William Simon U'Ren (January 10, 1859 – March 8, 1949) was an American lawyer and political activist. U'Ren promoted and helped pass a corrupt practices act, the presidential primary, and direct election of U.S. senators. As a progressive, U'Ren championed the initiative,

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

, and recall 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 the

interactive Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...

model of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

, which was not enacted. He had little success in battles for a Georgist " Single Tax" on the unimproved value of land.

Early life

William Simon U'Ren (accent the last syllable) was born on January 10, 1859, in Lancaster, Wisconsin, the son of immigrants from

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England. Their surname was originally spelled Uren. U'Ren's father, William Richard U'Ren was a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

who worked as a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

and emigrated to America owing to difficult economic conditions.Robert D. Johnston, ''The Radical Middle Class: Populist Democracy and the Question of Capitalism in Progressive Era Portland, Oregon''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003, p. 128. In America, the elder U'Ren lived as a farmer in the Midwest, working also as a blacksmith when possible. He also taught this trade to his son William. The family was both politically radical — following the journalism of

Horace Greeley Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and newspaper editor, editor of the ''New-York Tribune''. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congres ...

— but also devout albeit unconventional adherents of Christianity. 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.Johnston, ''The Radical Middle Class,'' pg. 129. 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. U'Ren practiced law for a time in the Colorado towns of

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

, Gunnison, and Tincup. He also became involved in Republican Party politics and edited a newspaper for a time in Tincup. A long-time sufferer of

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

, while in Colorado U'Ren contracted

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, and consequently moved to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

in search of a climate that would make possible his recovery from the frequently fatal illness. It was in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

that U'Ren was exposed to the economic work of Henry George, ''

Progress and Poverty ''Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth: The Remedy'' is an 1879 book by social theorist and economist Henry George. It is a treatise on the questions of why pov ...

,'' which was greatly influential upon his thought. In 1889, the 30-year-old U'Ren relocated to the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

, working for a time as a ranch hand for his parents in Eastern Oregon. U'Ren then moved to the western part of the state, settling in the town of Milwaukie, Oregon, just outside Portland, where he established a law practice. There U'Ren became involved both in reform politics and spiritualism — a major intellectual fad of the era — and became involved with the prominent Luelling family, who were actively interested in both pursuits. In 1890, he campaigned vigorously for the Australian Ballot, which won in 1891. It was while he was involved in this campaign that he attended a séance, and met Mrs. Laure Durkee.

Single Tax

In 1892 U'Ren suffered a severe

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"). U'ren was already a convert to progressive causes, especially the Single Tax proposed by Henry George. Albert Lewelling gave him a copy of James W. Sullivan's book ''Direct Legislation by the Citizenship Through the Initiative and Referendum'' (1892) and U'ren decided to invest his time and effort in the cause.

Direct Legislation League

He was a leader of the People's Power League after 1892. U'Ren brought together representatives of the state Farmer's Alliance and

labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s to form the Direct Legislation League, of which he was named secretary. He had an express goal of implementing the three legs of direct democracy – Initiative, referendum, and recall. In 1894 U'Ren was elected chairman at the Populist Party convention, and won approval of an Initiative & Referendum platform plank. In 1896 U'Ren won a seat in the

Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, the upper house being the Oregon State Senate. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of ...

; however, in 1897 the House failed to organize, only holding a short special 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 the state bar association, and '' The Oregonian'' editor Harvey W. Scott. U'Ren and the Direct Legislation League won passage of an initiative and referendum amendment in 1898. Under the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

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.

Other initiatives

U'Ren associated himself with many initiative efforts, including banning free railroad passes, establishing popular election of U.S. Senators, and creating the first presidential primary in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. 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 the

Oregon Constitution The Oregon Constitution is the governing document of the U.S. state of Oregon, originally enacted in 1857. As amended the current state constitution contains eighteen sections, beginning with a bill of rights.

to essentially weigh each legislator's vote on proposed bills according to the number of votes he received in the last election; this measure failed by a large margin. In 1908 U'Ren led the successful effort to amend the Oregon 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." U'Ren was a strong proponent of the single tax system advocated by Henry 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. In the 1930s U'Ren denounced President Franklin Roosevelt and the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

, warning against dictatorship and a federal government out of control.Etulain, 2022. He died of pneumonia at age 90, in Portland, Oregon on March 8, 1949.

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