It is expressing oneself very mildly to say that manhood suffrage produces inefficiency; rather one may say that inefficiency is of its very essence. Preparedness is a major essential of the management of our successful business enterprises, while unpreparedness is a characteristic feature of our government administration. To take a concrete and conceded instance. The Spanish war of 1898 found us totally unprepared for war; without guns, powder, artillery, transports or officers trained for high command. (Alger, _Spanish-American War_, p. 455.) Our troops in that war were not properly equipped, rationed or cared for. The cause, says Stickney, was “the wholesale fraud and corruption which then permeated the entire administrative force in Washington. That fraud and corruption still continue in full force.” In the _New York Sun_ of February 7th, 1920, the leading editorial was on American want of preparedness. The writer said, “We are a people who will not practice preparedness. We did not prepare for war, we did not prepare for peace. We have never prepared for anything. But sooner or later the man that will not prepare must be damned.” This well-recognized want of foresight in national matters is not an American failing; it is entirely due to the manhood suffrage habit of voting into responsible positions men of intrigue and oratory instead of men of business. Says Reemelin, “There is not a bank, a factory, a store or a farm, which if managed on the basis of American government would not impoverish its owner.” (_American Politics_, 1881, p. 324.)