Studies in American History 
357 
to a popular primary of his party thruout the state or dis- 
trict."’® Altho the report of the judiciary committee was 7 to 3 
in favor of its passage, the minority report, “ought not to 
pass'’, was adopted by the legislature.®^ 
The defeat of the bill was in a measure due to the fact that 
an initiated petition providing for the repeal of the primary 
law and the restoration of the convention system of the pre- 
primary period had been submitted to the legislature. The 
initiated measure, if drawn up, signed, and submitted in con- 
formity with the constitution, automatically went to a refer- 
endum of the people.®® The initiated measure contained the 
following provisions : 
ARTICLE I. Sections 1 to 36, inclusive, of Chapter 6 of the Revised 
Statutes, and acts amendatory thereof and additional thereto, relating to 
nominations of candidates for office by primary elections, are hereby re- 
pealed. 
ARTICLE II. All nominations of candidates for any and all state 
or county offices, including United States Senator, member of Congress, 
and member of the state legislature shall hereafter be made at and by 
party caucuses and conventions, in the same manner as nominations 
were made prior to the passage of Chapter 199 of the Public Laws of 
1911 and Chapter 221 of the Public Laws of 1913. 
The Governor is hereby requested to issue his proclamation, refer- 
ring the within act to the people, at a special election to be held not 
less than four or more than six months after such proclamation. 
The petitions containing the repeal measure, submitted to 
the legislature, appeared to contain the names of 12,863 legal 
voters, certified to under oath as required by law. An examina- 
tion of the petitions, however, by the governor and council after 
the adjournment of the legislature raised grave doubts with 
regard to the legality of many petitions and signatures. To 
ascertain whether the petitions contained the requisite 12,000 
legal signatures, hearings were held before the governor and 
council May 6, 11, and 18, 1925. On May 25, Governor Brew- 
ster issued the following statement regarding the results of 
the hearing: 
The Attorney-General has advised me that it is plainly the duty of 
the Governor to determine whether the provisions of the Constitution 
have been met in requiring that at least 12,000 electors shall propose 
an initiated measure in accordance with the required forms before a 
proclamation shall be issued calling for an election upon the proposed 
law. 
sec. 15. 
S'* Maine, Legislative Record, 1925, pp. 641-649, 820-824. 
Maine, Constitution, art. xxxi. 
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