The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1917-03-30

we'll enough be represented in ninety
cases out of one hundred by the
average legislature. The matters
usually determined by it are not of
the gravest Importance and even If
errors exist we may we'll put up
with them, but deeper matters of
principle hould, as the believers
feel, be subject to review at all
times by the people, the legislature
often failing to be representative for
reason given.
South Dakota among the States
of the Union was the first to rise to
an appreciation of this apparent
governmental defect, and adopt the
Initiative and Referendum as part
of it's government. In so doing it
followed an example set by SwitZer
land where, in both national and
cantonal government, the Initiative
and Referendum have protected the
people for scores of years. Oregon
quickly followed the lead of South
Dakota and from that time to the
present some eighteen or nineteen
states have followed their example,
among them the states Of the entire
western coast and Maine on the East,
northern states like Ohio and Mich
igan, and southern states like
Mississippi and Arkansas, Repub-
lican states and Democratic states.
No state of the Union having once
adopted the Initiative and Referen-
dunn has ever retraced this step.
The people, feeling themselves in
just control of their government,
have been exceedingly jealous of
any attempt to take way their
power.
In the foundation of our govern
ment leaders of constitutional con-
ventions felt an extreme reluctance
TO trust governmental control to the
hands of the people. For this
reason they provided, save in the
adoption of constitutions, exclusive
ly for representative government.
They may have been in a measure
excusable at that time, because the
average intelligence of the American
citizen of one hundred and forty
years ago was infinitely lower than
today. Schools were a rarity. Men
could not meet together to compare
ideas with the same freedom as now
Newspapers were almost unknown
and the republican idea was as
0rI1do fhonch wn11 founded tn rrir1
ciple, as were the social institutions
Of the day. The theory then was
that the people ignorant as they
were, could select superior men to
govern but were not themselves
equal to bearing any portion of the
direct responsibilities of government. |
Furthermore the machinery of direct
legislation on & wide scale had not
been invented, although very
crude approximation of the idea was
embodied in the State Constitution
of Georgia. Today these conditions
have changed and the mass of the
people are as wise on the average as
our legislators.
Some conception of truly demo
cratic government existed in Mary
land even in the beginning. Our
very term General Assembly"
meant at the time of the formation
of our Colonial government, the
physical gathering together of all
the people, the theory of represen
>ation coming into play quickly |
however, because of the difficulty of |
the people assembling together due
to their number, distances from the |
capital and condition of roads.
The Initiative and Referendum |
have been on trial in this country |
for eighteen years. When the peo-
pie of Maryland are asked to adopt |
The Initiative, they are entitled to
know something of it's workings in
the states of the Union which have |
'riod it out and the questions natur-
1llv arising shoHld he met This |
shall endeavor to do briefly in
another letter.
Hyattsville, Md,