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Show H 00 GOVERNOR WANTS GREATER POWER Would Give Chief Executive H Authority to Submit Meas- Hj ures to People. H Boston, Mass:., 'Aug. 24. William 1 Hodges Mann, of Virginia, in an ad- 1 drcsB delivered before the governor's j conference here today, declared that K while there was no complete remedy K for legislative ills, conditions could be p greatly improved if the Initiative was i given a governor to submit to the W people a general election any meas- Hj ure previously recommended, but flj which the legislature had failed to W "The governor would know the ob- H jections previously raised to the bill Hl and the reason It had not been pass- H cd" said Mr. Mann, "and it is reu- H sonable to show he would not order 1 submission of any bill, not clearly 1 promotive to the public good. 1 'This discretionary power of his in- 1 fluence would greatly ea"bt the labor H J and responsibility of the governor, H and. If the bills he offered were gen- H erally adopted, his influences for H good would bo great. Then the leg- H islature would hardly dare to defeat H I a proper bill the executive had ap- H proved and thus tho necessity for sub- H mission to tho people would greatly H diminish. The people of the state H would not need to fear the governor H because they would entirely control H In discussing the people's initia- H tivd, Mr. Mann said court decisions H and general 'experience had shown j that legislative enactments are less li- H able to be wrong- than those passed H by the people with the initiative. He H said that ono vital wrong In the pure- H ly legislative system was that the H legislators represent districts rather H than the state as a whole and for this H reason legislatures do not always work for the welfare of the entire state. In concluding, Mr. Mann said the trend was for closer relations between be-tween states but that this did not mean a law beneficial to one state would be adaptable in the Identical form to the needs of another state. He did, however, urge uniform laws on marriage, divorce, health and some other matters. |
