The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1903-09-11
The Referendum In Oregon

The people of the of Oregon in June OF last year approved OF
amendment the providing for the application the
Initiative and referendum This made effective Legis
autre of the which requires the submission popular
particular proposals petition per cent OF the qualified
by Legislature operative
days after their approval by the during which
Legislature specified petition per
must be submitted to popular vote andca obtain force thereafter
only the Endorsement OF majority of the people in the special
election.
1t noticeable that the legislature this year
was thus brought into popular question Whether this due the
presentation clean and popular record the part of that body
the general indifference OF the people questions but apparently
the former explanation being The only serious
attempts undertaken to get up election were made by cor
poratons in two and by labor unosts another The
latter had become stirred against the Lewis and Clark exposition
company because strike and they objected to law appoPatng
100000 behalf Of the But they able obtain only
signatures to petition for referendum election where 1896
quired.
Two other Of legislature referendum
One provided for the construction by the of railroad
around the cascades OF the Columbia This purpose
giving Oregon lower dewae affected
especially the Oregon railroad and hitherto
trolling the OF getting around the cascades The
the direction E H. Hartman sought bring this law
popular but succeeded getting only about its
petition within the time limit of days Another which aroused
the corporation provided for the of charter and annual license
fees the of corporations graduated the of their
na capital This law obviously budensome the organizers
of mining and other wildcat companies which off with little no
paup capital impressive OF paper capitalization
and they bring before the people for dappova pec!
election But they could muster only 222 signatures to their petition
for required total 1890 So ended the referendum
far concerned the of the last Legislature
Some recently from Oregon reference these
"The advocates of the initiative and referendum have just had
escape from having turned them by the corporations and the
people of the whole state including the ardent advocates of the
measure breathe freely that is assured that there will
this where the of the
the of the corporations
labor unonis securing referendum elections the three
noted by presenting petitions from cent OF the qualified yo
would necessarily carrying the cleo
That is where the of would and not getting
signatures petons-never difficult 1t made apparent,
failure obtain the required number petitioners that the
Lewis and Clark exposition and the two acts affecting
with popular approval and would have been
supported popular had the compliments managed bring
about referendum And is also be inferred from the absence OF
petitions against favorable special
that least of glazing kind passed
by the legislature and that quite probably the mere existence OF ma
upon the Legislature The development of this interesting
Oregon experiment the direction of puredemocracy should
enton ="