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CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

161

VOTE ON CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS, 1875-1934

Year		....	....	....	....	Total
Voted	Subject of Amendment	For	Ag'st	Rec'nt	Rec'nt	No. of
On		....	....	For	Ag'st	Voters
1882	1. Woman suffrage	25,756	50,693	....	....	89,068
1884	1. Legislators, term of office to be two years,	....	....	....	....	....
	salary $300, sessions not less than sixty	....	....	....	....	....
	days	51,959	17,766	....	....	....
	2. Board of railway commissioners, term of	....	....	....	....	....
	office to be two years and to reside at	....	....	....	....	....
	seat of government	22.297	44,448	....	....	135,555
1886	1. Legislators, term of office to be two years,	....	....	....	....	....
	salary $5 per day (instead of $3 as	....	....	....	....	....
	hitherto) while in session; session to be	....	....	....	....	....
	not more than sixty days at one time	....	....	....	....	....
	limit 100 days	65,712	22,236	72,497	22,135¹	138,238
1890	1. Prohibition of liquor traffic	82,292	111,729	....	....	....
	2. Licensing of liquor traffic	75,462	91,084	....	....	....
	3. Increase of supreme court to five judges,	....	....	....	....	....
	term of office five years	86,418	53,022	....	....	....
	4. Increase salary of supreme court from	....	....	....	....	....
	$2,500 to $3,500; of district court from	....	....	....	....	....
	$2,500 to $3,000	69,192	61,519	....	....	214,861
1892	1. Creates board of railway commissioners,	....	....	....	....	....
	term of office three years	80,032	14,185	80,569²	....	....
	2. Investment of the permanent educational	....	....	....	....	....
	funds	84,426	11,258	89,050	....	197,474
1896	1. Increase supreme court to five judges;	....	....	....	....	....
	term of office five years	84,579	37,896	97,644	37,029³	....
	2. Compensation of supreme and district	....	....	....	....	....
	court judges to be established by legis-	....	....	....	....	....
	lature and not to be changed oftener	....	....	....	....	....
	than once in four years	61,119	48,533	....	....	....
	3. Compensation of executive state officers	....	....	....	....	....
	to be established by the legislature and	....	....	....	....	....
	not to be changed oftener than once in	....	....	....	....	....
	four years	59,496	47,611	....	....	....
	4. Judicial power to be vested in supreme	....	....	....	....	....
	court, district courts, county courts,	....	....	....	....	....
	justices of the peace, police magistrates	....	....	....	....	....
	and in such other courts inferior to	....	....	....	....	....
	supreme court as may be created by law	60,094	45,377	....	....	....
	5. Legislature may increase number of judges	....	....	....	....	....
	in supreme court and district courts and	....	....	....	....	....
	judicial districts of state, but not oftener	....	....	....	....	....
	than once in four years	59,343	46,576	....	....	....
	6. Legislature may provide that in civil	....	....	....	....	....
	actions five-sixths of the jury may render	....	....	....	....	....
	verdict, may also authorize trial by jury	....	....	....	....	....
	of less than twelve in courts inferior to	....	....	....	....	....
	the district court	73,573	39,006	....	....	....

¹ 27,778 ballots were cast on which the electors expressed no choice as to such amendment. 16,013 ballots were cast on which were printed "For proposed amendments to constitution relating to the legislative department" and "Against proposed amendment to the constitution relating to the legislative department" and neither proposition erased. (Neb. House Journal, 1887, p. 1003.)
² Total votes cast at election of 1892	209,593
Recount for members of legislature	197,510
Difference between vote cast for head of ticket and members of legislature	12,083
Recount on railroad amendment	80,569
Secretary of state's report	80.032
Gain on railway amendment .	533
Recount on school funds amendment	89,050
Secretary of state's report	84,426
Gain on school funds amendment	4,624
Leaving school foods amendment short of a majority	9,706
Leaving railroad amendment short of a majority .	18,190
(Neb. Senate Journal, 1897, p. 850.)
³ Neb. House Journal, 1897, p. 1055.

162

NEBRASKA BLUE BOOK, 1936

VOTE ON CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS, 1875-1934--(Concluded)

