The Washington herald., 1911-02-12
NEW IDEAS IN POLITICS.
1.-THE RECALL.
B, FRANK PARKER srockBRIDGE.l the sp

| held his office six months, save and ex-
cept that it may be filed against a sena-
tor or representative in the legislative
assembly at any time after FIVE days,
from the beginning of the first session
after his election. After one such peti-
tton and special election, no further re-
call petition shall be filed against the
| same oficer during the term for which he
was elected. unless such further petition
ers shall first pay into the public treas
ury' which has paid such special election
expenses, the whole amount of its ex-
penses for the preceding special election.
Such additional legislation as may aid
the operation of this section shall be pro-
vided by the legislative assembly. in
| cluding provision for payment by the
! public treasury of the reasonable special
election campaign expenses of any such
officer. But the words The legislative
assembly shall provide or any similar
or equivalent words in this constitution
| or any amendments thereto, shall not be
| construed to grant the legislative as
sembly any exclusive power of lawrnak-
| ing nor in any way TO limit the Initiative
and referendum powers reserved by the
people"
| Although Oregon is the only State that
I Eas adopted the recall for all public
! officials, many cities in other States have
a recall provision in their charters This
| is in general true of the cities that have
| adopted the Galveston plan." the 'DeS
| Moines plan" or the Grand Junction
| plan OF government by commissions
subject which / shall discuss at length
| in later article. The first city-to adopt
| the recall was Los Angeles, in its char
| ter of 1905, and the recall election that
| has attracted the most public attention
| vas that in Los Angeles in the spring
| OF 1909. when the mayor himself was
| made the subject of a recall petition,
| resigned from Office, and his successor
| was elected at a special election. The
Los Angeles charter provision requires
a petition of . per cent of the entire vote
cast for all candidates for the office in
| question to be filed with the city clerk,
and directs the clerk to place the name
! of the offending official on the ballot,
unless he requests otherwise in writing.
San Francisco, San Diego San Bernar-
dino. Pasadena, Fresno, Santa Monica,
Alameda, Long Beach, vallejo. and Riv-
! erside are other California cities that
nave adopted the recall since Los An
Geles put it in its charte:. Lewiston.
Idaho, and Seattle and Everett, Wash.
also have charter provisions for the re-
Can, as have Des Moines, Iowa, Grand
Junction. Colo, and Galveston, Tex.
and the cities that have adopted their
forms of charters. Aside from the recall
of the mayor of Los Angeles, there has
been no noteworthy instance of the use
of the recall except in Estacada, Greg,
in May, l909 when all the elected Off
cials of the city, including the council,
except the city recorder, were recalled
and their places filled by candidates Sc
lected by the people.
No new idea in politics has been so
bitterly denounced by the representatives
of certain powerful interests as the re-
call. Its application, especially to judges,
has been characterized as an attempt
TO incorporate lynch law in the constitu-
ton" Along with the American practice
of electing all officials. including judges,
there seems to have grown up especially
in the minds of the ofice-holding class,
the idea that one elected to Office for
fixed term has an inalienable right to
serve out that term, whether he serves
the people who elected him or not. 1t is
, pointed out, however. by those who advO-
cate the general adoption of the recall.
that the principle is in line with the gen.
eralIy-accepted plan of administration re-
garding appOintive offices. Modern legis-
! lation on this subject tends to give the
appointing power the unlimited power of
removal at pleasure. On the same the
: ory-that every public servant should be
as fully responsible to the power which
placed him in office as is the employe
OF a private business house or corpora
tion-it is argued that the men who elect
man to Office should have the power
to remove him if he fails to carry out
! the wishes of his constituents. OppO-
nents of the recall base their objections
principally on the plea that it would
make it possible for the political oppo-
nents of any official to haraSs him con-
, tinlally with recall elections, and make
it difficult to induce good men to accept
Office under such conditions. Against this
is set forth contention that the knowl-
edge that he may be recalled at any time
is as powerful a Stimulant to a public
official as the knowledge that he may be
dismissed is to any emplOye of a pri-
vate concern. At any rate, although
numerous cities have had the power of
recall for several years, there have been
very few instances of its use. The knowl-
edge that il can be used seems to keep
the attention of public officials quite
closely to the interests OF their employ
ers, the people. Some officials who have
been elected subject to the recall have
declared that it is of tremendous advan-
tage 10 the honest and capable office
holder, as a quick, just. and satisfactory
way of obtaining a public Endorsement
of official conduct. as we'll as a great
improvement over existing methods OF
getting rid of an unsatisfactory official
through the machinery of the courts. EX-
perience thus far with the recall seems
to justify the statement of Senator
Bourne, of Oregon. who said, in re-
cent speech:
The recall. TO my mind, is rather an
, | admonitory or precautionary measure,
the existence of which will prevent the
| necessity for it's use. At rare intervals
. there may be occasion for the exercise of
the recall against municipal or county
officers, but / believe the fact Of its
J existence will prevent the need for its
use against the higher officials. 1t is,
however an essential feature of a COM
plete system of popular government"
| Copyright. 1911. BY Frank Parker Stockbndge,)
Washington to Gettysburg.
Editor The Washington Herald: