The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1911-09-15
WHAT CAN Be DONE
BY THE PEOPLE
HOW SHALL THE PUBLIC GET EFF
FEcTlVE CONTROL OF STATE
LEGISLATION IN OHIO?
INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM
Initiative Enables People to Enact
Desirable Measures by Direct
Popular Vote-Referendum
Gives Power of Veto.
BY Professor L. J. johnson, Harvard
University.

university.
How shall the public get effective
control Of legislation:
The answer is easy.
The public must do as the corpora
tions do, 1t must adopt means for die
tating and revising the policies of its
agents and representatives whenever
it sees fit. 1t must, however, require
these representatives to frame policies
and produce acceptable results under
broad, general instructions (constitu
tions), with a minimum of interfer
ence on its own part.
The way to do this has already been
devised and tested and has met expec
tations. 1t is called direct legislation
and involves two institutions, the in.
itiative and the referendum.
Initiative and Referendum.
The initiative enables the people to
enact desirable measures by direct
popular vote, when such measures
have been or are likely to be ignored,
pigeonholed, amended out of shape,
or defeated by representatives more
amenable to party machines and spe,
cial interests than to the public good
The referendum is the power of veto.
by direct popular vote, Of acts of the
representatives.
Each includes, of course, suitable
machinery for it's safe and intelligent
operation, which will be described
below.
The initiative and referendum thus
secure popular control over legislation
The initiative corrects sins of omis
sion, the referendum corrects sins OF
commission.
Direct legislation as a working insti
tuition on a large scale was not a
possibility before the introduction of
the modern means Of spreading news
and ideas by the telegraph, high-speed
printing press, and the railway. For
the system presupposes not only
means for quick returns from elections
but, even more important, it now pre-.
supposes an adequate system of pro.
viding each voter with the information
he needs as basis for his verdicts.
The initiative in set in operation by
volunteer groups Of citizens-civic
labor, or mercantile organizations
who draw up laws which they think
good for themselves or the public, or
perhaps both. If they can get Ger.
tain moderate percentage of the vo,
ters of the city or state to sign a pc.
tition to that effect, the measure goes
to the legislature for adoption without
amendment or change of any kind, il
the legislature is willing. If the legis.
lature fails thus to adopt the measure
it must be transmitted unchanged to
the people for their decision. If the
legislature thinks it can produce al
better enactment to the same effect
it may draw it up and send it to the
people with the other as a competing
measure. The voters then choose
which they prefer, or reject both.
The referendum, upon similar peti
ton, calls to the popular tribunal acts
of the representative body for veto or
All this carries with it adequate and
systematic means, independent of the
newspapers, of furnishing each voter
with the full text of the measures to |
be voted on, also with the highly con.
densed form in which it will be print.
ed on the ballot, with an impartial
statement of the reasons for and
against each measure, and with the
names of those behind each PROPOSE
-ion Further there must be allowed
2 suitable amount of time for deliber
alton and discussion before the vote is
aiken These are details which it has
oeen found easy to meet in practice,