The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1914-02-27
SOMETHING NEW

In lengthy editorial, dealing with
the problem of the high cost of gov
eminent, the Douglas County Press
makes the sweeping assertion that
the whole system is at fault and not
any one man or particular set OF men.
The Press says: Our legislative pro-
cedure is at fault. 1t comes down to
us as relic of the past when aris-
tocracy ruled and was afraid to give
the people a chance. 1t was framed
up at a time when the aristocracy
looked upon the people as hewers of
wood and drawers of water. made to
serve the few. The senate, house
and the Judiciary TO make the laws
is farce. 1t SINNERS down to the
judiciary at its last analysis, why not
do away with the legislature now that
We have the initiative and referendum.
Under its workings a legislature is
useless. Let the people demand what
laws they want through the initiative
instead of the legislature The gov
ernor and the judiciary can whip it
into legal phraseology, when it be-
comes a law, whether the governor
signs 1t or not. This would do away
with our 'log-rolling' legislature"
Ihls throws an entirely new light
on the development OF representative
government. wholly opposed to all
historical conceptions heretofore &C.
cepted. 1t is evident that the editor
OF the Press has been delving in
sources of information unknown to
other students of history and the
startling discoveries that he has made
ought TO revolutionize thought among
political economists. The suggestion
that the legislature can be dispensed
with now that We have direct legis-
lation, and that the governor and the
Judiciary can whip into legal phase
ology' the laws passed by the people
is as original and unique as the new
light on the origin OF representative
government.
This is all very interesting and in
structive, but as means of reducing
the cost of government it is wholly
impractical. \ legislative session or
dinarily costs about 100000. the 1911
session cost S96.703.4S, while the cost
of placing the seven initiative meas
ureS now before the people on the
statute books, or of rejecting them.
will, it is estimated, amount to near
the total of the appropriation made for
that purpose by the last legislature, or
100000. Besides this, the initiative
is not self-operating machine, it is
not automatic. 1t is a simple poten-
tial force. Therefore, when the Press
speaks of the people getting what they
want through the initiative does he
expect them TO rise in consort and
initiate the laws. or are self-appointel
and irresponsible representatives OF
the people to propose the laws. Some
one has TO start this system before it
will work. Ii is easy to use and any
one can learn how TO use it. No re-
81 onsibility for results rests upon the
person who puts the initiative in OF
GRAFTON. Anybody can start anything
that pops into his head, AMI pu, the
expense of accepting or reje, ling it
up to the people. All that is neceS-
sary is TO get a small number of
SlgnerS 10 a petition. That is the
easiest thing in the world, or one of
the easiest. The advocates Of dire I
legislation want TO make it sill eas
Ter By further reducing the number
OF signatures required on a petition
With no legislature to act as a SORT
OF digestive organ for the body polite.
where will the poor taxpayer get oft
under the system proposed by the
Press? The power that paper would
add 10 the executive and the judiciary
is more radically opposed TO democ-
raoy and democratic principles than
any suggestion that has been made
since Louis XIV declared Il am the
state"
The Press. exercising its peculiar
faculty of misunderstanding. inter
preted 4 recent editorial in the Ga
zette TO mean that the high cost Of
government is chargeable TO Ole Han
son, Bryan and Cotterill. Those gen.
tlemen were named as typical of a
class OF politicians who seek office by
advancing governmental fads in the
name of progress or of pure democ-
raCy without regard TO their cost o.
their value. The acceptance of these
fads by the people is what shoots up
the cost of government.
Haf-baked ideas of puzzlehea iSi
populists, TO use the language of our
old friend 7. Roosevelt, such for in
stance as q scheme TO govern wholly
by the initiative, are creating through
out this country a strong and decided
tendency TO drift away from estab-
hShed systems into costly and absurd
experiments.
Under the attractive banner of pro-