2 78 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



machine politics and to restore control to the people, Oregon was the 

 second state to adopt the direct primary; Wisconsin, in 1903, preceded 

 Oregon by one year. Washington followed in 1907 and California in 

 1909. jSTow there are thirty-two states possessing it, not counting the 

 southern states that have long had the white primary. The effect of 

 direct nominations has been to loosen party ties. Perhaps other gov- 

 ernmental agencies have assisted, but at any rate, party ties bind very 

 lightly on the Pacific coast. Some careful observers think that the 

 direct primary has finished its work in Oregon and that it has left an 

 expensive and troublesome double elective system. Hence Portland, 

 Oregon, is found by 1913 adopting a non-party preferential system of 

 voting that necessitates only one election and provides approximately 

 majority rule by the counting of second and third choice votes. Wash- 

 ington also has a preferential system for state elections. The system 

 is somewhat technical, but seems to have produced excellent results in 

 the few elections in which it has been tried. 



In the Oregon direct-primary law was found a curious clause known 

 as " Statement No. 1." The operation of " Statement No. 1 " resulted 

 in the direct election of United States senators without the adoption 

 of a constitutional amendment to that effect. " Statement No. 1 " was 

 simply a statement, which might or might not be made by a candidate 

 for the state legislature, to the effect that he would vote in the state 

 legislature for the people's choice for United States senator. The can- 

 didate felt that his chances of election were better if he thus pledged 

 himself. Although a majority of the candidates " took " the statement, 

 the fight to make it effective was dramatic. It was so successful, how- 

 ever, that a republican legislature was forced to elect a democrat for 

 senator. Attention is called to " Statement No. 1 " because it was a 

 genuine invention, the rarest of phenomena in politics. Other states 

 followed Oregon's example. All such devices lost their force, however, 

 when the constitution of the United States was so amended that 

 senators are no longer elected by the state legislatures, but directly by 

 the people. 



Associated in spirit with the initiative and referendum is the recall 

 of public officials at the will of the voters before the expiration of their 

 terms. Oregon adopted the recall in 1908, and was the first state to do 

 so. California followed in 1911 and AVashington in 1912. At the 

 present time ten other states have the recall. The recall has precipi- 

 tated much argument concerning the whims of democracy and mob 

 psychology. However, experience shows that it has not been used very 

 much. The most conspicuous cases are the recalls of a mayor and an 

 occasional councilman. The failure to use it is not due to the number 

 of signatures necessary to put it in operation, but rather to the difficulty 

 in securing an able candidate to run against the recalled official and 



