The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-09-01

night and day. as the passage of his Dill depended on the reports from the outrage mill" These reports in the hands of astute editors and willy poli- ticians. inflamed the people of tho North and West, and they became
 frantic for the horrible Stevens bill in-
 stead of the conservative sherman bill.
 When Congress convened Stevens had
 easy work of 1t. His Referendum
 appeal to the masses was a success. John Sherman's conservative bill for
 reconciliation was lost in the shufIe
 The Referendum" folks were far
 worse than the representatives. They overthrow the conservatism of a Con- gress willing t6 pass the Sherman bill.
 That's where the trouble comes in.
 The Referendum is democratic, but 1t is too democratic. The multitude. ex- cited. ceases to think. Shrewd and de- signing politicians and astute dema- gogues oftentines excite the masses Into a frenzy--like unto a great mob. Stevens put the agitators to work and they aroused the multitude: and Stew ems. the man of low ideals, became their idol and leader.
 Against such we need checks and balances. check rein is necessary to conservative force in government.
 The general government controls matters common to all the people. The State government controls affairs pecu- liar to the State. And our conditions in the South, where two races exist are peculiar. and we mood all the State rights possible. We cannot afford to surrender to any outsider one jot or one tittia of them.
 We cannot permit the Federal gov- ernment. or the Referendum constitu- Ancy-the masses at large--to tamper with the negro question. California is awake to this principle. Riot and an- arehy result if we yield. Each South- ern State must protect her local af- fairs. including the negro problem. against intrusion from without.
 What Ia the Referendume
 The referendum in it's national sense, is direct legislation by the masses. It conflicts with the representative sys- tenn. It travels away from the consti- tutional path. Our representatives in Congress delegate to the masses-~the minimizing multitude--the power to make laws and control the govern ment.
 Thomas Jefferson had no such theory of government. He saw the danger of too much democracy--and unbridied democracy. And his intellect was en- gagged to plan a government with cheeks and ba1ances--a government by the people, but the people acting in Congress through their accredited rep Jefferson was distin- guished for his love of State rights, | and he would have resented the | thought of Ohio or Kansas determin- ing the civilization of Virginia. Out side interference in affairs of q State l was obnoxious to him--ofrensive as that press and newspapers meddling, on | the part of the North and West with | affairs in each of the Southern States, | is to us of the South. The Referen- dum is q voluntary surrender on our others by law the | right of nterferenee--putting the | most fanatical portion of the North in action to control our affairs, our civili- zation.
 The Referendum is the chief cor of socialism. It Is a social lst doctrine. and Ignatius Donelly ap- propriated it, and transferred 1t to the Populist platform.
 It will not flourish long in the Jeff atmosphere of the South. When the people examine into 1t as government principle and learn that 1t conflicts with State rights, State control, State autonomy, and yields -heir constitutional rights to the peo. pie of the West and North to deter nine our civilization, they will repu- Hate the doctrine as a thing of evil.
 A sociaiistic tree is not indigenous 0 our Southern cline. It is foreign.