James W. Sullivan - Direct Legislation by the Citizenship through the Initiative and Referendum
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James W. Sullivan >> Direct Legislation by the Citizenship through the Initiative and Referendum
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8 DIRECT LEGISLATION
BY
THE CITIZENSHIP
THROUGH
THE INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM
BY
J.W. SULLIVAN
* * * * *
CONTENTS:
AS TO THIS BOOK i.
THE INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM IN SWITZERLAND 5
THE PUBLIC STEWARDSHIP OF SWITZERLAND 25
THE COMMON WEALTH OF SWITZERLAND 47
DIRECT LEGISLATION IN THE UNITED STATES 72
THE WAY OPEN TO PEACEFUL REVOLUTION 95
* * * * *
[_Copyright, 1892, by J.W. Sullivan._]
* * * * *
NEW YORK
TRUE NATIONALIST PUBLISHING COMPANY
1893
AS TO THIS BOOK.
This is the second in a series of sociological works, each a small
volume, I have in course of publication. The first, "A Concept of
Political Justice," gave in outline the major positions which seem to me
logically to accord in practical life with the political principle of
equal freedom. In the present work, certain of the positions taken in
the first are amplified. In each of the volumes to come, which will be
issued as I find time to complete them, similar amplification in the
case of other positions will be made. Naturally, the order of
publication of the proposed works may be influenced by the general trend
in the discussion of public questions.
The small-book plan I have adopted for several reasons. One is, that the
writer who embodies his thought on any large subject in a single weighty
volume commonly finds difficulty in selling the work or having it read;
the price alone restricts its market, and the volume, by its very size,
usually repels the ordinary reader. Another, that the radical world,
which I especially address, is nowadays assailed with so much printed
matter that in it big books have slight show of favor. Another, that the
reader of any volume in the series subsequent to the first may on
reference to the first ascertain the train of connection and entire
scope of the thought I would present. And, finally, that such persons as
have been won to the support of the principles taught may interest
themselves, and perhaps others, in spreading knowledge of these
principles, as developed in the successive works.
On the last-mentioned point, a word. Having during the past decade
closely observed, and in some measure shared in, the discussion of
advanced sociological thought, I maintain with confidence the principles
of equal freedom, not only in their essential truth, but in the leading
applications I have made of them. At least, I may trust that, thus far
in either work, in coming to my more important conclusions, I have not
fallen into error through blind devotion to an "ism" nor halted at
faulty judgment because of limited investigation. I therefore hope to
have others join with me, some to work quite in the lines I follow, and
some to move at least in the direction of those lines.
The present volume I have prepared with care. My attention being
attracted about eight years ago to the direct legislation of
Switzerland, I then set about collecting what notes in regard to that
institution I could glean from periodicals and other publications. But
at that time very little of value had been printed in English. Later, as
exchange editor of a social reform weekly journal, I gathered such facts
bearing on the subject as were passing about in the American newspaper
world, and through the magazine indexes for the past twenty years I
gained access to whatever pertaining to Switzerland had gone on record
in the monthlies and quarterlies; while at the three larger libraries of
New York--the Astor, the Mercantile, and the Columbia College--I found
the principal descriptive and historical works on Switzerland. But from
all these sources only a slender stock of information with regard to the
influence of the Initiative and Referendum on the later political and
economic development of Switzerland was to be obtained. So, when, three
years ago, with inquiry on this point in mind, I spent some months in
Switzerland, about all I had at first on which to base investigations
was a collection of commonplace or beclouded fact from the newspapers, a
few statistics and opinions from an English magazine or two, and some
excerpts from volumes by De Laveleye and Freeman which contained
chapters treating of Swiss institutions. Soon after, as a result of my
observations in the country, I contributed, under the caption
"Republican Switzerland," a series of articles to the New York "Times"
on the Swiss government of today, and, last April, an essay to the
"Chautauquan" magazine on "The Referendum in Switzerland." On the form
outlined in these articles I have constructed the first three chapters
of the present work. The data, however, excepting in a few cases, are
corrected to 1892, and in many respects besides I have profited by the
labors of other men in the same field.
