however efficient, and such check must be found in the strengthening of
representative bodies. Mr. Graham Wallas declares that "the empirical
art of politics consists largely in the creation of opinion by the
deliberate exploitation of subconscious non-rational inferences,"[4] and
cites in support of this statement the atrocious posters and mendacious
appeals of an emotional kind addressed to the electors in recent
contests. It does not appear from electoral statistics that so large a
proportion of voters are influenced by such appeals as Mr. Wallas
thinks; his conclusions, like those of others, are based upon the false
impressions arising from false results. It is, however, sufficient for
the purpose of the political organizer to know that a number of the
electors will succumb to such influences. The votes of this small
section of the electorate can turn the scale at an election, and so long
as we adhere to a system under which the whole of the representation
allotted to any given constituency is awarded to the party which can
secure a bare majority of votes, we must expect to see a progressive
degradation of electoral contests. The successful organizer of victory
has already learnt that he must not be too squeamish in the methods by
which the victory is obtained, and if "the exploitation of subconscious
non-rational inferences" is necessary to this end he will undoubtedly
exploit them to the best of his powers.

_The final rally._

Mr. Wallas gives from his personal experience an admirable illustration
of the way in which elections are often lost and won. His vivid
description of the close of a poll in a County Council election in a
very poor district is in itself an emphatic condemnation of our
electoral system. "The voters," says he, "who came in were the results
of the 'final rally' of the canvassers on both sides. They entered the