CORRESPONDENCE 677 



and independent judgment, and members of this species when they are found do 

 not maintain their existence without a severe struggle. 



What is at the root of this canker in political life ? One of the causes, and not 

 the least important, is the method of electing members of the House of Commons. 

 In the narrow limits of the single-member constituency, entry to a parliamentary 

 career is only possible through one or other of the organised parties. To say this 

 is to say that the avenue to Parliament is closed to all who are not prepared to 

 wear the party yoke. Among this class are ranked practically all our men of 

 scientific distinction, the absence of whose voice from Parliament is the chief 

 reason for the national neglect of science which the nation through the catastrophe 

 of war has just begun to realise. 



To enter into a detailed examination of the effects of the single-member 

 constituency would carry me too far at this time. These effects are great and 

 reach deep. The system is a relic of the past, framed for conditions which have 

 long since disappeared. It is as unsuited and inadequate to the present needs of 

 politics as a surgeon's set of instruments of one hundred years ago would be 

 unsuited to the delicate operations of modern surgery. 



The path of advance lies in the extension of parliamentary constituencies until 

 they are of a size entitled to several representatives, and in the election of these 

 representatives by a scientific method of proportional representation. Advocates 

 of proportional representation do not offer it as a panacea for all political ills, but 

 it would certainly be a mitigation of the outstanding evils of party politics, and it 

 would provide an opportunity for the better qualities of human nature and the 

 higher ranges of human mind which the present system of election unfortunately 

 tends to exclude from national service. The method ensures also the more just 

 numerical representation of the different elements of popular opinion. But one of 

 its chief merits is the alteration both in personality and in mentality of our elected 

 rulers which it hopes to effect. 



The Proportional Representation Society exists for the purpose of effecting this 

 reform in our political life. A short pamphlet explaining its aims and proposals 

 will be sent to any one applying to the undersigned. 



Yours very faithfully, 



Alfred J. Gray, 



Secretary. 

 The Proportional Representation Society, 

 179, St. Stephen's House, 



Westminster Bridge, S.W. 



