Proportional representation : including its relations to the initiative and referendum

GIFT OF
Mrs. Edith. Hoses

PPLEMENT TO HOPE AND HOME, OcT. 21, 1893.

Proportional

Representation

INCLUDING ITS RELATIONS TO THE

INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM

BY ALFRED CRIDGE.

PRICE TEX CENTS.

UBLItHED BY THE AUTHOR AT 429 MONTGOMERY STREET, SAN FRAKCI8CO.

V

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION,

THE INITIATIVE AND THE R E.FE^B"N D t/M-

BY ALFEED CRIDGE.

Definitions.

"Direct Legislation" comprises the Referendum and the Initiative. Under the
former, laws, etc., after being passed by the legislature, are referred to a direct vote
of "the people" to be ratified or rejected. When "obligatory," all laws must beso
referred; when "optional," they are referred only on request of a certain number
or percentage of the voters. The Initiative requires the submission to such direct
vote of any proposed law formally approved by a certain percentage of the voters.

Proportional representation substitutes for assumed representation of majorities,
penned within district lines, a. pro rata representation of the wA0/<? people of a State
or municipality, so arranged, in one form, as to represent partiesin proportion to the
number of their adherents, and in the other, the whole people, whether in or out
of parties. This is known as the Hare Preferential system, because if a vote is
not wanted to elect the candidate who is the voter's first choice, it is used for some
other candidate in the order of his preference. In California one-eightieth of its
voters, wherever resident, in one or twenty counties, could secure an Assembly-
man ; legislatures would be complete reflexes of the people, and the wasted votes
so very small that in South Australia the system is known as Effective Voting.

PREFATORY.

When the French Academicians were getting up their dictionary they
submitted to Cuvier the following definition of a crab :

"A red fish that walks backward."

He remarked that the definition was correct, excepting that the crab
was not red, was not a fish and did not walk backward.

King Charles II asked the members of the Royal Society how it was that
when a fish was put into a bucket of water the weight of the bucket and
its contents was not increased. Several presented ingenious explanations,
after which one of them rose up and denied the fact, when the King re-
marked, "Odd fish ! but you're right."

Those who write so fluently about "the people's rule," « voters make
. their own laws," "this is a people's government," etc., are as wide of the
1 mark as the savants above mentioned, in that they have not ascertained
Vthe facts themselves, but have simply believed what they have been told.

It is said" Democracy" does, this, that, or the other thing, when, out-
side of Switzerland, Democracy has no existence, and there only partially.

742910

2 A CLEAB STAET.

\i 4»*\ v •*'••-**« »

""W. D: Stearin the Beview of Reviews says, "Demos will regard his mill-

3©n3,i¥e^ u4 Jthe eojftagef regards his bees." But his as others' " Demos " is
"as' much^a fhytli as 'Bacchus or Saturn. DeTocqueville has written a book
of over 500 pages on "Democracy in America," when the thing did not
then, and does not now exist in America.

It is of the first importance to the consideration of any of the funda-
mental political questions now taken up by thinking persons to ascertain
what is and is not representation ; how far, if at all, voters really make
the laws, and how far they might do in practice what they are said to do
in theory. This lies at the foundation of all intelligent effort to improve
industrial and moral conditions by political processes. It is the keystone,
the keynote and the key to all such reforms.

I therefore propose to consider the subject in the light of facts and
reason, negatively, positively and relatively ; with the preliminary remark
that limitations as to space preclude setting forth within the limits of a
small pamphlet, a complete exposition of a subject that in the hands
of other writers spreads into large volumes. Yet, as truth is always simple,
the subject can be made clear in a limited space, provided the reader can
divest himself sufficiently of pre-conceived notions to give it a candid
consideration.

There are two methods adopted by scientists and logicians to reach
facts. First, the a priori process, by which the truths of mathematics can
be established in advance of experience, as that twice two is four and
that the sum of all the angles in a triangle must always be equal to two
right angles. Secondly, the a posteriori method of deducing general
laws from experiment and observation, such as that water freezes and
vaporises at certain temperatures and that the earth is nearly spherical.

I shall demonstrate that the current assumptions are false by both
these processes.

CHAPTER I.

A PRIOKI DEMONSTRATION.

It can be demonstrated, aside from any actual experience, that under
representation by districts, minorities, from one-third down ( the propor-
tion growing less with the increased number of parties'), can return a ma-
jority of the members in elective bodies.

FALSE FKOM THE BASE. 3

Suppose three constituencies, of 3,000 voters each, elect each a member
to a "representative body." Let each representative be designated by
capitals and each thousand voters by "lower case " letters.

CONSTITUENCIES. REPRESENTATIVES.

baa A

baa A

b b b b

Two constituencies with 2,000 "a" voters each, and but 1,000 " b "
voters each, return an A member each. The third constituency consist-
ing entirely of " b " voters, returns one B member. But the whole of
the "b" votes number '5,000, and only get one member, while the "a"
voters, with 4,000, get two.

Now let us try with 7 constituencies, each having 7,000 voters!
aaaabbb A

aaaabbb A

aaaabbb A

aaaabbb A

bbbbbbb B

bbbbbbb B

bbbbbbb B

There we have 16,000 "a" voters electing 4 members and 33,000 "b"
voters electing but 3 members. Less than a third of the voters elect
a majority of the so-called "representatives."

But to attempt to represent all grades of opinion by means of two
parties is as absurd at it would be to undertake to fit every one by two
sizes and makes of coats, hats and shoes. In proportion as people think
for themselves, the need is felt for a third, a fourth, and even a fiftn
party ; and then the current varieties of opinions on political questions
would be inadequately voiced. But let us try a third party (" c "), thus :

CONSTITUENCIES. REPRESENTATIVES

bbccaaa A

.bbccaaa A

bbccaaa A

bbccaaa A

cccbbbb B

cccbbbb B

cccbbbb B

Here we have 49,000 voters in seven constituencies. The "a "s, with but
12,000 — less than a fourth of the whole — get a majority of the"r ep resent-

4 PROOF OF NON-REPRESENTATION.

tive" body, while the "c' s," with nearly 50 per cent more voters, do notget
one member in it; and the " b's," with a plurality vote, get a minority rep-
resentation. Were there four, five or six parties, the minority of voters
that might thuf secure a majority of the elected body would necessarily
become less and less. That is, the more intelligent voters become, the
less representation do they get, if they vote in accordance with their con-
victions. It may be claimed that the cases represented are extreme. But
there are other factors, of which we have taken so far no cognizance, that
will still further increase disparities. It is practically impossible for
voters in a mass to control party management ; and a very small minor-
ity in the party not only can, but do, not only do, but must, control the
nominations, so that the option (not choice) of the voter, in most cases,
is to vote for one man that does not represent him in preference to voting
for another that would misrepresent him. If his party wins, he is there-
fore misrepresented ; if it loses, he is unrepresented.

