are plenty of applicants for the positions at the present rates of pay, cannot be determined.

Bond issues for ordinary purposes were generally approved with notable exception in Kentucky. Exemptions from taxation for the purpose of encouraging industrial development were favored in Arkansas, South Carolina, and Louisiana, and for other purposes in California. Income taxes were defeated in Indiana and Oregon and at the same time in the latter state the voters overwhelmingly defeated a constitutional prohibition of income and inheritance taxes. The classification of property for purposes of taxation was frowned upon in West Virginia and, although nearly 200,000 more Illinois voters favored allowing a vote of two-thirds of the legislature hereafter to free that body from the taxation limitations of the constitution, the requirement of a majority of those voting at the election prevented the adoption of the amendment. Michigan voters again disapproved the employment of excess condemnation by cities, and in Ohio the proposal to assess the cost of acquiring lands for public improvements upon lands benefited rather than upon adjacent lands, went down to defeat.

Propositions which would to a greater or lesser degree have put the state or locality into some business or commercial undertaking were defeated in California, Oregon, Missouri, Michigan and Montana; that is, wherever they appeared upon the ballot.

Perhaps the outstanding case of popular unwisdom was the rejection in Massachusetts (where, by the way, a literacy test prevails), of a proposed 5 per cent and 10 per cent score advantage for veterans and disabled veterans, respectively, in civil service examinations, to replace the present practice of placing veterans above all others on the eligible list. This action contrasts unfavorably with that of New York a few years ago. The committee of the General Court, it must be admitted, had recommended the defeat of the measure, including in its report, which becomes part of the publicity pamphlet, the statement that the present law had been enacted in 1919 at the recommendation of Governor Coolidge and that under it "of the total number of appointments made barely fifty per cent were veterans." Ohio voters decisively refused to withdraw from the Constitution the requirement of the use of the direct primary for all nominations. They apparently believe much more firmly in the direct primary in the abstract than they believe in their ability to use it for the nomination of candidates who will not destroy it.

Upon the assumption that fifty-four of the proposals voted

upon in the states employing the initiative and referendum were questions upon which the action of the voters might reasonably be described as progressive or conservative, Mr. King concludes that the people in these states voted progressively thirty-nine times and conservatively fifteen times. The writer has not attempted to examine the justification for this conclusion (the specific measures rated were not presented in Mr. King's survey) and consequently expresses neither agreement nor disagreement. Mr. King discountenances the idea that "the vote goes where the big money goes." He holds that "where a real public opinion has been established regarding an institution with which the voters have had experience, money is of no avail." It has, however, great influence upon the acceptance or rejection of new programs, he concedes.

Inadequate publicity still characterizes the submission of the proposals in many states. The arguments pro and con, when printed in a pamphlet, are sometimes so diametrically opposed and contradictory as to the purpose of the proposition, that even the most intelligent voters must feel shaky and uncertain. The printing in full of a long statute, especially one amending an existing law, is a hopeless way of acquainting the voter with even the elements of his problem. A simple statement of the formal purpose of the proposal, as distinct from its possible results, would be most useful. But who shall be trusted to draft such a description? Court action may be had in some states to assure correct ballot titles and prevent the use of misleading captions. Perhaps this method would safeguard an official description. Political "facts" are notoriously difficult to find, and when found they seem still to be not altogether impersonal.

Of the fourteen constitutional amendments laid before the electorate of Louisiana the New Orleans Times-Picayune said: "The average voter was personally interested in one or two and acquainted with their meaning. With respect to the others he probably knew little and cared less. His reading of the amendments as published in advance of the election could bring little enlightenment." A Massachusetts editorial said of the proposed amendment relating to town meetings: "There was no controversy over the referendum, and no reason could be found for any opposition if the question was understood." Yet 160,000 negative votes were cast. This is attributed to the tendency to vote "no" when a question is not understood and to vote "no" on a group when there is an intense eagerness to defeat a particular proposal. It is noted, also, that Boston, Cambridge, Newton,

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Lawrence, Fall River, and New Bedford all gave a majority for the defeated veterans' preference initiative, and the suggestion is offered, as a reason for this divergence from the vote of the rest of the state, that it may have been effected by a radio talk in favor of the proposal from a Boston station the night before the election.

125. PROBLEMS OF THE INITIATIVE AND
REFERENDUM

The introduction of the initiative and referendum in various states has brought with it a number of problems whose solution is by no means simple. In the following selection some of the more important of these problems are stated and possible solutions indicated.

[Illinois Constitutional Convention Bulletins, 1920, pp. 110-116.]

