The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-05-06
Government by the People.

Government by the People.
Popular government has an earnest and
convincing champion in Hon Jonathan
Bourne, jr., senior Senator from the
most popularity governed and progressive
State. politically. in the Union-Oregon.
His address. delivered yesterday. pre-
sents the issue in a manner that will
command wide attention. A political evo-
luton, not a revolution, is impending,
and oregon, first 10 evolve a system Of
honest politics and honest popular cleo
tons, leads in a movement that is des-
tined. no doubt. to reach every Com
monwealth Of the republic She occupies
proud, exalted position to-day in the
sisterhood of States.
Nothing Will ruin the country" said
Webster. IF the people themselves will
undertake its safety; and nothing can
save it if they leave that safety in any
hands but their own" That was an
axiom when il was uttered seventy-six
years ago; it is an axiom to-day. II the
government would endure, it must be a
popular governments government. such
as its founders intended. Of the people.
for the people. and by the people. In
the minds Of the masses it has come to
be government by political dictator
ship. Senator Bourne is absolutely right
in ascribing the couutrys present unrest
70 bitter public resentment against ex-
listing conditions and waning confidence
on the part of the people in their public
servants
Cltra-couservatives would have us be-
lieve that the Oregon system, embracing
direct selection Of candidates by the peo-
pie. the initiative and referendum. a
stringent corrupt-practices act. and the
recall from Office Of a recreant public
servant is chimerical and socialistic It
is neither. on the contrary, it is the
most practical plan for popular rule and
at the same time the best possible pre-
ventive Of socialism, in that it removes
its cause for being.
The oregon plan Of selection and cleo
ton is no longer a theory. It is a
demonstrated agency Of public good. 1t
has taken out Of the hands Of party
machines and vested in the people con-
troll Of the affairs of the state, and
recent history gives ample proof that
the people have used the power thus
given them wisely and well. A progress
siye step was taken in the enactment Of
these laws. and that step will never be
retraced.
Having undergone a supreme test in
the election of Observation-Disclosures
to the United States Senate by a Re-
publican legislature. confrmatory Of the
peoples mandate, Oregon's direct pri-
mary system is secure beyond perad-
venture a more shameful episode IN
politics has never been disclosed than
that involving the Republican national
chairman. or one Of his Iieutenants, in an
attempt to corrupt legislators into a
betrayal Of their pledge in the Senator
ship election by promise Of Federal APP
polntment.
As Bacon said, states as great engines
move slowly" but every student Of Amer
lean affairs must see that with the break
ing Of party lines a new and better era
in politics is coming. II not Immediately
at hand, and that ultimately all the
States will follow Oregons lead by enact
ing laws that viii make popular govern
ment possible. That era can come none
too soon for the country's good.
Senator Bourne. in speaking for his
State, speaks for a just and righteous
system that has passed the experimental
stage and is bound to commend itself 70
people throughout the land who demand
popular government as an inherent in
alienable right.