The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-10-03

much for him to grapp1e with. When
the next step is taken and the man be-
comes a director in a corporation, we
find the universal complaint that
boards of directors confide too much
in their officers and managers The
grouping of many interests in one en-
hances the difficulty of a personal in
vestigation and acquaintance with de-
tail. This has been far more true in
the political field, where the individual
voter too seldom feels the vital i'm
portance of his duty as a citizen. If
it is a small matter where only a few
persons are concerned, they can be got
to meet and talk it over. When the
field has expanded, the average man
thinks that his vote and his opinion
cut little figure in the general mass,
and he passes the public question over
altogether.
The drift away from responsible
democratic government in this country
is coincident with the movement to-
ward GENERALIZATION. The best govern
ment in the history of the world was
the government of New England I'M
der the town meeting system. This
was largely because the unit in politics
namely, the town-was so small that
all the voters could come together in
a common assemblage to discuss their
to the local interest. Where the county
is the unit, and where the area of coun-
ties has expanded, as it has through
out the West, to almost the size of
a small state, this common assembling
of voters is impossible. Distances and
numbers are too great. The community
tenn, and every step in the process OF
representation is a weakening of In
terest, of influence and of response
bility. The delegate from a ward in a
city to the general city convention is
only one of a large number, and the
interests behind him cut little figure
The delegates from that convention
to the county convention are
one degree further removed from
the people From the county to the
state convention is another step. When
you get to the state convention or the
state legislature, numbering several
hundred people and representing sew
eral million voters, perhaps, you have
come to a body of men whose constit-
uency is so large and so far away that
it cannot be consulted easily, and that
it's wishes need not be deferred to.
The progress toward Capitalization
is a progress away from true democ-
racy The more closely you hold the in
dividual voter to his duty, the larger
the share of political work that you
impose upon him and oblige him to
perform, the keener will be his inter-
est, the greater his responsibility, the
more perfect his performance. Not
merely because there is danger in the
building up of a great central author
ity, but because, under such a system,
the will of the people cannot find true
expression, and they grow more and
more Indifferent, and confide more and
more their political duty to the
hands of a class of men who make pol
itics business, and not wholly repu-
table profession, does Capitalization
carry US away from a government of,
by and for the people. The line of re-
form and of return to real democracy
lies in combining the work of legisla-
tive bodies within the closest limits to
questions affecting the general well
fare, and to throwing back upon the
people, in their original political ca
pacity, and over smaller and smaller
circles, the work of governing. Only
thus can we counterfeit the tendencies
in modern politics which are so palpa-
bly, dangerous, and only thus can we
ever realize that system of self gov
eminent which was the ideal and the
passionate aspiration of the founders
of this republic.