[117]



ACnON FOR SOCIAL WELFARE

ally, objection was to the form of law proposed.
Most members wished to keep party organiza-
tion intact and asked to have a ballot of such a
form that it would enable the ignorant man to
vote a straight party ticket, and that would
encourage, so far as possible, the voting of
straight tickets instead of encouraging inde-
pendence. By thus providing for party regu-
larity, through amendments to the reformers'
bills, they in many instances succeeded in
defeating in part the real purpose of the
legislation, although they did not dare directly
to throw out the bills. In other instances
the managers of the political parties that
had depended the most upon corruption for
carrying elections and that had the largest
campaign funds to use for those purposes were
opposed to any reform measure. Not daring,
however, to oppose the reform directly, they
added amendments which would still enable
them to use money corruptly. We need to
bear in mind that the members of legislatures
are not merely human beings but human be-
ings with very strong interests, sometimes with

[118]



LIMTTATIOXS OX LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY

strong prejudices, and that in consequence we
shall find that strict limitations will be often
placed by the l^islators upon measures in-
tended to reform society.
In the study of individual legislatures or of
the individual members of various legislatures,
we should recognize that bills suitable for one
state might be entirely unsuitable for another.
