experts and skilled workers of all kinds, that there was no standard fixed for these men. Suppose that the politician says to a commission that he knows of a good accountant who is a good political worker it is true, but who has worked in an accounting office and hence had better be employed; it can readily be seen that the administration of these laws might be a farce and that the offices would be vacant after every political election. If the Wisconsin program is to be followed, it must be taken in its entirety or not at all. If power is granted at all, it must be given in liberal doses in order that there may be efficiency. Mark well every step in this matter. The commissions are so constituted and the terms of the members are so arranged that no two of them retire within the same year; they are thus protected from the desires of any one governor. They are restricted by carefully worked out methods of bookkeeping and publicity and are hedged about by strict civil service requirements and if positions of an expert nature are exempted, they are carefully selected and exemption is grudgingly granted by the legislature only on the grounds of great necessity and upon convincing evidence as to this necessity.
It may seem that this is a complicated and costly system of government, an undemocratic, bureaucratic government and as such criticisms are not without real value, the whole subject demands some frank discussion.
