which they
are passed upon is still a gross blemish upon the constitutional system
of the United States, and one which is likely never to be removed until
the principle of judicial determination of electoral contests has been
adopted in this country as it has been in England. The truth of the
matter appears to be that the public paid no attention to the merits
of the bill. It was viewed simply as a continuation of the radical
reconstruction policy, the practical results of which had become
intolerable. However great the actual evils of the situation might be,
public opinion held that it would be wiser to leave them to be dealt
with by state authority than by such incompetent statesmanship as had
been common in Washington. Moreover, the man in the street resented the
indifference of politicians to all issues save those derived from the
Civil War.

Viscount Bryce in his "American Commonwealth," the most complete and
penetrating examination of American political conditions written during
this period, gives this account of the party situation:

"The great parties are the Republicans and the Democrats. What are their
principles, their distinctive tenets, their tendencies? Which of them is
for tariff reform, for the further extension of civil service reform, a
spirited foreign policy, for the regulation of railroads and telegraphs
by legislation, for changes in the currency, for any other of the twenty
issues which one hears discussed in this country as seriously involving
its welfare? This is what a European is always asking of intelligent
Republicans and intelligent Democrats. He is always asking because he
never gets an answer. The replies leave him deeper in perplexity. After
some months the truth begins to dawn upon him. Neither party has, as a
party, anything definite to say on these issues; neither party has any
clean-cut principles, any distinctive tenets. Both have traditions. Both
claim to have tendencies. Both certainly have war cries, organizations,
interests, enlisted in their support. But those interests are in
the main the interests of getting or keeping the patronage of the
government. Tenets and policies, points of political doctrine and points
of political practice have all but vanished. They have not been thrown
away, but have been stripped away by time and the progress of events,
fulfilling some policies, blotting out others. All has been lost, except
office or the hope of it."

That such a situation c