method above indicated belongs to hypocrites, scheming political tricksters and knaves. Un less we are ready to admit that a representa tive form of government is a failure, and the political arena an unfit place for every patri otic citizen, then it is contended that the very place to accomplish the results which an honest reform contemplates is in those places where the effective weapons are to be found, viz., in the world of practical politics, at the polls, in the caucuses and the prima ries, in the partisan press, and on the stump. Make these places better by reason of your identification with them, and make the results better by reason of your honorable participa tion in the contests. The better element, by which is meant the more patriotic citi zens everywhere, is coming to recognize the importance of active, organized effort in the political arena. In this way it is possible to meet and defeat a common enemy of good government. It seems to be one of the most important and effective steps towards better municipal government. Every sincere attempt at honest reform has its useful office. For it provokes the very criticism out of which comes, or may come, an agitation which frequently culmi nates in the correction of abuses and the re dress of grievances. Agitation, but not annihilation, is the one sure rock on which is builded the perpetuity of worthy Ameri can institutions. The best governed city is that one which derives its power from the consent of the governed. This should be interpreted to mean that the best governed city is that one which is actually " governed " least, and in which the means of government are entrusted to its servants by the active participation of all its citizens, and especially of all of its good citizens. If this policy had been pur sued in the past there would have been small need for the cry for true reform in our large
cities. The difficulty has confronted us too often that those citizens best fitted for the duties of self-government have neglected and declined to take an active part in the affairs of the city, giving as a reason therefor that they regarded such participation as dishonorable and degrading. The writer has no sympathy with such an un-American and unworthy sentiment. The citizens who utter it are not entitled to the blessings of a free govern ment. They should go to " the man without a country." In a democracy, such views are wholly unwarranted and unjustifiable. If conditions are so bad, it is the duty of good citizens to make them better. This is the price of representative government. It must be clear to the reader by this time that the argument of this paper holds that the initiatory movement to advance the con dition of the affairs of government must come, primarily, from active participation in the field of practical politics. Every citizen should be a politician in the best sense. Our form of government demands this. It is the price of liberty. And liberty de mands of us vigilance, and vigilance implies activity, and activity contemplates and in cludes participation. A genuine reform move ment is emphatically and preeminently the cause of the masses, and its worth should be emphasized by doing something, and by doing that something promptly, energetically, efficiently. And there need be " no cessa tion of hostilities." There is always something to be done to improve the situation in public affairs and particularly in municipal affairs. The argument of this paper may be thus summarized : First : True reform in the public service is better government as the objective point. Second : All people desire to have good government. Third : Selfishness, in some of its many forms, begets bad government.