CHAPTER II.

A POSTEBIORI DEMONSTRATION.

Now let 118 see how the process actually works. I might fill volumes
with conclusive statistical proof that either a minority of voters, or a very
small majority, elect all the legislators, etc., leaving, for the time, the fact
that even that minority, to a large extent, only had a choice of evils.

I will only select, at present, a few recent examples. In Oakland , 7
of the Councilmen and 7 of the members of the Board of Education are
elected from as many wards, and 4 more of each " at large ;" that is, all
voters in that municipality vote for 4 candidates. At the election of March,
1893, 28,488 votes were cast for the 4 Councilmen at large, but only 10,195
or nearly 36 per cent., were cast for the candidates elected. For the mem-
bers of the Board of Education so chosen, 26,588 votes were cast, of
which but 10,739, or a little over 40 per cent., were cast for the candi-
dates elected. The votes cast in the 7 wards, under which as many mem-
bers of the Board of Education were elected from these wards separately,
aggregated 7,127, of which 3,265 were effective for the elected members
or nearly 46 per cent. All the candidates for Coumcilmen similarly voted
for received 8,141 votes in all, but those 7 elected received 3,079, or 37.8
per cent, of the total.

RADICAL DEFECTS PROVED BY FIGURES. 5

The successful candidate for the School Board fromthe 6th ward re-
ceived 297 out of the 803 votes, or nearly 36 per cent The can-
didates elected from the 7th ward received 724 out of the 1,114
votes cast — nearly two-thirds of the whole, and almost two and one-half
times as many as the 6th ward member, but he has only the same voting
power in the Board. The elected candidate of the 6th only received 4
votes more than one of those defeated, so that a change of 3 votes out of
803 would have elected one of his opponents. In three wards ( 1st. 2nd and
4th ) as many defeated candidates received more votes ( 329, 372, 292)
than the candidates elected from the 6th. Of the Councilmen elected by
wards, two received less than a third of the votes cast in each Ward ( 30.9
and 33.15 per cent.) ; two more received but a little over a third ( 34.4
and 36), and none of them received half the votes cast in their respective
wards.

At the election for six Assemblymen from the same number of Districts
in Alameda County on November 8th, 1892, 17,307 votes were cast, of which
only 8,078 — i6 per cent. — were effective in electing candidates. A change
of from 1 to less than 3 per cent, of the votes in three of the Districts,
of less than a third of one per cent, in another, and of five and one-
third and seven and one-half per cent, in the other two would have
elected an entirely different Assembly delegation.

At the San Francisco municipal election, Nov. 8th, 1892, the average vote
for 12 Supervisors, who are elected at large, was 51,131, and the average
vote for successful candidates was 19,085, or slightly over 37 per cent.
The Democratic party, on a vote of 39 per cent., secured eighty-three and
one-third per cent. — 10 out of 12 — of the Board. A vote of seven-twelfths of
that Board would not, then, necessarily represent but twenty -one and one-
half per cent, of the voters. The members of the Board of Education, also
elected at large, received about the same percentage of the total vote
cast as the Supervisors. By comparison of this percentage with that of
Oakland, it will be seen that election either at large or by districts is
equally unrepresentative.

In 1890 the Congressmen elected from this State received 128,451 votes
out of 252,012 cast, or 50.1 per cent. In 1892 they received 119,171 out
of 240,210, or 49.6 per cent. The political elements at work differed very
widely in 1892 from those of 1890, by reason of the increase of the votes
for a third party. Yet the percentage or the voters represented ( after a
fashion) varied but little ; and until we have complete proportional repre-
sentation, mere changes in party names are fruitless.

6 PERCENTAGE OF VOTERS REPRESENTED IN LAWS.

It is the same in voluntary organizations. On March 29th, 1893, the
Typographical Union of this city elected 3 delegates to the International
convention of that body, each member voting for 3 of the 11 candidates.
The votes numbered 1758, which, divided by 3, gives 653 voters. The
successful candidates received 280, 234, and 228, votes respectively, being
an average of 257. This gives an average of 38 per cent, of the votes
represented. A change of one vote \vould have elected another candi-
date in place of the one who received 228.

In the whole State, on Nov. 8th, 1892, 249,363 votes were cast for As-
semblymen from 80 single districts, of which 116,908 votes were cast for
members elected and 132,455 against them, so that only a fraction over
47 per cent, of the voters elected every member of the Assembly, and
nearly 53 per cent, were entirely unrepresented, even in form, while most
of the 47 per cent, were not probably represented in fact. The vote of 41
out of the 80 members could not, therefore, be considered as representing,
on an average, more than 24 per cent, of the voters ; yet that proportion had
the power to enact laws, so far as that House is concerned ; and the Sen-
ate is elected on the same plan, excepting that half are hold-overs and
only represented those who voted for them two years before.

Fortunately the House, in its ensuing session, by the votes on cer-
tain measures, positively proved the preceding position. On Feb. 23rd,
1893, an amendment to the Constitution requiring that on request of
ten per cent, of the voters of the State, any bill passed by the Legislature
must be submitted to the voters at the polls for ratification or rejection,,
and that any bill proposed by that percentage should be similarly pre-
sented for direct vote, was rejected by 32 negative votes out of the 80 As-
semblymen, it requiring a two-thirds vote for such amendment. These 32
members received a total of 44,281 votes in their several constituencies,
being less than 18 per cent of the 249,263 votes of the State received for
Assemblymen. Thus LESS THAN A FIFTH of the voters of the State are em-
powered, under this sham of representation, to determine that the other
four-fifths shall have nothing to do with the laws except to vote for the
class of men usually nominated by party machines.

An amendment to give the Legislature power to amend the tax laws so
as to permit the voters of each municipality, county, etc., to determine by
direct vote what classes of property should and what should not be
taxed, received 42 negative votes. These 42 received 60,803 votes, which
is less than twenty-four and one-half per cent, of the total votes cast for
Assemblymen in the State. This concurs with the position above held,

7 THE ITERATED IDIOCY OF PEOPLE'S RULE.

that 41 Assemblymen out of the 80 would represent an average of about
24 per cent, of the voters.

