t--that of the whole--where not local purposes, not local
prejudices, ought to guide, but the general good, resulting from the
general reason of the whole. You choose a member, indeed, but when you
have chosen him he is not a member of Bristol, but he is a member of
Parliament." It must be confessed, however, that Burke's ideal is rather
exalted; it is the duty of a member to make known the requirements of
his district. It is the ministry which is specially charged with
looking after the interest of the whole and of resisting illegitimate
demands. But it cannot do so if its position is so insecure that it must
purchase the support of the "parish pump" politician.

The only way to nationalize politics is to ensure that every electorate
shall be contested on national issues by organized parties, and that
every locality shall be represented on both parties. The proposed system
will provide this remedy. In enlarged electorates each party will take
good care that its candidates are men of local influence in the most
important divisions of the electorate; therefore, sectional and local
interests will be represented, but they will be subordinated to the
interests of the whole electorate; and where there are a few large
divisions the interests of each will more nearly coincide with national
interests than where there are a large number of small divisions.
Besides, log-rolling will not be so easy between groups of
representatives as among single representatives.

+Incentive to Bribery and Corruption.+--We now come to a class of evils
which to a large extent result from the fact that a few votes in each
electorate decide whether a party gets all the representation or none at
all. Candidates are impelled, in order to gain support from every
faction, to acts degrading to themselves and destructive to the moral
tone of the people. Foremost among these evils is the great incentive to
bribery and corruption; it is manifested not only in direct expenditure
at the elections, but also in promises of patronage and class
advantages. Direct bribery is perhaps worst in America; Professor M.
Cook states, in a paper on "The Alarming Proportion of Venal Voters" in
the _Forum_ for September, 1892, that in twenty-one towns of Connecticut
16 per cent, of the voters are venal. As Professor Commons remarks:--"It
is plain that the bribable voters themselves are adequate to hold the
balance of power between the parties. The single-membered district,