The Southern Mercury. (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 12, 1897 Page: 1 of 16
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VOL. XVI., NO. 32.
DALLAS, TEXAS, THURSDAY, AUG. 12, 1897.
$1 PER ANNUM
Direct Legislation.
Legislation, municipal, state and na-
tional has produced such burdensome
conditions among the American people
that patriots in all political parties are
becoming seriously alarmed, and are
being driven with unprecedented una-
nimity to the conviction that this tend-
ency must be reversed and efficient re-
forms applied, or the people will either
succumb or be goaded into physical
revolution.
That our people are in a miserable
condition is proven by the following
facts taken from perfectly reliable
sources:
Nine per cent of the people in these
United States own 71 per cent of all
the wealth. Thirty-nine per cent own
24 per cent of all the wealth, while 66
per cent own only about 4 per cent of
the wealth.
That his condition Is the direct result
of legislation is too patent to be a de-
batable question; and that, if not re-
versed, will soon reduce nine-tenths of
our people to abject poverty, is equally
true. All political economists, worthy
of the name, agree that the laws of a
country, either enslave or makes the
people free: reduce the people to ab-
ject poverty and servitude, or secure
to them the birthright of freemen-
peace, prosperity and happiness. These
are self-evident truths. Now, for the
first time in the history of the race, it
is being known and recognized by the
people, and is sure to produce a mighty
revolution in the near future unless
proper remedial legislation is promptly
applied.
That we are face to face with a
problem vital to the people is an un-
disputed fact, and that its solution will
detemine whether the people are to
sink into abject and intolerable
slavery, emancipate themselves by
peaceable methods, or resort to physi-
cal force to secure the freedom vouch-
safed them by God.
One of these conditions is certain to
develop within the next decade.
No greater nor more far reaching
problem ever confronted any people. It
must be solved, it will be solved in one
of the three ways named, and within
the period named. No grander cause
ever appealed to man for vindication
and heroic support. To solve it through
legislation, appeals to the highest pa-
triotism, the noblest sentiment, that
ever stimulated the heart and mind of
man. If the American people prove
equal to the emegency and save the re-
public from the maelstrom now threat-
ening to engulf it, they will receive
the plaudits of the free as well as the
enslaved everywhere, and the problem
of free government will be forever
solved. Existing conditions are un-
mistakable evidences that the people
have not only neglected to guard their
liberties with wise and necessary laws,
but that they have been beguiled into
permitting their freedom and prosper-
ity to be swept away by wicked class
laws. The people have demanded of the
Democratic and the Republican parties
every two years, needed reform legis-
lation. This is proven by the declar-
ations made in every platform.
The trouble with the people is and has
all along been that they have relied more
upon the platform and personal pledges
of their party leaders than upon their
own efforts to secure needéd reform,
and for twenty-five years they have
been deceived and betrayed by those
they believed to be their best friends.
This is demonstrated by the fact that
nine-tenths of the obnoxious laws,
state and national, were never discuss-
ed nor understood by the people; laws
that the people would have promptly
rejected had they been permitted to
vote upon them.
The people are now beginning to
learn that the machinery of both the
Democratic and the Republican parties,
is adjusted so as to take all power from
the people and place it in the hands
of a few party bosses who in turn are
dictated to by the moneyed and cor-
porate interests.
The tendency of legislation regard-
less of the opposition of the people
oarty platforms, and the Dledges of
both parties, is proof positive and con-
clusive of these charges.
Twenty-five years of useless effort
to secure needed govermental reforms
by the peonle. the continued piling up
of vicious, tvrannical and onnressive
'aws, the continued growth of monopo-
lies. which have absorbed the People's
earning-?5 through the operation of
class legislation enacted by both these
parties should awaken people to the
fact that t.hev must act unite^lv or
liberty ^i'l soon be a tb'ng of the
nast a^d themselves reduced to indus-
trial slavery.
What is needed is a nlan which will
enable the peop'e effectually and ner-
TianerH" to protect, themselves against
these a"d all other powerful corrunt'ng
influences Fortunate^' there is a plan
which for rnore than forty v^rn ha*
stood th° t^st of evnerie^ee which will
enable tva r>ponie ' "v "nd effectually
to protect themselves; the n'an now
'n operation in Switzerland and
known as tho Initiative and Refer-
endum. From an exhaustive Hiseus
si on of this n'an, bv a correspondent of
one of our exchanges. we make the fol-
lowing evtrar>+ which throws much
Mrht 0n the subiect, and answers many
objections:
"The n^inr-'n'o of the Referendum
is not at s>ii no*" nor 'c 't at all for-
eign t,o o"r Afflpr'c"1 flvst"' ! of govern-
ment. Tn manv c «pc 't 5s r<v|ulred
now. as in T'Hnnis an^ moct other
states. w'*h a!1 oonc-tUn+ional f>mend-
*nerfci. The n'inrinlo woe fopontly an-
nHf' o the Torren® 'and svstem The
(>hn*"rrt won id be that what now
♦^FncHpcd ff>«pp|nnflliv would then be-
«om* general. Tt 's nra«ticallv extend-
'ng and putting in practice the pr'nel-
ple of the New England town meeting,
which has elicited so much admiration
and praise from De Tocqueville and
other students of our institutions. It
simply establishes a complete instead
of a partial democracy.
