erous
and dubious method of concentrating local governmental responsibility
and power. It might succeed, in case it were accompanied by the adoption
of some effective measures for improving the quality of the
representation--such, for instance, as the abandonment of all existing
traditions necessitating the residence of the representative in the
district he represents. This American political practice always has and
always will tend to give mediocrity to the American popular
representation, but it corresponds to one of the most fundamental of
American political prejudices, and for the present its abandonment is
out of the question. The work of improving the quality of the average
American representative from a small district appears to be hopeless,
because as a matter of fact such small districts and the work imposed on
their representatives can hardly prove tempting to able men; and unless
the American legislator is really capable of becoming exceptionally
representative, the fastening of exclusive responsibility upon the state
legislatures could hardly result in immediate success. Its intrinsic
merits might carry it to ultimate success, but not until it had
transformed many American political practices and traditions.

The truth is, that certain very deep and permanent causes underlie
American legislative degeneracy. When the American legislative system
was framed, a representative assembly possessed a much better chance
than it does now of becoming a really representative body. It
constituted at the time an effective vehicle for the formation and
expression of public opinion. Public questions had not received the
complete ventilation on the platform and in the press that they obtain
at the present time; and in the debate of a representative assembly the
chance existed of a really illuminating and formative conflict of
opinion. Representatives were often selected, who were capable of adding
something to the candid and serious consideration of a question of
public policy. The need helped to develop men capable of meeting it.
Now, however, American legislatures, with the partial exception of the
Federal Senate, have ceased to be deliberative bodies. Public questions
receive their effective discussion in the press and on the platform.
Public opinion is definitely formed before the meeting of the
legislature; and the latter has become simply a vehicle for realizing or
betraying the mandates of popular opinion. Its functio