The Hawaiian gazette., 1917-01-09
COMMISSION GOVERNMENT
IN FIVE HUNDRED CITIES
PROVES ITSELF "A SUCCESS

aud that the commission which en-.
ploys the manager is itself subject TO
the recall, or its legislative policy sub
jeet to the initiative, and referendum,
the people are able TO understand that
while they are getting greater efficiefcy
of administration they thus remain in
constant control Of their government
Recall Rarely Used ..-
Now what are the facts concerning
the extent and character of the use to
which the initiative, referendum and
recall have been put in these munich
palitiesf Up TO this time u has been
customary for timid people under the
s,,eII OF reattionary leaders to approach
this subject with theoretical distrrst
and a priori reasoning The people
have been told by these backward,
looking leaders that the initiative and
referendum would endanger representa-.
tive government and some of them have
been frightened by the bogie of "mob
passion and minority rule. Others
have been led to believe that the voters
would be continually agitated and
wcaricd by special elections and by the
submission Of technical details of gov.
eminent to the ignorant voters.
Now what becomes of all this struc
turc of fine spun theory In the daylight
Of actual experience with this investi.
CATION by Equity brings to viewf The
fact is that wherever these instruments
nave been adopted by the voters they
have been used with great moderation.
ln a large majority Of cases the meas
urFs submitted 10 the voters have been
decided at regular elections rather than
at special elections, thus minimizing
the expense and trouble and not neces
sarily increasing the number of elec
tons. Nor has the use of the initia
tive and referendum in q single in
stance. endangered the representative
character of the government in the mb
inequalities where they have been in Of
Grafton. IL has conserved the repre-
sentative principle by obtaining better
representation from bodies responsive,
to public opinion. The voters have ex.
crcised these powers in orderly fashion
and with great moderation, while I'll.
amendment of charters has almost in
variably been initiated by the more in
telligent and conservative elements Of
the community. 49,. 81
Indirect Benefits
Out of the 449 municipalities so fat
heard from, 39G of them have available
to greater or less extent the instru
mcnts Of popular control (the initia
tive, referendum and recalD. The au
thOritatiye reports which have been re
ccivcd from these municipalities shoy
that only l3S of them have made an,
use whatever of the initiative, refercn
dun and recall. 81. 49,.
However,, the inference must not b,
hastily drawn that the, 252 municipal
ties which have so far never used the
initiative and referendum or the REGAL
have not been benefited by their exist
ence. Reports from q large number Of
these cities defnitely6say that the com /,
missioners or other officials have beer
more attentive to their duty and NOR,
careful in the exercise of their author
ity, and have shown keener sense of
their responsibility 20 the people be
cause of the knowledge that the voter
could at any time end their tenure OF
Office or direct their course of action.
This is especially true of the recall, al
though IL has been used much less FIRE
quently than either the initiative or tn.
referendum. Frequently the reports
say that recall proceedings were begun
but never completed, and that the
course of the commissioners was so in,
fiueneed by this attempt at a recall
that it was found unnecessary to pro
coed furthet. tt.g.., ...
From tabulation of the replies re.
ceived by Equity, it is foundd that vir.
tually ell of the reports which say any
thing about the advantage or disadvan'
tage of the initiative, referendum and
recall agree that the effect of these in.
struments is excellent. Most of those
which say nothing on this point are
from cities which have not had oeca
sion as yet TO use these instrume nts.
In no single instance does q report in
dictate a disposition on the part of the
voters to surrender their right thus di.
rectly to exercise their authority in
case of necessity.
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