Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 12/Oregon History for "the Oregon System"

OREGON HISTORY FOR "THE OREGON SYSTEM" y F. G. Young "The Oregon System" is a new and unique organization for the determination of public policy in the affairs of a com- monwealth. It is being more and more freely used, and prom- ises in Oregon to reduce to a minimum the functioning of the historic representative government. The people not only rule but their rule is direct, summary, absolute and affects well- nigh all their public interests. In law-making deference to the specialist, the experienced and the expert is at a low ebb. The supposed virtues of the deliberative assembly with parliament- ary procedure come dangerously near being repudiated alto- gether. This tendency of almost exclusive reliance upon the "system" means immediate and definitive action by popular vote on all matters of commonwealth interest. This direct responsibility assumed by the people for the detailed control of their public affairs involves an ambitious role. The elevation of the voter to the position of law-maker and judge affecting highest matters of state must, in the nature of things, if all is to be well, be paralleled by a cor- responding enlargement of his understanding, enlightenment of his views and ennoblement of his attitude. How is he to be made equal to this new sphere that he has assumed ? Trip-hammer action of public opinion is secured through the initiative, referendum and recall, in the easy and absolute form of their application in Oregon. Vox populi, vox Dei is here adopted as an inherent principle of the eternal order and is being applied without reservation. The situation brings all our social heritage into the crucible, subject to complete trans- formation on any election day. Democracy has thus been made absolute and the machinery for registering its edicts simplified to the last degree. Under such a regime, unless there is a corresponding response in effort and attitude on the part of the individual voter, only inspiration can save from serious, cumulative and consequently fatal blunders. How can OREGON HISTORY FOR OREGON SYSTEM 265 the private citizen attain the insight and poise that will insure action for the public good ? The Oregon system stands for the ne plus ultra in popular government. It represents a farthest extreme, and the shift to it came as the sequel to most trying experience with represent- ative government. The selected few, or the controlling ele- ments among them, into whose hands the interests of the masses had been intrusted had regularly played false or were duped. The strong were getting undue privileges, and were escaping their share of the public burdens. No return to normal condi- tions of social justice seemed possible under the old dispensa- tion. Such proficiency in political manipulation, in machine methods and in the arts of demagoguery had been developed by the designing few that in one way or another the people were too frequently served the crusts while the loaf went to the special interests. Under such circumstances the only thing to do was done the people took the management of their collec- tive affairs directly into their own hands. But however fully justified the people were in making this venture, the almost complete renunciation of parliamentary procedure and repre- sentative government by them imposes certain conditions that must be fulfilled if hopes are to be realized. Suppose the rank and file of an army were to presume to march abreast of their captains and to be heard in the councils of their commanders. Would not that be preposterous if the common soldier were not as fully versed in the art of war as his general and had not as large a part in the elaborating of the plan of campaign ? By as much as the art of statesmanship is of a higher order than that of war so much higher order of proficiency does the Oregon system imply to be the possession of the private citizen. Furthermore, the exchange of the system of representative government for pure democracy is made just when the state is sweeping forward into a new era. Its development is becom- ing intense; a more complex economic organization is being assumed and so many constructive readjustments are urgently called for. Vision is needed if the rapidly increasing density of 266 F. G. YOUNG population is not to develop the social abominations that are the curse of the older communities. While all conditions are thus nascent are the features being incorporated into the new rural community that will make for the best uplift in the life of the boy and girl and the woman and the man on the farm? Are the fixed improvements in the towns, their systems of public utility, affecting the health, comfort and enjoyments of all classes, being planned with foresight and with concern for the highest interests dominant? Eastern states and cities are awakening to the fact that as the result of past heedlessness even herculean labors give but faint and long deferred hopes of ever attaining the ideal. It is true that these woeful sacri- fices of the interests of the masses of this and future generations took place there while representative institutions were in vogue. But a like outcome can be avoided here only as constructive and far-seeing policies are devised and supported. Such are the exigencies in the situation in Oregon that confront the sys- tem. A competent performance of his part by the individual voter involves a high calling. It may be that the disposition of the Oregon people with re- gard to the measure of use to be made of the system of direct legislation has been misinterpreted. Possibly the almost ex- clusive recourse to it, and the slight put upon representative government, were due to the necessity of correcting old abuses and adjusting perverted economic relations resulting from the failings of the former system. Suppose, therefore, that a re- newal of confidence in the procedure of representative govern- ment is to be expected and that the machinery of direct legis- lation is to be held in reserve for the occasions when legisla- tures go amiss, yet the necessity is not removed of the need of fine discernment on the part of the private citizen in judging rightly when these occasions arise and in determining what substitute measures will bring greater and more lasting good to all. Moreover, situations are bound to develop when the in- dividual's interest will clash with that of the community as a whole. Verily, the Oregon system applied even most OREGON HISTORY FOR OREGON SYSTEM 267 moderately imposes an arduous duty upon the individual voter. The old order of citizenship no longer suffices. Civic duty was formerly comprehended in that attention to public affairs which insured a wise choice among the several candidates for each public position to be filled. The demands made on civic virtue under the Oregon system are incomparably more rigorous. It calls for a zeal in public service and a de- votion to the common good that insures an understanding of the issues involved in each problem as it arises. Nothing less than a finer loyalty, a livelier patriotism and a higher social intelligence must now prevail if all is to be well. With these alone, if at all, can a people secure that discernment and poise that mean safety and social progress with the complex and tangled affairs of a commonwealth under a pure democracy. Considering the closely limited time and vitality available to the average citizen, after the demands of his personal and essential non-political interests have been met, the political duties he owes under a pure democracy are simply stupendous. It is a matter, therefore, of the utmost importance for Oregon welfare that the best possible conditions be afforded him for the fulfilment of his part faithfully and well. The most effec- tive service to him towards giving him competence for his new role is that which secures for him an intimate and realistic comprehension of our commonwealth life. This will also kindle in him a real and abiding love for Oregon, insuring zeal and loyalty. The key for this consummate grasp of the situation in which he is to be a factor is a knowledge of its course of evolution, of its making, of its essential history. What are the vital elements in the heritage of the Oregon people of today, in natural resources, in ideas, in customs and in institutions ? What also are their handicaps ? What are the vital features in their commonwealth organization and what purposes have actuated its policies? What vision or lack of vision has each generation displayed ? Its history viewed from this standpoint of human and higher interests conserved no doubt discloses much that causes feelings of regret. The lead- ers followed have in many cases misled. The people have now 268 ' F. G. YOUNG and then been heedless affecting interests of transcendant im- portance. And yet a commonwealth not unlovely was trans- mitted to the present generation. Commonwealths for twentieth century life are not born but are made. They are gradually remolded and renewed through transforming the elements and factors in them coming out of the past. The imaginations of the people prompted by their best impulses and using the best achievements recorded in the history of humanity outline their visions and their ideals. For the realization of these ever-receding millenniums the struggle goes on. The "Oregon System" presupposes that every citizen will be able and will be disposed to ascend to this high plane of thought and action so that he will be a positive factor in effecting change in the right direction.