esentative republic. We Europeans upon the Continent recognize
in our turn that in representative government alone lies the hoped-for
union between civil order and popular liberty."

The Initiative and Compulsory Referendum are attempts to cure the evils
which have developed in our practice of representative government by means
of a return to the old, unsuccessful, and discarded method of direct
legislation and by rehabilitating one of the most impracticable of
Rousseau's theories. Every candid student of our governmental affairs must
agree that the evils to be cured have been real and that the motive which
has prompted the proposal of the Initiative and Referendum is commendable.
I do not think that these expedients will prove wise or successful ways of
curing these evils for reasons which I will presently indicate; but it is
not necessary to assume that their trial will be destructive of our system
of government. They do not aim to destroy representative government, but to
modify and control it, and were it not that the effect of these particular
methods is likely to go beyond the intention of their advocates they would
not interfere seriously with representative government except in so far as
they might ultimately prove to be successful expedients. If they did
not work satisfactorily they would be abandoned, leaving representative
government still in full force and effectiveness.

There is now a limited use of the Referendum upon certain comparatively
simple questions. No one has ever successfully controverted the view
expressed by Burke in his letter to the electors of Bristol, that his
constituents were entitled not merely to his vote but to his judgment, even
though they might not agree with it. But there are some questions upon
which the determining fact must be the preference of the people of the
country or of a community; such as the question where a capital city or a
county seat shall be located; the question whether a debt shall be incurred
that will be a lien on their property for a specific purpose; the question
whether the sale of intoxicating liquors shall he permitted. Upon certain
great simple questions which are susceptible of a _yes_ or _no_ answer it
is appropriate that the people should be called upon to express their
wish by a vote just as they express their choice of the persons who shall
exercise the powers of government by a vote. This, however, is very
different from undertaking to have th