THE AMERICAN VOTER AS A LAWMAKER An Examination of the Initiative and Referendum Elections of 1922 m If- By JUDSON KING Director of the NatioTial Popular Government League The most fundamental problem before us today is to find an adequate method of getting the facts to the folks. It is needed quite as much to expose dema- gogues in both high and low places, and to forestall short-sighted reforms, as to prevent stagnation or re- action. The people are getting more power. More knowledge must go with it. Published by The National Popular Government League 637 Munsey Building Washington, D. C. Price 10 Cents ,.....::.!;•..■ THE AMERICAN VOTER AS A LAWMAKER An Examination of the Initiative and Referendum Elections of 1922 Whoever being a liberal, hopeful of progress; a conservative, fright- ened of radicalism; a political scientist, pondering the safety of demo- cratic action; an expert, contemptuous of mass intelligence; a states- man, planning constructive reform ; or a politician, scanning the horizon for votes, will do well to study the measures, and the vote thereon, submitted in the Initiative and Referendum states at the general election nine months ago. The fact that some 7,000,000 voters in 16 widely scattered states from Massachusetts to California actually legislated upon 135 statute laws and constitutional amendments, is an item not to be overlooked by a person desiring to know the real status of public opinion at this period. It is one thing to vote with a political party or for a popular candi- date; is quite another to vote upon a concrete measure set down in specific black and white. Here the American voter is deprived of his favorite pastime of blaming some one else for his woes. He must face tlie consequences of his own legislative act. There is nothing like a vote upon a bond issue or a law to disclose actual public opinion. The 20 states which now^ have the Initiative and Referendum, in more or less workable forms, comprise one-third of the population and area of the United States. From 1904 GREATEST TEST IN HISTORY to 1923, over 550 measures— a/i OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY average of less than 5 to each state election — have been placed on the l)allot by popular petitions, in addition to 442 measures submitted by the legislatures. Amazing as it may seem, no comprehensive survey of this greatest experiment in direct democracy the Avorld has as yet seen, has been made, or at least been made public. It contains invaluable lessons for conservatives and progressives alike, especially for those who conceive high hopes for the safety of constructive democracy. This bulletin d^als with the state-wide elections of 1922. Of the 135 measures submitted, 42 were proposed b>' Initiative petition, 62 by the state legislatures, and 31 were acts passed by the 86 TIMES legislatures and '^^ carried back," as the Swiss say, PROGRESSIVE ; by Referendum petition to the voters for final de- 23 TIMES cision. It is of interest to note that business men CONSERVATIVE —chiefly Big Business men— initiated 12 measures and had 4 statutes referred. Of the 135 measures, tlie voters enacted 38 and rejected 97. Finally, on the 109 measures which clearly required a decision on matters of important public policy, the electors voted progressively 86 times, and conservatively 23 times. 3 528N75 ■! BACK OF THE \X[ MARK The tally upon the 6,991,000 plus ballots actually cast on these 135 measures y indicates that the Average American Voter was murmuring something like this in the ballot box: To the Old Guard Politicians To Popular Government Advocates To the State Legislators To Public Ownership Men To Private Utility Men To Tax Reformers and Tax Fixers To Moral Reformers To Better School Advocates To War Veterans To the Doctors and Lawyers And the Women Voters Said in Particular *'No, you can't take from me my new tools of self-oovernment, nor will I swear you my 'Party Affiliations' and be bound by you." ''If you can show me that your new scheme will work, be more efficient, produce less 'politics,' and be one I can control, I '11 give it a try. ' ' "No, I won't raise your salaries, at least until you pay better attention to my business and 'rep- resenf'the 90% as well as the 10%." "No, I'm not yet ready to embark upon state- wide public ownership projects." "No, you shall not destroy or cripple the mu- nicipal utilities I now own and operate. Give them a chance. They are doing very nicely." ' * No, I 'm not taking any chances on new schemes of taxation this year, nor do I propose to take on any heavier load." "I am against race track gambling, but I don't want too much censoring of the movies, and I want to go to a baseball game on Sunday if I choose." "Yes, I'll pay for better schools if I can afford it ; if not you will have to wait a while. ' ' "I'm hit hard but I'll dig down and help out you boys to any reasonable extent — but don't ask too much." "No closed shop for either of you. I'll give the new school doctors an even br^ak with the old scliool. w^th good wishes to both. As to the