The Sentinel=record., 1911-05-14

them with money for campaign pur- poses. They have formed very close alliances with certain great business llnterests-in some places with one set of interests, in other places with another set-but always with men who wished as a return for their con tributions, to be assured that noth inf would be done by legislatures and city councils, or executive officers, that was detrimental to their private interests, or obstructive of their pri- vate purposes.
 "The consequence has been that in the policies they pursued, in the measures they have enacted, in a great many of their official acts, our so-ealled public representative have been guided, not by opinion, not by careful analysis of the real general interest of the communities which they ought to have served, but by the suggestions. in many instances by the definite and imperative orders, of little coteries of men who were under heavy obligations in particular quarters.
 "The present popular feeling about our political methods, therefore. is based upon the conviction that the people do not really have a free selec- ton of those who are to represent them, and cannot control them after they are selected. Men shrug their shoulders at party platforms, having found that they are for use only to win elections, and that after the eco tons are won the promises contained in them are forgotten and left un fulfilled, only to be renewed and again broken at subsequent elections. Not little cynical feeling fas gone abroad among the great body of vot- CTS that perhaps there was but little, to be gained by going to the polls after all
 It has been felt in many instances it has been proved, that the persons who really controlled political action were more easily accessible to rep resentatives of special interests than to the people themselves; that that business-with capital B-exerciseS < Ia very much more effective control than did the voters. This has been the whole trouble-the feeling that there was 2 barrier between the voters and their own institutions. Some inter- mediate body of associated interests managed to have their own way whether the voters approved or not Most of the reforms proposed in re- cent months have, therefore, been aimed at cutting away these interme- diaries by giving the people direct ac- cess to the choice of their represen tatives. and public opinion direct ao cess to the processes of legis sation and of policy.
 Tt is interesting to note, among other things, how peculiar the idea has become of shortening the ballot that is, of reducing the number of persons who are to be voted for. It is evident upon the face of the thing that, if everybody who is put in of fee must be voted for, the list will be so long that the voter will be ab- solutely ignorant of the character or antecedents or abilities of two-thirds of the men he votes for; and this ignorance on his part is the opportu nity of the political machine. It can fill the ticket with unknown men who will be subservient tools, or at any rate no serious obstruction to the carrying out Of the policies which the machine desires. Whereas. if th1 ticket is reduced to a small number of names for few conspicuous of fees. t will be possible for every body to know whom he is voting for "hd to nave dn dCUudi Juu5luCHt III the matter. If the few persons voted for are held responsible for the ap- pointment of the rest and for the management of the government which they undertake, the people have a definite means of control. This small group of men can be watched, they can be judged, they can be assessed by what they do from day to day; and real responsibility will take the place of virutla irresponsibility. Where everybody is responsible, mo- body is responsible.
 This is undoubtedly the reasn why the commission form of government for cities has been spreading with such extraordinary rapidity from city to city throughout the country. Un- der this form of government the us- ual arrangement is to select board of not more than five persons. and | put the whole government of the city | in their hands, both the ordinance making power and the administrative
 or executive power; to give them ai-