oportion to their strength
secure the nomination and the election of a number of representatives to
the governing bodies of city, State, and nation," but that "a third
Labor Party is not for the present desirable, because it would not
obtain a majority and could not therefore force its will upon the
community at large." The European Socialists would perhaps not
understand the political principle of our governmental system, which
requires a plurality in the State or nation in order to obtain immediate
results. For in this country the more important branches of the
government are the executive and judges, and these, unlike the
legislatures, cannot as a rule be divided, and therefore give no
opportunity for the representation of minorities, and are necessarily
elected by State or national pluralities and usually by majorities. In
the monarchical countries of the Continent either such officials are not
elected, or their powers are circumscribed, and even England lies in
this respect halfway between those countries and the United States. What
Mr. Mitchell says is in so far true; it would certainly require a large
number of elections before a party beginning on the basis of a minority
of representatives in Congress or the legislatures could win enough
control over the executive and judges to "force its will upon the
community at large." Mr. Mitchell and the other leaders of the
Federation are, it is seen, unwilling to undertake a campaign so long
and arduous, and, since they have no means of attracting the votes of
any but wage-earning voters, so doubtful as to its outcome.

Mr. Mitchell says that the workingmen in a separate party could not
even secure a respectable minority of the legislators. The
numerical strength of the Unions in proportion to the _voting_
population is scarcely greater than it was when he wrote (1903),
and what he said then holds true as ever to-day.

Mr. Gompers has also stated that labor would not be able to secure
more than twenty-five or fifty Congressmen by independent political
action. This is undoubtedly true, and we may take it for granted,
therefore, that, unless the unions most unexpectedly increase their
strength, there will be no national or even State-wide Trade Union
or Labor Party in this country, though the San Francisco example of
a city Labor party may be repeated now and then, and State
organizations of the Socialist