lawyers — I have not noticed that they have been my friends to any greater degree than the bankers." "We want all school children to have a better chance and an equal chance. We don't fancy party conventions; the ballot box is much nicer and more conducive to clear thinking, and better citizen- ship." And that night as Mr. and Mi*s. Average Voter talked things over at the supper table I surmise the husband said something like this : ''Mary, there's something dead wrong in our country down deep. I don't see just what it is, but I know it has to do with what the pro- fessors call 'economics/ It's deeper than party politics. In fact I've been thinking this a long time and have made up my mind that our parties have become masks behind which the Big Business fellows work, run the game and get what they want. I'm so darn busy earn- ing a living that I don't get time or have strength to study much. There's all kinds of propaganda — standpat and radical — half the time I can't depend on the papers and don't know who or what to trust. But if these old party fellows don't soon do something I can feel in my pocket and in the price of food and rent, I'm going to kick over the traces. They can shout Bolshevism and chase themselves. Here I'm getting $3,600 a year and we can't send Arthur and Pauline to college." And Mary asked, *'Wlien are you going to begin, John?" And John replied, "Watch my vote next year, if ." WHAT KIND OF LAWS A rough classification shows that as to subject matter, the meas- ures submitted in 1922 fall under 25 different heads and include the most vital problems now engaging the public. Checking up the class measures receiving the most legislative attention, we find that : 43 relate to changes in the structure or process of government and political action; 17 were proposed changes in taxation or the taxation system; 12 related to regulation or ownership of public utilities; 7 were concerned with education and the public schools. Other subjects were good roads, soldiei*s' welfare, prohibition, professions, public health, etc., etc. STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT Turning now to the first group, let me anticipate a very natural inquiry as to who proposed those 43 changes in the political system. The answer is that 40 of them originated with the legislatures and 3 were by initiative petition. To get a proper perspective, let us recall that some three years ago, a powerful group of conservatives, including some prominent United States Senators, Secretary of War Weeks, and Attorney General Daugherty, started a movement to rid the countiy of the direct priA mary, the I. & R., and other forms of popular political control. Bulletin No. 79, issued by this League last year, entitled "The Old Guard and the Direct Primary," gives an account of this effort. We offered to aid the Old Guard in abolishing the primary, advised that that there should be no attempt to return to the convention system, but that we should substitute for the needless and expensive direct primary, the modern, scientific system of Proportional Eepresentation. combining both elections in one with far more satisfactory results to the people. Many legislatures, however, and several in the states we are con- sidering, evidently believed that the Old Guard had rightly diag- nosed public opinion, that the people, "wear}^ of looting on men and measures," were readj^ to return to the convention system and to what was termed ' ' representative government. ' ' Also that they would approve other things giving political parties greater advantage and power. It was announced that even the Newberry election scandal would be laid at the door of the Direct Primary. We shall find what happened to this movement at the hands of the voters. We may note also that the popular government move- ment, held in abeyance by the war, will also be in evidence and claim the voters' attention. Throughout the Bulletin the gist of each measure voted will be briefly given with its sponsors, wherever possible, the vote for and against, and the percentage of the vote cast upon the measure, as com- pared with the vote for Governor. The word ''amendment" refers to an amendment of the state constitution. ARIZONA. — The legislature of Arizona submitted at the primary elec- tion of September 12, an amendment eliminating the mandatory pri- mary from the constitution and empowering the legislature to provide for the nomination of candidates, with the convention system manifestly ill view. It was defeated by a vote of 26,302 to 7,774, with 70% voting. Also four amendments changing the terms of all state and county officers from two to four years, and consolidating the county and state elections, measures greatly desired by "vote straight party ticket" meiu were defeated. NEBRASKA. — This legislature, more wary, repealed only that part of the state primary law requiring the election of delegates to party conventions, and provided for their appointment by caucuses. The act was promptly held up by Referendum petition and was defeated bj' a vote of 