20 



THE STATE REVIEW 



sociation, asking him to see that my mem- 

 bership is cancelled. If you will kindly 

 send me a bill for the numbers of The 

 State Review which I have received, I will 

 send you check for the amount. 

 "Yours very truly, 



"JESSE F. ORTON." 



Are We Reactionary? 



It is with some amusement that The State 

 Review finds itself classified as "reaction- 

 ary." The editor has always considered 

 himself very much in sympathy with prog- 

 ress of all kinds. He admits, however, that 

 he prefers to think before leaping, and this 

 rather cautious temperament of his led him 

 to accept Mr. Rose's offer of a series of 

 articles on the popular election of United 

 States Senators, giving the views of those 

 who are opposed to the change. The editor 

 wished to learn what are the arguments of 

 these conservatives, or "reactionaries," as 

 Mr. Orton probably prefers to call them, and 

 he believed that his readers, too, would be 

 interested in the presentation of a side ot 

 rhe question which now is receiving rather 

 scant attention. He will be very glad to 

 present the other side if someone as famil- 

 iar with the question as Mr. Rose will un- 

 dertake the task of explaining it. 



Mr. Rose's articles, one of which appears 

 in this number, have proven even more 

 interesting than was expected. Written in 

 the Senate's chamber itself, they give us 

 the attitude of that body as we could not 

 otherwise hope to get it except by wida 

 personal acquaintance among the members. 

 Some of these articles have been read and 

 approved by leaders of the Senate before 

 appearing in The State Review. They may 

 therefore be regarded as almost official in 

 character. Those of our readers who have 

 followed them closely know what the 

 U. S. Senate thinks of itself and know 

 why it believes that popular election would 

 not improve its character. 



For ourselves, we have not only been 

 studying these articles as they appeared, 

 but we have visited Washington, listened 

 to the Serators debate the railroad rate bill, 

 visited several cities where reformers have 

 secured the reins of power and endeavored 

 to learn from them their ideas as to what 

 is necessary to clean poltics and keep them 

 clean. At the same time we have diligently 

 read the papers. 



Popular Vote Right 



As a result we have come to the conclu- 

 sion that United States Senators should be 

 elected by direct vote of the people rather 

 than by state legislators. We admit the 

 force of many of Mr. Rose's arguments, 

 though we believe that his fear of giving 

 the people power is unfounded, and that his 

 plea for the "pledge" given when the con- 

 stitution was adopted is not sound. Even 

 the men who adopted the constitution never 

 imagined that it would endure unchanged 

 forever. In fact, they made provision for 

 changes. 



On the other hand, our conviction that 

 Senators should be elected by direct vote is 

 not due to any belief that the personnel of 

 the Senate will be much improved thereby. 



As Mr. Rose says, the average of the Sen- 

 ate, mentally and morally, is high consid- 

 erably higher than that of the House, which 

 is elected by popular vote. Moreover, the 

 Senate has shown by its action during the 

 session just closed that it is quite as re- 

 sponsive to serious demands from the 

 people as is the popularly elected House. 

 The Pure Food bill, the Meat Inspection bill, 

 the Railroad Rate bill went apparently from 

 (he camp of their friends to the camp of 

 their enemies when they traversed the cap- 

 itol to Speaker Cannon's stronghold. 



But all this being true, there remains ons 

 argument that, seems to us convincing. 

 Politics in America have become corrupt 

 because the vast majority of the citizens 

 lake only a superficial interest in them; a 

 strong minority take r.o interest at all. 

 Wtih no one troubling to dispute him, the 

 boss has entered in and taken possession of 

 our governments. local and state, and then, 

 because his purposes were purely selfish, he 

 has used those governments to further his 

 own personal interests. The easy, the ob- 

 vious way to do this was by forming an 

 alliance with the wealthy corporations 

 which desire privileges to which they have 

 no right, but for which they are willing to 

 pay handsomely. 



