and of the same as they read if amended. Prior to the election, the secretary of state shall give three weeks' published notice of such statement in each county in the state in which qualified newspapers are published and in not more than three newspapers in each county. . . . He shall also forward to each county auditor a number of copies of such statement, in poster form, sufficient to enable him to supply at least six of such copies for each election district of his county. The auditor shall furnish such copies to the town, village and city clerks, who shall give three weeks' posted notice thereof, and cause one copy to be conspicuously posted at each polling place on election day." 88 Somewhat similar statutory provisions have been enacted in Illinois and Michigan; " in Illinois such a statement is simply required to be posted in public places within the election district; in Michigan the statement is to be posted in each election precinct, and the secretary of state is required three times to send copies of such statement to the several daily and weekly newspapers published within the state, sixty, thirty, and fifteen days before election, with the request that publicity be given to such statements.

89

The Minnesota plan provides for presenting to the voters (by means of newspaper publication and by posters) some intelligible statement regarding what is expected to be the effect upon the fundamental law of a proposed amendment. It leaves unaltered the old method of publication, which is certainly to a great extent ineffective as a means of bringing a matter directly to the attention of voters.

88 Minnesota General Laws, 1907, p. 166. So far as can be discovered this plan has not proved of very great service in Minnesota. For similar plans employed in Switzerland see Lowell, Governments and Parties in Continental Europe, ii, 275, 276.

89 Michigan Public Acts, 1905, p. 34; Constitution of 1908, art. xvii, sec. 3. Hurd's Revised Statutes of Illinois, 1908, pp. 146, 147, 988.

Nevada in 1887 took a further step toward bringing proposed amendments directly to the attention of voters; proposed amendments were required to be published in one daily newspaper of general circulation, and it was made the duty of the clerk of each county" to mail to every registered voter within his county a copy of the newspaper containing the proposed amendments." "" A California statute of 1893 required sample ballots to be mailed to each voter before the day of the election, and by an enactment of 1899 it was further provided: "Whenever the legislature shall propose any amendment to the constitution of this state . . . or whenever said legislature shall subunit any proposition to a vote of the qualified electors of the state, the secretary of state shall duly, and not less than twenty-five days before election, certify the same to the clerk of each county of the state; shall cause to be printed at the state printing office, in convenient form, one and one-half times as many copies of such amendment or proposition as there are registered voters in the state, and at least thirty days before any election at which such amendment or proposition is to be voted on, shall furnish each county clerk in the state with one and one-half times as many such copies as there are registered voters in his county. The clerk of each county shall thereafter cause to be mailed to each voter a copy of such constitutional amendment or other proposition

9 91

Oregon adopted the initiative and referendum by a constitutional amendment of 1902, and by an act of 1903, for the purpose of carrying this amendment into operation, adopted the California plan of distributing proposed laws. and constitutional amendments to the voters, but went a step further and provided that arguments for and against ** Nevada Laws, 1887, p. 122. This law is not now in force. Laws of 1903, p. 204.

91 California Statutes, 1893, p. 304; 1899, p. 27.

such proposals might be distributed at the same time as the text of the proposals themselves. The Oregon law of 1903 was modified in 1907. The general features of the Oregon legislation have been followed by Oklahoma in 1907, Montana in 1907, and California in 1909; the Montana legislation applies only to laws initiated by popular petition or upon which a referendum vote has been demanded, and not to proposed constitutional amendments."

92

The essential part of the Oregon plan is worth quoting in full as set forth in the act of 1907: "The secretary of state shall cause to be printed in pamphlet form a true copy of the title and text of each measure to be submitted, with the number and form in which the ballot title thereof will be printed on the official ballot. The person, committee, or duly authorized officers of any organization filing any petition for the initiative, but no other person or organization, shall have the right to file with the secretary of state for printing and distribution any argument advocating such measure. . . Any person, committee, or organization may file with the secretary of state, for printing and distribution, any arguments they may desire, opposing any measure. Arguments advocating or opposing any measures referred to the people by the legislative assembly, or by referendum petition, at a regular general election, shall be governed by the same rules as to time, but may be filed with the secretary of state by any person, committee, or organization. . . . But in every case the person or persons offering such arguments for printing and distribution shall pay to the secretary of state sufficient money to pay all the expenses for paper and printing to supply one copy with every copy of the measure to be printed by the state; and he shall forth92 Oregon General Laws, 1907, pp. 403-405. Oklahoma General Statutes, 1908, p. 781. Montana Laws, 1907, pp. 122, 124. California Statutes, 1909, p. 254.

with notify the persons offering the same of the amount of money necessary. The secretary of state shall cause one copy of each of said arguments to be bound in the pamphlet copy of the measures to be submitted as herein provided, and all such measures and arguments to be submitted at one election shall be bound together in a single pamphlet. All the printing shall be done by the state. . . The title page of each argument shall show the measure or measures it favors or opposes and by what persons or organization it is issued. When such arguments are printed he [the secretary of state] shall pay the state printer therefor from the money deposited with him and refund the surplus, if any, to the parties who paid it to him. The cost of printing, binding, and distributing the measures proposed, and of binding and distributing the arguments, shall be paid by the state as a part of the state printing, it being intended that only the cost of paper and printing the arguments shall be paid by the parties presenting the same, and they shall not be charged any higher rate for such work than is paid by the state for similar work and paper. Not later than the fifty-fifth day before the regular general election at which such measures are to be voted upon, the secretary of state shall transmit by mail, with postage fully prepaid, to every voter in the state whose address he may have, one copy of such pamphlet; provided, that if the secretary shall, at or about the same time, be mailing any other pamphlet to every voter, he may, if practicable, bind the matter herein provided for in the first part of said pamphlet or he may enclose the pamphlets under one cover. In the case of a special election he shall mail said pamphlet to every voter not less than twenty days before said special election." "s

" The Oregon law of 1903 provided that already printed arguments

In Oregon arguments may be submitted by practically any person or organization which is willing to bear the cost of printing," and the same is true with reference to laws submitted to the people of Montana. But in Oklahoma and California the arguments for and against each measure are official arguments. In Oklahoma for example: “Arguments shall be prepared for and against each measure to be submitted to a direct vote of the people of the state, the length of the arguments not to exceed two thousand words for each side, in which one-fourth may be in answer to opponents' arguments. For one side the arguments shall be prepared by a joint committee of the house and senate, and for the other by a committee representing the petitioners. Where the legislature submits a competing bill the argument against it shall be prepared by the committee that prepared the affirmative of the opposing bill. Where the legislature submits any other question the argument for the negative shall be prepared by a committee representing the members in the legislature who voted against the substance of the measure.' In California "the author of such amendment and one member of the same house who voted with the majority on the submission of such amend

might be furnished to the secretary of state in sufficient number for distribution to all voters, and that such arguments should be sent to the clerks of the several counties for distribution to the voters by the local registration officers. The Montana law, similar to the Oregon enactment of 1903, provides that any person desiring to present an argument for or against a measure may submit to the secretary of state a printed argument in a sufficient number of copies to be distributed to each qualified voter of the state; distribution in Montana is by county clerks who are required to mail the bound pamphlet containing the text of measures and arguments to each voter.

94 The limitation with reference to measures initiated by petition is not a serious one.

95 Oklahoma Laws, 1907-1908, p. 447.