In the Assembly elected in November, 1890 by 133,265 votes out of 248,-
423 cast (53 per cent.), the Vagrant bill was passed by 44 ayes and 26 noes.
The ayes had received 70,277 votes at the polls,— a little over 28 per cent,
of the total vote for Assemblymen. The 26 noes had received 47,284
votes ; and 130,702 voters, being over half the votes in the State, had no
voice whatever in the enactment of that law.

The bill for an appropriation of $300,000 for the "World's Fair received
44 ayes, these 44 having received 80,886 votes — Jess than a third of the
whole. 24 who wanted a less amount, received 36,651 votes.

When Senator Stanford was re-elected he received 59 votes, these rep-
resenting 97,939 votes at the polls, or less than two-fifths of the whole ;
though his majority was one short of three-fourths of the representative
body.

The whole course of legislation might thus be followed up in any ses-
sion of almost any Legislature or Congress with similar results.

And if these figures do not prove my position, no figures can prove
anything and all reasoning is impossible. It is fully as reasonable to af-
firm that the earth is flat with the heavenly bodies revolving around it
as that our electoral system is representative or democratic. But the
demonstration to the contrary is much more easily understood in the
latter than in the former case. And were it not that the false view is so
persistently iterated and reiterated on every possible occasion, even by
so-called "reform" journals, the proposition that any country outside of
three Cantons in Switzerland, has a "representative " government, or
that "the people rule," would be laughed to scorn as the gibberings of
an idiot or the verbal antics of a parrot.

CHAPTEB III.

AS. TO DIRECT LEGISLATION.

This can be accomplished by two processes known as the Referendum
and the Initiative, as defined on the first page.

At first sight, these, with the power of recalling a member by a ma-
jority of his local constituency, might seem to include all necessary mea-
sures to suppress the evils of our present system ; especially as the actual

8 NECESSITY OF AGENTS FOR PUBLIC BUSINESS.

working of direct legislation in Switzerland, and sometimes in the United
States, has proved beneficial.

But as compared with the process of proportional representation, di-
rect legislation is as pack mules to a railroad. By simplifying our system
of enacting and executing laws, removing from legislation that which
does not belong to it, their number and complexity might be very largely
reduced ; the removal of certain privileges would reduce poverty, vice
and crime to a minimum. But aside from all this, the collective busi-
ness of any municipality, State, province or nation, to be provided for by
general enactments and laws, would be too considerable to be handled by
the whole mass of voters to advantage ; nor could even a large fraction
of those voters act intelligently on the hundreds and even thousands, of
propositions which come before our State and National Legislatures.

It is not a question of the intelligence or morality of the voters com-
pared with those acting as their agents. The point is that in any but a
very small or sparse community, the business of society must be trans-
acted through agencies, by division of labor ; and the tendencies of social
and industrial advancement lies actually and necessarily in this direction.
No longer does the farmer shear his sheep and his family turn the
wool into cloth; but he sends his wool to market and buys his clothing at
the store. Whether the change is a benefit or not, it had to come. All
thinkers know that DIFFERENTIATION is an element in progress. In the
very lowest animals the stomach is about all there is of them; it is only
as evolution takes place that the several organs become distinct. So as
the body politic grows, the transaction by the whole of the collective bus-
jness becomes more difficult, and delegations of functions become neces-
sary. " Direct Legislation " is " reform " clam-ward.

Even in small voluntary organizations committees are elected to con-
duct their business, as a matter of convenience, and even necessity. In
many such, only a minority of members can be induced to attend the
regular meetings where a majority of those present have full power to act
For instance: on March 29th, 1893, the Typographical Union of this
city ( as before stated ) elected three delegates to the International Con-
vention on 38 to 42 per cent, of the vote. It is clear that all the mem-
bers of all the Typographical Unions in this and other places in the Uni-
ted States ( over 700 in this city alone) could not have gone to Chicago ;
and if they had gone, a mass of several thousand people could not trans-
act any business. It had to be done by authorized agents of some kind.

WHERE " DIRECT LEGISLATION" IS IMPOSSIBLE. 9

But under the current system, if these agents represented but 42 per
cent of the voters, the acts of a bare majority would represent but a little
over 21 per cent. That these must subsequently be ratified by a majority
of the members proves nothing against the importance of full represen-
tation. If direct "legislation" is sufficient for affairs of State, it would be
at least equally sufficient for the affairs of the Typographical Union, and
there need have been no International convention at all. Its purpose,
however, as well as that of any convention or legislature — industrial, poli-
tical, scientific or philanthropic — is to consult, deliberate, exchange views
and perhaps act. Hence members of such bodies should represent, as
fully and as freely as possible, the general views of their constituents and
concentrate their efforts in devising measures that would best carry
views into effect. It is obvious that no " direct legislation" can meet
those requirements.

I mention these points as to the Typographical Union because it has
adduced as an evidence of the sufficiency of direct legislation to solve
the political problem. And it may be appropriate to remark here that a
months ago I was called upon, as a member of that body, to vote on
some thirty propositions at about 24 hours' notice, and had no means of
forming an opinion on nearly half of them. I could have voted more
intelligently, and more in the spirit of true democracy, were the manage-
ment entrusted to trustees elected, as are those of the Mechanics' Insti-
tute, by the Hare plan of proportional representation, as hereinafter de-
scribed.

In this Institute seven Trustees are elected every year, serving for two
years. It is difficult to get an attendance of over a hundred at its "di-
rect legislation " quarterly meetings of the members, or to get any action
taken at these meetings. But there were 905 votes cast at its last elec-
tion for Trustees. The fact is clear beyond reasonable question that it
is much easier, where the opportunity is fully given (as it would be under
proportional representation), to select a few competent and reliable PER-
SONS than to decide upon the merits of many MEASURES. This is fully es-
tablished, among other data, by the record of the California electoral
vote of Nov. 8th, 1892. On this occasion not only were legislators, con-
gressmen, eta, .elected, but 5 propositions and and 4 constitutional
amendments submitted for direct vote. There were 249,363 votes cast
for Assemblymen and over 268,000 for Presidential electors.

But taking the vote for Assemblymen as the standard, let us compare
the percentage on this of the vote cast for these several Amendments

10 POWER OF COMMITTEES — THE PRESS.

and Propositions, and see what " direct legislation " amounts to, even as
against the grossly unjust and clumsy process of electing legislators.