Year				Total
Voted	Subject of Amendment	For	Ag'st	No. of
On				Voters
	7. Number of executive state officers, including railway
	commissioners, and their term of office	67,045	40,597
	8. Manner of increasing number of state officers .	60,246	44,063
	9. Educational funds and their investment	78,447	36,619
	10. Questions of merging government of any city of metro-
	politan class and government of county in which city
	is located to be submitted to voters	56,960	47,634
	11. Votes to be by ballot or by such other method as may
	be provided by law	62,303	44.370
	12. Donations to works of internal improvement and
	manufactures--question most be submitted to qualified
	electors and be ratified by o two-thirds vote	60,479	45,669	217,763
1904⁴	1. Revising, amending and changing constitution	32,820	23,497	232,457
1906⁵	1. Railway commission, prescribing duties, terms of office
	six years	147,472	8,896	194,692
1908	1. Supreme Court change in number of judges, how
	elected, term of six years and increase in salary .	214,218	16,271
	2. Educational foods called trust funds held by state;
	how invested	213,000	14,395	271,491
1910	1. Electors most be full citizens of United States, 21
	years old and resident of state six months next pre-
	ceding the election in precinct or ward⁶	100,450	74,878	243,390
1912	1. Initiative and referendum	119,200	15,515
	2. Term of office and salary of legislators	173,225	26,335
	3. Creating a board of commissioners of state institutions.	174,939	25,439
	4. Biennial elections	174,151	25,048
	5. Home role charters for cities of more than 5,000
	inhabitants	164,579	32,041	259,124
1914	1. Uniform and progressive taxation	88,068	82,136
	2. Five-sixths jury	102,891	63,596
	3. Salaries executive state officers	89,385	76,013
	4. Woman suffrage⁷	90,738	100,842	240,941
1916	1. Prohibition ⁷	146,574	117,532	302,685
	2. Pure food department ⁷	91,215	105,993
1918	1. Limiting suffrage to full citizens	123,292	51,600
	2. For calling constitutional convention	121,830	44,491	225,717
1924	1. Direct primary and non-partisan elections ⁷	163,932	228,485	471,600
1928	1. Control of schools for blind and deaf⁸	240,995	185,410	554,762
1930	1. Liability of stockholders in failed banks	182,536	92,593
	2. Increasing state debt limitation	120,554	144,882	451,904
1934	1. Repeal of prohibition	328,074	218,107
	2. Unicameral legislature ⁹	286,086	193,152
	3. Pari-mutuel betting⁹	251,111	187,455	578,764

⁴ Prioe to this election rhe total was calculated from the total vote for governor.
⁵ 1906. First election under provision permitting state conventions to adopt proposed amendments and all "parry circle ballots" to be counted therefor. Both republican and democratic parties adopted amendment.
⁶ Republican party adopted amendment at primary and democratic party rejected.
⁷ Submitted by popular initiative.
⁸Election declared void by supreme court.
⁹ Submitted by popoar (sic) initiative.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

163

COST OF ADVERTISING CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS AND OTHER INITIATED AND REFEREED MEASURES

	Amendments and Questions Submitted				Initiative and Referendum
		By Con-		Legis-	Paid	Paid by
	By	stitu-		lative	by	Advocates	Total	Total
	Legis-	tional	Initia-		state	and
	lature	Con-	tive			Opponents
		vention
1882	1			$ 2,207.00				$ 2,207.00
1884	2			6,814,40				6,814.40
1886	1			3,971.00				3,971.00
1890	4			11,737.50				11,737.50
1892	2			10,500.00				10,500.00
1896	12			25,249.99				25,249.99
1904	1			6,300.00				6,300.00
1906	1			4,721.00				4,721.00
1908	2			13,419.01				13,419.01
1910	1			5,670.00				5,670.00
1912	5	.	.	50,231.98				50,231.99
1914	3		1	17,315.50	$4,991.90	$2,812.50	$7,704.49	25,019.99
1916	2				2,713.99	1,590.40	4,303,39	4,303.39
1918	1			4,802.00				4,802.00
1920		41
1924			1		6,663.62	159.38	6,823.00	6,823.00
1928	1			595.16				595.16
1930	2			27,883.68¹				27,883.68¹
1932			1	9,401.48¹				9,401.48¹
1934			2		20,503.72¹			20,503.72¹

¹ Includes initiated and referred measures.

COST OF CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS

Year	Cost
1864¹	$ 3000.00
1866²	Cost included in legislative expenses
1871	24,326.22
1875	15,000.00
1920	116,000.00
Total	$158,326.22

¹Delegates to the constitutional convention of 1864 met at Omaha and immediately adjourned without drafting a constitution.
²The constitution of 1866 was drafted by the legislature, submitted to the people and adopted by them.

INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM
Vote on questions referred to the people by initiative and referendum petitions

Year Voted on	Subject of Low	For	Against	Total
1914	1. Employers' liability	92,513	85,777	178,290
	2. Nebraska City armory	40,520	133,457	173,977
	3. University removals¹	66,883	148,110	214,933
1920	1. Partial repeal of primary	49,410	133,115	214,525
1922	1. Bank charters	172,675	149,240	321,915
	2. Anti-picketing	186,101	140,419	326,520
	3. Partial repeal of primary	95,494	208,261	303,755
	4. Registration of voters	106,314	195,066	301,380
1930	1. Authorizing cities and villages and
	public electric light and power districts
	to extend their lines¹	144,595	157,107	445,490
	2. Gives cities and towns owning electric
	light plants power to extend their lines¹	204,579	89,205	445,490
	3. Prohibits sale of municipally owned
	plants except for cash, etc.¹	110,617	162,050	445,490
1932	1. State police ¹	203,593	306,602	569,365

¹Proposed by popular initiative.