GIVING TO THE PEOPLE THE RIGHT TO RULE
Huber, Henry A.
Giving to the People the Right to Rule Proposed Initiative and Referendum Amendment to Wisconsin Constitution Will Insure Representative Government By HENRY A. HUBER (Lieutenant-Governor of...
...who shall pass upon the adequacy of petitions...
...If twenty per cent of the voters so petition, however, a special election must be called to act upon any proposed measure...
...Even a law declared to be an emergency act is subject to a referendum, but unlike other laws takes effect immediately and remains in force until thirty days after it has been rejected by the people...
...Even if some future state legislature should be hostile to the initiative and referendum, it cannot take away this right from the people by refusing to enact or by repealing legislation necessary to give it effect...
...Due to the fact that legislatures of their own accord submitted many proposals to a vote of the people, there were two initiative and referendum states which in 1924 had what might be called an excessive number of propositions on their ballots...
...The initiative and referendum does not destroy the importance of the legislature, but affords a means of making the legislature responsive to the people...
...C. 13...
...but the legislature will be much more responsive to the will of the people than it is now...
...The greatest traitor to democracy is the man who has no time to devote to the state and no intciest in its welfare...
...The other two-Initiative and Referendum—are now before the legislature...
...The initiative and referendum is not a new and untried measure...
...The people, of course, have made some mistakes...
...No one fights it here but the corporation and grafting politicians it has put out of a job...
...and the second that no initiated measure shall be voted upon which proposes to abolish the constitutional right of parents to educate their children according to their religious convictions...
...how, publicity shall be given to the measures to be voted upon by the people...
...it will tend to "mate our government one 'of laws' and not 'of men' as the Bill of Rights insists it should be...
...The legislature may pass legislation to facilitate the operation of the initiative and referendum...
...There may be some who believe in the intitiative and referendum who think that the percentage of signers required is either too high or too low, or who believe that some of the safeguards in this amendment are unnecessary...
...but all the really essential machinery is provided for in the amendment itself...
...All who object to some such matter of detail, however, should not lose sight of the fact that, if the proposed amendment is not approved by the present legislature, at least two years, and probably more will be lost before the people of Wisconsin can have the initiative and the referendum...
...On the floor of the Wisconsin state senate, during the session of 1921, the opponents of the initiative and referendum went so far as to say that if the initiative and referendum were written into our constitution "that on some election day a frenzied mob might go to the polls and wipe out the whole constitution...
...This Amendment provides for the publication of an information pamphlet to be sent to all the voters of the state, which 1b to contain the text of the proposed measures, followed by the arguments pro and con and a sample copy of the ballot...
...Ever since Wisconsin was admitted to the Union the people have enjoyed the referendum upon amendments to the constitution...
...I have had about as much as I want of your kind of politics.'" During my legislative experience covering a period of some sixteen or eighteen years, I have known of instances where members of the legislatures treated platform pledges as a farce and had no regard for the interests of the people...
...Just as the initiative and referendum is a check upon extreme radical action by the legislature, so it is also a check upon reactionary legislation, and is the instrument of growth and advancement in government...
...For every mistake made by the people, however, hundreds of mistakes made by legislatures can be cited...
...Since 1920 a great drive has been made upon the primary election system by the reactionaries everywhere, and several states have repealed their primary laws...
...Rights Are Safeguarded T.HE DETAILS of this proposed amendment, thus, I believe, can be dismissed entirely from consideration...
...As illustrations may be cited the model forestry law passed by Massachusetts in 11)19, the state budget law of California of 1922, and the 1924 constitutional amendment for home rule, of cities of Arkansas...
...Retained in Every State WHAT is the most significant is that no state which has adopted the initiative and referendum has abandoned this device after a trial...
...I sincerely hope that the initiative and referendum passed at the last session of the legislature will be concurred in at this session, then ratified by the people and the God-given right —direct government—written into the constitution of our state...
...The propesed Wisconsin amendment is well safeguarded in yet another respect, namely, in the matter of the drafting of initiated measures...
...This is one of the most important measures ever proposed in this state...
...The individual voter has at most had less than a hundred measures in the initiative and referendum states...
...that it does away with representative form of* government...
