Arizona republican., 1911-05-19

and there are no necessary Limitations | upon his exercise of his influence eX-
 cept the limitations of sincerity and honesty. The people are quick to con- i demn and are right in condemning any
 exercise on his part of improper influ- ence of any kind whether through ap- ! pointments to office or in any other way. But they desire and are quick to applaud every effort that he may make to act as their spokesman and repre- sentative and leader in the attempt to accomplish legislative reform and to push forward the slow business of progress.
 No doubt the present unusUa: prom thence and influence of our state and
 federal executives is due to an effort,
 perhaps unconscious, to give our sys-
 tenn of government that which it has lacked, namely, some central force,
 some process of suggestion anl leader
 ship which will offset the confusion
 and secrecy of our legislative methods.
 nasmuch as it is next to impossible to determine who is running the legisla
 ture from the inside. there is an in
 stinctive desire that there should be some force directing and leading it
 from the outside. some force which
 shall be obvious and therefore respon-
 sble, open to the view of every body
 and subject only to the rstraints of public opinion. Public opinion must by
 hook or crook get into the business. If
 it cannot get into it through committee
 rooms it may possibly get into it through executive leadership.
 LEGISLATURES HANDICAPPED.
 If such changes go to their natural
 length it is reasonable tO expect that legislatures will be less distrusted. The position of our state legislatures is in many instances a position that must be regarded as very mortifying They are forbidden in many of our states to meet more than once in two years and are forbidden when they meet to sit for more than sixty or,it may be, ninety days. The whole implication of such restriction is that the people regard the sessions of the legislature as a neces- sary evil. as something to be guarded against and limited and restrained as anything else dangerous and under suspicion would be restrained. No one who feels the full American pride in our institutions cah fail to deplore these evidences of distruSt.
 Every patriotic American must hope that the time will come and come very soon when the reasons for this kind of distrust and the reasons for taking as much power as possible out of the hands of our legislatures and providing for as much as possible by constitution i al provision shall have gone by. It will ! pass just as soon as our legislative { methods become open. and just so soon as the kind of leadership exercised in ! law making is responsible leadership, { just so soon as everyone knows who it is that is directing matters of this fun damental sort. just that soon will sus picion pass away and knowledge take . its place. and that knowledge will give , confidence and self-respect. Suspicion turks only when there is ignorance, only where it is difficult if not impos sible to find out what is really gO- ing no
 The increasing dependence of the upon its executive officers is thrusting upon them a double function. They must undertake the business of agitation. that is to say. the business of forming and leading opinion, and it will not be very effectual or servicCable for them to do that unless they take the next step and make bold to formulate the measures by which opinion is to be put into effect. What tha result of this Nill be upon our forms of governmental procedure we can only conjecture But )ne thing is plain, it puts a tremendous upon executives and at the same time brings them out into