The past two years and a half has seen much writing on Swiss
institutions. Political investigators are awakening to the fact that in
politics and economics the Swiss are doing what has never before been
done in the world. In neighborhood, region, and nation, the entire
citizenship in each case concerned is in details operating the
government. In certain cantons it is done in every detail. Doing this,
the Swiss are moving rapidly in practically grappling with social
problems that elsewhere are hardly more than speculative topics with
scholars and theorists. In other countries, consequently, interested
lookers-on, having from different points of view taken notes of
democratic Switzerland, are, through newspaper, magazine, and book,
describing its unprecedented progress and suggesting to their own
countrymen what in Swiss governmental experience may be found of value
at home. Of the more solid writing of this character, four books may
especially be recommended. I mention them in the order of their
publication.
"The Swiss Confederation." By Sir Francis Ottiwell Adams and C.D.
Cunningham. (London: Macmillan & Co.; 1889; 289 pages; $1.75.) Sir
Francis Ottiwell Adams was for some years British Minister at Berne.
"The Federal Government of Switzerland: An Essay on the Constitution."
By Bernard Moses, Ph.D., professor of history and political economy,
University of California. (Pacific Press Publishing Company: Oakland,
Cal.; 1889; 256 pages; $1.25.) This work is largely a comparative study
of constitutions. It is meant chiefly for the use of students of law and
of legal history. It abounds, however, in facts as to Switzerland which
up to the time of its publication were quite inaccessible to American
readers.
"State and Federal Government of Switzerland." By John Martin Vincent,
Ph.D., librarian and instructor in the department of history and
politics, Johns Hopkins University. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press;
1891; 247 pages; $1.50.) Professor Vincent had access, at the
university, to the considerable collection of books and papers relating
to Switzerland made by Professor J.C. Bluntschli, an eminent Swiss
historian who died in 1881, and also to a large number of government
publications presented by the Swiss Federal Council to the university
library.
"The Swiss Republic." By Boyd Winchester, late United States Minister at
Berne. (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co.; 1891; 487 pages; $1.50.)
Mr. Winchester was stationed four years at Berne, and hence had better
opportunity than Professor Vincent or Professor Moses for obtaining a
thorough acquaintance with Switzerland. Much of his book is taken up
with descriptive writing, all good.
Were I asked which of these four works affords the fullest information
as to new Switzerland and new Swiss political methods, I should be
obliged to refer the inquirer to his own needs. Professor Moses's is
best for one applying himself to law and constitutional history.
Professor Vincent's is richest in systematized details and statistics,
especially such as relate to the Referendum and taxation; and in it also
is a bibliography of Swiss politics and history. For the general reader,
desiring description of the country, stirring democratic sentiment, and
an all-round view of the great little republic, Mr. Winchester's is
preferable.
In expanding and rearranging my "Times" and "Chautauquan" articles, I
have, to some extent, used these books.
Throughout this work, wherever possible, conservatives, rather than
myself, have been made to speak; hence quotations are frequent. The
first drafts of the chapters on Switzerland have been read by Swiss
radicals of different schools, and the final proofsheets have been
revised by a Swiss writer of repute living in New York; therefore
serious error is hardly probable. The one fault I myself have to find
with the work is its baldness of statement, rendered necessary by space
limits. I could, perhaps more easily, have prepared four or five hundred
pages instead of the one hundred and twenty. I leave it rather to the
reader to supply comparison and analysis and the eloquent comment of
which, it seems to me, many of the statements of fact are worthy.
J.W.S.
THE INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM IN SWITZERLAND.
_Democratic versus Representative Government._
There is a radical difference between a democracy and a representative
government. In a democracy, the citizens themselves make the law and
superintend its administration; in a representative government, the
citizens empower legislators and executive officers to make the law and
to carry it out. Under a democracy, sovereignty remains uninterruptedly
with the citizens, or rather a changing majority of the citizens; under
a representative government, sovereignty is surrendered by the citizens,
for stated terms, to officials. In other words, democracy is direct rule
by the majority, while representative government is rule by a succession
of quasi-oligarchies, indirectly and remotely responsible to the
majority.
Observe, now, first, the influences that chiefly contribute to make
government in the United States what it is:--
The county, state, and federal governments are not democracies. In form,
they are quasi-oligarchies composed of representatives and executives;
but in fact they are frequently complete oligarchies, composed in part
of unending rings of politicians that directly control the law and the
offices, and in part of the permanent plutocracy, who purchase
legislation through the politicians.
