Little Falls herald., 1912-10-18

fronted with the problems that we =
: have to meet. They made the mis- I"
take Of not trusting the people. =
They were afraid of what some =
= people are pleased to call "the .
- mob" They hedged us about with =
what they thought were safe :
- guards against our own impetu-
osity. Experience. has shown them .
to have been mistaken. The peO-
= pie are always conservative. They =
are always to be trusted.
%* + = Z
Present System Indirect.
Instead of allowing us to vote direct
ly on the policies that should control
us, they only allowed us to choose the
man who should determine the poll
cies for us. Instead of placing the po-
litical power in our hands all the time,
they let us have it one day-election
day-and placed it in the hands of the
men whom we elected during the other
729 days. One day every two years
the majority is master. During 729
days their elected servants are in fact
their masters. We have the power to
vote men into Office, but we have not
the power to vote them out of Office.
When we have cast our ballots, we
have shot our bolt. We lack two
things in order to make self-govern.
ment effective-the right to vote di-
rectly on the policies of government
and the right to vote men out of office
who fail to carry out the policy that
we want.
Political Machinery Out Of Date.
Experience has demonstrated that it
is a useless expenditure of effort to
try to get better laws and to reform
the abuses Of government until we
amend our political machinery in this
respect. No matter what we want, we
have no way of expressing ourselves,
and We have no way of enforcing our
demands. We become enthused over
party or over candidate, and we
often forget to inquire what the party
or the candidate stands for. We con-
fuse personalities with principles, and
we arrive nowhere.
Initiative and Referendum New in This
Country.
It is only within the last few years
that this situation has really become
clear to us. Now that We understand
the reason for our failure to control
our government, we propose to hold
all other issues in allegiance and make
the contest one for the improvement
of our political machinery, so that we
can in the future express our will and
enforce it. When we have improved
the machinery we will be ready to
take up all public questions, big and
little, that have baffled us so long.
How do we propose to effect this i'm
provement in the machinery of our
government? Are we advocating a
revolution? No. On the contrary, we
are opposed to revolutions. We be-
lieve they often do more harm than
good. What we believe in is evolu-
ton.
+
We believe in so amending our =
system that whenever the major I"
ity is satisfied that thing should
Il be done, it will be done. We be- s.
lieve in steady, orderly evolution
ary progress. We believe in meet
ing and overcoming difficulties as
* they arise. What We propose is
Il the initiative and referendum. 4
-" + *
Initiative Most Important.
The initiative is the most important,
as we'll as the most effective, of the
devices yet invented to promote popu-
lar rule.
= + - i =
There is slang phrase that you +
all have heard: IF you want to =
= know who is boss here, start y
something" That applies to our
+ public affairs. If you want to
know who is boss in this country, =
try to start something for the =
benefit of the people, and see how #
far you get with it. You won't
get very far. You will soon run
afoul of some public servant who &
holds the key to the particular s.
+ door that you want to open. The =
key was put in his hands by the
help of big business. He will prob s.
ably use the key for the benefit =
8 of those who gave it to him. So
he locks the door in your face. *
* You are at his mercy. But sup
pose you had master key that
was so constructed that it would s.
= unlock all doors? You would say &
to your servant, Cali right. If *
you won't open the door, will IS
* open it myself with my master g
s. key" That is exactly what the $
initiative is. s
$: X y y
It is the master key, and you keep
it in your own possession all the time.
You can use it whenever you think it
necessary.
Nothing Startling About Initiative.
Now, there is nothing startling or
dangerous about this. Every private
business in the world reserves to it's
owners this power. If you hire per-
son to help you in your business, you
tell him what to DO. If he refuses or
negIects to do what you want him to
GO, or refuses to do it in the way you
want it done, you always reserve the
right to do it yourself. No private
business could exist on any other
basis. You would not think Of hiring
a man for two years, or four years.
and giving him complete control of
your business without the right to in
terfere with him. He might get a
-