The Greenville morning herald. [volume] (Greenville, Tex.) 1890-1956, 1910-08-11
zpNs. Az rHR ExpnNsE OF ALI.

-sa.as.aDs, i...szsss-l.zz4s-s
zENs. IA THE EXPENSE OF ALL
! OTHER CITIZENS,
This movement has from the beg
|nnc been known, where known at n..,
as the Initiative or Referendum mo-,
mout The league bearing thai name
mas branches ia seyeial states anu
many cities.
The proposition is to cure the L.
OF democracy with more democracy
when the United States constitution
was adopted it was a compromise lie
tween the Jenersonians who believed
the common people were competent to
govern themselves. and the Hami.
onians. who believed the common
people needed to be guided by the
/ rich and educated class. The consu .
.uion did not grant the common PEG
pie really democratic form OF GOV.
rnment II granted them a govern
ment by representatives The com.
mon people could elect representa-,
lives, Who should thereafter admins.
Ter the government at their pleasure,
| during stated periods Of years. The
consmon people had no power to com.
pei their personalities to make
law, nor any power to nulnfy a law
made by their representatives, no mai
Ter how much they desired a new
statute, nor how much they dislikeu
d new statute that had been enacted
ny their representatives. All that the
people could do was TO trust the hon.
psty and the Intelligence of their
chosen representative law makers. II
me representatives served the com
n'on peope, wen and good; ii, ON the
me other hand, representatives sery
ed the special privilege seekers. rob
bing the common people, the latter
could do nauGht but wait until tho
representatives term OF Office eNpIe
ed and put other men in their place
1t has been found extremely difficult
Tin nearly all cases impussiblel for
the people to get the new set Of re
representatives. to undo the wrong per.
petrated by their predecessors. Priv.
leses once granted, public lands once
voted away Tor a song, popular lber
ties once abridged to protect a prI.
vate interest-these things have me-.
or been lectided short of poIitica4
revolution, and not always even then.
The new idea working out in sew.
eral states. is to limit the authority OF
the representative. He Will when the
new plan is adopted, no longer be civ
en- full power of attorney" to ac.
for the people; they have found thai
he-spealting for his class-cannot be-
trusted with so much power He VIII
be reduced i'll rank. The people un
der the initiative and referendum sub
stitute for representative government
a degree of direct, or really demo
cratic government They assume the
power as they have the undoubted
right, in democracy of equal citt
@ens, to initiate leglslation-make
laws themselves, and the right to ro.
peal laws which their representatives
may have made, should the people
deem such laws unjust or unwise
Ii the representatives attempt f.,
vote away, to private parties. the
public's property, without a fair re.
turn for ii to It's owners. the com
mon people, the latter can, under the
referendum, hold an election and sa,
whether or not the law making sucn
gift shall stand II they cast ma
jority of their votes against IT, the
law is repealed aud the common PEG
pies property is saved to them.
In a word. THE COMMON PEOPLE
APPEAR TO HAVE DECIDED THAI
POLITICALLY THEY ARE NOW
GROWN UP; that they are. in fact
competent to govern themselves; tina
they do not require to be governed b,
the rich and educated class.
A third feature OF die new plan is
the recall
The name indicates its nature. II
enables the common people to dis
miss from office any public servant
who betrays their confidence or re
fuses to do thc.r viii, without waltIus
for his official term TO expire before
putting him of the peoples payroll
In a word, the recall gives TO th,
common people, the real employers
and paymasters of all public servants
exactly the same power to demant
honest work for good wages, by pub
lie servants, that each free either
has to demand it OF his private EN-
pIoyes,
Nothing wrong about that. is there
No reason why the people. as Who'll,
should not have the power to get ri,
of public servants who viii not d,
the work they were hired to do, o
who betray their employer?
OF course the professional poltl
clans or most OF them, have Tough
he new plan from The start. Tn,
holders OF special privileges undc
he peoples governments, from til,
taihprotected trusts downward, hay,
4, OF course, fought against the new
plan Naturally they don't want tn,
u common people-the farmer. the me
chanio, the laboger, the teacher thr
D.. 'oelor the small store-keeper an,
-. The rest OF us to get a grip on gov
- irnWsnt that would interfere viii
" ,heir custom Of buying public proper
- ~ and profitable special privileges
~ from nfaithiul public servants.
- But Notwithstanding these objec
-. tions. from the public servants tina
" sell public property aud the privilege