li 6
The Commoner
VOLUME 11, NUMBER 1J
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rntlfled by tho referendum vote. Thoro nre pro
visions In most of tho coiiHtitutions of the states
of tho union which throw restrictions upon tho
actions of legislative bodies in ordor to pre
vent the passago of laws contrary to tho wishes
of tho people. Tho courts of our land have
generally construed strictly those constitutional
provisions, oven when tho law enacted is a good
moaBuro. Tho tendency of the courts upon
tho constitutional provisions, in my judgment,
would bo greatly modified if the same measures
woro submitted to tho people for their approval
or rejection. Tho sanctity of tho voto of tho
people upon a measuro would oven offect tho
Judiciary in tho construction of laws and con
stitutional provisions.
"Tho state of Oregon, I beliovo, has tho best
laws of any commonwealth of tho union. These
oxcollont laws have been placed upon its statute
books by reason of having tho power to submit
tho Bamo to tho people under the initiative and
referendum.
"Tho contention that tho people will enact
unwiso measures is predicated upon tho theory
that they are incapable of self-government. In
asmuch as the end of all government is tho
happiness of its citizens, it is not absurd to con
tend tho peoplo will hurt themselves by their
own votes upon measures submitted to thom
Bolvos? Do you beliovo that tho average legis
lator can decide for you what you want better
than you can decido for yoursolf?
"Tho adoption of tho initiative and referen
dum will placo in tho hands of tho people tho
tools by which they can force tho enactment of
good measures; laws which tho masses of the
peoplo favor. Under them infamous laws can
not bo ouacted and corrupt and untrustworthy
officials, when detected, cannot longer represent
a good constituency. The rule of the people,
in my judgment, is the most important question
of tho ago. Tho people become indignant on
account of tho repeated and flagrant violations
of public duty by men who pledged reforms and
then after election forgot and deliberately
repudiated the same. The public becomes in
censed at tho legislators and members of city
councils who are continually thwarting tho will
of the peoplo and voting against wholesome
legislation at tho instance of gigantic corpora
tions. Tho battle cry of 'the rule of the people
Is spreading thrdughout tho land without re
gard to political affiliations. States are adopting
tho initiative and referendum by overwhelming
majorities. Oregon adopted tho samo in 1902
by a voto of 62,024 in favor of 5,6G8 against
tho same. In Colorado, notwithstanding a great
campaign organization existed against the
measures, they were passed by a vote of 89,141
in favor of, to 28,698 agianst tho same. Staid
old Maino cast 51,591 votes for and only 23,712
votes against. Old conservative Missouri carried
tho initiative and referendum by a majority of
over 25,000. South Dakota, Utah, Nevada, Mon
tana, Arkansas and Oklahoma have each adopted
these great principles of government by a vote
of three to one. Even in Illinois, where there
has been what is called tho 'public opinion" law,
which is simply advisory to the legislature, a
voto at tho state election in 1902 upon the
popular petition or a local referendum law re
sulted in a vote in favor of the samo of 390,
970 to 83,377, a voto of four to one. A second
voto taken at the general election of November,
1904, on a similar question of establishing a
local peoples veto, resulted in tho overwhelm
ing voto in its favor, of 535,501 to 95,420, over
five to one. Notwithstanding those strong ad
visory votes in tho state of Illinois, the legisla
ture has refused to put before the peoplo the
measures which such over-whelming majorities
demanded. If tho vote of the people of Illinois
could bo expressed, after the exposition of cor
ruption in tho legislature of that state which
has recently been investigated by grand juries,
I have no doubt tho initiative and referendum
would be carried by a vote as large as that
with which it was carried In Oregon.
"Initiative and referendum laws have been
adopted in cities in the union by overwhelming
majorities. They were adopted in Los Angeles
by a vote of 12,105 to 1,955, or a vote of six
to one The movement in California which was
started by Los Angeles has been followed in
that state by tho cities of Sacramento, San
Bernadino, San Diego, Pasadena, Eureka, Santa
Monico, Alamada, Santa Cruz, Long Beach,
Riverside, Santa Barbara, Palo Alto, Richmond
and Berkeley.
