sed amendment precisely as if it were an ordinary
statute, and it is thereupon submitted to the people for acceptance or
rejection. If, however, the two houses disagree upon the question of a
total revision, or if as many as 50,000 voters make demand for a total
revision, there must be put to the people the preliminary question as
to whether there shall be a revision at all. If the will of the
majority is affirmative, new legislative councils must be elected, and
to them falls the obligation of executing the popular mandate.

When the question is one of but partial revision the procedure is
somewhat different. Partial revision may be instituted either by the
councils or by petition of 50,000 voters. When a popular petition is
presented there are four possible courses of action: (1) if the
project is presented in general terms and the councils are in
agreement upon it, they reduce the proposal to specific form and
submit it to the people; (2) if the councils are not in agreement (p. 432)
upon the project they put to the people the preliminary question of
whether an amendment of the general type proposed is desirable, and if
the vote is affirmative they proceed with the revision; (3) if the
petition is presented in a form that is specific and final and the
councils are in agreement upon it, the project is submitted forthwith
to the people; and (4) if the councils are not in agreement upon a
specific project so advanced, they may prepare a project of their own,
or recommend the rejection of the proposed amendment, and they may
submit their counter-project or their recommendation at the same time
that the initiative petition is presented to the people.[634] In no
case may an amendment be put into effect until it has received the
assent of a majority of those voting thereon in a majority of the
cantons. Of seventeen constitutional amendments submitted by the
Federal Assembly between 1874 and 1908 twelve were ratified and five
were rejected.

[Footnote 634: Arts. 118-123. Dodd, Modern
Constitutions, II., 287-289.]

*477. The Popular Initiative.*--The right of popular initiative in the
revision of the constitution was established by an amendment of July
5, 1891, through the united efforts of all the anti-Radical parties
and groups. The purpose underlying the amendment was to break the
monopoly long enjoyed by the Radicals by placing within the hands of
any fifty thousand citizens the p