servative rather than radical, erring occasionally through ignorance, but on the whole manifesting an intuitive common-sense appreciation of questions submitted, if these are not too technical nor too detailed.

It seems obvious that the experiment is being tried under most favorable conditions. Switzerland is a neutralized state, its people are thrifty and intelligent, and are in close touch with modern civilization. Certainly neither the Federal Government nor the cantons show any disposition to repeal the system, and it is probable that with experience and deepening intelligence that state may yet devise a workable system of direct democracy coöperating with a well ordered, representative form of government.

The Initiative and the Referendum in the United States. In the Federal Government of the United States neither the initiative nor the referendum is in use, though there are occasional movements looking toward the introduction of the referendum into the federal system. In the commonwealths the following classes of legislation find illustration:

1. In practically all of them the referendum is used in purely local matters, usually in the form of statutory authorization of local bodies politic to decide for themselves, whether or not some local bill, or a local application of some general statute, shall go into effect. In the same manner there is in many States a local initiative in use, usually in connection with the commission form of municipal government.

2. Again, in many instances a State constitution may authorize its legislature to refer to the voters of the State some particular kind of general legislation, such as, for example, a proposition to issue a bond series.

Such general referendums, to be constitutional, must be authorized by the State constitution.

3. Beginning in 1898 with South Dakota, about twenty States by constitution have authorized the use of the initiative and referendum in general State legislation. So far Oregon and California have made the most effective use of this device.

4. Starting with Massachusetts in 1779-1780, new or revised constitutions and amendments are now regularly referred to the electorate for approval or rejection. Delaware alone of all the States does not submit amendments, and some States, especially in the South, promulgate constitutions on the authority of the convention, according to the usual custom in our early national history. Since 1890, for example, five States 12 have, without the use of the referendum, adopted revised constitutions.

5. The most radical change of this sort was made by the adoption of the initiative in amendments to the constitution, started by Oregon in 1902, and taken up by Oklahoma, in its new constitution, 1907, and by Missouri in 1908; there are at present some fifteen States that authorize the initiative in constitutional amendments.

6. A legislature may authorize a referendum so as to obtain from the electorate advice as to whether or not a proposed bill, or a particular candidate, has popular approval. This is a form of instruction, but it is not legally binding on the legislature. Party primaries may use the same system so as to suggest suitable candidates for office. 13

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In this connection it may be noted that the purely local

Mississippi, South Carolina, Delaware, Louisiana, Virginia. "Illinois, Texas, Oregon, and Massachusetts among others have made use of this form of referendum.

use of the initiative and referendum, especially the latter, the occasional use of the referendum in general legislation, and its use in the adoption, revision, or amendment of State constitutions are familiar, long tried, and well established methods of legislating with the aid of the electorate. The general use of the initiative and referendum in statutory legislation, and the use of the initiative in amendments to the constitution are new to the American system, obviously borrowed from Switzerland, and are rapidly gaining favor in popular estimation. Nearly half of the States are experimenting with these devices although most of these are west of the Mississippi, where a more radical type of democracy prevails than can be found farther east. The advisory referendum is new, and may develop into a legalized method of giving instructions to delegates or representatives.

Evidently no dogmatic statement in respect to the outcome of this tendency toward direct democracy can safely be made at present. The Western states, with fewer precedents and more democratic conditions, can experiment with new devices in governmental machinery, the very thought of which would shock the conservative East. If, however, these experiments prove useful, they will undoubtedly be taken up in improved forms by other commonwealths. In this way real improvements will slowly work into the governments of the several States and ultimately become the law of the land. It may be observed that, so far as the initiative and referendum are concerned, there seem to be no backward steps. Wherever the system is on trial, it seems to be gaining rather than losing ground.

CHAPTER XIX

CITIZENSHIP, RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

CITIZENSHIP

Citizens and Aliens.--Resident within a state are regularly two classes of persons, citizens and aliens. The citizens of a state are those persons who are domiciled within the state and are fully subject to its sovereignty. Aliens are those persons resident in a state who owe allegiance to another state.

In general, it may be said that the rights and obligations of aliens are determined by the laws of the land in which they are resident, including in the term laws those treaty regulations made with other states fixing the status of their citizens. As a rule, civilized states grant to aliens full protection of life and property, conditioned on their obedience to the law of the land. They are seldom allowed political privileges, such as office-holding or suffrage,1 and are regularly exempted from military service, but they may be required to pay the usual taxes assessed on property, or special taxes for the privilege of transacting business. Their admission into the state is a matter of treaty agreement and international custom. Every state has the right to bar out aliens from its shores for reasons satisfactory to itself.

'Seven of the commonwealths of the United States allow suffrage to aliens who have declared their intention to become citizens. The tendency is to repeal such privileges.

Native and Naturalized Citizens.-In law there are two classes of citizens: (a) citizens by birth,2 and (b) naturalized citizens who were born under foreign sovereignty but who renounced their allegiance to the state of their birth and became naturalized by complying with set requirements and taking the oath of allegiance. Corporations, or artificial persons, are sometimes called quasi-citizens. A corporation is an organization authorized by law to act as a single person for the purpose of transacting business or holding and transmitting property. The duration of its life is regulated by law and is usually specified in its charter; its rights and obligations are civil, not political.

Naturalized citizens are regularly granted the same status as native born citizens, but certain high offices may be withheld from them. Native born citizens only, for example, may aspire to the Presidency of the United States of America. No alien may claim naturalization as a right. It is a privilege which may be granted or refused to him by the land of his residence at its own discretion. As the allegiance of every person is owed to the land of his birth and parentage, he is responsible to it for obligations incurred up to the time of his naturalization, but there are exceptions to this and states usually regulate by treaty the relations which their naturalized citizens bear to the country of their former allegiance, if these should happen to travel or temporarily reside in their former domicile.

Inequality in Citizenship.-In democracies the theory is that all citizens are equal before the law, should equally enjoy the protection of the law, and should have the same rights and owe the same obligations. It must See the term nationals, page 47.

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