208,261 to 95,494, with 78% voting. The Nebraska League of Women Voters fought the bill vigorously and their two-page argument, signed by its state offieei's, in the state publicity pamphlet, contained this sentence : "Women voters are opposed to this attempt to crip[)le the pri- mary because voting will become a meaningless ceremony if the control of the parties i)asses from the voters to the party l)Osses." The argument supporting the act had this sentence: "The principal opponents to this measure are those who be- lieve in class or group government as opi)osed to the typical American system of representative government througli })arty organization responsibility. ' ' Signed by Chas. A. McCloud. (Connections not given.) The legislature also passed an act requiring all rural and small town voters to register at the county courthouse and declare, or refuse to declare, their party affiliations. On Referendum, the act was defeated 195,068 to 106,314,' with 77% voting. WASHINGTON.— Kemembering that in the election of 1916, a law, the then legislature had passed crippling the direct primary and re- establishing the convention system, had been defeated NO VOTE ON on Referendum by a vote of 200,449 to 49,370. The PRESIDENT? 1922 legislature confined its activities to passing an act repealing the presidential primary law, and pro- viding for the nomination of presidential electors by state party con- ventions, and also provided for local and state ijarty conventions. The act was i-eferred by petition and defeated 140,299 to 57,324, with 71% voting. The Washington legislature was also intent upon a SWEAR registration law requiring the voter to "solemnly *' POLITICAL swear" his "Political Faith" both when registering FAITH" and at the ballot box. A law to this effect was re- ferred by petition and defeated by a vote of 164,004 to 60.593, with 82% voting.' SOUTH DAKOTA.— To invoke Initiative and Referendum in this state requires on each a petition of 5% of the qualified electors. The legislature submitted a proposal to raise the requirement to 15%, and also to prohibit the gi^^ng or receiving of pay for circulating petitions. Defeated by a vote of 96,201 to 49,019, with 83% voting. COLORADO. — The legislature submitted two amendments establish- ing 4-year terms for all county officers and for the Governor and all state executive officers. Both were defeated by essentially the same vote — 105,000 to 37,000. A proposal to call a new constitutional con- vention was defeated, 93,081 to 53,115. MISSOURI.— The liegislature of 1921, Republican for the first time in years, passed several laws consolidating various state boards, bureaus, and commis.sions, and setting up new agencies. There emerged new State Departments of Labor, Agriculture, Public Welfare, a Budget System, a new system of public schools, a new arrangement of con- gressional districts, and of township and county judicial systems. The Democratic State Central Committee secured the required sig- natures of 70,000 voters against each of the 14 measures and they were referred to the voters. It is the first time in FlhST REFERENDUM the history of the American use of the I. & INVOKED BY A R. that a political partv, as such, has invoked POLITICAL PARTY the Referendum. I shall not attempt to discuss the wisdom of these measures. Their announced purpose is laudable. Missouri, and most other states, can benefit by a simplified system of government, exactlv as liave so manv of our cities through the Commission Manaofer plan. The Republicans asserted they had "enacted a constructive pro- gram and laid the foundation for better service and greater economy to the people of the state. ' ' The Democrat^ asserted the measures were grossly unfair and were for "plain partisan purposes," since a large number of offices held by elected or appointed Democrats, would be vacated and then filled by Republicans. Governor Arthur M. Hyde, Republican, called an extra session of the legislature in June, 1921, shortly after the petitions were filed, and read a special message, heatedly rebuking the Democrats and mak- ing a violent attack upon the Initiative and Referendum itself. He de- manded the submission to the voters of a ''repeal or modification" of the I. & R. section of the constitution. A resolution was introduced ahoUshing the Referendum, but the members, hearing from back home, refused to follow the Governor's lead, and the effort died. The 14 consolidation laws were all defeated at the 1922 election by an average vote of 379,871 to 256,296, with 69% voting. CALIFORNIA. — The Big Business interests of California have been bitterly opposed to the I. & R. and in every legislature since 1911 bills have been introduced to hamper or destroy its effi- TO RESTRICT ciency. All have failed. Twice the interests have THE I. & R. proposed modifications by Initiative petition which were slaughtered by the voters. This j'ear these re- actionary corporation interests, under the guise of a so-called ''Anti Single Tax League," proposed a measure by Initiative petition that measures