1 Submitted under the initiative.

*Submitted under the referendum upon legislative act.

'Submitted to the people by the legislature.

48. Bill extending the liability of em-
ployers 1

49. Bill creating Orchard County 1
50. Bill creating Clark County 1

51. Bill maintaining Eastern Oregon State
Normal School1.

52. Bill annexing portion of Washington to
Multnomah County 1

1

15,664 62,712

15,613 61,704

40,898 46,201

14,047 68,221

53. Bill providing for maintenance of South Oregon State Normal1. .

54. Amendment providing for state prohibition of liquor 1 1

55. Bill prohibiting sale and governing shipment of liquor 1

1

56. Bill creating a commission to examine employers' idemnity 1

57. Bill prohibiting fishing on Rogue River, except by angling

1

1

58. Bill creating Deschutes County
59. Bill providing for creation of new towns,
counties, and municipal districts by a
majority vote within boundaries of pro-
posed municipality, and that 30 per cent
within such territory may petition for
such election 1.

60. Amendment permitting counties to in-
cur indebtedness beyond $5000 to build
permanent roads, election to settle
question 1.

61. Bill extending direct primary to presidential nominations 1

62. Bill creating Board of People's Inspectors and providing for the publication

of an official state magazine1

1 Submitted under the initiative.

* A study of these tables shows that of the 64 measures, 48 or 75 per cent have been proposed by initiative petition, and 25 of them passed. Since 31 of the 64 measures passed and 25 of the 31 were proposed by initiative petition, 80 per cent of the successful measures never had the approval of the legislature. Moreover, 25 of the 64 measures were amendments to the state constitution, i.e. 39 per cent have been amendments and 61 per cent bills and acts. Of the 25 amendments 12 (48 per cent) were approved. From the time of the adoption of the Oregon Constitution, 1859 to 1902, it was not amended. Since 1906, or in four years, it has been amended 12 times. The process formerly took four years. It can now be done in four months. Of the 39 bills 19 (48 per cent) were approved. Further, of the 25 amendments 17 (68 per cent) were by initiative petition, and the other 8 were referred to the people by the legislative assembly. Of the 12 amendments approved 10 (83 per cent) were of the 17 proposed by initiative petition. In other words, 10 out of 17, or 58 per cent of the measures the people proposed got through, whereas only 2 of the 8 (25 per cent) proposed by the legislature (they must refer them to the people, being amendments) met with the approval of the voters. The submission of a total of 39 measures at three different elections in Oregon cost the state $25,000, or an average of about $780 for each measure. At the election in 1908, 19 measures were submitted at a cost to the state of $12,362, or an average of about $651 each. Five of these 19 measures were submitted without argument. Upon the other 14 measures there were 19 arguments submitted, for which the authors paid the cost, amounting to $3,157. The state election in 1910 cost the state $22,610.61 to submit 32 measures, or an average of $706.56 to the measure. licity pamphlet❞ cost each registered voter 20 cents in taxes.

For this year, the "pub

What proportion of these voters acted after careful examination of the measures on which they expressed an opinion, it is impossible of course to estimate, just as it is practically impossible for the citizen to know to what extent any particular bill has been deliberately considered in the legislature which passed it. There is no reason, however, why a fairly sound and deliberate judgment on all important questions of public policy may not be reached by the voters during the period in which the measures are pending before them for their consideration. The case for this view is thus put in short form by the advocates of the system in Oregon, in a pamphlet entitled People's Power and Public Taxation:

As to the alleged burden of measures upon the minds of the voters, when submitted to popular vote, and the little time in which the voters have to study such measures, compare this with the corresponding burden upon the legislature. Of the nineteen measures submitted on the ballot at the election in 1908, four were submitted by the Legislature of 1907 a little more than 15 months before they were voted on; four were sent to the voters by referendum petition a little more than 12 months before the election; and eleven were submitted by initiative petition all of them four months before the election and some of them more than six months before election; say, an average of five months, or 150 days. For the initiated measures, then, the voters had an average of fourteen days and a half to study and discuss each measure; and a much longer time for each of the referendum measures. Such was the "great burden" upon the minds of the voters. Now, take the records of the legislature, and compare the burden upon the minds of the legislators:

In 1909 the state senate was actually in session 28 days of the regular session, in which it had to consider 12 veto messages from the Governor of bills vetoed after the Legislature of 1907 adjourned; 262 senate bills; 201 bills passed by the house and sent to the senate; 104 senate resolutions and 27 resolutions passed by the house; 10 senate memorials and 10 house memorials; making 626 measures, without counting the reading of petitions and necessary action upon the Governor's vetoes of bills passed at the session of 1909. That is, 626 measures in 28 days, or an average of a little more than 22 measures a day, as against the "great burden" of fourteen days and a half to a

measure, which the voters had for the measures submitted in 1908.

Similarly, in the 28 days they were in session, the members of the house of representatives had 681 measures to consider, or an average of more than 26 a day.

The experience with the initiative and referendum in South Dakota has not been so extensive as that in Oregon, and conclusions are not so readily drawn as to popular interest in direct legislation. The following table of the votes on referenda submitted to voters of that State at the election of November, 1910, shows that eleven out of the twelve propositions submitted were defeated. A keen observer of the campaign on these propositions thinks that this result is largely due to the activity of certain parties, especially interested in the defeat of one or two propositions, who filled the newspapers with advertisements and plastered the fences with billboards advising the electors to "Vote No." The figures are:

One of these measures, the law requiring electric headlights for locomotives, was a bill passed by the state legislature on which 1 Beard, Digest of Short Ballot Charters, folio 75,503. The total vote for

governor was 105,801.

E