tives, one after another.

The bulky constitutions now adopted by most of the States are
eloquent testimony to the complete collapse of the legislature as an
administrative body and to the people's general distrust of their chosen
representatives. The initiative, referendum, recall, and the withholding
of important subjects from the legislature's power, are among the
devices intended to free the people from the machinations of their
wilful representatives.

Now, most of the evils which these heroic measures have sought to
remedy can be traced directly to the partizan ownership of the state
legislature. The boss controlling the members of the legislature could
not only dole out his favors to the privilege seekers; he could assuage
the greed of the municipal ring; and could, to a lesser degree, command
federal patronage by an entente cordiale with congressmen and senators;
and through his power in presidential conventions and elections he had a
direct connection with the presidential office itself.

It was in the days before the legislature was prohibited from granting,
by special act, franchises and charters, when banks, turnpike companies,
railroads, and all sorts of corporations came asking for charters,
that the figure of the lobbyist first appeared. He acted as a middleman
between the seeker and the giver. The preeminent figure of this type in
state and legislative politics for several decades preceding the Civil
War was Thurlow Weed of New York. As an influencer of legislatures,
he stands easily first in ability and achievement. His great personal
attractions won him willing followers whom he knew how to use. He was
party manager, as well as lobbyist and boss in a real sense long before
that term was coined. His capacity for politics amounted to genius. He
never sought office; and his memory has been left singularly free
from taint. He became the editor of the Albany Journal and made it the
leading Whig "up-state" paper. His friend Seward, whom he had lifted
into the Governor's chair, passed on to the United States Senate; and
when Horace Greeley with the New York Tribune joined their forces, this
potent triumvirate ruled the Empire State. Greeley was its spokesman,
Seward its leader, but Weed was its designer. From his room No. 11
in the old Astor House, he beckoned to forces that made or unmade
presidents, governors, ambassadors, congressmen, judges, and
legislators.

With the tremendous increase of business a