e objections might disappear. The more valuable part of
the reform is undoubtedly the referendum. The initiative is hardly
necessary, except by way of giving a referendum on measures which
otherwise would not emerge from the legislature; and there is a
growing inclination to give a referendum on all laws or measures
involving a grant of a franchise or of a right or privilege at the
expense of the general public, or the town or city concerned. This
is a very distinct tendency, and throughout the Union the States are
rapidly passing laws that where a State-wide franchise is given, an
exemption from taxes, a rate-making power, or other privilege, it
shall be submitted to all the voters, and corresponding measures,
street-railway franchises, gas, light, water, or other public-service
corporations, acting only in definite localities, cities or towns,
shall be referred in the appropriate locality.

The method of the State-wide initiative or referendum varies little in
the different States; usually, upon petition of from five to eight per
cent. of the voters, or in cities and towns usually fifteen per cent.,
legislation may be initiated. It may then be either passed by the
State legislature like an ordinary law, or be given to the referendum
of the people, or both, and takes effect when adopted by a majority of
the voters at a general or special election. Constitutional amendments
may in some States be originated and adopted in the same manner. So
far as one can judge, the referendum in this country shows the same
tendency that it has shown in Switzerland. Although a larger number
of measures are doubtless submitted to the people, and especially
measures of a class not to go through the ordinary legislature, when
controlled by important interests, yet the vote itself at the final
election is apt to be somewhat conservative. The referendums upon
women's suffrage, for instance, while the initiative was adopted by a
large majority, were very decisively defeated at the polls, and it is
said that last year's election in Oregon and Washington, with very
numerous and complex referendum measures, showed a surprising degree
of intelligence on the part of the ordinary voter. Nevertheless, while
it may be possible to submit to him one or two measures a year, if it
were to come to the submission of all legislation (and the States will
average from five hundred to one thousand statutes per year, at their
present output) it seems incredible