is method a small
percentage of the voters, from eight to ten per cent, may initiate
proposals and impose upon the voters the function of legislation. South
Dakota, in 1898, made constitutional provision for direct legislation.
Utah followed in 1900, Oregon in 1902, Nevada in 1904, Montana in 1906,
and Oklahoma in 1907. East of the Mississippi, several States have
adopted a modified form of the initiative and referendum. In Oregon,
where this device of direct government has been most assiduously
applied, the voters in 1908 voted upon nineteen different bills and
constitutional amendments; in 1910 the number increased to thirty-two;
in 1912, to thirty-seven; in 1914 it fell to twenty-nine. The vote cast
for these measures rarely exceeded eighty per cent of those voting at
the election and frequently fell below sixty.

The electorate that attempts to rid itself of the evils of the state
legislature by these heroic methods assumes a heavy responsibility. When
the burden of direct legislation is added to the task of choosing from
the long list of elective officers which is placed before the voter at
every local and state election, it is not surprising that there should
set in a reaction in favor of simplified government. The mere separation
of state and local elections does not solve the problem. It somewhat
minimizes the chances of partizan influence over the voter in local
elections; but the voter is still confronted with the long lists of
candidates for elective offices. Ballots not infrequently contain two
hundred names, sometimes even three hundred or more, covering candidates
of four or five parties for scores of offices. These blanket ballots are
sometimes three feet long. After an election in Chicago in 1916, one of
the leading dailies expressed sympathy "for the voter emerging from the
polling-booth, clutching a handful of papers, one of them about half as
large as a bed sheet." Probably most voters were able to express a real
preference among the national candidates. It is almost equally certain
that most voters were not able to express a real preference among
important local administrative officials. A huge ballot, all printed
over with names, supplemented by a series of smaller ballots, can never
be a manageable instrument even for an electorate as intelligent as
ours.

Simplification is the prophetic watchword in state government today. For
cities, the City Manager and the Commission have offered salvation. A