OLDER STATES NOW FAVOR POPULAR RULE
Older States Now Favor Popular Rule WEST VIRGINIA, Pennsylvania and Florida are battlefields in which the National Progressive Republican League is taking great interest and campaigns for the...
...The success of the movement in other states has greatly encouraged the West Virginia progressives...
...The initiative and referendum also were included in the Arizona constitution which has been approved by the people of that territory, and will be made a part of the constitution when Arizona becomes a state...
...Governor Chase S. Osborn of Michigan has furnished the National Progressive Republican League an argument in support of that plank of their platform which advocates the adoption of the recall as applied to all elective officers...
...The League is in receipt of numerous inquiries as to the number of states in which the initiative and referendum have been adopted or submitted...
...The difficulty over election of Senators at the regular session has crystal-ized public opinion in West Virginia in favor of the Oregon plan, and the advocates of that system will fight uncompromisingly...
...While this may be their privilege, it indicates the finite character of our courts and proves to my mind that any recall law that might be enacted should apply to the judiciary with equal force as to other officers of government...
...If that is true, then judges now permit their decisions and judicial action to be influenced by desire for renomination, reelection or promotion...
...Amendments have been endorsed by legislatures and submitted to a vote of the people in California, Wyoming, Colorado, Washington, Nebraska and North Dakota...
...The West Virginia legislature has been called in special session to enact a direct primary law and efforts will be made to secure the enactment of the Oregon law which provides for direct nomination and election of United States Senators...
...I challenge Gov...
...Much has been said and written about 'half-baked ideas...
...When the initiative and referendum fight was taken up in the Pennsylvania Legislature two months ago, there was no hope of favorable action...
...There is no such thing as harmony or compromise on a fundamental...
...Nevertheless, the progressives, under the leadership of State Grange officers and leaders of the Keystone party, worked vigorously for the adoption of the initiative and referendum resolution...
...The judiciary committees of the Senate and House of Representatives in the Pennsylvania legislature surprised the progressives last week by reporting favorably upon resolutions in each house providing for the submission of an initiative and referendum amendment practically in the Oregon form...
...While it is not expected that the resolution will be adopted, the National Progressive Republican League feels that the campaign in Pennsylvania will make that state a field for successful efforts in the next campaign...
...A strong blow to the opponents of the recall as applied to all elective officers is the endorsement of the Oregon system, signed by four cf the five supreme judges of that state...
...For the information of those interested, the following statement is made: The initiative and referendum have been adopted in Oregon, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Maine, Montana, South Dakota and Nevada...
...In his veto message Governor Osborn said among other things: "This bill has been lobbied for actively by members of the Supreme Court, actuated by selfish purposes...
...The National Progressive Republican League will make use of this in its campaign for adoption of the recall throughout the United States...
...Largely through the efforts of these two men, much of the opposition to the initiative and referendum was overcome...
...in a recent statement...
...One of the stock arguments against the initiative and referendum is that this constitutional provision unsettles business and shakes confidence in property rights...
...With deep regret I have read reports of criticisms made by Governor Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt against the recall as applicable to judicial officers...
...The Michigan Legislature recently passed a bill repealing the requirement that supreme judges shall reside at the capital...
...The Florida legislature is now in session and the submission of the initiative and referendum is one of the principal issues before that body...
...The Oregon recall amendment applies to judges as well as to other officers, and no complaint has ever been made that it has exerted an improper influence upon the judiciary...
...That a state in which popular government exists is attractive to home-seekers is indicated by the fact that 35,000 people bought one-way tickets to the northwest during a brief settlers' excursion period this spring, a majority of these settlers going to Oregon...
...Those advocating the initiative, but opposing the recall of judges are inconsistent and demonstrate a lack cf study and grasp of the subject...
...Roosevelt to deny it...
...The Progressive Republican League sent Senator Clapp, one of its members, to address the judiciary committee, while the Democratic Federation sent Senator Owen for similar service...
...They fear that if judges are made subject to recall they will lose their independence and permit their opinions and official actions to be influenced...
...Progressives in both houses of Congress feel confident of favorable action on the admission of Arizona notwithstanding the popular government features of its constitution...
...The most that was hoped for was a free discussion and the building up of public sentiment...
...Wilson and Col...
...In Oregon where the recall is in practical operation, and where it applies to judges as well as to other elective officers, there has not been a single suggestion of recalling any judge...
...In his speech on "Popular Government," Senator Bourne contended that this was not true, but that Oregon is more prosperous today than ever before...
...Governor Osborn vetoed this bill for the reason that the judges on a previous occasion had agreed in consideration of an increase in their salaries, that they would reside at the capital...
...Some individuals assume that the people proceeding under the recall act from passion and prejudice and without reason...
...Most of the opposition to the constitution has subsided except that directed against the provision for the recall of all elective officers including judges...
...The objection of these two eminent gentlemen is not so much a criticism of the recall as it is a reflection upon the integrity and intelligence of the American people, and the integrity and courage of the judiciary...
...Some individuals have posed as harmonizers and compromisers...
...Older States Now Favor Popular Rule WEST VIRGINIA, Pennsylvania and Florida are battlefields in which the National Progressive Republican League is taking great interest and campaigns for the adoption of some of the principles of the League are in progress in the legislatures of these states...
...The thing is either right or wrong...
...To refer to the majority of the people acting deliberately in a recall election as 'mob rule' is an unwarranted insult to the American electorate...
...said Senator Jonathan Bourne, Jr...
...The basic principle underlying the recall is whether the people are capable of self-government...
Vol. 3 • June 1911 • No. 24
