Evening journal., 1905-01-20
ADDRESSES ON
REFERENDUM.
John Z. White and Hudson
Maxim, the Inventor, Speak
in Opera House
MAYOR CHARLES D, BRO PRE- SIDED

At the Grand Opera House last night
an interesting meeting was held under
the auspices of the Initiative and Ref
erendum League. Francis G. DUPONT
president of the league, called the
meeting to order and introduced Mayor
Charles D. Bird, who presided.
Among those who were seated on the
stage were: Mayor Charles d. Bird,
Francis /. DUPONT, the Rev. r. A. 81
wood, Peter A. Horty, Daniel Ross,
Senator Thomas NJ. Monaghan, Dem
mis- +. LeaTy, Jerome =. Bell, James
H. Wright and others.
| John u. White, of Chicago, was the
/ first speaker He mentioned the fact
that in a number of States there is sus-
picion of vote buying. Today the con-
dition of affairs is such in one State,
Colorado, that all who have dnvesti-
gated the subject declare that neither
party is to be trusted.
The speaker referred TO the form Of
/ government laid out in this country
when the government was started.
There IS a purchasable vote In, almost
every large city in the country and an
! increase in the number of men who fail
to vote. There is a decreasing interest
in public affairs.
Mr.. White then took up the reasons
for the purchase of votes and the fall
ing off in votes. The old notion was
THAT the king was divinely selected
to rule. The new theory is that every
man has an equal right to rule. The
king. in his time, did rule The people
do not rule as they should. You have
a deadlock at Dover. II you had a
number of people at work in "A machine
shop for you and they refused to work
lwould they stay there? Why do these
agents OF yours refuse to perform their
duty? The executive, judicial and leg
islative branches of your government
once formed, they appear to be master
and not you.
In concluding Mr.. White said the
object OF the referendum is not to pre-
vent legislation but to prevent the Leg
islature from being dominated by pri-
vate interests. There has not been a
lobby around the Legislature of oregon
since the referendum was adopted. II
is useless to influence the Legislature
when the people have the final say.
The American people want homes
government The initiative and refer
endum gives them the opportunity e
secure good government. The initia
tive and referendum is coming. It mal
be slow but it viii come just as surely
as the Australian ballot law was fin
ally adopted by every state.
Hudson Maxim, OF New York. tn
famous inventor, was the second
speaker. Maxim began by alluding u
what Napoleon Bonaparte and Genera
Sherman had said of war. Napoleol
said 1t was the trade Of barbarians am
General Sherman said. war is hell.
The history of nations is a history o
wars and histories of wars are largel
histories of robbery and murder.
The speaker declared he was op
posed to war, but he was afraid tina
T. wars would continue for some tim'
= They will continue so long as one ma
s covets another mans property Their
Q are times when men must fight, how
h ever.
l. Mr.. MaNiim declared that modern inn
plements of war did not increase th
!, number Of killed. Battles are nc
fought at longer distances. The use {
, the present death dealing war inlpls
S ments has made 1t impossible fc
L hordes of barbarians to overrun ma
ton as in olden times.
The speaker alluded to the contest bC
tween glinmakers and anmormalSei
u and declared that the gunmakers ha
:, won. He also alluded to the automC
n bile torpedo recently Invented.
= Mr.. Maxim concluded by expressin
a his sympathy with the movemel
n spoken of by the previous speaker.
In the absence of Charles II. Nesbi
- of Washington. who was unavoidab
s detained, the Rev. r. A. Elwood toe
his place. The speaker alluded to n
platforms and said that only the Pr
hibition platform contained the pril
n ciple of the initiative and Referendum