SOCIAL LEGISLATION ON THE PACIFIC COAST 277 



the corruption of the nineties. The people were dissatisfied with 

 their state legislature, and with cause. They decided to make some of 

 the laws themselves and to have the right of rejecting any of the legis- 

 lature's enactments which they chose. The initiative and referendum, 

 making these achievements possible, were adopted in 1902. South 

 Dakota and Utah had previously passed constitutional amendments 

 making the initiative and referendum possible, but seem to have made 

 little use of them. California began popular lawmaking in 1911, and 

 Washington in 1912. Following Oregon's example, there are now 

 nineteen states that practise direct legislation. 



Oregon citizens have voted in seven elections, extending over a 

 dozen years, on one hundred and thirty-six measures, adopting fifty-one 

 and rejecting eighty-five. The fifty measures adopted include all the 

 above mentioned laws of the Oregon system and, in addition, prohibi- 

 tion, employer's liability, three-fourths verdict in civil cases, eight hour 

 law on public works, and the abolition of capital punishment. 



All the laws so far mentioned were proposed by the people them- 

 selves through the initiative and not by the state legislature, as indeed 

 are nearly all the measures which are voted on by the people. Among 

 the eighty-five measures rejected are a state income tax, several single 

 tax measures, measures making it possible to abandon the general prop- 

 erty tax, prohibition, woman suffrage, eight hour law for women, uni- 

 versal eight hour law, measures providing wholesale changes in the 

 state constitution, proportional representation, and the abolition of the 

 senate. 



Some results^ of Oregon's experiment in direct legislation are the 

 following. A body of excellent laws have been passed with surprisingly 

 few mistakes. Some good measures have been defeated — also several 

 radical measures and a number of measures of minor importance. The 

 people are conservative as well as progressive. For the education of 

 voters the initiative and referendum are unsurpassed. The voters take 

 a good deal of interest in lavnnaking, watching the ballot carefully for 

 jokers and private motives. Seventy-five per cent, of those who vote, 

 vote on the measures. All classes of citizens initiate laws. The 

 voters amend their constitution as readily as they pass bills. The tend- 

 ency is to place a larger number of measures on the ballot. The effi- 

 ciency of representative legislatures seems not to have suffered, but per- 

 haps to have gained. 



The first law passed by the initiative in Oregon was the direct pri- 

 mary law. The direct primary, by permitting voters to vote directly for 

 nominations, has done more than any other device to break the grip of 



1 The evidence for the above mentioned conclusions may be found in the 

 following papers: Ogburn, " Direct Legislation in Oregon," Quarterly Publi- 

 cations of the American Statistical Association, June, 1914; and Montague, 

 "The Oregon System at Work," National Municipal Beview, April, 1914. 



