Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/316



REGON has more fundamental legislation than any other state in the Union excepting only Oklahoma, and Oklahoma is new. Oregon is not new; it is and it long has been corrupt, yet it has enacted laws which enable its people to govern themselves when they want to. How did this happen? How did this state of graft get all her tools for democracy? And, since it has them, why don’t her people use them more? The answer to these questions lies buried deep in the character and in the story of W. S. U’Ren (accent the last syllable), the lawgiver.

They call this man the Father of the Initiative and Referendum in Oregon, but that title isn’t big enough. U’Ren has fathered other Oregon laws, and his own state isn't the limit of his influence. The Dakotas have some similar legislation. Meeting on a Western train one day a politician who seemed to know all about things there, I inquired into the origin of the Dakota laws.

“There’s a fellow over in Oregon,” he answered—“funny name—he tipped us off and