...In this connection it is to be noted also that there were but two states in which more than seven measures were voted on in 1924, including those submitted by the legislatures...
...how they shall be placed on the ballot and how the vote shall be counted and canvassed, are all set forth in the amendment itself, and no legislature can tamper therewith...
...Contrary to oftmadc claims, no extraordinary large number of proposals have come before the people through the initiative and referendum...
...Pending Before Legislature THE MORE important right of initiating and passing upon legislation, however, still remains to be won...
...In the-last analysis, the statewide initiative and referendum is but another step in the long struggle between the reactionaries and the progressives which has gone on for ages...
...As a first step toward providing such machinery, the constitution was amended in the last general election to provide for the recall...
...Thanks to the fact that Oklahoma has the initiative and referendum, however, this crisis was safely passed, through the adoption of an amendment at a special election, allowing the legislature to meet without the call of the governor...
...As a matter of fact, he is in a much better position than the average legislator, who may have a thousand or more bills with which to familiarize himself over a period of six months, at most...
...Nineteen states now have both the initiative and referendum on a state-wide basis and two other states have the referendum, but not the initiative...
...The people are not revolutionary', but neither arc they reactionary...
...This is perhaps best illustrated by the votes of the people upon proposals to repeal or cripple primary election laws...
...In every instance the peopla have sustained the primaries by "overwhelming majorities...
...Among the states which have both the initiative and the referendum are Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio.—states which no one would think of describing as radical...
...Enough progressives have been elected to both houses so that there ought to be no trouble about concurrence...
...Through the referendum it is proposed to give to the people the power to review any law passed by the legislature, and through the initiative the power to themselves enact laws...
...Yet this is a wise provision, as demonstrated in Oklahoma a few years ago, in the crisis which culminated in the impeachment and removal of Governor Walton for high crimes and misdemeanors...
...Judson King, the secretary of the National Popular Government League, an organization with which Robert M. La Follette was long associated, has said that the proposed Wisconsin amendment is the most perfect initiative and referendum measure which has ever been prepared in this country...
...In the twenty-two states which have the referendum, 6,341 laws ware passed by the legislatures in their last sessions preceding the general election of 1924...
...As these figures clearly establish the initiative and referendum is not a device to substitute direct legislation by the people for indirect legislation through the legislature...
...Since the required twenty per cent means over 100,000 signatures, such a special election will occur but rarely, if ever...
...The worst foe of democracy after all is * * '• our own apathy, ignorance, and selfishness...
...This power may be exercised either with reference to a bili which the legislature has refused to pass or as to an entirely new measure...
...Power to Make New Laws BESIDES this power to approve or reject laws passed by the legislature, the proposed amendment confers upon the people the power to initiate and, by a majority vote, to pass legislation...
...Beyond question, legislatures are very much more apt to act radically than are the people...
...Thus, in 1924, seven per cent more votes were cast in North Dakota upon a proposal to revise the election laws than were cast for governor in the same election...
...The initiative and referendum paves the way so that people can take matters into their own hands when betrayed by their representatives...
...Mr...
...but it behooves all who believe in government by the people to be on their guard...
...Similar^ fears are now expressed as to the initiative and referendum, but already there is abundant evidence that these fears are wholly groundless...
...3B There are three great weapons which the voters can use to give them for all time real popular government...
...In these same states 26 initiated measures V ere voted on, of which 11 were constitutional ' tmendments...
...If it is a new measure, eight per cent of the voters must sign the petitions...
...The furnishing of accurate information to the people upon both sides of the proposed measures is one of the really vital matters in connection with the initiative and referendum...
...The statewide initiative and referendum is, thus, but an extension of institutions which have long existed in this state and worked well...
...Importance of Proposal '-pHE VALUE of the initiative and referen-A dum is not therefore merely negative...
...The people have not been misled either by wholesale propaganda or the tricky wording of questions...
...Unless declared to be an emergency act by a two-thirds vote of both houses, the filing of such a referendum petition operates to suspend the enforcement of any law against which such a petition has been filed, until thirty days after it has been approved by vote of the people...
...In most states, he has a dozen measures...
...In a few states attempts to do so have been made, but these have always been overwhelmingly defeated by the people...
