As to those other devices of direct democracy, the initiative, referendum, and recall, Mr. Wilson admitted that there were some states where it was premature to discuss them, and added that in some states it might never be necessary to discuss them. The initiative and referendum, he approved as a sort of "gun behind the door," to be used rarely when representative institutions failed; and as to the recall he remarked, "I don't see how any man grounded in the traditions of American affairs can find any valid objection to the recall of administrative officers." The recall of judges, however, he opposed positively and without qualification, pointing out that the remedy for evils in the judicial system lay in methods of nomination and election.
Such was the economic and political philosophy of the new Democratic President inaugurated on March 4, 1913.
FOOTNOTES:
[84] Autobiography, p. 476.
[85] La Follette, Autobiography, pp. 516 ff.
[86] Autobiography, pp. 480 ff., 543 f., 551, 700, 740.
[87] See above, p. 314.
[88] La Follette, Autobiography, p. 616.
[89] Above, p. 288.
[90] A Tale of Two Conventions, p. 27.