Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1912-10-22
MAJORITY RULE AMENDMENT

lot to be voted on by the electorat
of Oregon at the coming election OF
November 5th, will be the Majorit,
Rule Amendment This is an amend
ment to the Constitution of the stat
of Oregon so as to require majorit!
of all electors voting at any election
to adopt constitutional amendmen
and pass initiative measures
This measure is proposed for the
express purpose of preserving the In
itiative Law for the people of Oregon
by preventing it's over-use by It's
friends and by preventing its abuse
and possibly it's repeal by its enemies.
1t scarcely admits of argument that
the Initiative Law as originally in
tended by its sponsors, is most
worthy measure. But we find it to-
day working overtime" in Oregon.
We find it being grossly abused and
ervarted-turned from the purpose
for which it was originally intended
namely, to be a powerful weapon in
the hands Of the people with which
to get important and necessary legis-
lation after the same had been neg
lected or refused by the State Legis-
says: 1t is to be regarded as a "gun
behind the door"-to be used only
when the peoples representatives fail
to represent them.
After its eight years of use and
abuse we find that it is fast pushing
the legislature into a subordinate and
secondary place. Beginning with a
few measures and a comparatively
small official pamphlet it has grown
until today there are 38 measures to
be voted upon, and an official PAM
phlet containing over $50 pages for
the voters of Oregon to grope through
in order to arrive at anything like an
intelligent conclusion in regard to
the proposed measures.
What percentage of the voters will
take the trouble to give these 3S
measures the requisite time and at
tention in order to vote intelligently
thereon? And yet, it is the bounden
duty of every voter to do so, because
in this conglomerate mass there may
be important measures affecting vi
tally all of the people of the state. A
large majority of these 3S measures
are ordinary matters of legislation
which should have gone to the Legis
lature where members elected by all
of the people are paid for the purpose
of passing upon the merits or demer- |
its of such measures and who are at |
least supposed to be competent to
render an intelligent decision there
on. And yet, we cannot expect any |
change in the number of measures
on the ballot so long as we have an T
unbridled and unprotected initiative
law that allows every paid propa
gandst, every faddist and fanatic
who may be able to raise the price
with which to hire an army of pro-
fessional petition circulators to go /
forth and solicit signatures to a petit
ton at so much per name.
What is there to prevent special in
terests from initiating measures con-
tanning jokers which if let pass, may |
work untold injustice to the people of
Oregon? Will the electorate of Ore
gon take the time and trouble to
study this official pamphlet sufficiently Il
to select the good measures from the Il
vicious Ones-the wheat from the
chaff, so to speak, and pass favorably 4
on the good ones and reject the bad 4
ones? We say no, and to substantl-
ate our claim we need only call at
tenton to the fact that you may go
forth today-less than month before
election, and consult 10 business and |
professional men whose business and |
professional training has taught them
to look carefully into important mat
ters before rendering decision
thereon, and ask them If they have Il
looked carefully into the 3S measures
proposed and if they have read the
250 pages of the official pamphlet
We make the statement without fear
of successful contradiction, that at
least seven out of the ten will admit
they have not read the pamphlet at
ALL and If so, have only given it su-
periicial glance. IF such be the case
with the man who is supposed to give
these matters closer attention, what
can be expected of the busy mechanic
and laboring man whose attention l.
centered in other directions and
whose environment is all along other
Ines?
The remedy suggested ut the pres
ent moment by some of the most
prominent newspapers of the state is,
Vote NO on all measures unless you
are sure" Not having studied the
merits of the 3S measures, how can
the voter he sure? If he votes mo"
on all or most all the measures and
all are turned down, how about the
one, two, or perhaps three or four
measures for which there
is a genuine need or demand by the
people? Are they to meet the same
fate as the dozens of ordinary meas
ures which should have gone to the
Legislature in the first place, or the 4
vicious, or fanatic measures which 4
should be turned down with VEN
geance?
If we are to preserve the initiative (
law for the people Of Oregon. both
present and future, we must protect Z
it by surrounding It with safeguard
which will prevent its misuse and
abuse by those who would use it To z
further selfish interests to the detri-
ment Of the greater number of the
people OF the state.
The Majority Rule amendment will 4
do this by driving all ordinary meas
ures Of legislation into the Legsla-
ture where they belong, and bv driv-
ing the selfish and pernicious meas
urCs into Oblivion where they. also. 2
belong.
The Majority Rule amendment. IL
passed, win reduce the number of Z
measures on the ballot To sane basis 8
by giving notice to all that a measure
in order to stand chance OF passing Z
must have real merit and that there
must be an actual demand for the
same, In which case there will he no Z
difficulty at all in getting a majority
to vote in favor OF it.
Take the time aud Mains 10 IooL, 2