The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1902-04-08

able character, designed in the main to
serve private, personal, partisan or cor
porate interests, have been enacted into
laws; and very frequently clauses car
rying such features are struggled into
bills during their progress through the
legislature, by interested parties. We
heve often witnessed such scandals of
legislation in our own state. The refer
endum would make this impossible. No
predatory measure could be carried be-
fore the people. The legislative lobby
list would be put out OF business.
This method would also have the i'm
mense advantage OF disentangling issues
by separating leading question from
I the many minor questions with which it
may be mixed. 1t would be a great
gain ii any capital question could be de-
cided by the electorate on its own mer-
| its, on a direct and simple issue. By
the referendum the electorate can rem
der its deliberate opinion upon meas
ures, indepently of men and of party
pressure, and can reject or approve
proposal without abandonment of party
connections or danger OF placing the
government in other hands. If the
electorate is to Judge policies, it surely
is less likely to err if it judges them on
clear and distinct issue. In such case
it is most likely to act independently,
] nd ct sc
All measures of Importance would be
subjected to fullest debate before the
people.
Experience shows that cranky leg
islation need not be feared as a conse-
quence of referendum. Contrary to all
/ expectations, as Henry Sumner Maine
shows in his book on representative gov
eminent, and even to the bitter disap-
pointment not infrequently Of the auth
ors of referendum, laws mistakenly sup
posed OF the highest Importance, some
of them openly framed for popularity,
have been vetoed by the people after
they had been offered to the electorate.
| This result, as Maine explained, is suffi-
GENTLY ineligible. 1t is possible by
agitation and eXhortation to produce in
the mind of the average citizen a vague
I impression that he desires particular
change. But when the agitation has
| settled down on the dregs, when the ex-
element has died away, when the SUBJ
| ject has been threshed out, when the
law is before him with all its detail, he
is sure to find much in it that is likely
to disturb his ideas, his habits, his preju-
dices or his interests; and so in the long
run he votes NO
"The referendum is an obstacle to too
much legislation to surreptitious legis-
lation; to legislation in particular inter-
ests; to partisan machine legislation,
and to boss rule. The dread OF innova-
! ton, received as a first impression when
the change to this system is proposed,
will pass away upon examination Of it.
1t has been found to the confusion OF
radical leaders, that the measures they
most priced have been negatived by the
electorate. OF course there would re-
main vast variety of legislative meas
ures which it would be deemed necessary
to submit to direct popular vote. All
plain and simple acts, or most of them,
short, direct and easily understood,
would pass from the legislature directly
TO the statute book; but the referendum
would be ordered in all cases where
| thara uaa aarioua onr.ooition ar dosthf :.