Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-03-15


tive. That matter is put into the
Warrant. warrant nosted as provided
by law, and voted upon at the next
town meeting. That is the Referen-
dunn. So this is not an innovation in
cur state but is as old as the historical
town meeting of New England
| The only difference between the Initia-
tive and Referendum as used in our
town meeting and heretofore referred
to, and the one under discussion. name
ly, Senate Document No. "a. introduced
into the last Maine Legislature, is that
one was addressed TO the Legislature
pertaining 10 public legislation and
The other applied TO towns only.
The Initiative and Referendum does
not become Il law by being passed by
the Legislature but simply submits the
right 10 change the constitution or to
&iiCW the people to vote whether they
| cared to change the constitution so as
to adopt the Initiative and Refcren-
Gum. It Il change jn our constitution,
| which is to make the will Of the ma ior-
ity more clearly. forcihly and directly
expressed, may lie considered far
ItachinS.' | have no defense to make
| AS supporters of the measure we don't
| believe that the voters would find it
necessary to participate in mere than
| two out of every 100 enactments and
the experiences in Switzerland Ore
Gcn, South Dakota and Utah with the
practical operations Of the Referendum
&re authority fer this statement In
however ha
DUN used much or little, it would b.
hut the registration of TIE will of the
n; jority and under such circumstances
the charge that the proposed change
is far reaching" seems TO fall of it's
Cwn voltion.
| Your letter quotes the constitution
with regard to the submission of
amendments to the people and puts an
| Interpretation upon the language
Whenever two thirds of both houses
deem il necessary" 1t must be ad-
mitted that this sentence from our
fundamental law admits of various
| constructions and one of them may be
| one tnat You feel it necessary To give to
it. We assume, however. that it was
| expected, that the demand of a reason
abb" number of voters would be ac-
cepted by the Legislature as evidence
| that the submission of constitutional
| changes was necessary; and as sixteen
thousand people made representation to
the Legislature that they desired the
| referendum submitted to them and
| there were absolutely no relnon-
str2 noes; and when it passed the House
| 60 to Is i'll its favor and a tie in the
Senate, since adopted by the State
Grange and previously by the State
Federation Of Labor, We feel at liberty
to say that the Senators and Reprcsen-
tatives Of the Seventy-second Legisla-
ture would have violated no duty had
they deemed the submission of the re-
solves embodied in the Clark resolution
necessary within the meaning of The
constitution
| If this view Of the case is not piaus-
ible ana the petition of large numbers
Of voters is not to be admitted as evil
den"e in such matters. we do not So"
why eleven or more Senators could not
prevent action upon any constitutional
change even though demanded with
unanimitY by the entire electorate of
Maine, condition manifcstly absurd
| You" statement to the effect that
changes in the constitution should be
made slowly will meet with the ap-
proval of every one. and majority will
agree with you that it is better for de-
sirable changes to be somewhat de-
layed than undesirable ones should be
made through undue haste. but a re-
view of the process of legislation by
the people under the Referendum will
show undue haste is not possible in
connection herewith Some people,
few or many, desire certain act; they
take steps to secure the necessary
signatures to petitions for same;
this petition is presented to the next
legislature; it goes through the Legis-
lative mill identically az it would If it
originated in any other way: IS referred
to committee and argued on the floor Of
House and Senate; the LEGISLATURE
frames a resolve to embody in concise
language the approval Of the act petit
toned for, and it is then voted unon by
the people at the regular September
election following. Far from being a
method Of dangerous haste it will be
seen that unless the bill petitioned for
was passed by the Legislature without
change, ii would take at least eighteen
months to secure a law by the Initi-
ative and Referendum. and in most
cases the time would actually be two
wears. During all this time it would
be before the people. and supposing it
to be opposed by any considerable num-
ber 1t would be liable to all the advan-