Arizona republican., 1911-05-19
OREGON PLAN
 UNDER SURVEY

| tee rooms. Sessions of legislative cOm-
 mittees, except when they consent to 1 hold public hearings and occasionally arrange to hear argument by outsiders, are private and for the most part con- 1 fidential It is considered a breach of legislative etiquette to reveal what took place in committee. Bills are smOthered by the dozen after getting into committee if the members of the committee itself do not wish them re- ported out for action by the houses.
 Those which are reported out are gen orally accepted by the houses on the authority of the committees which re- port them and are passed for the most part almost without comment or else rejected equally without debate
 NECESSARILY PRIVATE
 Tt is easy to see that the charac- teristic feature of all this method of legislation is privacy. It do not mean that the privacy is in all cases deliber- ate. IL springs out of the system it. self. out of the multitude of bills to be handled and the inevitable haste in handling them. But often this privacy is made use of in the most sinister fashion for private ends and undoubt- for those who wish to work schemes of their own and get legal regulations which will serve their own purposes The political machine, when it controls legislation, can operate successfully only in private The minute what is going on is made public 1t becomes i'm possible to carry it out. Similarly when great commercial or financial in- terests have schemes of their own to | work through legislation privacy is in 1 dispensable. What they wish to do could not be done in the open without | such exposure and criticism as would | almost inevitably defeat it.
 These circumstances are not often consciously and distinctly analyZed bv 1 the mass of voters. but undoubtedly the | great body of our citizens is vaguely | conscious of them and they lie at the | basis of a great deal of the distrust and | Uneasiness which is felt when our legis- ! latures are in session. The great thing to be desired in this, as in all other matters of government. is publicity | There is no more reason why commit
 
 matters are handled. should be private than that legislative sessions them selves should he private If legislation is in fact accomplished m committees, should be public and not private instrUmentalities
 DEMAND FOR NEW METHODS.
 'In the meantime we witness a very thing-the whole country. since it cannot decipher the methods of its legislation, is clamOring for leader ship. and a new role which to many persons seems little less than uncon- | is thrust upon our execu- tives. The people are impatient of a president who will not formulate policy and insist upon it's adoption. They are impatient of governor who will not exercise energetic leadership, who will |, not make his appeals directly TO public opinion and insist that the dictates of public opinion be carried out in defin- te legal reforms of his own suggestion. say that this seems to many persons little less than unconstitutional, be- cause our people have been very deeply ndoctrinated with the idea that our legislative and executive branches of government should take punctilious are not to interfere with ont another. It is considered something more than ! breach of propriety for the Aecutive -O venture to dictate to the legisla- i've branch of the government. and yet his scruple is undoubtedly based upon m ignorance of our actual constitution il provisions.
 Almost every state constitution not )nly gives the governor what the fed eral constitution gives the prcsident-l he right to send messages to the legis- ature expressing his views upon pub ic matters in any way he pleases. but llso. like the federal constitution. gives lim the right to recommend measures without naming or restricting the form n which his recommendation of meas lres shall be made. seems perfectly clear that it is the explicit prerogative )f practically every American execu- i've to recommend measures. if he pleases. in the form of bills is no on his part. therefore, and 10 Invasion of the rights of any other branch Of the government. if he press his views in any form that ha pleases lpOn the lawmaking body.
 LEADERS WANTED.
 Moreover. he is the only representa- i've of the whole people of the state. as he president is the only representative ,f the whole people of the country. Hei s made a part of the legislative branch 'f the. government by his power Of veto,