Observe, next, certain strong influences for the better that obtain in a
pure democracy:--
An obvious influence is, in one respect, the same as that which
enriches the plutocrat and prompts the politician to reach for
power--self-interest. When all the members of any body of men find
themselves in equal relation to a profitable end in which they solely
are concerned, they will surely be inclined to assert their joint
independence of other bodies in that respect, and, further, each member
will claim his full share of whatever benefits arise. But, more than
that; something like equality of benefits being achieved, perhaps
through various agencies of force, a second influence will be brought
powerfully to bear on those concerned. It is that of justice. Fair play
to all the members will be generally demanded.
In a pure democracy, therefore, intelligently controlled self-interest
and a consequent sentiment of justice are the sources in which the
highest possible social benefits may be expected to begin.
The reader has now before him the political principle to be here
maintained--pure democracy as distinguished from representative
government. My argument, then, becomes this: To show that, by means of
the one lawmaking method to which pure democracy is restricted,--that of
direct legislation by the citizenship,--the political "ring," "boss,"
and "heeler" may be abolished, the American plutocracy destroyed, and
government simplified and reduced to the limits set by the conscience
of the majority as affected by social necessities. My task involves
proof that direct legislation is possible with large communities.
_Direct Legislation in Switzerland._
Evidence as to the practicability and the effects of direct legislation
is afforded by Switzerland, especially in its history during the past
twenty-five years. To this evidence I turn at once.
There are in Switzerland twenty-two cantons (states), which are
subdivided into 2,706 communes (townships). The commune is the political
as well as territorial unit. Commonly, as nearly as consistent with
cantonal and federal rights, in local affairs the commune governs
itself. Its citizens regard it as their smaller state. It is jealous of
interference by the greater state. It has its own property to look
after. Until the interests of the canton or the Confederation manifestly
replace those of the immediate locality, the commune declines to part
with the administration of its lands, forests, police, roads, schools,
churches, or taxes.
In German Switzerland the adult male inhabitants of the commune meet at
least once annually, usually in the town market place or on a mountain
plain, and carry out their functions as citizens. There they debate
proposed laws, name officers, and discuss affairs of a public nature. On
such occasions, every citizen is a legislator, his voice and vote
influencing the questions at issue. The right of initiating a measure
belongs to each. Decision is ordinarily made by show of hands. In most
cantons the youth becomes a voter at twenty, the legal age for acquiring
a vote in federal affairs, though the range for cantonal matters is from
eighteen to twenty-one.
Similar democratic legislative meetings govern two cantons as cantons
and two other cantons divided into demi-cantons. In the demi-canton of
Outer Appenzell, 13,500 voters are qualified thus to meet and legislate,
and the number actually assembled is sometimes 10,000. But this is the
highest extreme for such an assemblage--a Landsgemeinde (a
land-community)--the lowest for a canton or a demi-canton comprising
about 3,000. One other canton (Schwyz, 50,307 inhabitants) has
Landsgemeinde meetings, there being six, with an average of 2,000 voters
to each. In communal political assemblages, however, there are usually
but a few hundred voters.
The yearly cantonal or demi-cantonal Landsgemeinde takes place on a
Sunday in April or May. While the powers and duties of the body vary
somewhat in different cantons, they usually cover the following
subjects: Partial as well as total revision of the constitution;
enactment of all laws; imposition of direct taxes; incurrence of state
debts and alienation of public domains; the granting of public
privileges; assumption of foreigners into state citizenship;
establishment of new offices and the regulation of salaries; election of
state, executive, and judicial officers.[A]
[Footnote A: J.M. Vincent: "State and Federal Government in
Switzerland."]