...Surely, if the members of the legislature can act intelligently upon 1,0*7 bills in a ninety-day session, the people can vote intelligently upon 29 measures submitted to them...
...Those who voted against this proposal did so because they did not believe in the principle of the initiative and referendum, and not becan-:- they had any fault to find with the specific provisions of tha amendment...
...Nov have the people voted blindly...
...The people, in voting upon initiated and referred measures, have seldom acted radically and have sometimes acted extremely conservatively...
...The initiative and referendum contemplates that the great majority of all laws will continue to be enacted by the legislature...
...Frederick I* Anderson, in addressing the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention held at Boston in 1918, said: '"The initiative and referendum will recall the minds of the voters_from men to measures...
...There is nothing quite so vital as that the people should take an interest in their government...
...Oregon, for instance, repealed its income tax law through the initiative in 1924...
...An amendment to the state constitution giving the people the initiative and referendum is now pending, having passed both houses of the 1925 legislature by a large vote...
...Proposal Is Not Radical THERE is nothing that is revolutionary or radical about the initiative and referendum...
...The fact that the people may reject any act passed by the legislature and may initiate and pass any law they see fit, will materially improve the character of all legislation...
...This brings us to the fundamental question: Does the initiative and referendum promote better government ? Whenever in the past de-'mocracy has been extended, many fears have been expressed by the conservatively inclined...
...Similarly, the people may initiate amendments to the constitution, but the signature of ten per cent of the voters is required for this purpose...
...The largest number of initiated and referred measures in any state was but six (in North Dakota...
...Just after the election of 1916 the leading corporation lobbyist in the state said to me: *I can easily beat you fellows in the legislature, but when you go to the people and get us into the open, you have no trouble in winning your case...
...Every effort will doubtless be made to keep the legislature from concurring in this amendment...
...they are progressive...
...that it does away with the legislature...
...Under the constitution of Oklahoma, as it stood when this crisis arose, there was no way of getting the legislature into special session except upon call of the governor, who, fearing impeachment, refused to issue such a call...
...Kigley, at one time Master of the State Grange of Washington, and a farm leader of national reputation, said: "The people of Washington have tried out the initiative and referendum and proved their worth...
...In contrast with the 20 measures voted upon by the people in Missouri in 1924, the legislature of that state in its ninety-day session in 1923 acted upon 1,087 bills...
...Amendment Is Complete AS THIS provision illustrates, the proposed Wisconsin amendment seeks to provide for every contingency which may arise...
...In several elections more votes have been cast upon such measures than for state officers...
...The reason is evident...
...The large number of questions upon which the people had to vote in these states, moreover, was much less than the number of proposals which regularly come before legislatures...
...For many years, moreover, the statutes of this state have given the people of cities and counties the right to initiate local and county ordinances and to bring ordinances passed by their' councils or county boards to a referendum vote...
...Not Complicated For Voter EE...
...and whenever a forward step has been taken in this direction the people have demonstrated that they are to he trusted...
...Any initiated or referred measure which the requisite number of voters have petitioned to be put upon the ballot, goes in regular course to a vote of the people at the next general election...
...but experience has always proven that the people can be trusted...
...Upon the filing of a petition signed by qualified electors equal in number to six per cent of the total number of persons who voted for gov^ ernor in the last preceding election, within ninety days after the publication of any act passed by the legislature, such act must be submitted to a vote of the people...
...Not one objection was made to any of its detailed provisions during the extended debates upon this proposal in the 1925 legislature...
...In fact, the number of proposals submitted to the people by the legislatures themselves has been much greater than the number of measures brought to a vote by petition...
...You may as well talk of changing this state into a monarchy as to expect the people to return to the old system...
...and they have always manifested remarkable interest in elections on initiated or referred measures...
...Witte, Chief of the Legislative Refer-• ence Library, Mtedison, Wisconsin, recently said: "Opponents of the initiative and referendum urge that the voter has too many detailed measures to study them carefully...
...The most important of the beneficial results of the initiative and referendum lies in the education of the electorate...
...2.—(Referendum, 3.—Recall...
...This has not occurred, however, in any state which ha3 the initiative and referendum, although in six of these states such proposals have come to a vote of the people...
