Successfully  to  perform  this  function  requires  expert
knowledge,  judicious  temperament,  and  great  wis-
dom. None  of  these  qualities  are  apparent  in  bulk
in  any  State  Legislature.  The  class  of  men  who  pos-
sess expert  knowledge  in  framing  and  interpreting
laws  are  the  lawyers.  While  they  predominate  over
other  professions  in  the  legislatures,  such  lawyers  as
are  ordinarily  foimd  there  are  either  young  men  or
men  without  large  practice.  An  expert^greatly  needed
in  law-making  but  seldom  foimd  in  legislative  bodies
is  the  man  who  is  possessed  of  technical  information
concerning  the  conditions  that  bring  forth  the  law:
the  mining  engineer,  the  electrician,  the  shipmaster,
the  sociologist,  the  men  who  are  most  affected  by  the
contemplated  laws.^  Furthermore,  the  majority  of
members  are  without  previous  legislative  experience.
It  has  been  estimated  that  only  from  one-fourth  to
one-third  of  the  members  of  each  new  State  Legisla-
ture have  had  experience  in  legislative  work.*

This  ignorance  of  legislative  methods  often  renders
even  the  best-intentioned  and  best-principled  of  legis-

» Ibid.,  547.
^  In  the  Illinois  legislature  of  19 13  were  found  67  lawyers,  35  farm-
ers, 16  real-estate  men,  10  clerks,  13  merchants,  8  manufacturers,
5  bankers,  5  physicians,  3  editors,  3  insurance  men,  3  contractors,  3
newspaper  men,  3  publishers,  2  clergymen,  2  managers,  2  *'  teaming,"
2  salesmen,  and  one  from  each  of  the  following  vocations:  druggist,
printer,  barber,  writer,  painter,  solicitor,  teacher,  investments,  auc-
tioneer, paymaster,  dentist,  coal-miner,  optometrist,  hotel-keeper,
civil  engineer,  lumber  dealer,  iron  moulder,  foundryman,  building
materials,  yardmaster,  and  grain  inspector.  lUinois  Blue  Book,
191J-14,  p.  24.
» S.  P.  Orth,  op,  cU.