The vote on election of U.S. Senators by the people (pro and con., as in
all these cases, being added together) was 201,300 — a little over 80 per
cent, of the vote for Assemblymen. For and against Ferry Depot — 181,
726, or nearly 73 per cent. Refund debt— 168,504— 67% per cent. Con-
stitutional Amendment No. 10—290,273—76.3 per cent. Constitutional
Amendment No. 7 168,490 — 67 per cent. Constitutional Amendment No:
11 — 132,199 — a little over 53 per cent. Constitutional Amendment 5 —
156,994 — 63 per cent. Constitutional Amendment 14, — 156,994— less than
63 per cent.

It is said that the working of Direct Legislation in Switzerland has
been so satisfactory as to prove that no representative body is needed,
otherwise than to formulate measures for approval of, or rejection by of
the votes and hence that it is of minor consequence how they are elected,
as with the obligatory referendum (in which all legislative measures
must be refered to the body of voters) and the initiative, would be only
<<a body of powerless committeemen." But, in the first place, committee
men are very far from "powerless ", whether in voluntary organizations
or in legislatures. Every person having any knowledge of the workings
of either knows the contrary. A bill reported adversely by a legislative
committee has a very poor chance of passing ; and the recomendations of
a committee in a voluntary organization — whether a representative body
or one of the entire membership — are very likely to be concurred in.

Hence it is necessary to effective work not only that such business
should be transacted by agents but that the agents should be chosen in a
manner that will secure the most capable persons, fairly representing the
whole body of persons for whom they act. No merchant or manufact-
urer would be satisfied with an agent or clexk, when not allowed the use
of his best judgment in the selection, merely because he could instruct
such clerk or agent, or over-rule his action.

Another serious objection to the Initiative, when considered as a sub-
stitute for proportional representation, is that to so formulate any mea-
sure some persons must be selected or empowered to draft it by some ir-
regular process, subject to no efficient checks. Bnt those persons would
be no more "representative" of the whole or any portion of the commun-
ity than the average legislator ; they might be less. Thay are very likely
to be composed of tliescum so apt to rise to the top in exciting times.

DRAWBACKS OF THE INITIATIVE. 11

What security could there be that such persons would not be the
crafty, secret agents of the worst enemies of the proposed measures ?

Any one with California experience should require no reasoning tp
convince him that were such a measure, for instance, as government rail-
's or telegraphs, or municipal water works to be embodied in an In-
itiative bill, the secret agents of the Western Union, the Southern Pacific,
or the Spring Valley Water Works, would have a good many fingers in
the pie, and would be sure to see that the bill contained some " unconsti-
tutional" provision, or some other " little joker" fatal to its efficiency.

And once presented to the voters at the polls, there can be no amend-
ment*, modifications or substitutes; it can only be voted on as it stands —
aye or no. Then these same interested parties could either expose its
defects and compass its defeat, or let it pass and defeat it in the Courts,
or otherwise have it made useless, or worse. But in a truly representative
legislature any such bill would be carefully framed and thoroughly dis-
cussed, after being well scrutinized in committee. Thus, if passed, it
would be adequate to the purpose.

And would it not be much easier and far more efficacious to elect one
body of men proportionally ( see next chapter ) then to be fussing with
conventions, committees and organizations without end — one for almost
every measure supposed to be extensively demanded ? It would take
a hundred times the work to accomplish anything in this way (if it could
be accomplished at all ) than to elect a legislature by proportional rep-
resentation that would do it all without a ripple.

It has been maintained that all the benefits of legislative debate could
be reached through newspaper discussion. Bnt no one cognizant of the
influences controlling the press would so believe ; nor would newspaper
discussion, however full and fair, meet the needs of the case without de-
bate face to face. Of the preceding nine propositions, some received no
consideration in the daily press. One of them was falsely described on the
ballots as LIMITING the power of municipalities to contract debts, when it
really EXTENDS it. . Debarred as voters were from obtaining trustworthy
information, it is probable that of the small vote a large percentage was
not intelligently cast.

It is claimed that the sufficiency of Direct Legislation has been proved
in Switzerland. It would naturally work better where the population is
small and almost stationery, where every person's record is known from
infancy and public opinion a great power, than in a country like this,

12 EXPERIENCE OF SWITZERLAND.

where all these conditions are reversed. But even there three out of its
22 Cantons, in which three the Initiative and Referendum have been
working for many years, have within two years, adopted by popular vote,
a form of representation measurably proportional AS TO PARTIES. In three
other Cantons it has been rejected, viz : Bale City by 4217 to 2755 in 1890;
St. Gall, 1892, by 21,892 to 19,826; and Soleure, 1893, by 6,620 to 4,950.

Three more Cantons are likely to adopt it within a year or two; and it
is not unlikely that within the next five years it will be in force in half the
Cantons in Switzerland. It thus appears decisively that the Initiative and
Referendum do not fill the bill in Switzerland, and are much less likely
to do so in the United States. It is therefore to be regretted that Mr. W.
J. Sullivan, in his otherwise valuable work on Direct Legislation, has
seen fit to be reticent on facts ( with which he is otherwise known to be
fully conversant ) pertaining so closely to the subject of his advocacy.

The Referendum, however has been highly useful in Switzerland in
proving the essentially UNREPRESENTATIVE character of what is commonly
designated "representative government," and it was by the knowledge
that the Initiative would be worked, if necessary, that one or more of
the Cantonal legislatures were induced to prepare propositions for pro-
portional representation before the people for direct vote. The processes
are simply very circuitous routes for reaching eventually proportional rep-
resentation as the only effective means of instituting true democracy.

The Imperative Mandate may be regarded as an intended approach to-
wards direct legislation, consisting in the power of a majority of tha con«-
stituents in a legislative district to recall a legislator, etc., with whose
course they are dissatisfied. Whatever benefit could thereby be accom-
plished in a most clumsy, costly and demoralizing manner, has been
reached in Switzerland by the less objectionable processes of the Initiative
and Referendum, so it has long ceased to be talked about there, and I
believe has never been carried into effect there or elsewhere. It is abso-
lutely incomptible with proportional representation and a secret ballot ;
and, for reasons "too numerous to mention/' it would be useless if enacted.

Little can be accomplished here by trying to wear Switzerland's cast-off
clothes, or those worn nearly threadbare. We can do something much
better even than its new apparel. While its proportional representation
is only for parties, ours can be not only simpler and more effective, but
independent of party organizations and giving full play to the individual
choice of the elector.

