Those who urge the introduction of the initiative, the referendum and the recall base their argument on the ground that some of our legislators and elective officers are incompetent or dishonest, and that, therefore, the people should reserve the right to control their actions and remove them. But if our legislators or other elective officers are incompetent or dishonest--if they are not truly representative of the people who elect them--then obviously the fault lies with those who choose them, and the remedy is to take such measures as will ensure the election of competent, honest and representative men. If the people are now too busy to concern themselves with the selection of honest and capable representatives, is it reasonable to expect that they will concern themselves about the merits of hundreds of statutes which they do not half understand, or about the qualifications of the officers they have elected and would recall? The fault is not with our representative system of government, but either with the party organizations that often nominate incompetent or dishonest men, or with the voters who tolerate such nominations and elect such candidates. Our system of government, as every system of free government, is based on the assumption that the people will conscientiously exercise the elective franchise, and unless we can depend upon an honest, sober-minded and patriotic majority to exercise that franchise, our system of government must ultimately prove a complete failure. The conscientious exercise of the elective franchise is not merely a privilege--it is the highest duty of citizenship. With the great increase in population, political parties and party organizations undoubtedly have become a practical necessity, and leadership is equally necessary; but it has also become indispensable that these party organizations shall be conducted honestly so as to represent truly the wishes of their party constituents. The urgent duty of citizenship is to see to it that these party organizations are conducted honestly and in a representative manner; but this is not to be accomplished by disrupting or destroying the great parties. Instead of pulling down the temple, we should drive out the money-changers. Instead of killing we should cure. What we urgently need is legislation providing for fair and honest party primaries and facilitating independent candidacies, and then we should go farther and impose a penalty or tax upon all qualified citizens who fail to cast a ballot at the annual primaries and elections prescribed by law.