The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-18
The referendum.


When the original constitutions of the
older states were adopted, the people. fear
ing the executive heads of the states from
their knowledge of kings, limited the pow
ers of the Governors, but reposed conf
deuce in the legislatures as being bodies
directly representative OF the people The
legislatures, therefore, were left 4 free
hand within the limits of broad fundamen-
tai principles which were written into
the constitutions, in line with those OF the
federal constitution. Nineteen years ago
the people of California, possibly because
they distrusted the legislature. changed
their constitution, and so arranged it that
~ took up and covered a(multitude of mat
ters which had been formerly left to gen.
eral legislation. Nearly all important sub
jeets were provided for in the new consti-
tuition, with the result that when condi-
lions change and it is desired to change
the laws to suit them, IL is found neces>
sary to go back TO the fundamental law
and make changes in that. Thus the
people vote directly on those laws. In
other words. the referendum is in action in
No really important law can be made. re-
vised or repealed without constitutional
amendment, which involves a, popular bal
lot on the question.
What is the effect of this status? From
an article with regard to the matter in
the Political Science Quarterly it is learned
that from the adoption Of the first consti-
tuition of California up to 1879, when the
new constitution was adopted, the instru-
ment was amended only three times. while
from 1879 to 1897 there have been 4S6 amend
ments proposed, ninety-nine adopted by
the legislature and seventeen ratified by
the people. OF these amendments the
greatest number was proposed last year,
showing an increasing tendency to changes
in the fundamental law. The result Is
that the organic law is in a constant and
increasing state of unrest. Instead of be-
ing fixed and permanent. affording an en-
during basis upon which to construct the
fabric of government, it is in a constantly
changing state. It is no more fixity that
statute laws, which may be passed at,|
one session of the legislature and repealed
by the next, for the simple reason that
the constitution has been forced into the
field of the statutes. Court decisions have
not served to prevent conflicts and entan-
clements, hence the only recourse is to
continual amendments to meet changed
conditions. There has not been a session
of the California Legislature since the
adoption of the new constitution at which
amendments were not submitted, and not
an election since in which amendments
were not voted upon by the people.
BY way of illustrating the difference be-
tween the old and simple constitution and
the new, and complex one in the former
the subjects of revenue and taxation were
disposed of in one short paragraph while
in the latter the subjects are treated In
thirteen sections, two OF which, taken to-
gether, are eight times as long as the en-
tire original constitution. The old docu-
ment covered the matter of municipal gov
ernments in 1873 words, while the new one
devotes 1925 words TO the same topic Not
single point covered by the old consti-
tuition is omitted from the new one, and
nearly every point is enlarged after the
fashion of those mentioned. Besides, there
are four entirely new articles, and 125 par
agraphs, dealing with matters which the
old constitution left to the legislature.
These and other facts lead the writer in
the Political Science Quarterly to the con-
clusion that the referendum is not an ideal
plan under our system of government.