Upon its roll we find the names of many of our
illustrious orators and jurists. After the Civil War, when the
spirit of commercialism invaded every activity, men who were
merely rich began to aspire to senatorial honors. The debauch of
the state legislatures which was revealed in the closing year of
the nineteenth century and the opening days of the twentieth so
revolted the people that the seventeenth constitutional amendment
was adopted (1913) providing for the election of senators by
direct vote.
The House of Representatives was designed to be the "popular
house." Its election from small districts, by direct vote, every
two years is a guarantee of its popular character. From this
characteristic it has never departed. It is the People's House.
It originates all revenue measures. On its floor, in the rough
and tumble of debate, partizan motives are rarely absent.
Upon this national tripod, the Presidency, the Senate, and the
House, is builded the vast national party machine. Every citizen
is familiar with the outer aspect of these great national parties
as they strive in placid times to create a real issue of the
tariff, or imperialism, or what not, so as to establish at least
an ostensible difference between them; or as they, in critical
times, make the party name synonymous with national security. The
high-sounding platforms, the frenzied orators, the parades, mass
meetings, special trains, pamphlets, books, editorials,
lithographs, posters--all these paraphernalia are conjured up in
the voter's mind when he reads the words Democratic and
Republican.
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