Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/352

 there are leaders to apply them. The referendum which U'Ren found in the charter of San Francisco was a dead letter; Heney didn't even know it was there. And Heney's exposure of Oregon came two years after U'Ren had his "I. & R."

In brief, to repeat the question raised at the beginning of our story, Why don't the people of Oregon use their power to change the system?

The answer is, as before, "W. S. U'Ren."

He knows the "I. & R." is nothing but a tool; that it is worth while only as it can be used to change the "conditions that make men do bad things"; and he means to use it. Indeed, he proposed, when he got it, to proceed at once to economic reforms. But wiser heads counselled that, until the new instrument had been tempered by custom, it would be better to use the "I. & R." only to get other new tools. So the Direct Legislation League gave way to a Direct Primary League, and W. S. U'Ren, secretary, drew a bill for the people to initiate that should enable them to make their own nominations for office and thus knock out the party machines. While this was doing, a railroad planned a referendum to delay a state road which the Chamber of Commerce wanted, and the Chamber, in alarm, threatened an initiative for a maximum rate bill. That settled the railroad, pleased the business men