Direct Legislation by the Citizenship through the Initiative and Referendum | Page 9

direct legislation by the citizenship, is practicable--more, is now
practiced--in large communities. Next as to its effects, proven and
probable.

THE PUBLIC STEWARDSHIP OF SWITZERLAND.
If it be conceived that the fundamental principles of a free society are
these: That the bond uniting the citizens should be that of contract; that
rights, including those in natural resources, should be equal, and that
each producer should retain the full product of his toil, it must be
conceded on examination that toward this ideal Switzerland has made
further advances than any other country, despite notable points in
exception and the imperfect form of its federal Initiative and
Referendum. Before particulars are entered into, some general
observations on this head may be made.
The Political Status in Switzerland.
An impressive fact in Swiss politics to-day is its peace. Especially is
this true of the contents and tone of the press. In Italy and Austria, on
the south and east, the newspapers are comparatively few, mostly

feeble, and in general subservient to party or government; in Germany,
on the north, where State Socialism is strong, the radical press is at
times turbulent and the government journals reflect the despotism they
uphold; in France, on the west and southwest, the public writers are
ever busy over the successive unstable central administrations at Paris,
which exercise a bureaucratic direction of every commune in the land.
In all these countries, men rather than measures are the objects of
discussion, an immediate important campaign question inevitably being
whether, when once in office, candidates may make good their
ante-election promises. Thus, on all sides, over the border from
Switzerland, political turmoil, with its rancor, personalities, false
reports, hatreds, and corruptions, is endless. But in Switzerland, debate
uniformly bears not on men but on measures. The reasons are plain.
Where the veto is possessed by the people, in vain may rogues go to the
legislature. With few or no party spoils, attention to public business,
and not to patronage or private privilege, is profitable to office holders
as well as to the political press.
In the number of newspapers proportionate to population, Switzerland
stands with the United States at the head of the statistical list for the
world. In their general character, Swiss political journals are higher
than American. They are little tempted to knife reputations, to start
false campaign issues, to inflame partisan feeling; for every prospective
cantonal measure undergoes sober popular discussion the year round,
with the certain vote of the citizenship in view in the cantons having
the Landsgemeinde or the obligatory Referendum, and a possible vote
in most of the other cantons, while federal measures also may be met
with the federal optional Referendum.
The purity and peacefulness of Swiss press and politics are due to the
national development of today as expressed in appropriate institutions.
Of these institutions the most effective, the fundamental, is direct
legislation, accompanied as it is with general education. In education
the Swiss are preëminent among nations. Illiteracy is at a lower
percentage than in any other country; primary instruction is free and
compulsory in all the cantons; and that the higher education is general
is shown in the four universities, employing three hundred instructors.

An enlightened people, employing the ballot freely, directly, and in
consequence effectively--this is the true sovereign governing power in
Switzerland. As to what, in general terms, have been the effects of this
power on the public welfare, as to how the Swiss themselves feel
toward their government, and as to what are the opinions of foreign
observers on the recent changes through the Initiative and Referendum,
some testimony may at this point be offered.
In the present year, Mr. W.D. McCrackan has published in the "Arena"
of Boston his observations of Swiss politics. He found, he says, the
effects of the Referendum to be admirable. Jobbery and extravagance
are unknown, and politics, as there is no money in it, has ceased to be a
trade. The men elected to office are taken from the ranks of the citizens,
and are chosen because of their fitness for the work. The people take an
intelligent interest in every kind of local and federal legislation, and
have a full sense of their political responsibility. The mass of useless or
evil laws which legislatures in other countries are constantly passing
with little consideration, and which have constantly to be repealed, are
in Switzerland not passed at all.
In a study of the direct legislation of Switzerland, the "Westminster
Review," February, 1888, passed this opinion: "The bulk of the people
move more slowly than their representatives, are more cautious in
adopting new and trying legislative experiments, and have a tendency
to reject propositions submitted to them for the first time." Further:
"The issue which is presented to the sovereign people is invariably