e? There can be no efficiency without
responsibility. There can be no responsibility without authority. The
authority and responsibility residing ultimately in the people must be
delegated; and it must not be emasculated in the process of delegation.
If it is abused, the people should at all events be able to fix the
offense and to punish the offender. At present our administration is
organized chiefly upon the principle that the executive shall not be
permitted to do much good for fear that he will do harm. It ought to be
organized on the principle that he shall have full power to do either
well or ill, but that if he does do ill, he will have no defense against
punishment. The principle is the same as it is in the case of
legislative responsibility. If under those conditions the voters should
persist in electing incompetent or corrupt executives, they would
deserve the sort of government they would get and would probably in the
end be deprived of their vote.

A system of local government, designed for concentrating power and
responsibility, might, consequently, be shaped along the following
general lines. Its core would be a chief executive, elected for a
comparatively long term, and subject to recall under certain defined
conditions. He would be surrounded by an executive council, similar to
the President's Cabinet, appointed by himself and consisting of a
Controller, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Commissioner of Public
Works, and the like. So far his position would not differ radically from
that of the President of the United States, except that he would be
subject to recall. But he would have the additional power of introducing
legislation into a legislative council and, in case his proposed
legislation were rejected or amended in an inacceptable manner, of
appealing to the electorate. The legislative council would be elected
from large districts and, if possible, by some cumulative system of
voting. They, also, might be subject to recall. They would have the
power, dependent on the governor's veto, of authorizing the
appropriation of public money and, also, of passing on certain minor
classes of legislation--closely associated with administrative
functions. But in relation to all legislation of substantial importance
express popular approval would be necessary. The chief executive should
possess the power of removing any administrative official in the employ
of the state and of appointing a successor. He w