People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1898-04-29
THE ExTRAvAGANT CLAIMS.
Let ALI the People Unite in an EffoFt Co
seours Power 60 they can Enaot Laws.

Let all the People Unite in an Effort co
seours Power 60 they can Enaot Laws.
It Id quite the custom with certain
class Of writers just now to say that
''direct legislation is good thing, but
cannot be expected to meet the ex-
travagant claims made for 1t by it's ad
vocates." We have been fairly fanil-
lar with the claims made for direct
legislation by It's advocates, but we
have never seen any very extravagsnt
claims made for it.
1t Is claimed that direct legislation
will put into the hands of the people
the power to enact legislation when
they desire to do SO, or to prevent the
enactment Of legislation to which they
object
There is nothing extrsvagant about
that, for IT is the simple fact, which we
have heard no one dispute,
It is not claimed that the people will
always desire to enact good legislation
that would be an extravaganza claim.
It Is mot claimed that the people will
always desire to prevent bad legisla-
tion--thAt would be an extravaganza
claim,
1t Is not claimed that it will secure
the enactment of any particular law,
unless the people desire such Law
that would be an extravagant claim.
1t is not claimed that it will defeat
any particular law, unless the people
desire Its defeat-that would be an ex-
travag@nt claim.
It Is not claimed that it will change
the character of the people or endow
them with wisdom which they do not
now posaess-that would be an extr&va-
CANT claim.
It is not claimed, in short, that d.
rect Legislation will do anything. 1t is
simply claimed that under direct 1egis-
lation the people will have the right
md power to do what they want to,
something they do not now possess. 1t
is claimed for direct legislation that 1t
will give the people power to do things,
but whatever is done will be done by
the people, not by direct legislation.
The advocates of direct legiglation
chain thst no reform will be secured
by the people as long as the people un-
der our form of government have no
power to do anything. That does not
ueena to be very extravaganza claim.
bn al taS rNf ell
claim that any reform can be secured
by the people when the form OF gov
ernment is SO changed that they will
have power to do anything. And that
does not seem to be very extravagant
claim.
What the people will do after they
get the power to do is another matter.
1t is very easy to see that they wal do
nothing as long as they have no power
A to do anything, but it is by no means
aso easy to decide what the people will
10 when they get the power.
81 Inasrnuch as the people are not abso-
pately wise nor absolutely pure, it is
reasonable to conclude that when they
get the power to act they will not al
ways act wisely or for their own best
interests.
And If there have been any "extrava.
giant clsims' In connection with direct
legislation it has been in regard to
what the people will do when they get
the power to do.
Some peraons have wonderful
amount of faith that just as soon as the
people get the power to do anything,
they will do everything that reeds to
be done and do it rightly and wisely.
Whether these claims are ''extrava
giant" OR not cannot be determined
positively till the experiment lis tried.
We confess that our opinion is that
when the people get the power into
Ahefr hands they will make many mis-
takes, AID often select the wrong
thing instead Of the right one. We
suspect that they will often try several
wrong plans before they hit the right
ono. and that some reforms will not be
accomplished for many years after the
people get the power into their hands.
But for all this we believe it to be
right and proper to put the power into
chs hands Of the people, and we believe
this Tor two reasons.
First, because 1t is right. The power
to rule belongs to the people. No spe-
cial grant was ever given to political
parties Gr political conventions or pc
1iVae&i BOSSES. That which belongs to
tie people they should have. To with
hold it is crime. And it will not make