"Under a law passed by the legislature of the
state of Kansas in 1909, giving to cities that
desire it tho right of tho initiative and referen
dum, there has been a large number of cities
-which have availed themselves of this privilege
Now tho right to enact laws by direct legisla
tion exists in the cities of Leavenworth, Anthony,
Independence, Hutchinson, Wichita, Kansas City,
Coffeyville, Topeka and Parsons, Haverhill and
Gloucester, Mass,; Kansas City, Mo.; St.
Joseph, Mo.; Portland, Oro.; Seattle, Spokane
and Tacoma, Wash.; Lewiston, Idaho, and
Buffalo, N. Y., together with many other cities
now have tho right to enact direct legislation.
"Tho initiative and referendm laws are no
longer experiments; nine states in the - union
have adopted the same. Tho wholesome legis
lation passed by the city which first adopted
theso measures is extending now to nearly all
of the cities of the union and I have the greatest
confidence that these great reform measures will
bo adopted by tho peoplo of the state of Ne
braska at tho next general election. In my
judgment ,the highest consideration of good
government -demands the passage of theso
measures."
SENATOR KERN'S SPEECH
Senator John W. Kern, of Indiana, said: "I
want to assure you that I did not travel from
Indianapolis to Lincoln to make a tariff speech
for the enlightenment of the intelligent peoplo
of this great agricultural state, for I am per
ectly aware that by the long series of object
lessons, given year by year by republican pro
fessors, your education on that subject has been
so completely rounded out that not even a post
graduate course is necessary. To be entirely
frank with you I did not come here to discuss
political issues at all. The primary, and I might
say the sole motive which prompted me to make
the long journey hither, was that I might be
enabled to testify in this presence to my deep
personal affection for William J. Bryan, and per
sonally congratulate him, not so much because
he has lived to be fifty-one years old, but be
cause within the brief period of his life, as a
private citizen, he has wrought greater good
for his country and for humanity the world
over than any other man now living. And then
I wanted to bring to him a message of esteem
and continuing confidence from more than a
third of a million of the best democrats on
earth the democrats of the splendid democratic
stato of Indiana.
"With unparalleled loyalty and devotion they
have thrice supported him for the highest office
in the nation; and I bring him the assurance
that their affection for him is in no wise
diminished, and that they are highly resolved '
that the man who succeeds Bryan as the stand
ard beaTor of the national democracy must stand
for the reforms in government for which Eryan
contended in the last campaign and must, with
unfaltering footstep and single purpose, lead the
democratic hosts forward along the line of
march marked out in 1908. They believe that
the only way to win a victory is by a forward
movement, and that a retreat or even a flank
movement now would result in inevitable
disaster.
"The future of William J. Bryan is secure.
Whether he shall ever again be called upon to
lead the democratic hosts is a question of little
moment to him, for, by reason of his achieve
ments .in behalf of the people, he has so en
deared himself to the great rank and file of
tho American democracy that whenever Bryan
sits in the democratic councils of the future
thero will be the head of the table. Other men
may find even higher favor amongst men who
work at politics as a trade, and amongst those
who sit in the seats of the mighty, but Bryan's
strength will be in the fact that in millions of
American homes and by millions of the true and
earnest men and women by whose endeavors
this country has been made great, he will al
ways bo regarded as champion and friend
the fearless foe of wrong and oppression every
wuere, "It is of Httlo consequence to the great demo
cratic party of America, that there may be
men in Nebraska, who, because of his conscien
tious convictions on questions of religion and
morality may seek to discredit him. There aTe
nearly six and a half million of men who so
appreciate his unselfish work of the past fifteen
years that they will see to it that neithT
jealousy, nor prejudice, nor petty animosity
shall ever, .for a moment, prevail against him'
J havo already said that there is no longer
need of a discussion of the tariff question The
shroud of mystery with which that question
has been enveloped and obscured for a third of
a century has been removed, and it stands out
now as a mere question of taxation. When our
adversaries in tho last campaign conceded that
the tariff is a tax burden, which rests upon the
consumer, they conceded away the whole cause
of protection. For the tariff question, thu
stripped of mystery, is only as to whether this
government should take from the earnings of
the people more tax money than it needs for
governmental purposes when economically adr
ministered. It is the democratic notion that
your city government should take out of your
earnings as a city tax, only the amount of
money it needs; that your county government
should levy upon you no more county tax than
the county needs; and, that your state govern
ment ought not to compel you to pay more state
taxes than the state needs. And on these ques
tions both parties have always agreed. No man
has ever dared to advocate the monstrous
proposition that either city, county or Btate
should take a dollar more of the earnings of
tho people, than might be found necessary for
the economical administration 'of the respective
governments.
