Direct Legislation by the Citizenship through the Initiative and Referendum | Page 8

surprising independence of judgment. When the obligatory form was
proposed for Zurich, its supporters declared it a sure instrument, but
that it might prove a costly one they were not prepared by experiment
to deny. Now, however, they have the data to show that
taxes--unfailing reflexes of public expenditure--are lower than ever,
those for police, for example, being only about half those of optional
Geneva, a less populous canton. To the prophets who foresaw endless
partisan strife in case the Referendum was to be called in force on
every measure, Zurich has replied by reducing partisanship to its
feeblest point, the people indifferent to parties since an honest vote of
the whole body of citizens must be the final issue of every question.
The people of Zurich have proved that the science of politics is simple.
By refusing special legislation, they evade a flood of bills. By deeming
appropriations once revised as in most part necessary, they pay
attention chiefly to new items. By establishing principles in law, they
forbid violations. Thus there remain no profound problems of state, no
abstruse questions as to authorities, no conflict as to what is the law.
Word fresh from the people is law.
The Federal Referendum.
The Federal Referendum, first established by the constitution of 1874,
is optional. The demand for it must be made by 30,000 citizens or by
eight cantons. The petition for a vote under it must be made within
ninety days after the publication of the proposed law. It is operative
with respect either to a statute as passed by the Federal Assembly
(congress), or a decree of the executive power. Of 149 Federal laws and
decrees subject to the Referendum passed up to the close of 1891 under
the constitution of 1874, twenty-seven were challenged by the
necessary 30,000 petitioners, fifteen being rejected and twelve accepted.
The Federal Initiative was established by a vote taken on Sunday, July

5, 1891. It requires 50,000 petitioners, whose proposal must be
discussed by the Federal assembly and then sent within a prescribed
delay to the whole citizenship for a vote. The Initiative is not a petition
to the legislative body; it is a demand made on the entire citizenship.
Where the cantonal Referendum is optional, a successful petition for it
frequently secures a rejection of the law called in question. In 1862 and
again in 1878, the canton of Geneva rejected proposed changes in its
constitution, on the latter occasion by a majority of 6,000 in a vote of
11,000. Twice since 1847 the same canton has decided against an
increase of official salaries, and lately it has declined to reduce the
number of its executive councilors from seven to five. The experience
of the Confederation has been similar. Between 1874 and 1880 five
measures recommended by the Federal Executive and passed by the
Federal Assembly were vetoed by a national vote.
Revision of Constitutions.
Revision of a constitution through the popular vote is common. Since
1814, there have been sixty revisions by the people of cantonal
constitutions alone. Geneva asks its citizens every fifteen years if they
wish to revise their organic law, thus twice in a generation practically
determining whether they are in this respect content. The Federal
constitution may be revised at any time. Fifty thousand voters
petitioning for it, or the Federal Assembly (congress) demanding it, the
question is submitted to the country. If the vote is in the affirmative, the
Council of States (the senate) and the National Council (the house) are
both dissolved. An election of these bodies takes place at once; the
Assembly, fresh from the people, then makes the required revision and
submits the revised constitution to the country. To stand, it must be
supported by a majority of the voters and a majority of the twenty-two
cantons.
Summary.
To sum up: In Switzerland, in this generation, direct legislation has in
many respects been established for the federal government, while in so
large a canton as Zurich, with nearly 340,000 inhabitants, it has also

been made applicable to every proposed cantonal law, decree, and
order,--the citizens of that canton themselves disposing by vote of all
questions of taxation, public finance, executive acts, state employment,
corporation grants, public works, and similar operations of government
commonly, even in republican states, left to legislators and other
officials. In every canton having the Initiative and the obligatory
Referendum, all power has been stripped from the officials except that
of a stewardship which is continually and minutely supervised and
controlled by the voters. Moreover, it is possible that yet a few years
and the affairs not only of every canton of Switzerland but of the
Confederation itself will thus be taken in hand at every step.
* * * * *
Here, then, is evidence incontrovertible that pure democracy, through