30 4 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



his favour. And behind it all is the long-prepared power of 

 the local political organisations. 



As to the press, each paper does little more than voice the 

 official programme of the party to which it belongs, and a 

 candidate with exceptional views is almost excluded from pre- 

 senting them by this channel. As most people read only those 

 papers which belong to the party which they favour, the 

 influence of the press for forming sound opinion in Britain is 

 very small ; and indeed elections are usually won simply by 

 the side which can bring the largest number of bigots to the 

 poll — that is, by the less intelligent side. In other words the 

 wrong party will be generally in power. 



There are, of course, times when the voters kick over the 

 traces of the political organisations, but this is probably seldom. 

 Observation of the long series of general elections suggests that 

 parties go in or out of power simply in consequence of " the 

 swing of the pendulum " — that is, a change is made when the 

 mass of indifferent but humorous voters say, " The reds have 

 been in long enough, let the blues have a chance." How little 

 intelligence lies behind British elections may be judged from 

 the fact that neighbouring constituencies possessing precisely 

 similar populations and interests frequently take opposite 

 political sides for generations, being well known as " safe 

 seats." 



Who then are the persons who form the " political organisa- 

 tions " ? Probably not one elector in a hundred knows the 

 name of one of them ; and the world knows them still less. 

 Are they men of achievement, or of experience in administra- 

 tion, or of specially trained judgment ? Well, they dwell in 

 darkness, and appear to be chiefly local adventurers who find 

 a profit in what they do, or gentlemen who buy titles by sub- 

 scribing to party funds. What authority and sanction by 

 law do they possess ? None at all ; they are simply private 

 persons who have the impudence to band themselves together 

 for the purpose of imposing upon the " free and independent 

 electors " of Great Britain the men who shall represent them 

 in Parliament and govern the empire. They are middlemen 

 who have secretly taken democracy by the throat. They are 

 parasites of the Constitution. We are really not governed by 

 democracy at all, but by a kind of Tammany Hall. 



What chance has the man of exceptional intellect to enter 