The programme for the meeting is arranged by the officials and published
beforehand, the law in some cantons requiring publication four weeks
before the meeting, and in others but ten days. "To give opportunities
for individuals and authorities to make proposals and offer bills, the
official gazette announces every January that for fourteen days after a
given date petitions may be presented for that purpose. These must be
written, the object plainly stated and accompanied by the reasons. All
such motions are considered by what is called the Triple Council, or
legislature, and are classified as 'expedient' and 'inexpedient.' A
proposal receiving more than ten votes must be placed on the list of
expedient, accompanied by the opinion of the council. The rejected are
placed under a special rubric, familiarly called by the people the
_Beiwagen_. The assembly may reverse the action of the council if it
chooses and take a measure out of the 'extra coach,' but consideration
of it is in that case deferred until the next year. In the larger
assemblies debate is excluded, the vote being simply on rejection or
adoption. In the smaller states the line is not so tightly drawn....
Votes are taken by show of hands, though secret ballot may be had if
demanded, elections of officers following the same rule in this matter
as legislation. Nominations for office, however, need not be sent in by
petition, but may be offered by any one on the spot."[B]
[Footnote B: Vincent.]
_The Initiative and the Referendum._
It will be observed that the basic practical principles of both the
communal meeting and the Landsgemeinde are these two:
(1) That every citizen shall have the right to propose a measure of law
to his fellow-citizens--this principle being known as the Initiative.
(2) That the majority shall actually enact the law by voting the
acceptance or the rejection of the measures proposed. This principle,
when applied in non-Landsgemeinde cantons, through ballotings at polling
places, on measures sent from legislative bodies to the people, is known
as the Referendum.
The Initiative has been practiced in many of the communes and in the
several Landsgemeinde cantons in one form or other from time immemorial.
In the past score of years, however, it has been practiced by petition
in an increasing number of the cantons not having the democratic
assemblage of all the citizens.
The Referendum owes its origin to two sources. One source was in the
vote taken at the communal meeting and the Landsgemeinde. The principle
sometimes extended to cities, Berne, for instance, in the fifty-five
years from 1469 to 1524, taking sixty referendary votings. The other
source was in the vote taken by the ancient cantons on any action by
their delegates to the federal Diet, or congress, these delegates
undertaking no affair except on condition of referring it to the
cantonal councils--_ad referendum_.
The principles of the Initiative and Referendum have of recent years
been extended so as to apply, to a greater or lesser extent, not only to
cantonal affairs in cantons far too large for the Landsgemeinde, but to
certain affairs of the Swiss Confederation, comprising three million
inhabitants. In other words, the Swiss nation today sees clearly, first,
that the democratic system has manifold advantages over the
representative; and, secondly, that no higher degree of political
freedom and justice can be obtained than by granting to the least
practicable minority the legal right to propose a law and to the
majority the right to accept or reject it. In enlarging the field of
these working principles, the Swiss have developed in the political
world a factor which, so far as it is in operation, is creating a
revolution to be compared only with that caused in the industrial world
by the steam engine.
* * * * *
The cantonal Initiative exists in fourteen of the twenty-two cantons--in
some of them, however, only in reference to constitutional amendments.
Usually, the proposal of a measure of cantonal law by popular initiative
must be made through petition by from one-twelfth to one-sixteenth of
the voters of the canton. When the petition reaches the cantonal
legislature, the latter body is obliged, within a brief period,
specified by the constitution, to refer the proposal to a cantonal vote.
If the decision of the citizens is then favorable, the measure is law,
and the executive and judicial officials must proceed to carry it into
effect.
The cantonal Referendum is in constant practice in all the cantons
except Freiburg, which is governed by a representative legislature. The
extent, however, to which the Referendum is applied varies considerably.
In two cantons it is applicable only to financial measures; in others it
is optional with the people, who sometimes demand it, but oftener do
not; in others it is obligatory in connection with the passage of every
law. More explicitly: In the canton of Vaud a mere pseudo-referendary
right exists, under which the Grand Council (the legislature) may, if it
so decides, propose a reference to the citizens. Valais takes a popular
vote only on such propositions passed by the Grand Council as involve a
one and a half per cent increase in taxation or a total expenditure of
60,000 francs. With increasing confidence in the people, the cantons of
Lucerne, Zug, Bale City, Schaffhausen, St. Gall, Ticino, Neuchatel, and
Geneva refer a proposed law, after it has passed the Grand Council, to
the voters when a certain proportion of the citizens, usually one-sixth
to one-fourth, demand it by formal petition. This form is called the
optional Referendum. Employed to its utmost in Zurich, Schwyz, Berne,
Soleure, Bale Land, Aargau, Thurgau, and the Grisons, in these cantons
the Referendum permits no law to be passed or expenditure beyond a
stipulated sum to be made by the legislature without a vote of the
people. This is known as the obligatory Referendum. Glarus, Uri, the
half cantons of Niwald and Obwald (Unterwald), and those of Outer and
Inner Appenzell, as cantons, or demi-cantons, still practice the
democratic assemblage--the Landsgemeinde.
