Page:The Wisconsin idea (IA cu31924032449252).pdf/246

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THE WISCONSIN IDEA

alone. They must hold the balance, for they have the brains of the land and pay well for them.

Is it any wonder that many good people throw up their hands with joy and say "Thank God the legislature is over"? Is it a thing to be joked about? Our papers make fun of the legislature and its "freak" legislation but it is a most significant state of affairs when a people lose confidence in its governing body.

The revelations of graft and corruption of the last few years should convince us all that we must seek a positive remedy of a more fundamental kind than has yet been proposed. If these are the conditions under which our legislative opinion is formed, is it strange that the will of the people is constantly defeated? Is it any wonder that our laws are poor? Is it any wonder that the clamor of public opinion is not heard within our legislative halls, and that the making of needed laws goes on so slowly? What is the remedy for all this? We look about us and on the whole find our judiciary composed of able men. Our administrative bodies have not yet reached so high a standard but we are every day developing administrative bodies which are becoming more and more fit to take charge of the business of the state but how about the legislature? Does it not seem reasonable that the law which is the expression of the will of the people and upon which good administration is founded, should be scientific—should be based