CHAFIER IV.

THE CUMULATIVE VOTE.

This process, as applied to the election of Directors in corporations
and Trustees for Reclamation Districts, is thus described in Art. XII,
2, of the Constitution of California :

"In all elections for directors or managers of corporations every
shareholder shall have the right to vote, in person or by proxy, the num •
•f shares of stock owned by him, for as many persons as there are
directors and managers to be elected, or to cumulate said shares and to
give one candidate as many votes as the number of directors multiplied
by the number of his shares of stock shall equal, or to distribute them,
on the same principle among as many candidates as he shall see fit."

It is a movement towards the proportional representation of parties,
not of people, which can only be worked to advantage in a small organi-
zation where all can be present, or in districts returning three to five
members, and then quite imperfectly, whereas full preferential propor-
tional representation works the better as the constituencies are enlarged.
Sir Rowland Hill, the father of cheap postage, in 1840 drafted a form of
organization for the municipality of Adelaide, South Australia, which col-
ony was then new, and included in it a provision for cumulating the vote
in the election of its twenty councilmen, who were so elected for three
successive years, when the municipal government was dropped because of
scanty population and expense. It was suggested in England in 1857 by
James Garth Marshall. About 1868 it was advocated in the United
States by U. S. Senator Buckalew, of Pennsylvania. In 1870 it was
used to elect members of the school boards in Great Britain, and has been
so used ever since. While its results are in general better than the pres-
ent system, it sometimes leads to a great loss of voting power. In the
Marylebone election November, 1879, for seven members of the School
Board, Miss Garrett received 47,858 votes out of 165,165 when 8,000
would have elected her, resulting in a waste of nearly 40,000 votes — al-
most one fourth of the whole. Besides which 53,516 votes— nearly one-
third of the whole — were cast for the unsuccessful candidates, making a
total waste of over half the votes. But usually the waste is much less.

The Illinois Assembly is returned by districts electing cumulatively 3
members each, and works well as regards two parties only, but perpetu-
ates the evils of party rule, in that votes not cast for one of the two
parties are. nearly all ineffective, and therefore voters who would prefer t<]
herwise represented are restricted to a mere option as the alterna.
tive of waste.

CHAPTER V.

THE LIST OB QUOTA SYSTEM.

Under it the number of votes cast is divided by the number of candi-
dates to be elected, and the quotient is the quota. Each body or party of
electors can return as many candidates as it has cast quotas, and the bal-
ance of candidates to be elected are to be returned upon the largest frac-
tions of quotas. A voter expresses his preference on the list for which he
votes for the candidates therein named, and those candidates on the
list who receive the largest number of individual votes are elected to
the extent that the votes cast for the list permits. Thus, supposing 1 0
Congressmen to be elected by a State on 300,000 votes. Tke quota is 30,-
000. Prohibitionists cast 30,000 votes, and so get one member. Popu-
lists cast 80,000, and get 2 members and 20,000 over. Republicans,
115,000, get3 members and 25.000 over. Democrats 75,000 votes which
elect 2 members and 15,000 over. This leaves 8 members elected on full
quotas. The other two are elected on the two largest fractions. The
Republicans get one on a fraction of a quota of 25,000 ; the Populists the
other on a fraction of 20,000. In this supposed case the Democrats would
"throw away" 15,000 votes, the benefit of which go to the Populists and
Republicans. This is a much less waste of votes than under the present
system, but much more than under the preferential. This system, under
various actual and proposed modifications, involving voluminous detail,
is, as previously stated, in successful operation in three Swiss Cantons.

In November 15th, 1882, the first election in Geneva under this sys-
tem took place, when 13,349 persons voted in three districts for 100 depu-
ties to the "Grand Council," or Cantonal legislature. The percentage
of wasted votes amounted to 3.9, 3.4 and 1.7 per cent, in the several three
districts, five parties being in the main, fairly represented. One week
earlier 53 per cent, of the votes for Assemblymen in Calif ornia were wasted.
Hon. Tom L. Johnson proposed in the last Congress a bill to enable
members of the House of Representatives to be elected by the States
somewhat on this plan, but simpler and at least as effective. Its princi-
pal defects are that it does not dispense with party machinery and gives
rise to endless discussions and complications as to the best manner of
ascertaining quotas and apportioning fractions of quotas, whereas COM-
PLETE proportional representation can be reached by a process much
simpler and nearer accuracy, independent of party organizations or party
leaders, by the Hare preferential vote. The latter would be in accordance
with the decision of the Supreme Court of California in October, 1892,
that the clause in the Australian ballot law providing that a voter could

THE IDEAL PLAN.

15

vote for the whole party ticket by one mark, was unconstitutional, be-
cause it was " an attempt to discriminate against classes of voters," and
its effect would be to subject such classes to partial disfranchisement, or
the casting of such votes upon m ore burdensome conditions than others no
r entitled, under the fundamental law, to the free and untrammeled
exercise of the right of suffrage. This is done by our present system
and would be done under any system which gives to voters acting with
party organizations any advantage in representation over others who
do not. The quota system admits of some waste of votes, and does not
leave sufficient play to individuality of voters.

CHAPTER VI.

THE PREFEKENTIAL PLAN.

This has been designated by Rev. Ernest. Naville, of Geneva, Swit-
zerland, as the ideal of proportional representation, and in a very limited
and imperfect way, was introduced in Denmark in 1855, and is still used
indirectly, in the election of its upper House, known as the Landsthing.

A better plan was advocated by the late Thomas Hare, barrister-at
law, of London, in 1857, and was ably set forth by John Stuart Mill. It
has since been much simplified by Sir John Lubbock and others, and can
be claimed as at once the simplest and most effective of any system yet
proposed, except that the Gove plan is more simple, though less complete.

The quota is acertained, as in the quota or "free list" system now in op-
eration in three Swiss Cantons ; that is, by dividing the number of votes
cast by the number of candidates to be elected; but its distinguishing and
most excellent feature is that the wasted votes are reduced to a minimum.

Each voter numbers the candidates on the ballot in the order of his
choice, placing the figure " 1 " opposite the name of the candidate whom
he most desires to sie elected, "2 " opposite his "nextbest " candidate,
" 3'' to his third choice, and so on. The votes are then arranged on a
file, or other convenient mode, according to such first choice, and count-
ed. If any candidates have a larger number of these first -choice votes
than the quota, suchsurplus votes are taken off (the votes of the candi-
dates haying the largest surplus being disposed of first), and transferred to

16 HOW THE HARE SYSTEM IS WORKED.

his second choice, as marked on each ballot, provided such choice is not
already elected, and, in that case, to the third choice, and so on until the
vote is made available for some candidate who needs it, it being the in-
tention to utilize the vote, or ballot, for the candidate to whom the voter
of that ballot would have given it, as indicated by his numbering thereof,
could he have known that his first choice (or second, third or fourth,
should it so turn out) had been elected without his assistance.

