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This eloquent plea was not lost upon Congress, for on April 13, 1904, it passed an act authorizing the government to participate in celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the Oregon exploration by Lewis and Clark, providing for a government board, a comprehensive government exhibit, for exhibits from Alaska, Hawaii and the Philippine Islands, for the issuance of memorial gold dollars at cost, for the erection of suitable buildings and appropriating sums of money aggregating $500,000. It seems proper that your President at this stage of the meeting should call attention to this exposition to be held in Portland in 1905, to dispel the illusion that the exposition where we are now assembled is to be the last. So there will be no excuse for the members of this Association failing to give close attendance at its present meetings on the ground that there are to be no more expositions.

During the year, under the initiative and referendum clause of the Oregon constitution, two bills have been enacted by the people of Oregon. One provides for direct primary nominations of candidates for public office by the people without the intervention of political conventions, and the other is a local option liquor law. A third law, providing a salary instead of fees for the state printer, was proposed under the initiative and referendum plan, but defeated at the election. The bills under this method of procedure were drawn in the form of legislative acts, signed by the requisite number of voters, filed with the secretary of state, and published; notice of the election was given, and the election held practically under the general election laws of the state.

The act providing for direct primary nominations is novel. and a radical innovation.

Its title covers three, and its preamble two, printed octavo pages in which there is much fine writing. The enacting clause reads, "Be it enacted by the people of the State of Oregon." Aside from the title and preamble there are 46 sections, covering 43 large printed pages, and the whole act contains 1437 lines, or about 14,370 words. Without reflecting in

any manner upon the merits of the measure, anyone reading this law would be pardoned in characterizing it as a most striking example of legislative verbosity. If the bill had passed through a friendly legislature, it is almost certain that by process of revision and amendment in the committees and on the floor its provisions would have been less luxuriant in length and clearer and more concise in language. Those most ardent in their support of the initiative and referendum cannot claim that it will bring about an improvement in legislative style. There has been a growing need in American legislative bodies for an improved legislative style, and some have advocated standing committees which would put all legislative acts in finished form which would express their object accurately and succinctly. Such a method, however, can never be applied under the initiative and referendum, for the bills as filed with the secretary of state are not subject to amendment, and must be either accepted or rejected by the people just as they stand.

The preamble of this act says:

"Under our form of government political parties are useful and recessary at the present time. It is necessary for the public welfare and safety that every practical guaranty shall be provided by law to assure the people generally, as well as the members of the several parties, that political parties shall be fairly, freely and honestly conducted in appearance as well as in fact. The method of naming candidates for elective public offices by political parties and voluntary political organizations is the best plan yet found for placing before the people the names of qualified and worthy citizens from whom the electors may choose the officers of our government. The government of our state by its electors and the government of a political party by its members are rightfully based on the same general principles. Every political party and every voluntary political organization has the same right to be protected from the interference of persons who are not identified with it as its known and publicly avowed members, that the government of the state has to protect itself from the interference of persons who are not known and registered as its electors. It is as great a wrong to the people, as well as to the members of a political

party, for one who is not known to be one of its members to vote or take any part at any election or other proceedings of such political party as it is for one who is not a qualified and registered elector to vote at any state election or take any part in the business of the state. Every political party and voluntary political organization is rightfully entitled to the sole exclusive use of every word of its official name. The people of the state and members of every political party and voluntary political organization are rightfully entitled to know that every person who offers to take any part in the affairs or business of any political party or voluntary political organization in the state is in good faith a member of such party. The reason for the law which requires a secret ballot when all the electors choose their officers equally requires a secret ballot when the members of a party choose their candidates for public office. It is as necessary for the preservation of the public welfare and safety that there shall be a free and fair vote and an honest count as well as a secret ballot at primary elections, as it is that there shall be a free and fair vote and an honest count in addition to the secret ballot at all elections of public officers. All qualified electors who wish to serve the people in an elective public office are rightfully entitled to equal opportunities under the law.

"The purpose of this law is better to secure and to preserve the rights of political parties and voluntary political organizations and of their members and candidates, and especially of the rights above stated."

The primary nominating elections are to be held within stated times prior to the general election, and at the primary elections the candidates of all political parties are chosen by plurality vote, and no other candidates of the political parties can be voted for at the general election. The petitions of the candidates for nomination are required to be filed in writing, and must state that the petitioner is a registered voter and a member of the political party from whom he is seeking a nomination, and that if nominated he will accept and will not withdraw, and if elected will qualify. He is also permitted. to state, in not exceeding one hundred words, any measures or principles which he especially advocates; and, in not exceeding twelve words, the form in which he wishes them printed after

his name on the nominating ballot. In case the candidate seeking the nomination is a senator or representative in the legislative assembly, he may state either that he will always vote for that candidate for United States senator who has received the highest number of the people's votes for that position at the general election next preceding the election of a senator in Congress without regard to his individual preference, or he may state that he will consider the vote of the people for United States senator as nothing more than a recommendation which he will be at liberty wholly to disregard if the reason for so doing seem to him sufficient. This petition of the candidate must be signed by a given number of registered members of his political party and qualified electors, asking that his name be printed on the official nominating ballot, and it must be verified by one or more of the signers who shall make oath that he or they personally know the signatures thereon to be genuine, and that the post office address and the residence of the candidate are correctly stated and that he is a qualified elector and a registered member of the political party. The votes of the different political parties are kept distinct, and the official ballots are to be printed for the Republican party in black ink upon good quality of white paper, for the Democratic party in black ink upon good quality of blue paper, and for any third party in black ink upon good quality of yellow paper. The ballot shall be styled "Official Primary Nominating Election Ballot of

Party," stating the name of the precinct they are intended for and the date the election is to be held. Provision is made for the preservation of the ballots, and for settlement of contests by the courts. In case of a tie the right to the nomination is to be determined by lot after notice by the secretary of state. The governor is required to make official proclamation declaring who are the nominees of the respective parties. At the primary election the committeemen of the different parties are also elected for the term of two years from the date of the first meeting of the committee immediately following their election. Committees are given power to

fill vacancies, also to elect managing or executive committees, and to make rules and regulations for the government of their respective political parties not inconsistent with the law. This act is probably the strongest that has ever been passed in recognizing political parties as legal institutions and their committees as legal bodies.

Inasmuch as at the primary nominating election only those voters who have been duly registered as members of a political party can vote, and then only for the nomination of candidates of the political party of which they are registered members, it is clear that those who are not registered members of the political parties have no voice in the selection of candidates. The voters who are not registered members of the political parties can take their choice at the general election. There seems to be no provision of the law which requires the voter at the following general election to vote for the candidates of the political party of which he is a registered member.

The initiative and referendum experiences in Oregon are especially interesting to Missourians, for the people of this state are at the approaching election to vote on a constitutional amendment permitting that method of legislation.

ΜΟΝΤΑΝΑ.

The second extraordinary session in Montana was called by proclamation of the governor, which contains the following "whereases":

"WHEREAS, A large per cent. of the resident taxpayers of the state, and many representatives of organized labor and others, have by petitions and otherwise, represented to me the deplorable industrial condition existing in three of the populous cities of the state, as well as in many other localities within our borders, consequent upon the cessation of operations of many large industries in the state, and

"WHEREAS, They further represent the desirability of general legislation by which the bias and prejudice of district judges be made a disqualification of such judges to try any case that may come before them or either of them, as well as legislation

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