns contained editorial
comments on direct legislation as
political principle and on its applica-
ton in London on that occasion. The
first page contained a number of letters
from citizens for and against the sew
eral proposed measures. That is to
say: First the newspaper naturally be-
came the medium of correct informa-
ton as to the methods to be followed
by the citizens in voting-hence the
fac SMILES; secondly, it confined its
editorial remarks to the principles and
measures involved in the election.
neither it nor the people caring aught
about their Intermediates in law
making, since the citizens themselves
were to settle the mooted questions;
thirdly, the newspaper became the
forum for popular debate, even women
and other non-voters having therein
their voice and influence.
Under direct legislation. the benef-
cent power of the press vastly increases.
This power cannot be restricted to any
class of newspapers, since newspapers
will spring into existence for any set of
readers desiring to promote any pOlit-
ical idea. When men themselves vote
directly on a subject, they weigh the
measure they are to vote on, and hence
they read the newspapers with an en-
HANGED interest and watchfulness The
newspaper managers, therefore, employ
their enterprise in offering to their
readers ideas pertinent to the subjects
debated, rather than gossip about poll
ticians and guesses as to the characters
of candidates
When legislation is in the hands of
tar-otf representative legislature, propo-
sitions Of law made through the press
have but slight show of being effect
lively considered. But when legisla-
ton is in the hands of the citizenship.
such propositions become possibilities
of fact recently wrote to a friend in
Geneva, Switzerland, suggesting that,
now that the canton had the initiative.
the workingmen might propose munich
pal pnblic land for homesites and an
electric road from the heart of the city
of Geneva to the public land. NV
friend thought the workers of the city
were as yet hardly educated up to this
conception of their rights. But have
just received Geneva paper in which
the proposition is printed with CON-
ments which show that the idea is
taken seriously by the editor, and NAV
fr1.ovt- 20 Ia an ,,,,b1,a