Whenever a candidate has reached a quota, either by first-choice votes
only, or by the addition of second, third or subsequent choice, that quota
is set aside immediately as belonging to him, and not thereafter use'd,
he being then declared elected. So far as his name may appear on bal-
lots subsequently counted, it is canceled, or unnoticed, and the ballot
counted for second or subsequent choice.

After all the surplus votes are thus disposed of, should there be still
more candidates remaining on the board than are yet to be elected, the
ballots of the candidate having the least number of first-choice votes are
transferred to the second, third, fourth choice, etc., the same as the sur-
plus votes ; and as fast as any candidate thus obtains a quota, the bal-
lots constituting it are withdrawn and the candidate declared elected, un-
til there are no more candidates remaining on the board than are re-
quired to complete the number to be elected. Then those remaining
are declared elected, though short of a quota.

In September, 1892, this process was adopted at the quarterly meeting
of the Mechanics' Institute of this city for electing annually seven of its
fourteen Trustees, the essential portions of Section 2, Article IX of its
Constitution, as so adopted, being as follows ;

"SEC. 2. Every member who shall have complied with Article VIII,
Sections 1 and 2, at least six months previous to such election, and who
is not delinquent, shall be entitled to vote in the election of Trustees.

" The voting shall be by the process known as the preferential method
of proportional representation, as follows :

"1. Each voter shall have one vote, but may vote in the alternative for
as many candidates as he pleases, by writing the figures 1, 2, 3, etc., op-
posite the names of those candidates in the order of his preference.

"2. The ballot papers having been all mixed, shall be drawn out in suc-
cession and stamped with numbers, so that no two shall bear the same
number.

"3. The number obtained by dividing the whole number of good bal-
lot papers tendered at the election by the number of Trustees to be elected
shall beaclled the Quota. If such number has a fraction, such fractional
part shall be deducted.

T1IK MECHANIC'S' INSTITUTE ELECTION THE (JOVE PLAN. 17

" 4. Every candidate who has a number of first votes equal to or
greater than the Quota shall be declared to be elected, and so many
of the ballot papers containing those votes as shall be equal in number
to the Quota shall be set aside as the Quota of that candidate, in a
sealed envelop, and sealed and signed by the Judges of Election. On all
other ballot papers the name of such elected candidate shall be cancelled,
with the effect of raising by so much in the order of preference all votes
given tc other candidates after him. This process shall be repeated un-
til no candidate has more than a Quota of first votes, or votes deemed first.

" 5. Then the candidate or candidates having the fewest first votes,
or votes deemed first, shall be declared not to be elected, with the effect
of raising so much in the order of preference all votes given to candi-
dates after him or them, and Rule 4 shall be again applied, if possible.

" 6. When by successive applications of Rules 4 and 5, the number of
candidates is reduced to the number of Trustees remaining to be elected,
the remaining candidates shall be declared elected."

On Febmary 28th, 1893, the seven Trustees were elected accordingly.
As 905 votes were cast, the Quota was 129. Two candidates received
187 and 178 votes respectively as first choice, the distribution of
their surpluses did not elect any others. By " elimination" three more
received full quotas; one was elected on 123 votes, -end another on 122.
There were but 16 ineffective votes, and the whole counting was com-
pleted within four hours. Next time it may be done in less than two
hours. Out of five judges and tally clerks, only one had any previous
experience of the process ; yet none of them experienced the slightest
difficulty in the discharge of their functions. (See Appendix I.)

THE GOVE PLAN.

Mr. Wm. H. Gove, of Salem, Mass., has devised a simplification of the
Hare plan, by which the voter marks one name only. Each candidate,
before the election, officially announces that the ballots which he may not
need, as being surplus or insufficient, shall be transferred to certain other
candidates named by him, and they are so transferred, first to such can-
didate among these not having a Quota as has the highest first-choice
vote, until that candidate reaches a Quota, and then, should more ballots
remain, to the next highest, and so on, those thus reaching a Quota to be
set aside, as under the Hare plan.

Its drawbacks are that the voter is deprived of his INDIVIDUAL choice
in the disposal of a contingent vote ; that the candidates would usually
name alternates from their own parties, while the individual voter under
the Hare plan could exercise his second, third or fourth choice regardless

18 THE GOVE AND HAKE Pr;ANS COMPABED.

of party lines, according to his views of individual fitness ; that popular
candidates would be exposed to excessive importunities on behalf of un-
fit persons to induce them to place such persons on their lists of alter-
nates. Both these objections would diminish in force under the contin-
uous operation of the system itself.

Itc, advantages over the Hare plan are more rapid casting and counting
the vote, and that as soon as the votes would be counted at the precincts,
any one with the record of that count and a list of the alternates or con-
tingents of each candidate, could by addition determine what candidates
had been elected, and there would be no necessity to remove the ballots
from the precinct except to verify the count; and then, should the ballots
be lost or stolen on the way, the precinct record would still be sufficient
to determine the result. Under the Hare plan the ballots themselves, or
their duplicates, would have to be conveyed, except in municipal elections,
to some central point, such as the State capital, to be counted. But it is
claimed that the ballots could easily be duplicated automatically, and the
objections have no weight as to municipal, societary, corporation and con-
vention elections, in all of which the Hare plan would work without a flaw.

The Gove plan has been embodied in a bill placed before the Massa-
chusetts Legislature for the election of the State Senate, which bill is a
model of perspicuity and thoroughness. I think the waste votes under
that process would be greater than under the Hare but less than under
fhe " Free List" process. It is advocated by John M. Berry, of Worcester,
an able and energetic pioneer of electoral reform who is addicted to the
compilation of unanswerable statistics against the myth of majority rule.

CHAPTER VII,

THE PARAMOUNT ISSUE : SHALL CIVILIZATION GROW INTO HARMONIZATION, OR
PERISH IN THE CANCEROUS CORRUPTION BRED BY OUR POLITICS ?

