The labor world., 1912-04-20

that law. tell yOu,f my friends,
the people can be trusted to look out
Tor their. own interests every time
II they are given a fair opportunity
to do SO. %E
--~> Results in Oregon, - '@&#
Out in Oregon-a year ago I think
people q amendments to the state
constitution. These same amendments
were submitted-before the election
to the members of the faculty of the
vote was taken on them. : The bal
lots wewre then sealed up, and were
not opened until after the election at
which the people voted on those same
at the university was opened, it was
found that every amendment approved
by the faculty had also been approved
by the people S1 e. while evey
rejected by. the people. There was,
however, one exception. The faculty
voted in favor of women's suffrage;
while the people turned it down. But
that. a 4oi
Thus we have with the initiative.
referendum and recall the following
to legislate direct. should the legis-
lative body refuse to act. For ex-
ample: Should our council refuse to
pass an ordinance to regulate pool
halls, and, the people wanted such a
law, the people could. frame and. pass
such a law themselves-and nobody
could veto it, either. That's the in
People Need Veto Power.
2. A veto power as to all acts of
the legislative body. In other words.
if our city council should pass an
ordinance--or law-permitting all sa-
looms to keep open until O'CLOCK n
decide that law was not for the in
terests of the people as a whole, but
in the interests of the saloonkeepers
and brewers as q class, then the people
lowed to vote on that question, and
they could@veto that ordinance, that's
-the-areferehdum.
3. power to discharge unfaithful,
incompetent. or dishonest public offi-
cials without waiting for their term
of office to expire. And that's the re-
call. ::
Now, in this coming special cleo.
tion, which is to be held on Tuesday,
May 7th, who will we find opposing
the incorporation of these amendments
in our city charter: Everybody seems
to think they will be good thing
for the people-fpr the city; and yet
when the time comes to count the
votes we will find that there has been
a very strong campaig gn waged against
their adoption. That campaign is go
! ing on now. You don't see it; you
don't hear much Of 1t; but it's there
just the same. We, who know from
| things, see and hear it, and are con
scious of it every day. 1t is an un-
derground campalgn-a gum-shoe cam
| paign. the hardest campaign in the
world to fight, because, unless you're
wise, you do not know who is oppos-
ing you: Your opponents pose an
your friends and allies-yet they're
working 2.;k a,, against you all the time
Who Are the ''Interests?" "
First; every alderman and city Off
cisl who represents, not the people
who elected him to represent them,
| but some group of business men, pub
loon men. and a certain type Of hotel
men; all kinds of special interests,
| in fact.
Second: The public service corpor-
have just mentioned as: being behind
| and supporting the officials who rep
! resent those interests-in fact, every
! business that can make two dollars
| planting of a little small change where
1t will. do the most good, --,...-
. Third: "A bunch Of stand pat poll
tfcians who see their means OF earn
Ana fourth: A sroup-and = thank
God it is a comparatively small group
today and getting smaller every min
J who, unless an idea has party label
attached to it, are utterly at a loss
! to know how to- vote On the question.
ae,hnaat 1. must be labeled democratic or Re-
| to do about It.
For the initiative, referendum and
recall bear no party labels, and know
They. are born of the people They
are enforced by the people And the
good government they bring forth is
4s1s Eoyetnmsnt tn;ns for the people;
to you what ths initiative Hs % referendSm aaT Sieaa
and recall really mean. to you and to
your ne1ghbor land to your city. I've
shown you the inuuences that will be
found fighting against us at the COM
ing election, and I want to ask you
to go out and do what you can to ex-
plain to your friends and neighbors,
VINO may not understand just what
these things really mean to us. :
:>Do6fway to Liberty.
For without the initiative, referen-
a realization Of that condition of gov
ernment':so wonderfully we'll described
by Abraham Lincoln-a government Of
people.
Our good friend, William H. Taf:.
says we should have a government Of
the people, for the people. by a rep
the representative part of the people
really represented the people, then
Brother Taft's idea might work out
all right; but the trouble is and has
been In the past, and apparently viii
be In the future, that, the representa-.
tive part Of the people invariably has
working majority that represents.
not the people as a whole, not even
majority.6f ;the people, but only q
small minority Of business men-the
big business interests. And this rem
resentative part of the people so wen
thought of by Mr.. Taft, represents
this certain class. of big business men
in all our legislative bodies from our
city councils to the senate Of the
United States y
We have been looking for remedy
Tor this condition Of affairs for. hun
dreds OF years, and now we have founw
it In that great trio of rights OF lne
people, the initiative, referendum and
recall. .;-fT
We've tried Taft's plan. we.v.
given it a long, fair trial OF over a
hundred years, and it has proven a
failure, a farce, a pretense Of real
government. 1t has bred :rottenness
and corruption, both in politics and
In business. 1t has built UP an A.
most absolute control of our cities
and states and nation by the money
power EC-.>2'
Let us try Lincoln's plan He va.