The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-11-16

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In that election, which occA5red
Nov. Z, 1873. majority o. nearly
$500 votes were cast tacitly In
stFuctng the delegates to put n
The initiative and rekereudurh.
That this instruction was not
heeded By the convention Il adj
mitted BY everyone, and By Mr..
Green, spokesman Of the conven-
tion, the further admission Is made
that SECTION a was put IN there to
keep the Legislature ever from CO.
acting constitutional statute 70
apply that principle in the state Of
Illinois.
Il cannot but admire Mr.. Green's
courage. not only in defending this
clause in its evident purpose. but In
blending such defense with q dec
iaration against MS principle
which we call tho Initiative and
referendum. In SO doing he brings
up for closer scrutiny q much dis
cussed principle, OF government, but
concerning which l ind little un-
derstanding of Its true meaning and
purpose.
There are now II states which
have the initiative and referendum
in their constitutions, and though
its application may vary slightly in
each state, 1t is generally the same.
In Ohio, for example, after an ex-
tended debate, the constitutional
convention of 1912 inserted the
principle in this form: A three per
cent petition duly filed with the
secretary Of state within the speci-
fed time halts any act Of the legis-
latuge going into effect, whereupon
that proposed law must be referred
to the voters of the state as a pub
lie policy question in referendum
election such as we are now hold
ing. If it receives majority of
the votes cast for it, the measure
becomes the law of the state and
the governor has no power to veto
it; but if it is defeated at the polls,
then it is killed, or as you might
say, vetoed by the people.
Liberating Constitution.
Upon 10 per cent petition in
Ohio a constitutional amendment
may be brought before the legisla-
ture, and later, upon the signing OF
supplementary petition of three
per cent Of the legal voters Of the
state it is referred to the polls in
the same way, except that the vot-
ers are privileged to choose be-
tween the amendment in it's origi-
nal form and in its amended form,
in case the legislature in its wis
dom has seen tit to change it.
This has resulted in liberating
the constitution of Ohio from such
basic law of Illinois, which, in any
way to modernize it, has not been
amended by the people since the
year 1886. The Ohio constitution,
like that of other states having the
initiative and referendum, contains
much good which is only dreamed
of in Illinois. Most of these states,
for instance, have nOn-partisan ju-
! dicial elections, stricter corrupt
practices and anti-lobbying laws,
better tax laws. ETC., as the result
of liberating their super-law from
untimely restrictions.
Il know that the claim is made
fthat this new constitution has a
more liberal amending clause than
the old; but this / shall have to
, challenge, for the reason that while
} it allows two proposed amendments
| to 60 through the Legislature at a
time, in place of one, it provides
that in order to pass at the polls
/ enough votes must be cast for the
amendment to equal majority of
the votes cast for state representa-
tives. AS the 1873 candidates for
members of the house in the aggre-
gate call large vote out in every
election, larger in fact than any
public policy queAton has been
known to receive, this little provi-
sion in my judgment practically
bars any change being made in
this proposed constitution if adopt
ed. and this is most serious phase
of the question now before US, for
many provisions in this document
are of problematic effect, and as l
feel, some Of them are not going to
be wanted by the people after court
construction is placed upon them"