It is sufficient in' this connection to merely mention our industrial con-
ditions in their moral aspect and the obvious and urgent need of securing
the best ability, the largest experience and the most unflinching courage
and integrity in our " representative" bodies. We certainly, by present
metheds, do AND MUST secure the opposites of these qualities in an in-
creasing degree, to the extent that even honest legislators are compelled
to give more time to study the workings of political machinery and the
individual interests of influential constituents than to the consideration
of the most vital public questions. Whether our civilization shall, by the
solution of the most tremendous and far-reaching problems ever pre-
sented (a solution conclusively KNOWN, but incapable of being fully pre-
sented or intelligently acted upon BECAUSE of our politics) grow into har-
monization, or relapse, through internecine war, already initiated, into a
thinly veneered barbarism, combining and intensifying civilized and sav-
age vices and crimes, while obliterating the virtues of both, is to be de-
termined by intelligent action or insane inaction touching the subjects of
this pamphlet. This political cancer must be extirpated and the body politic
reconstructed on hygienic plans, or it will increasingly permeate every
form of our life, to the eventual extinction of all love of the good, the beau-
tiful and the true. It is useless to prove on paper the possible existence
of an earthly paradise unless we can find THE KEY. Purify politics by makin
representation democratically accessible TO ALL, through justice to each,
and the tendency will be upward ; inspiration and aspiration will impart
to good that superiority to evil, to truth that power to uproot false-
hood which they always have possessed in a fair field. Then " ever
the right" WILL "come uppermost," "and "ever" WILL "justice [be] done."

The delusions that wherever suffrage is "universal" " the people rule,"
and that " all needed to make the government better is to make the peo-
ple better," are the most efficient paralysers of every form of progress
that could possibly be devised. I have proved that under party machin-
ery "the people" are nearly powerless. And so far as this is made known
Iry bones of public opinion, now deadened by that reiterated and
most diabolical " people's rule" myth, will be re-clothed with flesh and
become "an exceeding great army," whereby legislators, councilmen, etc.,
being no longer regarded as REPRESENTATIVES, but merely as defectively

20 THE NEW EARTH — WORKING OF THE YEAST.

selected AGENTS of the community (" locum tenens"), would be spurred to
beneficent action. Public opinion would then reach such power that its
insistance on the substitution of real representation for its idiotic mock-
ery would have to be heeded.

Governments are said to " derive their just powers from the consent of
the governed." But under present methods, that consent is not obtain-
able; that which is assumed to be consent is merely endurance. A few
in earnest, especially women, can arouse the many to insist on complete
representation. Herein lies the path of safety and freedom for all. The
evolution of science by investigation, of industry by invention and of
the social order by co-operation — all these require as a preliminary or
concomitant, without which they may become (and have been, in part)
curses, that POLITICAL EVOLUTION which accords with science, with indus-
try, with social progress and — above all — with absolute, eternal JUSTICE.

The old Eoman said: "Fiat justitia, ruat coelum"— let justice be done,
though the heavens fall. This political justice means not fallen heav-
ens, but a risen and redeemed EARTH — a constituent of that seen by John
the Kevelator : —

"NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH WHEREIN DWELLETH RIGHTEOUSNESS."

HOW THP YEAST WOULD WORK.
BY ALFRED DENTON CRIDGE, OF LEMOORE, GAL.

How would it work ? It would lighten up and elevate the whole mas
of the political and social structure. Instead of disseminating poison
throughout the body politic, adding burdens to society, encouraging the
violation of every moral law and rewarding the criminal with eminence,
honor and power, the yeast of proportional representation would act in
the reverse to the present Mis-representative methods that threaten the
very existence of civilization.

Instead of generations of effort having to be put forth to DRIVE poli-
ticians and statesmen a step in advance, the true leaders of thought
would themselves be the politicians (in the higher sense of the term) and
statesmen, and step after step would be taken in social and political
progress, as the application of steam to mechanics, ignored as a power
from barbarism to the opening of the present century, enabled, directly
or indirectly, greater mechanical and productive advances to be made in
a single decade than in a cycle of generations before ; for, compelled to

CLEARING THE TRACK OF PRESENT ISSUES. 21

place their ablest, most honest and courageous members to the fore or
lose recognition from the masses, the dishonest schemer no longer in de-
mand, the depraved and unprincipled NOT MORE than proportionally rep-
resented, the different political, social or moral schools of thought would
and could, with an infinitesimal fraction of their present efforts, compel
that attention to be paid to their propositions which is all the advocates
< 'f any honest reform can desire. Sifted, examined, criticised pro and
con., before the ablest and most honest of the State or nation — lor pro-
portional represention compels the selection of men having BOTH qualifi-
cations— every measure of reform would speedily and naturally have a
hearing. Finally submitted to popular ratification or rejection," through
the operation of direct legislation, all necessary to be done by the workers
for any reform would to educate the masses. Now they must strive
and work, rebuffed, deceived, betrayed, discouraged misrepresented,
or having no advocates whatever in legislative bodies, long after ninety
per cent, of the people are in favor of the proposed changes. Witness
the proposition to elect U. S. Senators by popular vote, government tele-
graphs, free silver coinage, etc., any one of which, under genuine democ-
would have been settled ten years ago.

With .the yeast of proportional representation at work in the United
States, what advances would be made in social and political matters in a
century would.be as difficult to clearly foretell as for Fulton to have
drawn the plans of the magnificent floating queens of the ocean that set
out from the wharves of New York or Liverpool to-day — as impossible
as for the signers of the Declaration of Independence to have told the
names of the future States and Territories to be added to the Union so
gloriously founded, so ignobly being wrecked.

With such questions as free trade, the single tax, government trans-
portation, government banking, etc., finally settled and laid aside ; with a
score of reform propositions too lengthy to mention laid on the shelf of
oblivion or engrafted into the crown of universal political and social lib-
erty, the attention of the people, the functions of government, would be
occupied with new questions and new duties. The problem of just dis-
tribution of the products of labor, which the Sphinx of Time has given
to every nation and civilization to answer, and which none have done cor-
rectly, one by one having sunk down in ignominious death or hopeless
paralysis, would be settled peacefully by the American civilization, and
the inarch to the higher plane of human harmonization go on, no longer

22

UNITE ON THIS LINE AND STORM THE FORT.

dropping the blood of heroes, martyrs, innocents and slaves at every
step.