"But when we come to the question as to
how much of earnings of the people the national
government should take by national taxation,
wo are face to face with the tariff question.
"Here again the democratic position is tho
same. We believe that the government has a
right to take, and ought to take out of the
pockets of the people, all the money it needs
for its economical administration, but that all
the earnings of the people that the government
don't need ought to be left in the pockets of the
men and women who earn it.
"It is the democratic idea that the less of
a man's money the government takes, the more
the man will have left. The republicans, for
thirty years, have been trying to convince the
American people 'that the more of a man's money
the government takes, the more he will have left.
"In this day of schools, telegraphs and tele
phones and rural mail delivery, it is an insult
to the intelligence of the people to argue the .
question as to whether unnecessary taxation
is promotive of prosperity.
"I believe the democratic party will provo
itself to be the party of genuine progress. By,
providing for direct primaries, the initiative,'
referendum and recall and the election of United
States senators by the people, it will insure to
the people the direct control of their own
government, and make office holders the ser
vants and not the masters.
"By providing an income tax it will distribute
the burdens of taxation so that the wealth of the
country may no longer escape Its just share of
those burdens. By enacting and enforcing laws
against private monopolies and illegal trusts,
it will encourage and stimulate legitimate and
lawful business everywhere. By the inaugura
tion of a policy of old-fashioned economy in
every department of government it will so re
duce the national expenses that a taTiff for
revenue will not be high enough to protect
monopoly, but will be low enough to materially
lighten the burdens of taxation.
"The people, just now, want results, rather
than political maneuvering, and speaking for
myself, I am willing, to co-operate with Presi
dent Taft in every effort he may make to lighten
the burdens that rest upon the people. As long
as he travels along the pathway that leads to
genuine tariff reform I am willing to travel with
mm to the end, not that party advantage may
be gained but that the people may be relieved,
from the burdens which plagu them."
SENATOR OWEN'S SPEECH
J3enait0ri,0w?n' of Oklahoma, said of Arizona:!
JSl? -S?v2 lo?s and Pr0BPer! And her govern
ment WILL liyo long, and her people WILL pros-
2SL.fCauy ttey have bullt the foundation of!
government upon a stone and not upon the sand.
vMiil!8? ?3e es,tablished a' constitution pro
viding for the rule of the people, through the
5tt If' referendum and the recall. Under
inil S e !? DePle of Arizona can never be
SS,i?Bfled With their ow government,
iJ flZl th,eir Sant is in their own handi
Sw ?mple fasMon that they can by
easiest process amend any error which shall
aLinifred,- Such a government is safe
ao?rnnLr, Spir?cy' agaInst oligarchy, against
and2land fit' whicn have honey-cJmbed
mntn in f?ind.the f ounations of other govera
SSi? x? hlstry of man.
by Son6 & aJivo' the pePle of ArIzona can
SmneV JtS,U.at? &ny law tuey do want
and hi L ??miB8ion t0 tno vote of e people,
the $L maj01;lty te write that statute upoiJ
lecislSnri b,?k8 of Arlzona, regardless of the
mSht vtoannd rePrdless of any governor who
not vtl iS n. a? of tbe leeislature. He can
Z ZTotttn, 86VereIgn rUliDS P0Wer
"What stability this assures. in giving to the
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