Our Diagnosis 



One of the chief reasons that the people 

 have tamely surrendered their birth right 

 is because our old system makes it prac- 

 tically impossible for anyone who can not 

 give much time and money to it to have 

 any voice in the framing of policies or the 

 selection of office-holders. A "packed" pri- 

 mary chose a "slate" of delegates to a con- 

 vention. The whole thing was in the hands 

 of a small ring. The ordinary citizens were 

 of value only as a chorus which approved 

 with more or less enthusiasm the acts of 

 their party leaders. Manifestly such a sys 

 tern as this did not call for the exercise of 

 any special qualities of citizenship. First 

 then it was necessary to get the control of 

 the primaries into the hands of the voters 

 so they should feel that there was some use 

 in their attending. But to leave the con- 

 vention system would have rendered the 

 first step of no value. People are so con- 

 stituted that they like to see direct results 

 from their personal action. They take no 

 interest in electing delegates who later are 

 to do as thy think best and possibly nom- 

 inate some one of whom the voter never 

 heard. The voter wishes to know who are 

 candidates for nomination and to have 

 something to say about nominating them. 

 Only on that condition will he be inter- 

 ested. And it is a matter of life and death 

 for republican institutions that he be inter- 

 ested. 



With the election of United States Sen- 

 ators as at present conducted another ele- 

 ment comes m. Not only does the indirect 

 method lessen the interest of the people in 

 the choice of one of the most important 

 officers of the Federal government, but it in 

 large measure destroys the usefulness of 

 important members of the state govern- 

 ment. Tlie iirst duty of a member of the 

 state legislature should be to legislate for 



his state. la Michigan at the present time 

 it is exceedingly important that our state 

 IcLinlatrrs be chosen wisrly. The measures 

 to be brought before them at Lansing next 

 winter demand the honest thought of the 

 best men we can induce to accept office. 

 But in some parts of the state, the home 

 towns and districts of candidates for the 

 Federal Senate, the probability is that mora 

 time will be spent in appeals on bthalf of 

 those candidates than in consideration of 

 the work of the legislature. It will be much 

 easier for a Grand Rapids or a Saginaw 

 man to ask the voters to support him be- 

 cause he will vote for their fellow towns- 

 man if he goes to Lansing, than it will be 

 for him to convince them that he knows 

 enough to draw up a good juvenile court bill 

 or to provide wisely for the constitutional 

 convention. And then when he gets down 

 ;o Lansing his fellow-townsman may have 

 withdrawn and he be left free to vote as h 

 thinks best or most profitable. And then, 

 having done a duty that should be no part 

 of his duty, he will devote the remainder of 

 his time to legislating on subjects whii-h 

 have occupied but little of his thoughts, 

 while ihe people at home disgustedly talk 

 about "barrels" and the expense of main- 

 raining a legislature that neither knows 

 nor attends to its business. 



The Bankers Convention 



The members from all parts of the state 

 with their wives arrived in the Valley City 

 Tuesday, June 20, and registered at the 

 Morton. The Hotel Ottawa at Ottawa Beach 

 had been secured for their habitation during 

 their stay and in a special train they were 

 carried there Tuesday evening. Then sup- 

 per was served and they were permitted to 

 enjoy the sea waves afterwards. Wednesday 

 there were business sessions and in the 

 evening there was a grand concert in the 

 parlors of the hotel with talent from Detroit, 

 Chicago and Grand Rapids providing the en- 

 tertainment 



Thursday came a ride down the Grand 

 river on one of the new steamers and this 

 picturesque trip was not the least pleasing 

 feature of the gathering. Arriving at Grand 

 Haven they were taken by special train to 

 the beach and after supper enjoyed a vaude- 

 ville entertainment which was full of good, 

 wholesome fun. 



Friday the company was carried back to 

 Grand Rapids for automobile trips about the 

 city, which wound up at the Lakeside club, 

 where luncheon was served. In the evening 

 came the closing business session, the elec- 

 tion of officers and choosing of the next 

 meeting place. 



There were about three hundred persons 

 who enjoyed the hospitality of Grand Rapids 

 and aside from the entertainment feature the 

 convention was made memorable by a num- 

 ber of addresses and papers on topics of 

 live interest from bankers not alone from 

 home and the state, but from other por- 

 tions of the country. 



The success of the gathering was largely 

 due to the untiring efforts of President Dud- 

 ley E. Waters and the bankers of Grand 

 Rapids who so ably assisted him. 



