The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-03-08

but by representatives CHOSEN by
themselves"
AS the matter is so important, We
hope that we shall be pardonec for
copying an extract FROM an interview
with Congressman Mccall. a very
prominent member of congress from
Massachusetts, who says that mo
question so closely concerns the very
fabric of our institutions as the pro-
posal to change our method of gov
eminent from that of representa-
tive to that of direct authority by
means of the initiative and referen-
dunn
THE way the thing works in prac-
tice is this: Some benevolent gentle
man suddenly conceives himself to
have received a special revelation of
political measure which will
straighten out the tangled affairs of
mankind and set us all on the
straight path of happiness and pros
perity. This beautiful scheme is writ
ten out by its author in the form OF
a law, and he sets about getting the
signatures of per cent. of the voters
in order that it may go to the people
for final enactment, without the in
tervention of any legislature.
by means of certain expenditure
of energy and the liberal employment
of paid canvassers, these signatures
can be obtained by the carload. Fin
ally the law is submitted to the peo-
pie for enactment, and the great mass
of us upon the farm, on the hillside
and in the city proceed to place on
the statute books an enactment which
nine out of ten of us have never even
read, much less considered in a criti-
cal spirit.
"And this is what the 'Progressives'
call securing popular rights and Civ
ing the people a larger share in their
government!
LET me give you an example which
occurred recently in Oregon: There
two methods of catching salmon in
the Columbia river; in the lower and
sluggish waters of the stream fishing
is done by the net, and in the upper
waters it is done by the wheel. The
|net-fishers wanted to prohibit fishing
by the wheel and the wheel-fishers
wanted to prohibit fishing by the net.
What happened? Each party Initial
ed a law which would have the effect
of putting the other party out of bust
ness. Each law went before the peo-
pie; each law was passed; and thus,
SO far as the action of the people was
concerned, the great salmon fisher
les of the Columbia were practically
stopped.
Speaking of the referendum Mr..
Mccall says:
"The referendum would take away
from the legislature, to which it prop
erly belongs, the responsibility for
the final passage of laws and would
place the burden upon the people.
at is specious plea to ask leg
isIator: Are you not willing to trust
the peoIe to say in their wisdom
whether ejiven law should be en-
acted? The fact is that the prevail
ing vice of members of Iaw-making
bodies in our country is not political
venaIity-it is political cowardice.
"Now, under the operation of the
referendum, this quality of cowardice
will be fostered and made more in
tense. All that will be necessary in
order that legislator may preserve
a comfortable mind when his political
interests call upon him to vote one
way and his sense of duty another, is
for him to express an unbounded con-
fidence in the people and to pass the
matter up to them as supreme court
of appeal.
IF we turn from the legislature to
the voter, the case for the referendum
is no better The great fault of the
voter is political indifference. There
are too few of us who carefully study
public questions; and we often com
placently accept the estimate that is
placed upon our profound political
knowledge by the men who are ask
ing us to vote for them, without max
ing any attempt to bestow upon po-
litical issues that serious attention
which we give to our own private af-
fairs.
This condition of indifference, even
under our present system, produces
nothing but an evil effect upon the
character of our laws, and this would
be greatly intensified under the ref
erendum.
1.-THE mania of the time is too much
legislation, and the tendency to regu-
late everybody and everything by
artificial enactment. The referendum