corruption is so easy and efficiency so difficult to obtain, the burden
must rest upon every conscientious voter to play his part with
intelligence. He must study the situation, keep himself informed as
to candidates and issues, watch the conduct of officials, vote at
primaries and elections, however irksome and fruitless this effort
may seem. Above all, he must use independence of judgment, and not
let himself be duped by disingenuous appeals to "party loyalty"; where
blind party voting is prevalent there is little stimulus to party
managers to nominate able and honorable men or to promote needed
legislation. Public opinion must be kept aroused, the sense of
individual responsibility awakened, and political matters kept in the
glare of publicity. At election times whoever can spare the time
should, after learning the local situation, take some part in the
campaign, by public speaking, personal soliciting of is a shame that
the peaceable home-loving citizen should have to be dragged into this
business of politics, which ought to be
left to experts to manage; but at present there seems no help for it
in most communities.

(2) An important service lies in joining or forming local branches
of the leagues which now exist for the pushing of specific political
measures, for the investigation and publication of impartial records
of candidates, or for the investigation of the expenditures and results
of administrations. Under the first head we may classify, for example,
the National Short Ballot Organization; under the second head the Good
Government Association, that makes it its business to send to each
voter in a community a printed statement of the past history of each
candidate for office, including the record of his vote on important
matters; under the third head there are the Bureaus of Municipal
Research. The New York Bureau, incorporated in 1907, conducts a yearly