Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/750

 734 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

mainly from the teachings of Rousseau, who in the Contrat social decried representative government and advised that laws be enacted directly by the people.

Owing largely to her geographical situation, being a border- land of most other nationalities of Europe, Switzerland had her troubles growing out of racial difficulties. This accentuated the warring of factions. Their cantonal disaffections and contentions began with their history. The constitution which the first Napoleon imposed on the republic, and the readjustment of politi- cal conditions after the Napoleonic wars, created further dissen- sions. A league of seven cantons threatened to send no more commissioners to the diet, but it was finally dissolved by federal authority. In 1832 liberal cantonal reforms were introduced without any aid of the initiative and the federal constitution was revised in that year. The revision was voted down by fac- tions and it was a good revision, too just as factions there are frequently voting down good laws today. Some of the con- tentious parties began to see in Rousseau's teachings of popular sovereignty a chance for advantage. It became a popular doc- trine. Each faction, religious or political, believed it could by means of the initiative secure the enactment of its own measure into a law in spite of the legislature. According to the initiative authorities, all these parties were actuated by motives of pure patriotism and disgust with legislative corruption. Such talk is rubbish. On the authority of historians of high standing, it was simply a scheme employed for party advantage. At any rate, in 1863 the first cantonal initiative law was passed, and within the next half-dozen years six of the leading cantons followed the example. At the present time all of the twenty-two cantons of the federation have the obligatory referendum, and seventeen the popular initiative. The confederation adopted the referendum in 1874 as a constitutional measure, and in 1891 an amendment was voted providing for the initiative "when 50,000 voters demand the enactment, abolition, or alteration of special articles of the constitution." When a demand is made that a law passed by the legislature shall be laid before the people for acceptance or rejec-