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 720 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

can annul any part of the constitution in the same manner that they enacted the first law. They would not need to go to the legislature and ask that a constitutional amendment be submitted to themselves. They would have the initiative ; and while it may be said that under existing conditions there is no likelihood that a majority of the voters of Illinois would ever take such action, it can not be asserted positively that they never would use the power in this way, if it were conferred upon them.

It is only fair to the advocates of the initiative, the sincerity of some of whom cannot reasonably be doubted, to recognize their statements that they do not expect the people to use the power of the initiative except on rare occasions, their claim being that the mere fact of the voters possessing such power would stand as a menace against legislatures to enact vicious laws or refuse to enact wholesome laws. They place their faith in the intelligence, the calmness, and the righteousness of the people as always expressed by the majority voting.

The Illinois Referendum League states in its booklet, The Referendum in a Nutshell:

Under the referendum the passage of vicious laws by the legislative bodies will practically cease, because the " bribers will not pay for goods that cannot with certainty be delivered." If bribery is to cease, corrupt men will have no incentive to become members of legislative bodies ; and in consequence a better reputation will be given to law-makers, and a better grade of men, with long tenure of office, will soon be found in our general assembly and council chambers. Thus, instead of menacing the representative idea, the referendum in reality rescues it. The irresponsible power of our legislatures

has a tendency to corrupt them The wisdom of the referendum has

been sometimes questioned on the ground that it is not safe to intrust so much power in the hands of the people. The answer may be that, while legis- lative bodies may be, as they often have been, bribed by privilege-seeking interests, the mass of the people are too numerous to be bribed, even if that were morally possible The people as a whole are honest.

That is the foundation-stone of the whole scheme an abid- ing faith in the honesty and intelligence of a majority of the voters, which includes ability, not only to comprehend the most complicated questions, but to draft laws concerning them. The writer of a pamphlet entitled Political Egypt and the Way Out says: