Provisions for State-Wide Initiative and Referendum
| Author | C.B. Galbreath |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271621204300107 |
| Published date | 01 September 1912 |
| Date | 01 September 1912 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
(81)
PROVISIONS
FOR
STATE-WIDE
INITIATIVE
AND
REFERENDUM
BY
C.
B.
GALBREATH,
Secretary
of
the
Ohio
Constitutional
Convention,
and
former
State
Librarian
of
Ohio.
Among
the
subjects
of
popular
discussion,
the
initiative
and
referendum
just
now
holds
a
prominent
place.
Considered
an
essen-
tial
part
of
the
progressive
program
of
which
we
hear
so
much,
it
is
lauded
by
its
enthusiastic
advocates
as
a
panacea
for
the
ills
of
representative
government
and
denounced
by
its
antagonists
as
the
subtle
and
sinister
instrument
of
revolution,
designed
to
work
the
ultimate
overthrow
and
ruin
of
republican
institutions.
By
many
it
is
regarded
as
a
recent
innovation,
a
veritable
res
nova,
with
all
the
interest
that
attaches
to
a
marvelous
political
elixir,
just
discov-
ered,
in
regard
to
whose
virtues
the
savants
and
the
proletariat
are
still
somewhat
at
variance
among
themselves.
A
little
investiga-
tion,
however,
reveals
the
fact
that
it
is
only
in
comparison
with
the
recent
past
that
this
system
can
claim
the
charm
of
novelty.
&dquo;It
hath been
already
of
old
time
which
was
before
us,&dquo;
and
if
there
be
new
things
under
the
sun,
the
initiative
and
referendum
is
not
one
of
them.
Direct
legislation
is
the
natural
and
convenient
expression
of
the
will
of
a
comparatively
small,
self-governing,
independent
state.
The
pure
democracies
of
ancient
Greece
and
their
less
conspicuous
successors
down
to
the
early
settlement
of
America
bear
testimony
to
this
fact.
It
was
so
among
the
primitive
German
tribes
in
the
time
of
Tacitus.
Examples
were
not
wanting
in
the
middle
ages.
High
among
the
Alps,
where
the
eagle
soars,
where
the
snow
falls
and
freedom
dwells,
even
unto
this
day
a
sturdy
race
realizes
in
large
measure
the
sovereignty
of
man
and
the
dream
of
liberty.
It
was
left
to
Switzerland
to
preserve
and
hand
down
to
our
own
time
the
initiative
and
referendum.
The
development
of
the
system
in
this
Alpine
federation
is
fully
presented
on
succeeding
pages,
and
even
a
brief
summary
here
would
seem
superfluous.
Direct
legislation
has
been
an
important
feature
of
the
govern-
82
mental
system
of
Switzerland
from
the
beginning
of
its
history.
In
the
landsgemeinde
generations
ago
the
Swiss
yeomanry
assembled
at
least
once
a
year
to
elect
officers
and
enact
laws.
This
primitive
legislative
assembly
met
in
an
amphitheater
of
&dquo;venerable
woods&dquo;
and &dquo;everlasting
hills,&dquo;
under
the
wide
and
open
sky
through
which
the
spirit
of
light
and
freedom
descended
like
a
benediction
from
on
high.
In
this
atmosphere
of
freedom
and
equality
the
cantonal
democracies
of
Switzerland
evolved
through
the
centuries.
Changes
have
come;
written
constitutions
have
taken
the
place
of
custom
and
precedent,
and
in
the
larger
divisions
of
the
federation
the
repre-
sentative
system
of
government
prevails,
but
in
the
smaller
cantons
the
picturesque
popular
assembly
of
all
the
free
citizens
still
meets
to
legislate
for
the
common
weal.
A
distinction,
of
course,
may
be
drawn
between
direct
legisla-
tion
through
such
an
assembly
and
direct
legislation
through
the
ballot
box.
On
this
subject
M.
Welti,
himself
a
member
of
the
Swiss
federal
assembly,
in
a
speech
against
the
referendum
twenty
years
ago,
declared:
&dquo;The
landsgemeinde
has
nothing
in
common
with
the
refer-
endum.
It
is
a
real
and
living
thing,
while
the
other
is
nothing
but
a
dead
form
of
democracy
on
paper.
In
the
landsgemeinde
each
man
feels
that
he
is
also
a
citizen.
In
the
referendum
the
ballot-
paper
is
his
substitute.&dquo;
In
the
last
thirty-five
years,
however,
the
initiative
and
refer-
endum
has
been
in
operation,
through
the &dquo; ballot-paper, &dquo;
under
the
confederation
of
Switzerland
and
for
varying
periods
in
a
num-
ber
of
cantons.
The
results
have
called
forth
a
variety
of
testi-
mony
in
Switzerland
and
beyond
its
borders,
opinions
not
infre-
quently
taking
the
direction
of
the
preconceived
bias
of
the
critic.
After
all
has
been
said,
the
fact
remains
that
there
is
no
pronounced
disposition
among
the
Swiss
people
to
surrender
the
power
reserved
to
them
in
the
initiative
and
referendum.
They
prefer
to
keep
it,
to
exercise
and
perfect
it
in
the
light
of
experience.
The
results
of
Switzerland’s
experiments
have
reached
far
beyond
her
borders.
Her
legends
of
liberty
are
household
treasures
of
the
world.
Her
free
institutions
have
been
the
inspiring
theme
of
those
struggling
for
freedom
and
independence.
Her
contribution
to
direct
legislation
has
attracted
in
recent
years
the
attention
of
citizens
of
our
own
country
who
have
been
convinced
that
our
representative
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