540 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
are of necessity paralyzed and every privilege for which our forefathers struggled placed in jeopardy. The civic spirit of the state is very much alive, and is working as best it can against such tremendous odds to defeat a machine which has stood sponsor for so iniquitous a measure.
In Missouri another partisan statute stands in the way of healthy political activity. It was conceived in partisan spite and to promote partisan advantage, and those who have been intrusted with its enforcement have followed in the spirit of its conception. The prostitution of the offices to partisan ends is bad, is reprehensible ; but it is as nothing compared with the prostitution of the instruments which freemen use to express their opinions and wishes on public affairs.
In Wisconsin the movement for electoral reform has taken a somewhat different form. Governor-elect La Follette, through a splendid effort covering a period of at least four years, has awakened the voters of the state to the urgent necessity of a reform in the methods of nominations. In essence he advocates the nomination of all candidates by the Australian ballot at what would, to all intents and purposes, be a preliminary election. Mr. La Follette's suggestions are worthy of the closest study. His suggestions are in the right direction and indicate a tem- porary relief ; but eventually we must make the means of placing a candidate's name on the official ballot absolutely free, equal, and open. Nomination by petition, in short, is the most effective way to prevent the evils in nominations which have been so effectively portrayed and condemned by Mr. La Follette and the Republican party of the state which has embraced his views on the subject.
The machine has had a few more valuable privileges than that of controlling nominations and a straight column on the ballot. It will yield this advantage reluctantly and only after a prolonged struggle ; but freedom and equality of nomination and balloting must be secured if the full measure of democratic municipal government is to be attained.
One of the great obstacles standing in the way of that sepa- ration of the consideration of the municipal affairs from state
