The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1903-05-14
Good Democratic poctrine.

the party of protection and plunde
and good. and nothing but good TO tn
party which stands for equal righ.
to all and special privileges TO none.
and which believes in. and is not afrai
to trust. the common people. MissOuI
is the fifth State to vote on the adoI
tiOn of this system. The vote will b
taken at the next general election. TIL
other four States that have adopte'
1t are South Dakota. In 1898: Utah, il
1900; Oregon and Illinois in 1902.
BY this system of direct Legislation
the people are really getting back tha
control over legislation with which the.
never should have parted, and whicl
they never Intentionally" gave up. b.
it they are simply reasserting TIL
power of the majority TO rule and th'
right of the people TO veto Legislation
which does not suit them and 10 mi
tiate, if their representatives fail to dt
SO. measures which they wish to he
come laws.
IT would be absurd for the people Il
give their representatives supreme con
troll over legislation as 1t would be fol
Il man to give his lawyer an irrevOcablt
power of attorney to DO as he pleased
with the clients property. Every rep
resentative should have, and in theOr!
has, string to him which, when he
becomes n misrepresentation, his con
stituents can pull. The optional refer
endum is such a string.
1t is the system of optional refer
endum and initiation which is now
finding favor in many cities and States
Under 1t. If certain percentage % OF
1Ol, of the voters ask that certain I'M
pOrtant measures be voted upon, a vote
must be taken. If the chosen repre-
sentatives of the people are faithful,
no vote will be necessary. and the ref
erendum law makes no trouble or ex-
pense to the State. 1t should not. how
ever, be assumed that it is ever in
operative or Ineffective. Experience in
this and other countries proves that it
is wonderfully effective. even when il
exists only potentially. Legislators
are not likely to pass bad laws when
the people have the power to veto them.
In fact, legislators will not be >bribed
TO pass bad laws which always confer
special privileges upon somebody or
some cOrporation-when the people
hold this veto power. On this point
Governor Charles \. Herreid of South
Dakota says:
"Since this referendum law has been
a part of our constitution We have had
no chartermongers or railway specula-
tors. no wildcat schemes submitted to
our legislature. Formerly our time
was occupied by speculative schemes
Of one kind or another, but since the
referendum has been part Of the con-
stitution. these people do not press
their schemes on the legislature. and
hence there is no necessity for having
recourse to the referendum
1t was the Democrats. aided by the
Populists, who inaugurated this, most
excellent system in South Dakota and
Utah. 1t is Democratic system. and
the Democratic party everywhere
should make this plank in its last ma
tional platform mean as much as pos
sible. II 1t stays close to the people
they will yet come close to it. They
cannot be fooled all of the time. The
referendum is the deadly enemy of
the trusts and monOpolies; it is an
antitrust weapon in the hands of the
people. 1t will do away with corrup-
ton and stop boodling and bribery. 1t
will greatly improve our representa-
tive system of government and. incl
dentally, will result in putting more
men in Office. 1t will make
big campaign funds unnecessary and
all but impossible, and will give
poor man a chance to seek and obtain
political preferment. 1t will. in short.
take away the power of the mOnOpo-
lists and corruptionists and return il
to the sovereign people.-Byron W.
Holt.