...One of these is that Article I of the constitution, which is the bill of rights, may not be amended by the initiative...
...Many more of the measures submitted to the individual voter in all the states are submitted voluntarily by the legislature than through either the initiative or referendum...
...On the contrary, their votes indicate remarkable discrimination, in spite of the fact that in some states questions are allowed to be stated negatively on the ballot (a practice barred by the proposed Wisconsin amendment...
...These were Missouri with 29 proposals and California with 18 proposals, but of these all but four in each State were voluntarily submitted by the legislatures...
...Much of the opposition originally manifested towards the initiative and referendum by conservatives has disappeared in the states which have actually tried this proposal...
...and all but 5 were defeated...
...This is with regard to providing machinery for direct SM government by the people...
...Under the constitution, however, this amendment must he approved also by the 1927 legislature before it can go to a yote of the people...
...Similarly, practically all other reactionary proposals have been voted down by the people...
...and experience has already demonstrated that the initiative and referendum means better government as well as more popular government...
...There are only two limitations upon the power of the people to initiate laws and constitutional ame>\dments...
...If the legislature responds to the will of the people, of course there will be no action by the people...
...Of these 6,341 laws, 14 ojily were submitted fo a vote of the people through referendum petitions...
...Gradually government has been made more and more responsive to the people...
...This was an important victory, won in the face of a bitter attack, which came at so late an hour that it misled thousands of voters...
...If the bill is one which the legislature refused to pass, the signature of six per cent of the voters is necessary to get it before the people for a vote...
...The fundamental purpose of the initiative and referendum is to bring government doner to the people...
...In view of its demonstrated success, progressive Wisconsin, surely, should now join the large number of states which already have the statewide initiative and referendum...
...Twenty-Two States Have It FINALLY, the initiative and referendum does not mean that the legislature will lose any of its present importance...
...How petitions shall be circulated, signed and verified...
...In the general election of 1924, 175 constitutional amendments and 19 laws were submitted to a vote of the people throughout the United States by action of the legislatures, while there were but 40 initiated and referred measures altogether...
...These are: 1.—Initiative...
...The argument is sometimes advanced against the initiative and referendum that it is radical and socialistic...
...in many only one or two at each election...
...With few exceptions, the people have acted wisely upon all propositions which have come before them through the initiative and referendum...
...It wiu quicken the flagging political interest of our citizenship if real questions, vitally affecting our political and social life, are forced into the foreground of attention...
...In this respect, as in many others, the Wisconsin amendment incorporates what has been found to be the best practice in other states...
...Giving to the People the Right to Rule Proposed Initiative and Referendum Amendment to Wisconsin Constitution Will Insure Representative Government By HENRY A. HUBER (Lieutenant-Governor of Wisconsin) fF- -WISCONSIN is known far and wide Was a progressive state, but in one respect it has lagged behind many _ other states...
...On the contrary,-much very good legislation owes its enactment to this device...
...People Cling To It THE FEELING of the great majority everywhere, in states having adopted the initiative and referendum, was well expressed by William Spence of Oregon: "The common people of Oregon would not give up the initiative and referendum...
...One of these Wisconsin has...
...Similarly, it has been a frequent practice since the earliest days of statehood for the legislature voluntarily to submit important measures to a vote of the people before becoming effective...
...Of course, this line of argument, in opposition to the initiative and referendum, ought not to be considered seriously, and yet some well meaning men and women are misled by it...
...None of the dire consequences predicted by reactionaries has ever followed the extension of democracy...
...and no method has yet been found which is more helpful in this respect than the initiative and referendum...
...To prevent desertions in the legislature and to insure favorable action upon this amendment at the polls, it is important that all progressives should take an active interest in this proposal and should get behind it to a man...
...Under the Wisconsin amendment there is no danger that initiated- measures will be poorly drafted and that our laws will get into a muddle, because such bills will be drafted by the same agency which drafts the bills for the legislature, namely, the legislative reference library...
...Of fourteen states which have initiated or referred measures on their ballots in the general election of 1924, nine recorded seventy per cent of their total vote upon these measures...
Vol. 19 • January 1927 • No. 1