General statement: In connection with the initiative and referendum several distinct problems present themselves:

(a) The drafting of the measure to be submitted under the initiative;

(b) The obtaining of initiative or referendum petitions;

(c) The submission of measures in such a manner that they may be acted upon intelligently by the voters, and

(d) The popular vote upon proposals.

Draftsmanship: It may of course be truly said that draftsmanship of laws enacted by representative legislatures is defective, and that the draftsmanship of initiated laws is not materially worse than much of the draftsmanship of laws enacted under the representative system. However this does not deny the need for more expert draftsmanship, but rather asserts the need for such draftsmanship as to representative legislative action as well as with reference to initiated measures, if the initiative is to be adopted.

The relationship between direct and indirect initiation of measures under existing constitutional provisions has already been discussed, and this discussion has a direct bearing upon the problem of draftsmanship of initiated measures. In the states which permit the legislative proposal of alternative measures, the two proposed measures then going to a vote of the people, there is of course no opportunity for improving the initiated measure, and there is an added complexity in the issue presented to the voters. In states where, as in Ohio and Massachusetts, there is an indirect initiative with a possibility of correcting a measure upon the basis of legislative deliberation, there is a possibility of improving the quality of the measure before it is finally submitted to the popular vote. This was also true under the rejected Wisconsin plan and under a possible combination of the Wisconsin plan with a suggested amendment which was rejected by the general assembly in Illinois in 1913.

Any plan which enables a small group of persons to force a vote upon a proposal without possibility of revision, is to that extent defective. Legislative deliberation upon a proposed draft of a measure is of value, and such deliberation is possible under the Ohio and Massachusetts plans. Under these plans of course there is a somewhat greater degree of delay in submitting measures to a popular vote, unless a special election is called, and special elections are of course expensive.

...

Petitions: The size of petitions varies considerably in the several states. The obtaining of petitions is a matter of some difficulty and expense even though it be recognized that a large number of people sign petitions without very much thought. The obtaining of an 8 per cent petition for an initiative measure becomes of course more difficult the larger the number of voters. The granting of woman's suffrage in Oregon has probably had an appreciable effect upon the number of initiative proposals. In a state like Illinois the difficulty becomes greater, and will be increased by the granting of woman's suffrage. Large petitions on the other hand do not necessarily represent a large sentiment in the community in favor of a measure.

A small petition obtained under careful safeguards is likely to represent much more of an actual public sentiment than a large petition obtained through the hiring of "professional signature getters." A plan such as that which is made optional in Washington, of leaving petitions with registration officers, has distinct merit, although such a plan would materially increase the difficulty of obtaining a large petition.

In a number of states a certain geographical distribution of petitioners is required, and this seems desirable in order to make sure that the measure being petitioned for is not merely one sought by people in a particular community. However, the state of Illinois presents a problem somewhat different from that of almost all of the states which have adopted the initiative and the referendum, although Maryland and Massachusetts are perhaps most comparable. In the state of Illinois there is one county with very nearly half of the population of the state, and some method will have to be devised to make sure that initiative petitions represent not merely a sentiment within that county, and also that the initiative and referendum if adopted will not be employed to impose legislation upon that county by the rest of the

state.

If an initiation is to be indirect, with a possibility of amending the proposal before its submission, upon the basis of legislative deliberation, there may be no great need for a large petition. In fact the need for a petition to present the measure to the legislature hardly exists at all, and if a plan of this sort be adopted, the petition may come after the legislative deliberation as in the case of the Ohio supplementary petition. In such a case a petition need not be large, if it may be employed only in the case where a proposed measure has received the support of a certain number of members of the general assembly.

Submission to the voters: The problems of ballot title and of arguments upon measures may properly be left to the legislature, although these are highly important matters from the standpoint of any effective operation of the initiative and the referendum.

Under the constitutional provisions of a number of states alternative and competing measures are expressly permitted, several states providing that alternative measures shall be submitted in such a way that the vote shall be in the alternative. The submission of directly competing measures, either by provisions for alternative measures or otherwise, is apt to lead to grave confusion in the minds of most intelligent voters, and this plan should be avoided if possible in the adoption of any initiative and referendum scheme.

A popular vote is of little value:

(1) If the questions submitted are so trivial or so local in character as not to be of interest to those to whom they are submitted.

(2) If the questions are so complicated and technical that the voter has no satisfactory means of informing himself regarding them.

(3) If the questions are submitted in such great number that the voter, even if he might possibly render a satisfactory judgment upon any one of them, can not inform himself regarding the merits of all the measures upon which he must pass.

It has already been suggested that many constitutional amendments submitted to voters are local or trivial, and the same statement may be made of many laws or proposed laws submitted through the initiative and referendum. However, the legislative proposals submitted through the initiative and referendum have in the main related to matters of general interest. The publish