relating to taxation should require 15% of the vote of the state on Initiative petitions instead of 8% as now obtains. This would have proved fatal. It was an anxious moment, since the voters of the state had become disgusted with the repeated placing of the single tax upon the ballot by the "Great Adventure" faction of the Single Taxers, although defeated by constantly increasing majorities. However, under the leadership of Dr. John R. Haynes of Los Angeles, President of the "League to Protect the Initiative," assisted by the State Federation of "Women's Clubs, the State League of Women Voters, the Fed( Of 14 reactionary Initiated measures, 14 were rejected. Of 4 progressive laws challenged by Referendum, 4 were enacted. Of 26 reactionary laws challenged by Referendum, 2 were enacted and 24 rejected. Of 23 progressive laws submitted by legislatures, 16 were enacted, 7 rejected. Of 20 reactionary laws submitted by legislatures, 1 was adopted, 19 rejected. Since a vote against a reactionary law is a progressive vote, we may conclude from tlie above that bv and large the people voted PROGRES- aSIYELY 86 times, CONSERYATIYELY 23 times. But what proportion of tlie electors vote upon the measures sub- 14 mitted? The PERCENTAGE given in connection with the vote on measures described was arrived at by comparing the THE SIZE OF vote cast for and against each measure with the total THE VOTE ON vote cast for governor or other officer at the head of MEASURES the ticket. The results vary. But if we take the highest vote cast on a measure, the lowest vote, and the average cast on ALL MEASURES in each state, the following per- centages emerge: State High Low Au. State High Arizona 75 50 64 Nebraska 83 Arkansas 81 78 79 Nevada 65 C^alifornia 89 59 70 o North Dakota. 96 Colorado ..: 77 50 59 Ohio 100 Massachusetts 86 66 76 Oregon 94 Maine 65 65 65 Oklahoma 96 Marvland 70 56 58 South Dakota 92 Michigan „ 86 78 82 Utah 64 Missouri 74 62 61 Washington 94 Montana 87 79 82 Low .Ir. 11 80 58 b'l 87 92 73 82 60 73 65 80 80 86 61 63 66 81 Totals _. 82.2 66.7 73.1 The fact that around 75% of the electors will vote upon all measures has been demonstrated so often by returns from the I. & R. states, that it may almost be taken as an established law of political action. The further fact is that before the Initiative and Referendiun was introduced, the average vote upon propositions submitted by the legis- latures stood at around 50%! And this applied to all the states. Those concerned over the apathy of so manj' voters are invited to take note of that 50% increase. In I. & R. states vital issues are put in the running by petition and cannot be smothered. The voters know their will cannot be balked — their action is final — hence their interest. It is waste eifort to berate the people and exhort them to " exercise ^ their citizenship and vote''; if they can accomplish something worth/ while, they will vote. THE EDUCATIONAL EFFECT A dozen bulletins like this could easily be written upon the educa- tional and vitalizing effect of these Initiative and Referendum cam- paigns upon the citizenship of a state. It is difficult to imagine it. One must see it in operation to understand its psychology and significant tendency. Politicians do not like it. It is too calm and critical and distracts attention from the eternal squabbling over personalities. But the people delight in it — Men's City Clubs, Boards of Trade and Com- mercial organizations, and all sorts of Civic Associations and Church Brotherhoods, Women's Clubs and Federations of Women's Clubs in" state conventions, Farm Organizations and Labor Organizations, in dis- trict councils, in local meetings, have the best speakers they can secure 15 to present "both sides" of the measures that are on the ballot. They are debated in universities ^nd high schools; they are discussed in min- ing camps, farm houses, fashionable clubs, and street corners. In California, for example, I was impressed last year with the large number of people in audiences of this sort which I addressed WHO HAD BROUGHT WITH THEM THE PUBLICITY PAMPHLET and were checking up on me as I talked — and who asked most intelli- ' gent and pointed questions in the ''question period" inevitably fol- lowing. A Engineers, ministers, university professors, bankers, labor and farm Y^l^aders, editors, experts — both men and women — conservative and radi- cal — who constitute the intellectual and often moral leadership in a state, whom you could not drag into a political campaign with a team of oxen, WILL GIVE FREE SERVICE to these meetings. And no- where is more vigor displayed than in the Women's Organizations. It is a truism of history that war brings reaction, that the people, preoccupied, mark time, and conservatives seize the opportunity to improve their status and control. Our country did not prove an ex- ception to this rule in the late war. A great demand for direct control of politics and government which had sprung out of the people and had been espoused and thrust into the forefront of national politics in 1912 by