Fellow workers for the uplifting of humanity, no matter under what
banner, be you members of whatever regiment of the reform army now
being defeated or blocked piecemeal, Woman Suffragists, Prohibitionists,
Socialists, members of Peace societies, Populists, Christian Socialists,
Single Taxers, what not — be you in my opinion right or wrong, you have
nothing to lose, you have a world to gain, by supporting this fundamen-
tal corner-stone — proportional representation.

It is the keystone of the arch of genuine democracy ; it is the key to
the lock in the gate of MIGHT that bars the progress of man to universal
peace and plenty ; it is the open-sesame to the treasure house which the
Creator has filled for us, long held by " forty thieves ;" it is the chisel to
strike off our chains. Pronounce it, proclaim it, demand it. • Forward !
Close up the columns ; stop bickering ; dress right and left ! March !

THE SCALES OF /^-JUSTICE.

BALANCE OF

POWER.

The present electoral system cannot last long. It consecrates too much in-
justice, and permits a small group of electors to turn the scale. — Brussels
La Representation Proportionelle,

The assassination of Mayor Carter Harrison, of Chicago, by a
disappointed office seeker, on October 28th, 1893, as that of Presi-
dent Garfield by Guiteau, is a natural result of our present electoral
system, which breeds assassins as inevitably as a southern swamp
breeds venomous reptiles. We have nearly arrived at " the parting
of the ways," where the alternative is the adoption of proportional
representation or rapid retrogression to worse than barbarism.

APPENDIX.
1.

DETAILED DIRECTIONS FOR WORKING THE SIMPLIFIED HARE PREFERENTIAL

PROCESS.

For the information of :hose who have not seen the process exemplified, and who de-
sire to apply it, in trial ballots or in actual elections, the following directions are added :

1 . Make sure, as far as possible, that every individual participant understands how to
'mark his ballot in accordance with his wishes, particularly cautioning all not to mark two

candidates with the same number, and to mark more than one or two candidates, to en-
sure effectiveness. Where seven are to be elected, at least four should be marked.

2. Count the ballots ; divide the number by the number of candidates to be elected ;
the quotient, dropping the fraction, is the QUOTA. Thus: 905 votes divided by 7 can-
didates gives a quota of 129, the 2 over being dropped. As additional precaution against
inaccuracy, the ballots may be stamped as cast, by means of an automatic numbering stamp,
and again so stamped when taken out to be assorted according to first choice.

3. Lay out the ballots in alphabetical order, according to the names of the FIRST
CHOICE candidates on each ballot, on the table, in piles, or preferably, place them on up-
right files similarly arranged. Where the number of votes is large, especially in actual
elections, it is well to conspicuously label each file or pile with the candidate's name, so
that the judges of election on the inside and the audience on the outside can alike see
that each ballot, as drawn and called out by one judge is placed on the right file by an-
other judge to whom he passes it. The tally clerk swill note this first-choice vote in the
customary manner. Ballots that, from any cause, fail to show the intention of the voter
should be placed by themselves as "non-votes."

4. When all the ballots have thus been distributed according to first choice, count
them as they are on the files for each candidate, and if their total does not correspond
with the previous counts, including tallies, adjust the discrepancy.

5. Should any candidate or candidates have a surplus (more votes than a Quota), take
a number of ballots equal to the Quota from the file of the candidate having the largest
surplus ; place them in an envelop, or other convenient package, set them aside as that
candidate's Quota, to be used no mire, and declare that candidate elected. Distribute
the surplus according to the second choice on each ballot, unless such second choice also
has a surplus ; then that ballot goes to the third choice, and so on. But whenever, by
the distribution of such surplus, any candidate's ballots are raised to the Quota (votes so
transferred to a candidate counting the same as if they had originally been cast for him
as first choice), that candidate is declared elected, and the ballots by which he has been
elected will be set aside as before. No more ballots will thereafter be counted for him,
but they will be counted for the next candidate in order of choice not elected. After the
surplus votes of the candidate having the largest surplus have thus been distributed, those
of the candidate having the next largest surplus will be treated in the same manner, until
all the surplus votes have been so disposed of.

24

(In actual elections we believe it will be found that but a small proportion of candij
dates will have any surplus, and that surplus will often be insufficient to elect any otl
candidate — contrary to what is assumed by opponents, but accordant with experience. )

6. The next process is known as " elimination,'5 and consists in taking the ballots
the candidate having the least number of votes as first choice and distributing them in tl
same manner as the surplus votes, similarly removing from the board, or table, the bal
lots of candidates who may thus reach a Quota. Then do the same with the ballots of tl
candidate having next to the least number of first choice votes ; and so on, until the numl
ber of candidates remaining on the board is reduced to the number remaining to be electedj
Those so remaining will then be declared elected, though short of a Quota.

These directions may look somewhat complicated, while the actual workiug is vei
simple, for the same reason that the processes of assorting the mails or type-setting rnigh;
require columns to make clear fo persons who have never seen done those operatic
which are continually being performed in seconds by persons of average ability. Thi'
comparison, however, does the simplified preferential plan an injustice, it being a
dred times as simple as the other processes specified, so that any intelligent person coul
understand and be able to conduct it by witnessing two or three trial ballots.

II.

PRESENT SITUATION OF THE MOVEMENT THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION-]

WILL OREGON LEAD?

On August loth — I2th, 1893, an International Conference of advocates of Proj
tional Representation was held in Chicago, which has resulted in the formation of
national organization. Hon. Wm. Foulke, of Richmond, Ind., is President and Mi
Stoughton Cooley, 22 Fifth avenue, Chicago, is Secretary-Treasurer. Its dues are or
dollar annually, which includes its publications, the first of which — the Proportion!.
Representation Review — contains an abstract of the speeches at that Conference, etc.

In Oregon there is a movement to combine " direct legislation" with proportional re
resentation in such a manner that each will help the other. Some serious drawbacks »
the efficiency of the Initiative specified in Chapter III, arising from corrupt politicians
may not apply to Oregon, where such men would be easily "spotted." An endeav<|M
will there be made to elect a Legislature next June pledged to call a Constitional C°nH
vention (which it can do by a simple majority), to be elected by proportional r<=>present£||
tion, which Convention is to embody the Referendum and Initiative in the Constitutiorj
and to also provide that laws passed under them shall be part of the organic law,
that no State authority could question their constitutionality. I suggest concentration ol
means by advocates of political justice the world over to carry out this programme in Ore-
gon, as being, apparently, "on the line of least resistance."

Details of these movements as they transpire will appear in Hope and Home and the
Star (both of San F.rancisco), Pittsbur^ Kansan, Boerne (Texas), Post, etc.

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