The preparation of arguments. title of the measure, and shall express, in not exceeding one hundred words, the purpose of the measure. The ballot title shall be printed with the numbers of the measure, on the official ballot. In making such ballot title the Attorney-General shall, to the best of his ability, give a true and impartial statement of the purpose of the measure, and in such language that the ballot title shall not be intentionally an argument, or likely to create prejudice, either for or against the measure. Section 8. Not later than the first Monday of the third month next before any regular general election, nor later than thirty days before any special election, at which any proposed law, part of an act, or amendment to the Constitution is to be submitted to the people, the Secretary of State shall cause to be printed in pamphlet form a true copy of the title and text of each measure to be submitted, with the number and form in which the ballot title thereof will be printed on the official ballot. The person, committee, or duly authorized officers of any organization filing any petition for the initiative, but no other person or organization, shall have the right to file with the Secretary of State for printing and distribution any argument advocating such measure; said argument shall be filed not later than the first Monday of the fourth month before the regular election at which the measure is to be voted upon. Any person, committee, or organization may file with the Secretary of State, for printing and distribution, any arguments they may desire, opposing any measure, not later than the fourth Monday of the fourth month immediately preceding such election. Arguments advocating or opposing any measures referred to the people by the legislative assembly, or by referendum petition, at a regular general election, shall be governed by the same rules as to time, but may be filed with the Secretary of State by any person, committee, or organization; in the case of measures submitted at a special election, all arguments in support of such measure at least sixty days before such election. But in every case the person or persons offering such arguments for printing and distribution shall pay to the Secretary of State sufficient money to pay all the expenses for paper and printing to supply one copy with every copy of the measure to be printed by the State; and he shall forthwith notify the persons offering the same of the amount of money necessary. The Secretary of State shall cause one copy of each of said arguments to be bound in the pamphlet copy of the measures to be submitted as herein provided, and all such measures and arguments to be submitted at one election shall be bound together in a single pamphlet. All the printing shall be done by the State, and the pages of said pamphlet shall be numbered consecutively from one to the end. . . . The title page of every measure bound in said pamphlet shall show its ballot title and ballot numbers. The title page of each argument shall show the measure or measures it favors or opposes and by what persons or organization it is issued. When such arguments are printed, he shall pay the State Printer therefor from the money deposited with him and refund the surplus, if any, to the parties who paid it to him. The cost of printing, binding, and distributing the measures proposed, and of binding and distributing the arguments, shall be paid by the State as a part of the state printing, it being intended that only the cost of paper and printing the arguments shall be paid by the parties presenting the same, and they shall not be charged any higher rate for such work than is paid by the State for similar work and paper. Not later than the fifty-fifth day before the regular general election Distribution of pamphlets at which such measures are to be voted upon, the Secretary of State shall transmit by mail, with postage fully prepaid, to every voter in the State whose address he may have, one copy of such pamphlet; provided, that if the Secretary shall, at or about the same time, be mailing any other pamphlet to every voter, he may, if practicable, bind the matter herein provided for in the first part of said pamphlet, numbering the pages of the entire pamphlet consecutively from one to the end, or he may enclose the pamphlets under one cover. In the case of a special election he shall mail said pamphlet to ever voter not less than twenty days before said election. 168. The Constitutional Amendment Providing for the Every public officer in Oregon is subject, as herein provided, to recall by the legal voters of the State or of the electoral district from which he is elected. There may be required twentyfive per cent, but not more, of the number of electors who voted in his district at the preceding election for justice of the Supreme Court to file their petition demanding his recall by the people. They shall set forth in said petition the reasons for said demand. If he shall offer his resignation, it shall be accepted and take effect on the day it is offered, and the vacancy shall be filled as may be provided by law. If he shall not resign within five days after the petition is filed, a special election shall be ordered to be held within twenty days in his said electoral district to determine whether the people will recall said officer. On the sample ballot at said election shall be printed, in not more than two hundred words, the reasons for demanding the recall of said officer as set forth in the recall petition, and in not more than two hundred words, the officer's justification of his course in office. He shall continue to perform the duties of his office until the result of said special election shall be officially declared. Other candidates for the office may be nominated to be voted for at said special election. The candidate who shall receive the highest number of votes shall be deemed elected for the remainder of the term, whether it be the person against whom the recall petition was filed, or another. The recall petition shall be filed with the officer with whom a petition for nomination to such office should be filed, and the same officer shall order the special election when it is required. No such petition shall be circulated against any officer until he has actually held his office six months, save and except that it may be filed against a senator or representative in the legislative assembly at any time after five days from the beginning of the first session after his election. After one such petition and special election, no further recall petition shall be filed against the same officer during the term. . . unless such further petitioners shall first pay into the public treasury, ... the whole amount of its expenses for the preceding special election. . . 169. Arguments for the Initiative and Referendum* These passages from a catechism prepared by several distinguished advocates of the initiative and referendum sum up the leading arguments in favor of the system: Q. What is meant by the Referendum? of the referendum. A. The Referendum means the referring of a law or ordinance Definition or any specific question to the people for decision at the polls. A vote on a law or ordinance may be taken, not for the purpose of decision, but merely to secure an accurate and definite expression of public opinion. This is a quasi-Referendum or public-opinion vote, such as is in use in Illinois; also in some cities, such as Chicago and Detroit. The Referendum also means the right of the people to demand the submission of an enactment or measure to the voters for decision; and it is also used to designate a statute or constitutional amendment securing this right. Q. Is the Referendum un-American? dum is not un-American A. The Referendum is not un-American unless the principle of The referenmajority-rule or rule by the people is un-American. It is majorityrule that is important, and whatever means prove necessary to secure it must be adopted. So far from being un-American, the Referendum is most emphatically American both in principle and practice. From the earliest days of our colonial government in New England the people not only voted directly on specific measures but practically all the laws were made by direct vote of the citizens. This practice has continued in unbroken succession so far as local or town government is concerned, but city and state government has lost its original character. As the growth of numbers made it necessary to rely more and more on representatives, the direct vote of the people was lost, because no one thought of any way in which it could be retained. But now that we have a The cost of government not increased. Representative gov destroyed. plan whereby the direct vote can be taken without an assembly of the people, it is possible to go back to the original American system of actual popular sovereignty. From the standpoint of principle, no government is American unless it is a government by and for the people; and no government can be a government by and for the people where the will of a small body of so-called representatives can override or disregard the will of the people. Q. Has it made frequent elections necessary, thus greatly increasing the cost? A. Instead of making elections more frequent and thus increasing taxation, the experience of the Swiss is the reverse. It is not worth while for politicians to attempt to squander the people's resources or for private interests to bribe them to do so when the people have it in their power upon petition of a small minority, to submit any measure passed by a legislature to a direct vote of the people and veto it if a majority so votes. This removes from the legislators the temptation to corruption. The Governor of South Dakota, a year or two after the constitutional Direct-Legislation amendment went into effect, said: "Since this Referendum law went into effect we have had no charter-mongers or railway speculators, no wild-cat schemes submitted to our legislature. Formerly our time was occupied by speculative schemes of one kind or another, but since the Referendum has been made a part of the constitution these people do not press their schemes, and hence there is no necessity for having recourse to the Referendum.” Q. Does it take from the people's representatives any just rights that belong to them, or in any way limit their legitimate exercise of power? A. The Referendum takes from the people's representatives no ernment not power that justly belongs to them. The legislators are the agents and servants of the people, not their masters. No true representative has a right or a desire to do anything his principal does not wish to have done, or to refuse to do anything his principal desires to have done. The Referendum merely prevents the representatives from becoming mis-representatives by doing, through igno |