The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1912-03-01
Bigger

pletely safeguard the interests OF the
people as whole.
SO much for the ends of govern
ment, and I have, of course, merely
sketched in outline what the ends
should be. Now for the machinery by
which these ends are to be achieved;
and here again, remember, 1 only
sketch in outline and do not for a
moment pretend to work out in detail
the methods of achieving your purposes.
In the first place, I believe in the
short ballot. You cannot get good
service from the public servant if you
cannot see him, and there is no more
effective way of hiding him than by
covering him up with a multitude of
others so that none of them are impor-
tantenough to catch the eye of the
average, work-a-day citizen.
THE crook in public life is not or
dinarily the man whom the people
themselves elect directly to highly
important and responsible position.
The professional politician and the
professional lobbyist thrive most rankly
under a system which provides multi
tude of elective officers of such divided
responsibility and of such obscurity
that the public knows, and can know,
but little as to their duties and the way
they perform them
THE people have nothing whatever
to fear from giving any public servant
power so long as they retain their own
power to hold him &C countable for his
use of the power they have delegated
to him. You must get best service
where you elect only few men and
where each man has his definite duties
and responsibilities and is obliged to
work in the open, so that the people
know who he is and what he is doing
and have the information that will en-
able them to hold him to account for
his stewardship.
Direct Presidential Primaries
Il believe in providing for direct
nominations for the people, including
therein direct presidential primaries
for the election of delegates to the ma
tional nominating conventions. I be-
lieve in the initiative and referendum,
which should be used not to destroy
representative government, but to cor
rect it whenever it becomes mis-repre-
sentative.
Il believe that the initiative and
referendum should be used not as sub
stitutes for representative government,
but as methods Of making such govern
ment really representative. Action by
the initiative or referendum should not
be the normal way of legislation, but
the power to take it should be provided
in the constitution so that if the repre-
sentatives fail truly to represent the peo-
pie on some matter of sufficient i'm
portance to arouse popular interest the
people shall have in their hands the
facilities to make good the failure.
And I urge you not to try to put
constitutional fetters on the legislature,
as many constitutional makers have re-
Gently done. Such action on your part
would invite the courts to render nuga-
tory every Legislative act to better So
cial conditions.
Give the Legislature an entirely free
hand and then provide by the initiative
and referendum that the people shall
have power to supplement the work Of
the legislature should it ever become
necessary"
Recall of Judges
AS to the recall, I don't believe
that there is any great necessity for it
as regards short term elective Offices.
There remains the question of the re-
call OF judges.
An independent and upright judi
ciny which fearlessly stands for the
!: right, even against popular clamor, but
which also understands and sympathizes
with popular needs is great asset ol
popular government. I believe in the
necessity for the courts Interpretation
OF the law, as law, without the power tc
; change the law or substitute some
) other thing than law for it.
5 But I agree with every great jurisi
! from Marshall downward when l say