The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-03-29
THE TNiTiATlvE. REFERENDUM
AND RECALL"

Georgia, on the initiate, referen-
dunn and recall" but we do so be-
cause we honestly and conscientious
ly believe that if adopted it will be
destructive of the very foundations
on which this government rests.
Judge Adams, along with Bishop
Warren Gambler, whose utterances we
printed last Sunday on the same sub
ject, is reported to be one of the pro-
foundest thinkers of the south, and
as a patriotic citizen he feels it his
duty to express his views on this
new and dangerous political fad
which now confronts the country.
Until the establishment of this gov
eminent there had been nothing like
permanent, popular government
throughout the ages, and now after
more than one hundred years of sue
cessful experiment, to have it unan-
chored from its moorings by this dan
gerous innovation would be world
wide calamity.
This government was established
at too great a sacrifice, at too long
and patient a cost, to be thus de-
stroyed.
Let us for a moment reflect upon
its founders.
They were not mere theorists, not
demagogues seeking office, but pa
triots, with a profound mission to per-
form. who had suffered from the in
Fiction of tyrannical government,
who had given a profound and COM
prehensive study to all forms of gov
eminent.
Speaking of the almost superhu-
man talents of Jefferson, of his con-
secration to the uplift of humanity;
which we see illumined in every SEN
tence OF the Declaration of Independ-
ence, Mr.. William Writ, in his eulogy
of him, speaking of the enactments
of the Virginia legislature while he
was governor, and which were done
largely through his preparation, Mr..
Writ says:
THE collection of bills passed by
these great men lone hundred and
twenty-six in number) presents a sys-
TEN of Jurisprudence, so comprehen-
sive, SO profound and beautiful, so
perfectly. so happily adapted to the
new state OF affairs, that if its au-
thors had never done anything else,
impartial history would have assign
ed them to place by the side of So
Ion and Lycurgus."
Instead of the founders of our gov
eminent being ignorant men, unskill-
ed in the science of statecraft and
wholly at sea in nation-building, they
made the study of government a pa
triotic duty, and their success has
been the wonder of the ages.
In a former issue we gave Mr.. JEFF
ferson's views on the misconception
of the ancients in trying to establish
pure democracy which he declared
was practically impossible except in
a small community, instead of pop
ular and representative form of gov
ernment, such as ours is.
Perhaps what this profound states
man says may bear repetition:
The ancients had just ideas of the
value of personal liberty, but none
at all of the structure of government
best calculated to preserve it. They
knew no medium between a democra-
my (the only pure republic, but i'm
practicable beyond the limits of a
town and an abandonment of them
selves to an aristocracy, or a tyran-
ny independent of the people. 1t
seems not TO have occurred that
where the citizens meet to transact
their business in person, they alone
have the right to choose the agent
who shall transact it; and that in
this way a republican, or popular gov
eminent, of the second grade of pur-
liiy. may be exercised over any ex-
tent of the country. The full expert
ment OF government demOcratical,
but representative, was and is still re-
served for us.
None of the founders of this gov
eminent, not one. Jefferson, Washing
ton, Franklin, Adams, Hamilton,
( Wythe, Madison, Hancock, ETC., al
though they considered every form of
government, and were profoundly
welded to the belief that the people
are capable of self-government and
that there should be no privileged
classes, they We're unwilling to com
NIT it to the dangers which would
threaten il under the initiative, ref
erendum and recall"
Not only were the founders unwill-
ing to do so. which is clearly ex-
pressed in the speeches and docu-
ments of that profound period in our
national life. but none of the long line
of patriotic statesmen who have fol-
lowed in their footsteps for more than
one hundred years afterwards, were