as his Secretary of State the man who passed the best examination in
diplomacy! So many other considerations affect the availability of
a man for such posts that the elected officials must be given a free
hand in their choice and held responsible therefore to the people.
These important appointees will be enough in the public eye to make
it usually expedient for the career of the appointers that they pick
reasonably honest and able men-especially if the recall (of which we
shall presently speak) is in operation.

(2) The short ballot. As our government has grown more and more
complex, the number of officials for whom the citizen must vote has
increased, with the result that he has to decide in many cases among
rival candidates about none of whom he knows anything definitely. For
four or five offices he can be fairly expected the merits of the
candidates in the field; but to investigate or remember the relative
merits and demerits of a score or more is more than the average voter
will do. So he may "scratch" his party's candidate for governor or
mayor, but usually votes the "straight ticket" for the minor officials.
This works too well into the hands of the political machines. The
obvious remedy is to give him only a few officers to vote for and to
require the remaining offices to be filled by appointment instead of
election.

By this method, not only is the voter saved from needless confusion
and enabled to concentrate his attention upon the few big offices,
but the responsibility for misgovernment is far more clearly fixed,
and the possibility of remedying it made much easier. If a dozen state
officials are elected, the average citizen is uncertain who is to blame
for inefficiency; each official shoves the responsibility on to the
others' shoulders, and it is not plain what can be done except to