such vigorous personalities as Theodore Roosevelt and Wood- row Wilson, was held in abeyance by the war and its aftermath. The Conservatives of 1920 attempted to overthrow the achievements of this movement and return to the political and economic regime of the days of Mark Hanna. In the elections of 1922 the 'people were largely on the defensive. Wherever the Referendum obtained tliey suc- cessfully defended themselvs. In the states here considered, there is a clear, intelligent majority favoring DIRECT POLITICAL POWER IN THE HANDS OF THE VOTERS. Since 1912, however, the storm center has shifted from the political I to the economic field. The problems are grave. The people are not clear as to solutions. In no state is there a majority definitely united on any fundamental program of economic change. The 1922 voter played safe, as he always does when in doubt, and voted "NO" on radical proposals of a fiscal and economic nature, which is the best thing that can happen to any forward movement, however sound, because no im- portant law can be enforced until it has behind it an intelligent and forceful majority. In short, the voter of 1922 refused to go back- wards ; he did not know what road to take forward, so he marked time. Protest votes since prove his restlessness, but whether he has reached a constructive conclusion as to what to do, is doubtful. 16 AN OMISSION There is no doubt, however, that a majority of the nation has settled upon Prohibition as a permanent policy. Here is a paragraph acci- dentally omitted from tlie voter's murmurs on Page TO THE WETS 2. ''I* have decided this matter. You forget that So% of the counties were dry by popular vote before the Eighteenth Amendment was passed, or Volstead became famous. Since then the women have gotten the vote; the farmers remain dry, .and the great industrial managers have turned against you." To the writer, the outstanding lesson of the campaigns here sum- marized is the problem of publicity. How are the people to obtain the facts, pro and con, on which to base THE BIG LESSOX judgment? Not alone upon measures, —RELIABLE PUBLICITY but on men, on parties, on all the tre- mendous economic, industrial, politi- cal, moral and social issues confronting them, which make the present the most critical period in the history of the Republic since 1850. The Official Publicity Pamphlet, with the text of measures and argu- ments for and against, mailed to the voters direct, used in several states, is of tremendous help, and suggests the way out. But it is not enough, and arrives only once in two years. The most discriminating voting is done in these states. The citizen is not wholly left in the dark and de- pendent upon newspapers, politicians, and self-interested, organized propaganda. And let the average voter examine his annual expenditure for maga- zines and newspapers which try to tell him the truth, as against those which entertain him, before throwing bricks at the * 'kept press. ' ' No one forced him to buy red, black, yellow, pink or blue propaganda, or to invest in vacuity. It is up to him. "Where then lies the hope for democracy?" it may be asked, ''if Private Interests, by capitalizing the people's love for and need of en- tertainment, are to dominate the press?" The WHY HOPE answer is that there is by far a larger mass per- FOR PROGRESS? centage of thinking, courageous, and acting peo- ple today, and better organized than at any period of the nation's historj^ This in spite of the movies. Mutt and Jeff, the divorce scandal, and the baseball score. I would be the last to seem facetious over our need of better educa- tion, but I find a majority of my friends afflicted with the moron com- plex, uncertain as to whether the course of democratic evolution will prove as wise as themselves, and besides, they are fearful lest the people prove too liberal, rather than too conservative. Hence they long for the guidenee of superior minds. But the postulate of democracy is not that the people will do the ideal thing, or even the thing best for themselves, but that in the long run the}' will do better by themselves than any superior governing class, however well educated, will do for them. Let him who doubts 17 \ that fight it out "with his histories. The people will learn the art of democracy by the practice of democracj', achieving wisdom by their own mistakes, and not being told how. The educative effect and the civic courage engendered by the I. & K. elections, prove them our best Schools for Citizenship, and a thousand times more valuable than the old style tussles over candidates and parties. Their results lend support to Lincoln's famous phrase: ''You can't fool all the people all ihe time." Nevertheless, the most fundamental problem before us today is to find an adequate method of getting the facts to the folks. It is needed quite as much to expose demagogues in both high and low places, and to forestall short-sighted reforms, as to prevent stagnation or reaction. The i^eople are getting more power. 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