Show STUDENT LIFE for such a law the bill was killed in the Senate on the fifth instant This is proof of arrogance in the body a disregard of public sentiment and a positive dereliction of plain obligations to their constituents The question at once arises: What excuse can the Utah Legislature offer for ignoring the will of the majority? Senator Sherman answered the question a few weeks ago When reminded that the people had voted for the referendum he replied: “I venture to say that a large proportion of the people did not know what they were voting for they must have thought it was something to eat” Wnat an exalted idea the senator entertains of the intelligence of the people to whom he is indebted for his election! It was also set forth as a valid objection to the proposed legislation that the referendum to operate successfully requires on the part of the people a discriminating and technical knowledge of law that they do not possess Now the referendum is designed merely to give the people a chance to call for a popular vote on any bill that majr be passed by the legislature and that a certain per cent of the people object to It does not mean that all laws must be submitted to the people for their vote but that on the petition of a certain per cent of the voting population usually not less than five per cent an election may be called by the Governor and a direct vote of the people taken on any particular measure that may have been passed by the legislature If at such an election a majority of the people vote against the bill it is annulled and void If they vote for it the measure assumes the force of law But the people would never call in the referendum or resort to its provisions unless the proposed law directly notoriously and palpably conflicted with their interests In such cases the people are intelligent enough to act decislaw-maki- ng ively on the issue It is also claimed by those who oppose the referendum that to give the people a right to vote against and annul proposed legislation would tend to destroy the sense of responsibility in legislators It seems to us that such a condition would increase the sense of respon 83 sibility in legislators and w ould tend to make them more careful to enact only such laws as the people would be pretty sure to accept Giving the people pow er to kill a law also gives them power to castigate and rebuke the men who enacted it Under the referendum legislators would understand that their political life depended upon their ability to formulate into laws the “will of the people” and the man who lobbied a bill through the legislature and afterwards suffered the embarrassment of seeing it killed by popular vote would understand that his political career was at an end The legislature underthe referendum would learn that its relation to the people is that of servant to master In this connection a simple comparison may be drawn A servant who realizes that his master has power not only to remove or discharge him but also power to place him in an unfavorable light before the people if he fails (honorably) to perform his duties naturally feels greater responsibility than he would feel if he knew that he was entirely out of the reach of his master or more strictly compared if he labored under the impression that he had no master The legisla- ture at the present time does not recognize the relationship of master and servant and it cares but little for public sentiment Fortunately for Utah however her legislatures have always been chiefly composed of honorable and highly intelligent men Our legislative assemblies have been comparatively pure and free from political corruption Our laws are the result of the careful deliberate work of honest conservative men and laymen have little right to criticise their efforts Still we feel that the referendum is not an unwarrantable innovation and the legislative body should yield to the express demands of the majority of the people Walter Porter A Buckeye's First Mountain By L A OSTIEN Late one night in May I arrived at Chattanooga I followed in the wake of some men to the Ilotel Stanton where after removing the dust accumulated during 300 miles |