New Ulm review., 1912-10-16

IN the state. county, or city, as thu
case may be, to sign the petition, w
can have that proposed law, amend
ment, or repeal, voted on at the next
general election. II 1t is a very urg
ent matter, we can make the petition
provide for a special election. II Al
the election majority vote in favor
of It, then it becomes the law at once
There Is no delay. We don't have to
rely exclusively on the legislature, ol
the county board, or the city council
We do 1t ourselves. And when we
have said that the law shall be thus
and so, then it remains the law until
we change it ourselves. Nobody else
can interfere with it. No court can
declare 1t unconstitutional. It will
have all the force and effect Of con.
stitutional amendment.
viii Not Destroy Representative Gov.
ernment.
The principle argument used against
the initiative is that it will destroy
representative government.
.
1t is not proposed to abolish the "
legislature. We propose to retain :
the legislature just as it is now.
We propose to have it convene =
every two years. just as 1t does :
now. When in your private busi-
ness you reserve the right to do :
work yourself that your servant =
*.neglects to do, that does not mean :
that you intend to do all the work :
yourself. 1t does not mean that =
you propose to get along without
help. It only means that you keep
control of your own business. It
means that you are taking precau
tions that will insure the works
being done-even if you have to
do it yourself.
That is all there is to the initiative
We propose to reserve the right to do
for ourselves what our legislature neg
lects to do. 1t is a precaution to in
sure that the majority shall rule. The
probability is that it will not have to
be used very often. The legislature
will be more apt to do our bidding
when we have the power to enact laws
for ourselves. This is not prophesy.
This statement is based upon the eX-
perience of countries where the initia-
tive and referendum have been tried
for a long period of time. Under it's
operation legislative assemblies have
become so sensitive to public demands
that the initiative and referendum are
very seldom resorted to, for the simple
reason that the legislature anticipates
the will of the people and makes it
unnecessary to use the weapon.
-
Woodrow Wilson called it the
gun behind the door. That is the
best description of this principle Il
that could we'll be given. The gun
behind the door is there for pro-
lection in case it is needed. 1t is =
not intended to shoot at every =
passerby. =
Bad Legislation Caused BY Lobbyists.
Legislation in the interest of the =
people is most often defeated +
" through the efforts of a swarm of !"
y lobbyists. Lobbyists are support "
* ed by big business, to influence =
legislation in it's own favor. But, =
* who will go to great expense for
" lobby to control legislation when =
y the people themselves have the Il
power at any time to do what the
= legislature neglects to do? The =
Lords prayer says, Lead US not
into temptation" We have been =
= leading our lawmakers into temp
tatiOn at the hands of the lobby. y
We propose now to lead them out =
Of temptation.
: =
Referendum Is Initiative Reversed.
The referendum is merely the
initiative working backward. It
is set in motion in the same man.
ner, by a petition. But it applies
81 to laws that have been passed by
the legislature. If the legislature
passes law that we do not want,
we repeal it. In this way we lead
our legislators out of temptation "
again. For who will maintain an
= expensive lobby or who will cor /
rupt the legislature to pass a law
likely to repeal?
r.
So it is plain that the initiative and
lclcI Cuuulu Will IOL uCSCIOy TSpIcSou-
tative government. On the contrary,
it will strengthen representative gov
at one of the points where
experience has shown it to be weak
The Recall.
+
The recall is also power that
we reserve to ourselves in all our 81
private business. When we en-
gage an agent to do our business
for us, We reserve the right to dis
charge him if he persists in carry
ing on our business in way that
we do not approve. That is what *
we now propose to do in our pub '
lie business. We propose to dis "
charge our agents when they per-
sist in doing things of which we "
do not approve.
** s. * s.
Dare You Trust Yourselves.
+ + 4 + i :s
The whole problem is very sim 81
pie. 1t reduces itself into the 81
plain question, Do you dare trust
yourselves? This is the para Il
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