nsible
body; and since it could not be trusted, it was necessary to take out of
its hands the powers it was most likely to abuse.

The legislature was first deprived of its power to enact constitutional
legislation, though it was allowed to retain an effective veto on such
changes through its refusal to take the initiative. With the progress of
the democratic movement some of the legislative powers most frequently
abused were, like the state constitution itself, made subject to popular
ratification. This submission of constitutional and certain kinds of
statutory legislation to the people before it could go into effect
merely gave them to this extent a veto on the recommendations of their
legislatures and constitutional conventions. There was still no way to
prevent the legislature from misrepresenting the people with respect to
those measures which did not require popular ratification. The tendency
was to diminish the power of the legislature by including in the
constitution itself much that might have taken the form of ordinary
statutory legislation, as well as by requiring that some of the more
important acts passed by the legislature should receive the direct
assent of the voters. This merely gave to the people a partial negative.
It enabled them to reject some measures which they did not approve of,
but not all, since in those cases where popular ratification was not
required, public sentiment could be disregarded by the law-making body.
Moreover, the people did not have the right to initiate measures--a
right which is indispensable if the people are to have any real power to
mold the policy of the state. The logical outcome of this line of
development is easily seen. As pointed out in an earlier part of this
volume, constitutional development first limits and eventually destroys
irresponsible power, and in the end makes the responsible power in the
state supreme. The prevalent lack of confidence in our state
legislatures is no indication of hostility to the principle of
representative government; for representative government in the true
sense means government that is responsible to the people. The popular
movement has in modifying our state and municipal governments merely
taken the line of least resistance, and that has involved the transfer
of legislative powers to the people themselves.

Just how far this movement will go it is impossible to foresee. A
government of the representative type, if responsive to p