Initiative
a plan which originated first in Switzerland which permits private citizens to draw up a legislative bill, and, if a certain percentage of the voters sign the measure, to have it submitted directly to the whole body of citizens.
If the bill secures a majority it becomes a law. Many of the States of the United States have adopted the initiative, feeling that the State Legislatures were not sufficiently responsive to popular feeling. South Dakota was the first State to adopt the plan, which it did in 1898.
In the next 15 years the following States took similar action: Oregon, Nevada, Montana, Oklahoma, Michigan, Maine, Arkansas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Ohio, Nebraska, Washington, Idaho, and North Dakota. About the same time some 300 cities adopted the plan for the making of local ordinances. Since 1915 the plan has not INSPECTOR GENERAL gained much headway in any other State.
The Progressive Party of 1912 endorsed the plan in its platform, but neither of the two older parties did. In practical operation it falls short of much that is claimed for it, encountering as it does the indifference of the voters. Many students of political science have questioned its usefulness, claiming that it substitutes direct for representative government; thereby confusing the proper function of the electorate and reducing legislative bodies to a nullity.