extravagance of the system now and traditionally in use with us. To get
into public life a man must not only be in sympathy with the majority of
the citizens of the locality in which he lives, but he must continue to
be in sympathy with that majority; or, at any election, like Mr. Cannon
in the election just held, where for any passing cause a majority of his
neighbors in the locality in which he lives may fail to support him, he
must go into retirement. I cannot here enlarge on this topic, vital as I
see it; I have neither space nor time, and must, therefore, needs
content myself with the "hints" of Paracelsus. I will merely say that as
an outcome this localized majority system practically disfranchises the
more intelligent and the more disinterested, the more individual and
independent of every constituency. It reduces their influence, and
negatives their action. It operates in like fashion everywhere. My
field of observation has been at home, here in America; but it has been
the same in France. For instance, while preparing this address I came
across the following in that most respectable sheet, the London
_Athenaum_. A very competent Frenchman was there criticising a recent
book entitled "Idealism in France." Reference was by him made to what,
in France, is known as the "_scrutin d'arrondissement,"_ or, in other
words, the district representative system. The critic declares that this
system has there "created a party machine which has brought the country
under the sway of a sort of Radical-Socialist Tammany, and bound
together the voter and the deputy by a tie of mutual corruption, the
candidate promising Government favors to the elector in return for his
vote, and the elector supporting the candidate who promises most. Hence
a policy in which ideas and ideals are forgotten for personal and local
interests, as each candidate strives to outbid his rivals in the bribes
that he offers to his constituents. Hence, finally, a general lowering
in the tone of French home politics, every question being made
subservient by the deputies to that of their reelection."