William Simon U'Ren | |
|---|---|
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| Member of theOregon House of Representatives | |
| In office 1897–1898 | |
| Constituency | Clackamas County |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1859-01-10)January 10, 1859 |
| Died | March 8, 1949(1949-03-08) (aged 90) |
| Political party | Republican (until 1889) Populist (until 1898) Republican (after 1899) |
| Other political affiliations | Progressive |
| Occupation | Attorney, activist |
William Simon U'Ren (January 10, 1859 – March 8, 1949) was an American lawyer and political activist.[1][2] U'Ren promoted and helped pass a corrupt practices act, the presidential primary, and direct election of U.S. senators. As aprogressive, U'Ren championed theinitiative,referendum, andrecall systems. These measures were also designed to promote democracy and weaken the power of backstage elites. His reforms in Oregon were widely copied in other states. He supported numerous other reforms, such as theinteractive model ofproportional representation, which was not enacted. He had little success in battles for aGeorgist "Single Tax" on the unimprovedvalue of land.
William Simon U'Ren (accent the last syllable)[1]: 285 was born on January 10, 1859, inLancaster, Wisconsin,[3] the son of immigrants fromCornwall, England. Their surname was originally spelled Uren.[4] U'Ren's father, William Richard U'Ren was asocialist who worked as ablacksmith and emigrated to America owing to difficult economic conditions.[5]
In America, the elder U'Ren lived as a farmer in the Midwest, working also as a blacksmith when possible.[5] He also taught this trade to his son William.[5] The family was both politically radical — following the journalism ofHorace Greeley — but also devout albeit unconventional adherents of Christianity.[5]
At the age of 17 the younger U'Ren left home to make his way in the world, working as a miner in the state of Colorado.[6] U'Ren studied law and business in the evenings. He earned a law degree and was admitted to the Colorado state bar at the age of 21.[6]
U'Ren practiced law for a time in the Colorado towns ofAspen,Gunnison, andTincup.[6] He also became involved inRepublican Party politics and edited a newspaper for a time in Tincup.[6]
A long-time sufferer ofasthma, while in Colorado U'Ren contractedtuberculosis, and consequently moved toHawaii in search of a climate that would make possible his recovery from the frequently fatal illness.[6] It was inHonolulu that U'Ren was exposed to the economic work ofHenry George,Progress and Poverty, which was greatly influential upon his thought.[6]
In 1889, the 30-year-old U'Ren relocated to thePacific Northwest, working for a time as a ranch hand for his parents inEastern Oregon.[6] U'Ren then moved to the western part of the state, settling in the town ofMilwaukie, Oregon, just outsidePortland, where he established a law practice. There U'Ren became involved both in reform politics andspiritualism — a major intellectual fad of the era — and became involved with the prominent Luelling family, who were actively interested in both pursuits.[6]
In 1890, he campaigned vigorously for theAustralian Ballot, which won in 1891. It was while he was involved in this campaign that he attended aséance, and met Mrs. Laure Durkee.
In 1892 U'Ren suffered a severeasthma attack and gave up his law practice. Mrs. Durkee knew that the Lewellings, a local fruit growing family, had often offered lodging and care to hard luck cases, such as U'Ren was. His health was slowly restored at the Lewellings farm. Mr. and Mrs.Seth Lewelling were reformers (with one family member writing "good government being to us what religion is to most people").[7] U'ren was already a convert to progressive causes, especially theSingle Tax proposed byHenry George. Albert Lewelling gave him a copy of James W. Sullivan's bookDirect Legislation by the Citizenship Through the Initiative and Referendum (1892) and U'ren decided to invest his time and effort in the cause.[8]
He was a leader of thePeople's Power League after 1892. U'Ren brought together representatives of the stateFarmer's Alliance andlabor unions to form theDirect Legislation League, of which he was named secretary. He had an express goal of implementing the three legs of direct democracy –Initiative, referendum, andrecall. In 1894 U'Ren was elected chairman at thePopulist Party convention, and won approval of an Initiative & Referendum platform plank. In 1896 U'Ren won a seat in theOregon House of Representatives; however, in1897 the House failed to organize, only holding a shortspecial session in the fall of 1898. U'Ren worked the legislature during his term, without success, to gain approval for initiative and referendum. After his 1897 defeat, U'Ren reorganized the Oregon Direct Legislation League to broaden the base of initiative, referendum, and recall support. The new executive committee included bankers, the president of thestate bar association, andThe Oregonian editorHarvey W. Scott.
U'Ren and the Direct Legislation League won passage of aninitiative and referendum amendment in 1898. Under theconstitution of the time, amendments had to be approved by two successive sessions of the legislature. By 1902 the legislature had approved the amendment and voters had ratified it.
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U'Ren associated himself with many initiative efforts, including banning free railroad passes, establishing popular election ofU.S. Senators, and creating the firstpresidential primary in theUnited States. Two of the more significant early initiatives he sponsored were a 1906 constitutional amendment extending initiative and referendum powers to local jurisdictions, and a 1908 amendment that gave voters power to recall elected officials. In 1912, he proposed an amendment to theOregon Constitution to essentially weigh each legislator's vote on proposed bills according to the number of votes he received in the last election;[9] this measure failed by a large margin.[10]
In 1908 U'Ren led the successful effort to amend[11] theOregon state constitution to accommodate proportional representation that would provide voters with first, second and third choices on the ballot. He said, "Real representative government is impossible unless all political parties, minorities as well as majorities, are thus fairly represented in the legislature in proportion to the number of supporters that each has among the voters."[12]
U'Ren was a strong proponent of thesingle tax system advocated byHenry George, but was unsuccessful in getting it adopted in Oregon. After his defeat in a 1914 race for Governor on the single tax platform, he largely withdrew from active politics.[13] In the 1930s U'Ren denounced President Franklin Roosevelt and theNew Deal, warning against dictatorship and a federal government out of control.[14]
He died of pneumonia at age 90, in Portland, Oregon on March 8, 1949.[2]
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