In the following statistics, the reader may see at a glance the progress
of the Referendum to the present date, with the population of
Switzerland by cantons, and the difficulties presented by differences of
language in the introduction of reforms:--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| No. inhab. | | Form of Passing | Yr. of
Canton. | Dec., 1888. | Language. | Laws. | Entry
-------------|-------------|-----------------|-----------------|-------
Zurich | 337,183 | German. | Oblig. Ref. | 1351
Berne | 536,679 |Ger. and French. | " | 1353
Lucerne | 135,360 | German. | Optional Ref. | 1332
Uri | 17,249 |Ger. and Italian.| Landsgemeinde. | 1291
Schwyz | 50,307 | German. | Oblig. Ref. | "
Unterwald | | | | "
Obwald | 15,041 | " | Landsgemeinde. |
Niwald | 12,538 | " | " |
Glarus | 33,825 | " | " | 1352
Zug | 23,029 | " | Optional Ref. | "
Freiburg | 119,155 | French and Ger. | Legislature. | 1481
Soleure | 85,621 | German. | Oblig. Ref. | "
Bale | | | | 1501
City | 73,749 | " | Optional Ref. |
Country | 61,941 | " | Oblig. Ref. |
Schaffhausen | 37,783 | " | Optional Ref. | "
Appenzell | | | | 1573
Outer | 54,109 | " | Landsgemeinde. |
Inner | 12,888 | " | " |
St. Gall | 228,160 | " | Optional Ref. | 1803
Grisons | 94,810 | Ger.,Ital.,Rom. | Oblig. Ref. | "
Aargau | 193,580 | German. | " | "
Thurgau | 104,678 | " | " | "
Ticino | 126,751 | Italian. | Optional Ref. | "
Vaud | 247,655 | French and Ger. | " | "
Valais | 101,985 | " | Finance Ref. | 1814
Neuchatel | 108,153 | French. | Optional Ref. | "
Geneva | 105,509 | " | " | "
|-------------| | |
| 2,917,740 | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
In round numbers, 2,092,000 of the Swiss people speak German, 637,000
French, 156,000 Italian, and 30,000 Romansch. Of the principal cities,
in 1887, Zurich, with suburbs, had 92,685 inhabitants; Bale, 73,963;
Geneva, with suburbs, 73,504; Berne, 50,220; Lausanne, 32,954; and five
others from 17,000 to 25,000. Fourteen per cent of the inhabitants
(410,000) live in cities of more than 15,000. The factory workers number
161,000, representing about half a million inhabitants, and the peasant
proprietors nearly 260,000, representing almost two millions. The area
of Switzerland is 15,892 square miles,--slightly in excess of double
that of New Jersey. The population is slightly less than that of Ohio.
_Switzerland--The Youngest of Republics._
It is misleading to suppose, as is often done, that the Switzerland of
today is the republic which has stood for six hundred years. In truth,
it is the youngest of republics. Its chief governmental features,
cantonal and federal, are the work of the present generation. Its unique
executive council, its democratic army organization, its republican
railway management, its federal post-office, its system of taxation, its
two-chambered congress, the very Confederation itself--all were
originated in the constitution of 1848, the first that was anything more
than a federal compact. The federal Referendum began only in 1874. The
federal Initiative has been just adopted (1891.)[C] The form of cantonal
Referendum now practiced was but begun (in St. Gall) in 1830, and forty
years ago only five cantons had any Referendum whatever, and these in
the optional form. It is of very recent years that the movement has
become steady toward the general adoption of the cantonal Referendum. In
1860 but 34 per cent of the Swiss possessed it, 66 per cent delegating
their sovereign rights to representatives. But in 1870 the
referendariship had risen to 71 per cent, only 29 submitting to
lawmaking officials; and today the proportions are more than 90 per cent
to less than 10.
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