The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-01-03

80 IDS IN our political vocabu-
larry.
Initiatfye-aands for giving the peo-
pie means whereby to enact ieg1sia-
ton: without electing some hopeless
man to Legislature; without aHaI,ins
the ~nrecarious fortune of bill in
General Assembly; without SO mucn
as getting the thing into a party pat.
form: indeed without asking leave OF
any party whatever.
Why not? Democracy means rule
by the people: sovereignty in the peo-
pie: and legislation is the prime func-
ton Of sovereignty. Why not so ofoef
the State that any man nay set up d
proposal Of law, get his nelghoors 70
authentic following; and then. nave q
vote upon it by all the people. we
must needs have the legislators; must
needs AVE them to enact some 4,oVo
idle laws Per session.: but the Dig laws
they are nothing except they are en-
acted, first or last, by the people. why
not have them do it first, and save the
hopeless legislator?
Referendum. That is, your ieSlsia-
tor having enacted a law, let the peo-
pie at once by vote say whether II
shall abide or o He guesses. Ihey
know. He is only one. They are all.
He is only agent; they are sovereign.
It cannot stand except they accept 1t
first or asst Why not let them say
We try this Referendum in North
Carolina every now and then. we
tried it with The Suffrage Amend
ment. Yes, the hated referendum is
in the Constitution. We tried 1t last
on the temperance question. Inc
Legislature enacted State prohibition
and then referred it to the people, to
t;f ~ 1icannr0Jo IhoV r2f11ed-
Now. after two years there is more or
| less dissatisfaction. Should we not
provide a means whereby the people,
having enacted a law. may reconsider
it? When the Legislature left the
prohibition question to the people
that was the referendum Should the
General Assembly-elect provide a
means whereby a certain per cent Of
| the people could set up a repeal OF
that law and have a vote Of the State
upon it. that would be the initiative
and It would say the day Of many a
perplexed legislator. And, if no other,
his very temperance question will
soon bring US to this; for 10 party
and no politician can deal with it and
survive
Recall. For generations in NORTH
Carolina public officers were held to
have vested interests in their Offices,
and they held them for the full terms
TO WHICH the naQ Dcen eleCtc1 Oh DIP
pointed. That was the venerable doc
trine of Hoke VS.. Henderson. More
recently Hoke VS.. Henderson was rel
egated to the limbo Of overruled
cases; and now If you get the power
you can turn q public servant out Of
Office in the midst of his term. The
Recall proposes to give the people
that power. If the officer votes
wrong, or II he is arrogant or you
do not like his ways, all you have to
10 is to get~up a petition and he will
have to run for his office again right
away. I am for this, too; not that I
want to get any one out, but that I
know Of no other means SO sure to
keep q public servant in that delight
full prediction state so familiar to
us all. The handshake and the favor,
the kisses for the baby and the con-
Germ for madam's health would be
perennial. To be sure, we are ail for
the Recall.
So much for these three cardinal
points Of the new program Of popular
government Each Of them, it must
be granted, gives the people direct.
chance to do for themselves, places
the sovereignty where it belongs, rem
ders Democracy actual. And, while
experiments. they must be conceded
to be experiments in the right direc-
ton. They are in the path of the
star Of Democracy. We must reach
them, If we follow that star. And, for
one, I follow; and I am ready for the
experiment. I want to reach them in
my day, and I expect we shall. very
soon.
But I must move on to discuss one
other OF the big words in the new
vocabulary Of politics-Direct PIT
mary.
We think we have them in North
Carolina in about ten counties. Truth
is. we have just enough of them. to dis
courage others from undertaking to
have genuine, fully developed Direct
Primary. Let me set forth the pri-
mary system that obtains in Oregon,
Republican General Assembly to elect
a DemOcrar to the United States SEN
ate. Here is a statement of it by Sen
ator Bourne:
1.-THE next step after the adoption
OF the Initiative and referendum was
the a6antinn in 1onA NV