The other feature of the Swiss law
is known as the Iniative. With the
Initiative, when any considerable num-
ber of the people desire a law a pe-
tition for it can be circulated, and
when signed by a specified portion of
the voters—usually 6 per cent—a law
must be prepared and voted on, first
by the legislative body and then by the
people. The effect of this is that no
"machine," "gang" or "ring" of poli-
ticians can pigeon-hole or defeat any
law the people desire.
To this Initiative and Referendum
system several objections are made.
One is that to pass judgment in this
way on all the laws needed in a coun-
try like ours would keep the people
continually voting. To this there are
two replies: First, If the optional
form is adopted, all those laws passed
by the legislative body which are clear-
ly for the benefit of the people, are al-
lowed to take effect without a general
vote at the polls, so that only a part
of the laws enacted would be actually
voted on by the people. The effect
of which would be to greatly simplify
legislation and reduce the number of
bills Introduced. This is one of its
best features. At present in every legis-
lative body great numbers of private
bills are introduced, designed to build
up private interests at the expense of
the general public. Under the Referen-
dum system these bills never would be
introduced at all, because it would be
known in advance that they could not
nass the ordeal. This would greatly
reduce the amount of legislation.
Again, many claim that the mass of
the people are not competent to pass
judgment on a large proportion of the
legislation needed, and that it is not
safe to trust the people in this way:
besides, there are too many ignorant
voters. This objection is usually ad-
vanced by two classes of people: name-
ly. those commonly called "plutocrats,"
who support the expensive lobbies at
our legislative centers and who fatten
on the "special privileges" obtained
under the present system. They really
fear that the new system would strike
down their corruptly acquired advant-
ages. The second class are those who
have a deep distrust of all forms of
democracy, and who fear all demo
oratic tendencies.
Is It not far safer to trust the whole
neople than it is trust a privileged
few. who will manipulate things so as
to bind heavv burdens on the backs of
the masses of the people if given an
opportunity? Is it not the great body
of the people who need protection
now? Are not they the best persons to
relv on to protect themselves? Is it
not time to give them an opportunity
to do so before these mononolistic ag-
gressions go any further? Has not the
working of our democratic government
thus far justified the hopes of its
friends? In timeR of emergency have
not the people prove" themselves equal
to the occasion, and have not the In-
stincts of the "masses" been nearer
right thnn the Mrebldlngs of the
"classes?" Was Lincoln wrong in his
profound trust in the common people?
The most conspicuous failure of our in-
stitutions appeared first in the govern-
ments of our large cities and now it
appears in our legislative bodies. But
has not the trouble come from "ma-
chine rule," "bossism," the bribery and
corruption of our representatives and
similar things? These things are in no
sense "democratic." They are the very
reverse. They constitute the rule of
rect opposite to true democracy.
Some people will say that, although
the system may work well in a small
country like Switzerland, it will not
do for a large country like the Uni-
ted States. To this we reply that the
system has been tried in Switzerland
in rural comunities, in small towns, in
large cities, in the cantons and by the
nation. It works equally well under all
these conditions. Some of the cities,
like Berne and Zurich, are large. In
the nation there are largo German,
French and Italian elements, with more
or less race prejudices and conflicting
interests, yet these things have in no
way impaired the working of the sys-
tem. In practice it has been found to
work as well in large as in small com-
munities. There appears to be no ade-
quate reason why it should not work as
well in the Unit? States as in Switz-
erland.
On the other hand, the advantages
of the system are that it destroys
the power of the political boss and the
party machine. It takes away the mo-
tive for bribing legislators. It drives
away the lobbiesand the lobbyists from
the legislative centers. It purifies poli-
tics. It makes the legislators the ser-
vants and not the governors of the
people. It places the balance of power
where in a democratic government It
belongs, in the hands of the people
themselves. It ought to be considered
the highest honor to be selected to
serve the people in responsible posi-
tions. The reason for the stigma now
attaching to "politics" is the corruption
that exists. The Swiss system corrects
that. It has corected it in Switzerland.
The men who seek offiee for the
"money there is in it.," are driven out.
There is little chance for obtaining
bribes and so there is no money in it.
A better class of high-minded and able
men are drawn to fill the offices, and
they prize the honor. The esteem and
approval of the people Is sought instead
of the bribes of the monopolists. No
other system has yet been devised
which would so effectually curb the
power of a corrupt plutocracy. It pre-
serves the rights of the people and In-
creases their freedom. Are not these
advantages worth working for? They
can easily be obtained, If the people so
desire.
Some people who have given the sub-
ject little or no thought or study re-
gard the Initiative and Referendum as
p. radical measure. On the contrary,
It has proved In practice to be eminent-
ly conservative. Thus Mr. A. C. Dicey,
the critic of constitutions, in the New
York Nation, Oct. 8, 1885. said: "The
Referendum must be considered, on the
whole, as a conservative arrangement.
It tends at once to hinder rapid change
and also to get rid of that inflexibility
or Immutability, which, in the eyes of
Englishmen at least, is a defect In the
constitution of the United States,"
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Park, Milton. The Southern Mercury. (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 12, 1897, newspaper, August 12, 1897; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth185722/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .