Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-03-01

| legislative BODY of any city, village or
COUNT. shall become law for thirty
uayS' except emergency measures; and
the emergency must he expressed in A
| preamble or iii the body of the meas
'lre' the measure mus. receive two
| thlldS vote of all the members elected.
ana the ballot shall be by yeas and
| i'dyS. An emergency rieGSure shall not
laclude ID a franchise or q license to a
corporation Or an individual to extend
| longer than one wear or (o) provision
Ter the sale or purchase of real estate
| section - provides that during the
thirty days following the passage of
| any ordinance Or resolution, five per
cent of the voters affected thereby
calculated upon the vote at the preced-
ing general election IOr governor. may
demand that such ordinance or resOlu-
| tioh, or any part or parts thereof. shall
&c submitted to the people of thu
| municipality for final decision at the
rolls"
Section % provides that eight per
cent of the votes of any county. city
or village. calculated upon the vote in
the preceding general election for gov
| erh"f. may propose to tie Legislative
body thereof an ordinance, or AN
amendment to :he charter or state
mont Of public iOlicy. either by petit
ZION or by pastors attached to the off,
cldl ballot at any election"
| Section ~ provides that the legis-
lative Dody may call special election
| on any measure thd- Is subject to a
vote of the peop!e: and i; shall call a
special election j; demanded by twenty
per cent of the voters"
| Section - provides that each ordi-
nance or joint resolution that is sub
ject to the optional referendum and is
not ordered to u direct ballot shall be-
come law thirty days after its final
passage. ANY measure referred to the
people aud approved by the majority Of
the votes cast thereon. shall become
law five days afteI the official an
,,ouncement. The veto power of tn"
mayor or oth"' chief executive, shall
not extend to measures Initiated by the
people. nor to competing measure of
| the legislative l:Gdy.
Section 26 provides that until tn"
| legislature shall enact regulations for
| applying the peoples veto and direct
| Initiative as presC ribed in the fOregO-
ing amendments to article four. the
election officers and other officials shall
be governed by the provisions of this
constitution ard of the general law.
| supplemented by such reasonable
action as may be necessary to render
| these constitutional amendments SELL
| executing"
| Mr.. Chairman and gentlemen 1 desire
| to take up this resolve and discuss with
you some of its features and to point
out why we as citizens should wish II
INCORPORATED into on" constitution. but
before taking up the resolve in detail
| | ask YOU to consider tho historical
development of direct legislation.
History of Direct Legislation.
The origins of Direct Legislation are
YELLED i'm the mists of antiquity. on
the one side they reach back to the an
cient Greek and Latin civic assemblies
of freemen: on the other to the Teu-
tonic assemblies of Europe preserve"
in the mountain cantons of Switzerland
end revived III tie New England town
meeting.
Rut i'm it's modern form Of Il demand
| for the initiative and referendum I'll
| communities 100 large to have direct
legislation by town meeting, it is a
| growth of the last half century. 1t
! has been developed and firmly rooted
! in the model republic Of Europe. Swift
Zerland. Half o century ago SwitZer-
land Was not Il nation. but a loosely
federated group Ct states. wrenched by
| "A bitter civil war. rent by violent rell-
giouS prcjuiiceS, torn by class feelings
and race antipathieS; today it is Il ma
ton bound together by Self-gOvern-
ment.
The movement in Switzerland for the
Initiative and Referendum. while it had
it's roots in the mountain cantons. i'll
the popular consultations, established
| i'm Zurich and Berne in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries. and in the fact
that the members OF the Swiss Diet up
| to 1S4S could only vote ad referendum
subject to ratilicatiOn.-yct did not
| fairly show itself above ground till af-
ter the adoption of the first national
constitution in 1913.
Tho Swiss Fedt raj Government
adopted the Referendum in 1874 and
the Initiative in 1891 twenty-one can
direct legislation. In 1892 the first Di
rect Legislation organization in Ameri-
ca was formed in Newark, New Jersey.
After s years agitation 5000 papers
and magazines favored it.
Nebraska, Arizona, Utah. North Da-
kota. Iowa. Nevada California. WASH
ington. Virginia have adopted this Di-
rect legislation in some degree. South
Dakota and Oregon have placed it in
their constitutions. This is not an I'M
tried piece of legislation. II has been
thoroughly tested and the most con-
gervatiye are furnished with prece-
dents sufficient to convince them that
direct legislation is the next step in
representative government.
SO clearly is this measure in harmo-
ry with the fundamental principles of
our constitution that under the caption
checks and balances in government"
one might AN almost unanswerable ar
gument in it's defense.
Who Are Asking for Direct Legislation.
Third 1t is always Interesting and
many times quite important to know
who are asking for the passage OF ii