100 Wisco7isin Academy of Sciences, Arts^ and Letters. 



For similar reasons, the method of providing com.pensation 

 in the form of fees, moieties and the lil^e, is injudicious, un- 

 just to those who bear the burdens of the government, and 

 demoralizing in its influence. 



YL A sixth and very important requisite is a change in 

 the method of electing persons to of^ice^ so as to diminish the 

 power of the caucus and guarantee the true sovereigyity of the 

 peo2:)le. 



It is manifest that he who owes his position, not to the peo- 

 ple who are theoretically his constituents, but to a small clique 

 of political wire-pullers, who have their own ends to accom- 

 plish, is in danger of holding himself, consciously or uncon- 

 sciously, amenable to them, first of all, and of neglecting his 

 duty to the people in the same proportion. The clique elected 

 him once, and they can do it again. Why then trouble him- 

 self too much about the will of the multitude, who can prac- 

 tically neither help nor hinder? 



As this is not a pure democracy, and cannot be, the system 

 of representation is unavoidable and must be used alike in 

 the making and in the execution of the laws. The question 

 is, therefore, not, how to do away with representaiion, but, how 

 to limit it and rid it of objectionable features, so as to give 

 practical effect to every individual elector's ballot, and, as a 

 consequence, to make every representative, in whatever capa- 

 city, directly responsible to his constituents. Every intelli- 

 gent citizen must see, on reflection, the vital importance of 

 this object, if we would save our republican system of gov- 

 ernment from passing irrecoverably into a practical and intol- 

 erable oligarchy of the majority, nay worse than this, a tyran- 

 nical and ruinous oligarchy of the caucus. 



This object can only be accomplished by the adoption of 

 some system of 2X7-sonal representatmi, to the maturing and in- 

 troduction of which the attention of thoughtful and patriotic 

 citizens throughout the country should be directed. A system 



