The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1894-12-14

made by the representatives of
small minority of the people. A
political party through gerryman-
dered districts, and by a plurality
vote for its candidates (Which is
often less than two fifths of all the
votes cast, } elects a majority of the
legislature, perhaps forty repre-
sentatives and twenty senators; also
the governor and supreme judge.
The next thing is a caucus of all
the legislators elected by the vic
torious party, at which a majority
decide on policy, so that the laws
and appropriations which may or
may not be made are settled on by
not more than one third of law
making body, in which three ffths
of the voters are not represented at
all, and nearly one-half of those
whose candidates were elected see
their representatives compelled to
vote yea or nay at the dictation of
the caucus Or party boss.
BY the initiative or referendum
this is all changed.
| No law is made unless a clear
majority of all the votes cast at the
ballot box are in it's favor. There
fore, all laws made will be enforced
because they will be supported by
public sentiment.
Money is used now to buy or de-
feat the passage of laws, but one of
the worst evils is the trading of
votes and influence in the legisla-
ture-''you vote for my bill and
I'll vote for yours
Without this no member can get
his bill passed or considered; and if
he goes home without passing his
bill his people call him a block
head, and he is not reelected.
This results in the, enactment of
many bad laws and many more
laws than We need.
Our law making bodies are COM
posed Of the representatives of the
monied and monopolistic classes,
with a few farmers, sometimes
mechanic, but never a day laborer;
yet the laborers are nearly half our
voters, and the farmers and me-
chanics at least one-third. 1t fol-
lows that our laws are made by the
representative of class which is
less than one-siXth of our voting
population.
History proves that any class
having the power to make the law
always legislates in its own interest.
A glance at our well fed, well
housed, and well clothed profes-
sional and monied classes on the
one side, and our ragged farmers
and mechanics, and tramping and
starving laborers on the other,
demonstrates the truth of this
statement.
When the people vote the law
they will make it in the interests of
all the people. AS the wisdom of
the whole body is always greater
than the wisdom of any part, it
follows that the people must leg
is ate more wisely than is possible
for a few.
Under our present system a new
law, whether good or bad, may be
defeated by the power of one polit-
ical boss, or of one speaker of the
house of representatives, or of one
president of the senate, or of one
chairman of an important commit
tee, or of one governor, or, finally,
of one supreme judge, if only one
vote is needed to declare the law
unconstitutional.
The initiative and referendum
wholly destroyes this one-man
power, because the boss cannot kill
law by defeating any candidate;
it is not necessary that it should
ever come under the power of the
speaker of the house, or the chair
man of the senate, nor the chair
man of an importand committee; the
governor has no veto, and if it gets
a majority vote at the ballot box,
the supreme court of the state has
no power to declare it unconstitu-
tional.
Under the present system it is
the work of years and often of gen.
erations to get a good law made or
a bad one repealed, it being neces-
sary to elect and have in Office all