Devils Lake weekly world. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1911-1914, 1912-02-23


regulate the hours Of iobor for chill
dren and for women to provide for
their safety while at work and to pre-
vent overworI or work under unhy-
gienic Or unsafe conditions. See to It
that no, restrictions are placed upon
legislative powers that will prevent the
enactment of lnws under which your
people. can promote the general well
fare, the common good.
go much for tile ends Of govern
ment, and l 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 only sketch
In outline and do not for n moment
pretend to work out in detail the meth
DDS Of achieving your purposes Let
me at the outset urge upon you to ~
member that. willie machinery is IN,
portant, 1t is easy to overestimatc is
Importance anu, moreover, that each
community has the absolute RICH! I"
determine for itself what that machi.,
cry shall be, subject only to the fun.
mental law Of the nation as exprcsr2.
In the constitution of the Unitei
States. Massachusetts has the ri: i!
to have appointive Judges who serve
during good behavior, subject to -,
moval, not by Impeachment, but by
simple majority vote of the two houses
Of the legislature whenever the repre-.
sentatives of the people feel that the
needs of the people require such re-
moval. New York has the right to
have long term elective judiciary.
Ohio has the right to have short term
elective judiciary without the recall.
California, Oregon and Arizona have
each and every one Of them the right
to have short term elective Judiciary
with the recall. Personally Of the four
systems prefer the Massachusetts
one if addition be made to it as here
matter indicate.
In the first place, l believe in the
short ballot. You cannot get good serv-
ice from the public servant if you can
fective way Of hiding him than by mix
ing him up with a multitude Of others
so that they are none Of them impor
tant enough to catch the eye of the
average workaday citizen. The crook
In public life is not ordinarily the man
whom the people themselves elect di-
rectly to highly important and re-
sponsible position. The type Of boss
who has made the name Of politician
odious rarely himself runs for high cleo
tive Office, and If he does and is elected
the people have only themselves to
blame. The professional politician and
the professional lobbyist thrive most
fahkly Under, system which provides
multitude Of elective officers, of such
, divided responsibility and Of such Oh,
security that the public knows and can
know but little as to their duties and
the way they perform them.
Direct Nominations.
! I believe in providing for direct nomi-
nations by the people. including there
In direct preferential primaries for the
election Of delegates to the national
nominating conventions. Not as mat
ter of theory, but as a matter Of plain
and proved experience, we find that the
convention system, while it often re-
cords the popular will. is also. often
used by adr0it politicians as method
! Of thwartng Tie popular will. In Other
words. the existing machinery for nom
nations is cumbrous and is not de-
dgned to secure the real expression: Of
1.-THE popular desire. -; .; &. s.
I I believe III the election Of United
States senators by direct vote. Just
o. actual experience convinced our
people that presidents should be elect.
led las. they. now are in practice, d.
though not in theory BY direct vote
Of the people instead Of by indirect
vote through an untrammeled electoral
college, SO actual experience has con
WINGED us thatsenators should be elect
ed by direct vote Of the people instead
| Of indirectly through the various legis
latures. - IA - 800 ,..-,l.-*...
I believe I'M the initiative and the RET
erendum, which should be used not tx
destroy representative government, but
to correct 1t whenever 1t becomes mis-
representative. Here again am con
cerned not with theories, but with &C
tual facts. If in any state the people
are themselves satisfied with theil
present representative system then II
n, Of course, their right to keep thai
system unchanged, and it is nobody'i
business but theirs. But In actua
practice it has been found in very
many states that legislative bodies
have not been responsive to the popular
will; therefore I believe that the state
should provide for the possibility Of di
rect popular action in order to make
good suck legislative failure.
Recall Of Judges.
As to the recall, I do not believe thai
there is any great necessity for It al
regards short term elective officers. Or
abstract grounds / was originally in
cNned to be hostile to 1t. know o.
one case where it was actually uset
with mischievous results. On the 9th
Or hand, in three cases in municipal
ties on the Pacific coast which have
come to my knowledge it was uset
with excellent results. believe Il
should be generally provided, but witt
such restrictions as will make 1t avail
able only when there is a widespread
and genuine public feeling among {
majority of the voters.
) There remains the question Of the re
call of judges. One Of the ablest ju
rists in the United States, veteran II
service to the people, recently wrote