The Fight for Direct Democracy
Labor journals lobby for the Initiative and Referendum to bypass legislative corruption and ensure the people have the final say on state law.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Shall the voters have a right to take the initiative in making a law that the people want, and that the state legislature has not seen fit to enact? It is some work to devise a good law, to write out its full text, and to obtain for it the attested signature of eight per cent of all the legal voters in the state. No one is going to undertake so much work unless there appears to be sound reason why the said law should exist. When money speaks to a legislature, it may corrupt a majority therein, and secure legislation that exploits the people at large. But money cannot induce a majority of all the electors to vote against their own interests. The right of Initiative and Referendum does not do away with the legislature, but it prevents the legislature imposing upon the people certain bills that the people do not want, and it enables the people to secure all laws that they believe to be desirable. To pledge the candidates is the first step: see to it that your candidate is so pledged.
“When money speaks to a legislature, it may corrupt a majority therein.”
This reflects the early 20th-century Progressive Era movement that successfully established Washington's initiative and referendum system. The rhetoric regarding lobbying and legislative corruption mirrors modern arguments about political reform.
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