The weekly Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1911-1922, 1912-02-29


30 much for the ends of govern
ment; and 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 mr.
ment pretend to work out in detail the
methods Of achieving your purposes.
Let me at the outset urge upon you to
remember that, while machinery Is
important, 1t is easy to overestimate
Its importcnce; and, moreover, that
each community has the absolute right
TO determine for itself what that ma
chinery shall be, subject only to the
fundamental law of the nation as ex-
pressed in the Constitution of the Uni
ted States. In, the first place,
believe in the short ballot. You can
not get good service from the public
servant If you cannot see him, and
there is no more effective way OF hid
ing him than by mixing him up with
multitude of others so that they are
none of them important enough to
catch the eye of the average, worka-
day citizen. The professional politi-
clan and the professional lobbyist
thrive most rankly under a system
which provides a multitude OF cleo
tive officers, of such divided response
bility and of such obscurity that the
public knows, and can know, but little
as to their duties and the way they
perform them. The people have moth
ing whatever to fear from giving any
public servant power so long as they
retain their own power to hold him
accountable for his use of the power
they have delegated to him.
believe in providing for direct nom
nations by the people, including there
in direct preferential primaries for the
election of delegates to the national
nominating conventions.
/ believe in the election of United
States senators by direct vote. Just
as actual experience convinced our
people that presidents should be
elected Gas they now are in practice,
although not in theory by direct vote
of the people instead of by direct vote
through an untrammeled electoral col
lege, so actual experience has con-
vinced US that senators should be
elected by direct vote of the people
instead of indirectly through the vari-
Gus legislatures.
! believe in the initiative and the
rofn drrr, xxyhfn he nS
to destroy representative government,
but to correct 1t whenever it becomes
misrepresentation. Here again / am
concerned not with theories but with
actual facts. II in any state the peo-
pie are themselves satisfied with their
present representative system, then
it Is of course their right to keep that
system unchanged; and 1t is nobody's
business but theirs. But in actual
practice it has been found in very
many states that legislative bodies
have not been responsive to the popu-
lar will Therefore believe that the
state should provide for the possibility
of direct popular action in order to
make good such legislative failure.
Wisconsin Method Praised.
In recent speech Governor Meow
ern of Wisconsin has described the
plan which has been there adopted.
Under this plan the effort to obtain
the law is first to be made through
the legislature, the bill being pushed
as far as it will go; so that the details
OK the proposed measure may be
threshed over in actual legislative de-
bate. This gives opportunity to per
feet it in form and invites public
scrutiny. Then, if the legislature fails
to enact it, it can be enacted by the
people on their own initiative, taken
at least four months before election.