Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/755

 POPULAR INITIATIVE 739

Again I quote from Droz:

It is now generally agreed that the popular initiative might at any time place the country in a very considerable danger. From the moment that the representatives of the people have no more to say in the matter than irre- sponsible committees drawing up articles in a bar-parlor, it is clear that the limits of democracy have been passed and that the reign of demagogy has

begun. The way is opened A democracy ought to rest on a solid

basis; it is now put in peril every moment.

Says the English writer, L. Tomn :

By the initiative they [the people] are placed at the mercy of the chance majority. The way is open to both capricious legislation and clumsy legis- lation.

And we do not have to look far for the authoritative opinion that this would apply more forcibly in America than in Switzerland.

Another Swiss economist, quoted by the Referendum League, and widely recognized as a reliable authority, is Simon Deploige. His review of the workings of the laws under question in Switzer- land is comprehensive and clearly unbiased. His conclusions as to the initiative are deliberate and unequivocal :

Direct legislation is incompatible with the representative system In

my opinion, the experience of the cantons which enjoy the compulsory refer- endum are far from conclusive It is a little ridiculous to talk of legis- lation by the people, when more than half the citizens refuse to exercise their

legislative rights The acceptance or rejection of laws which are at all

complicated cannot be ascribed to either the good sense or the ignorance of the people, for the mass of the people has no opportunity of estimating the value of these laws.

It is needless to multiply quotations to show that the thought on this matter in Switzerland is not all one way, and that the experiments made with the initiative and compulsory referendum have not been universally beneficial. Enough has been given to steady the thoughts of any American who may be inclined to jump at quick conclusions. The sweeping assertions of the ini- tiative propagandists regarding Switzerland are here discredited, and even if the law had been much more successful in that coun- try than it has been, hardly anything would be proved to us. Most of the desirable things acquired by it there we already have in America. It is not admitted, and will not be, that government ownership of railways, telegraphs, etc., is really wanted here.