Omaha daily bee., 1911-03-13
Nebraska to Refuse to Profit by
Others Experience.
WORST BILL IN COUNTRY NOW"
Attempt to Suit Enemies of Provision
is Failure.
SESSION MAY BE DRAWN OUT
CFrom a staff Correspondent

LINCOLN March 12.-(SpeciaL)--In the
opinion OF the author Of II h. /, the first
initiative and referendum bill. the attempt
made by the present legislature to pass a
good direct legislation bill viii be more Of
failure than success
The house and senate bills as they
stand now" said Representative Hatfield
Of Lancaster. who drew both bills 'if re-
duced TO any sort of compromise will be
the poorest initiative and referendum bills
in the United States. Instead Of improv-
ing upon the experience OF other states,
Nebraska win have put herself in the po-
s!tion Of refusing to profit by the success
of the law in oregon and other places We
held long conferences when we first talked
over the direct legislation bills that we
wanted to Introduce. We thought an
! per cent petition would be reasonable but
| be knew the opponents Of the principle
would not stand for Il. We decided that
! 10 per cent would be satisfactory to us and
should be to tho others and we thought II
we raised the initiative petition to that
figure no radical changes would be made
in the bill. We had hoped to take a rea-
scnable stand and not be forced to move
from Il. Instead we have found that the
| opponents of the bill were certain to op-
pose us no matter how reasonable we were
and as a result we have now the worst
initiative and referendum bill in the coun
try and will be pledged to vote for IT,"
Democrats Fail In Attempt.
This statement by dry member OF the
majority party is regarded as an admission
that the democrats have failed in their at
tempt to pass a good direct legislation law
and unless they materially change the bill
now up before them it Is asserted they
will not be carrying out the spirit of their
party pledge, even II they do obey the
letter They will undoubtedlypa SIS some
direct legislation bill. but II it requires
! a1Oper cent petition for referendum and
has other restrictions thrown around its
operation It will be Of little service to the
! people Of the state
The senate bill and house bill have both
passed the lower house and the senate
bill has reached the senate. They are Llike
In requiring a 10 per cent uetiton for inltl-
ating ordinary measures and 10 per cent
petition for the initiation OF constitutional
amendments, The senate hill as amended
by the house requires 10 per cent petition
to refer a bill and the house bin requires s.
They are alike in requiring that the
majority Of votes cast for a constitutional
amendment when 1t has been submitted to
the voters by petition shall not carry tho
measure unless the majority represents at
least 50 per cent of the total number OF
votes cast at the election on all subjec s.
The reason for this is the fear that on
some questions only special interests would
vote at all and could hold a majority Of
the votes cast on the question itself
! The conference committee which is soon
to be appointed and take up the task OF
going over both the bills and affecting a
compromise is much more likely to make
the compromise more restrictive than
liberal and the final result may be even
less Of what the people really mean when
they say direct legislation than it is
now.
Session May Go Overtime.
Legislators have begun to be alarmed by
the fact that Of the 100 bills submitted To
the Legislature during the first forty days
Of the session, only about $50 bills have
been finally disposed Of by both houses OF
which l5O were killed. Not more than
( thirty bills have gone clear through the
mill to the governor and the session has
already used up forty-seven days OF the
| sixty allotted. IL was hoped at first that
an adjournment could be reached by sat
urday, April T. but unless the sitting com
mittee are soon set to work and get the
mass Of bills awaiting action quickly dis
! posed Of It viii take a week longer and
the legislators will have 20 spend few
days In the service Of the state without
receiving their s. per day stipend.