The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1912-02-23
IS Congressional, NOT JUDICIAL
UNITED STATES TRIBUNAL DE.
ctOEs IMPORTANT CASE.
Enforcement Of Guarantee Of 'Repub,
I,can Form of Government BELONGS
to Political Department, II Says.

'""" o''' VI government HeioHus
to Political Department, II Saws.
MISUNDERSTANDING the state Of Ohio
in tue throeS Of a constitutional con.
Vention that is about to write into the
state constitution a provision for the
initiative and referendum in state leg
lSlaton, with Theodore Roosevelt A.
cordlnG TO friends who are in his con
fdeDce, about to make a speech de-
CtarinG for the initiative and refsrer-
DUN, and with the initiative and refer
endum-though as An academic Drop-
os1uon--made the line OF cleavage be
tween radicals and conservatives of
either party in q number Of States. the
supreme court Monday aroused the
widest interest among senators and
representatives when il decided the
Oregon initiative and referendum
cases.
The decision Of the court was unani
NOUS, refusing to declare contrary to
the federal constitution the Initiative
aud referendum provisions in the state
constitution Of Oregon.
The court does not 20 into the cues
ton raised whether the Oregon pro,
visions Great" republican form OF
government. as guaranteed by the fed
eral constitution. or a pure dernoc.
racy. It simply denied its own iuris-
d!ction, asserting the question to be
political and not judicial. and declared
the subject to be within the reach of
action by congress and not by the
courts.
The decision. which was handed
down by Chief Justice White, sets
forth the view that TO declare the as
sailed provisions unconstitutional
would be in effect to declare the whole
| government of Oregon cut Of exist
ence. Unless, then, in assuming jur
| isGiction TO make this declaration, the
! court al the same time assumed av
| thOrity TO reconstruct a state govern
ment, the constitutional guaranteed
would be Of a guarantee OF anarchy
and not Of order.
But such an assumption, argued the
chief justice. would be an 'incoDce!y
able expansion of the judicial pOwe
and the ruinous destruction Of leglsla
tive authority" Indeed, Throughout
the decision runs this continuous refer
ence to the calamity Of such a uSurpa
ton of legislative functions by tn
courts, and in this respect the decision
reads like an answer TO the charge 0
usurpation that is directed against tn
supreme court from time to time.
The court does not deny that tn
constitution, in section 4 OF article
does guarantee to the state "a repuE
lican form of government" But It as
serts that the judge of that politica
requirements must be the political arr
of the federal government. The dc
cisiOn implies that the admission L
the national councils by the houses Q
congress of the representatives OF
state as actually governed is a taci
affirmation that the government q
facto is the government de jure, an
as such agreeable to the requirement
of the constitution.
1T is important says the decisio
OF the case at issue. since 1t call
upon us to decide whether it is tn
duty of the courts or the province c
congress to determine whether stat
has ceased to be republican in torn
and to enforce the guarantee OF ID
constitution on the subject, 1t is nc
novel, as the question has long sine
been determined by this court col
formally to the practice OF the go
eminent from the beginning to be p
litical in character, and therefore NJ
cognizable by the judicial power o'
solely committed by the constitute
to the judgment of congress.
The decision ends the long agltauo
arising in the case of the Pacl''
States Telegraph and Telephone COZ
; pany, plaintiff in error to the supren
court of Oregon, against the stale
Oregon. In 1902 the state consult
zion was amended by the insertion
\ an initiative and referendum PROV
ion, and subsequently by the inltlati'
| of the people license tax OF 2 p
cent of the local gross earnings WI
levied on all telephone and te'egraf
comnanies operating within the stat