Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-02

selfish consideration Of our own personal
interest high above regard for the public
good. Under the circumstances sack
cloth and ashes would be more appro-
pirate than braggart blare Of trumpets
Under the initiative and referendum IN
dividual Americans vote directly on pro-
posed laws instead Of through represent
atives, and the will Of a majority of these
individuals becomes the law. The recall
Of Judges and judicial decisions means In
effect that final judicial decisions are rem
dered not by the courts, but directly by
the voting machine" In control Of the
area of the courts Jurisdiction through
the ballots OF the majority at the polls.
And one who prefers the government OF
the Constitution and the forefathers un-
der which the Union has grown great to
this experimental pure democracy
is under the new doctrine no longer a
patriot or a progressive, but a reaction
airy, contemporary slurring the capac-
ity of the American people
The imagination, properly stimulated,
readily pictures what q wonderful effect
a system of voting directly for laws
and court decisions would have in puri-
flying our elections and increasing the eff
ficiency of our laws. The people when
they vote for men select corrupt and in
efficient persons, being misled by dema-
gogues or bought by money or whisky.
When they are allowed TO vote for words
instead of men all this will be changed.
To vote intelligently one will need only
to be able to construe laws. and every
one knows how easy a matter that is, ex-
cept to courts and lawyers. And the fact
Of inc 10 nd dociS}onS
our ballots instead Of mems names would
of itself seem to insure conscientious
voting.
For reasons that are doubtless obvious
the denagogue will at once disappear
from the land. >Log-rolling combinations
will be unknown. The use of money and
whisky in our elections will cease. The
indifference Of the people when men are
candidates will be converted into a uni
versal enthusiasm If they are permitted
to vote for or against a book of pro-
posed laws and judicial decisions. OBJ
viously under the new system peace.
purity and unanimity will characterize
our elections, and honesty and ability our
laws.
The old-fashioned patriots who do nos
believe in holding over the head either
of the upright judge or Of the weak and
plant Judge the threat of immediate re-
versal OF his decision or immediate custer
from office, or both, if he does not square
his opinion with the views or interests
of the boss who controls the majority
vote In his bailiwick, are under the new
doctrine guilty Of reasonable contempt
of the power and capacity of the Ameri-
can people.
The appeal is to our false pride as
Americans. 1t boastfully suggests that
this great people, or a majority by one
Of this great people, can do anything and
better directly than through
from lawmaking and
law constituting to plate juggling and
ditch digging: and he who is so unpatri-
otto as to assert the contrary is a pusil-
whom 1t would be fattery to characterize
as notwithstanding Benedict Arnold!
Theodore Roosevelt's historic rival in
the art of appealing to our American
and dominating pride Is
Jennings Bryan. In precisely the
vein concerning those who
doubt the superior capacity Of a majority
Of boss-led American voters In any baili-
ans declaration when the question was
Of this peoples power. single-handed. to
double the price of silver over all the
world. Bryan said then. as Roosevelt in
spirit and in substance suggests now: ITO
such dastards as dare to lay a limit to
the power Of the American people 1 hurl
their cowardice and lack Of patriotism In
their faces
In both cases the fallible American
voter is tempted to make boastful dec
laration of his own omnipotence and in
or near-infallibility (even in
to matters concerning which he
knows his own. ignorance and incapacity),
IL only he happens to agree in opinion
with one more than half of all the voters,
and becomes part Of pure democracy's
despot, the majority. It is
not clear, however, how the mere addi-
ton into a casual majority of individual
atoms of confessed ignorance can trans
form the aggregate (unless miraculously)
into near-infallible and justifably AFRO
giant wisdom.