Recall
a method of compelling an elective official to resign or submit himself to a new election before his regular term of office expires. It was first adopted in Los Angeles, Cal., in 1904. Under its provisions a certain percentage of the voters who are dissatisfied with the official circulate a petition for his recall. The percentage of the electorate who must sign the petition in order to make it effective varies in different States, the usual percentage being 25 per cent., as the law is in Oregon. When the required proportion has signed the official must either resign or submit to a new election. It has been adopted by more than two hundred cities and by thirteen States, viz.: Ore., Cal., Wash., Nev., Mich., Ariz., Colo., Idaho, Kans., La., Wyo., N. D., Wis.
When Arizona applied for admission to the Union, President Taft refused to sign the bill admitting her to statehood until the recall of judges was eliminated from the State Constitution. Roosevelt advocated in the primary campaign of 1912 the recall of judicial decisions by which the decision of the courts on questions involving the powers of the Legis-- lature under the Constitution should be subject to a popular referendum. The scheme was never adopted by any State and soon became a dead issue politically.
The recall of judges likewise has not been generally adopted and American public opinion has rather tended to agree with President Taft that the practice is not in consonance with American institutions.
RÉCAMIER, MADAME (JEANNE FRANÇOISE JULIE ADELAIDE BER- NARD), a famous Frenchwoman; born in Lyons, France, Dec. 4, 1777. At 15 she was married to M. Jacques Récamier, a rich banker about thrice her own age.
Her salon was soon filled with the brightest wits of the literary and political political circles of the day. For Madame de Staël she had a warm affection that survived the exile required by the jealousy of Napoleon. Soon after this her husband was completely ruined, and Madame Récamier visited Madame de Staël at RECANATI Coppet in Switzerland (1806). Here she met Prince August of Prussia, who alone of all her innumerable admirers is supposed to have touched her heart. The most distinguished friend of her later years was M. de Châteaubriand. In 1846 he became a widower, and he then wished to marry Madame Récamier, whose husband had been dead since 1830, but the lady declined. She died May 11, 1849. Her "Recollections and Correspondence" were edited by her niece, Madame Lenormant in 1859.