men from public office, the reformers were, in a
sense, engaged in a negative work: that of "keeping the rascals out."
But there was a second and larger phase to their movement, one
constructive in character: that of getting skilled, loyal, and efficient
servants into the places of responsibility. Everywhere on land and sea,
in town and country, new burdens were laid upon public officers. They
were called upon to supervise the ships sailing to and from our ports;
to inspect the water and milk supplies of our cities; to construct and
operate great public works, such as the Panama and Erie canals; to
regulate the complicated rates of railway companies; to safeguard health
and safety in a thousand ways; to climb the mountains to fight forest
fires; and to descend into the deeps of the earth to combat the deadly
coal gases that assail the miners. In a word, those who labored to
master the secrets and the powers of nature were summoned to the aid of
the government: chemists, engineers, architects, nurses, surgeons,
foresters--the skilled in all the sciences, arts, and crafts.

Keeping rascals out was no task at all compared with the problem of
finding competent people for all the technical offices. "Now," said the
reformers, "we must make attractive careers in the government work for
the best American talent; we must train those applying for admission and
increase the skill of those already in positions of trust; we must see
to it that those entering at the bottom have a chance to rise to the
top; in short, we must work for a government as skilled and efficient as
it is strong, one commanding all the wisdom and talent of America that
public welfare requires."

=The Australian Ballot.=--A second line of attack on the political
machines was made in connection with the ballot. In the early days
elections were frequently held in the open air and the poll was taken by
a show of hands or by the enrollment of the voters under names of their
favorite candidates. When this ancient practice was abandoned in favor
of the printed ballot, there was still no secrecy about elections. Each
party prepared its own ballot, often of a distinctive color, containing
the names of its candidates. On election day, these papers were handed
out to the voters by party workers. Any one could tell from the color of
the ballot dropped into the box, or from some mark on the outside of the
folded ballot, just how each man voted. Those who bought votes were