ould actually exist in the face of public
disapproval is a demonstration of the defects of Congress as an organ of
national representation. Normally, a representative assembly is a school
of statesmanship which is drawn upon for filling the great posts of
administration. Not only is this the case under the parliamentary system
in vogue in England, but it is equally the case in Switzerland whose
constitution agrees with that of the United States in forbidding members
of Congress to hold executive office. But somehow the American Congress
fails to produce capable statesmen. It attracts politicians who display
affability, shrewdness, dexterity, and eloquence, but who are lacking in
discernment of public needs and in ability to provide for them, so
that power and opportunity are often associated with gross political
incompetency.* The solutions of the great political problems of the
United States are accomplished by transferring to Washington men like
Hayes and Cleveland whose political experience has been gained in other
fields.

* Of this regrettable fact the whole history of emancipation is a
monument. The contrast between the social consequences of emancipation
in the West Indies, as guided by British statesmanship, under conditions
of meager industrial opportunity, and the social consequences of
emancipation in the United States, affords an instructive example of
the complicated evils which a nation may experience through the sheer
incapacity of its government.

The system of congressional government was subjected to some scrutiny in
1880-81 through the efforts of Senator George H. Pendleton of Ohio, an
old statesman who had returned to public life after long absence. He had
been prominent in the Democratic party before the war and in 1864 he
was the party candidate for Vice-President. In 1868 he was the leading
candidate for the presidential nomination on a number of ballots, but
he was defeated. In 1869 he was a candidate for Governor of Ohio but
was defeated; he then retired from public life until 1879 when he
was elected to the United States Senate. As a member of that body, he
devoted himself to the betterment of political conditions. His efforts
in this direction were facilitated not only by his wide political
experience but also by the tact and urbanity of his manners, which had
gained for him in Ohio politics the nickname of "Gentleman George."

In agreement with opinions long previously expressed i