Although the principles of the short ballot have not been acknowledged in this state, the generally accepted principle has been that the legislature determines largely what is to be done and delegates the administration to some technical or scientific body. The appointive commission is an essential in the Wisconsin idea. As a rule these commissions are non-partisan or bi-partisan. They are appointed for long periods of time, receive good salaries and are given expert help. In very many cases, these commissions are permitted to fix the salaries of their employees thus further centralizing responsibility with these bodies. They are protected also—and this is a very important point—by continuing appropriations.
The commissions are seldom paid small salaries; they are either
- (1) well paid; or
- (2) not paid at all.
Well paid commissions, composed of men of talent and honorary or ex-officio commissions with expert help, have proven successful but when the compensation is small, the service is hampered by inefficient men. The writer well remembers one case in the legislature when a small group of men attempted to fix the salaries of a commission just low enough so that very good men could not be secured and yet just high enough to provide jobs which they themselves could afford to accept.
