The effectiveness of the commission form of government for cities to oust extra-legal government requires the election of each commissioner from a wieldy district, i.e., one not so large but that the candidate who is willing to run may be known with a fair degree of ease by the electorate and be able with the least expense to make a personal canvass.[11] The supposed advantage of electing commissioners at large from an unwieldy district is that this method insures the candidacy and election of men prominent in the entire district and hence more fit to hold office. But this is precisely what it does not do. It is true such a plan _demands_ candidates with a wide general reputation in the whole district. But such candidates do not come forward simply because the method of election suggests that such candidates should appear. Men with wide reputations in a large district are almost certain to be occupying offices of greater importance in the state and federal governments, or else they are not available at all for the holding of public office. The leading citizen will not as a rule be a candidate for a position in the municipal government. The available candidates are almost sure in the long run to be men whose reputations are confined to some district of the larger community. When they run for election in a district which stretches beyond the zone of their personal influence and reputation, some machinery for enlightening the voters’ ignorance as to who they are and what they stand for must be devised. This means that the candidate must have money and backing. Those requirements may seriously limit the number of candidates and therefore the choice of the voter. Furthermore, in promoting slates of candidates care will usually be taken to select men with reference to particular districts in the community at large, so that each district will feel that it has a representative on the ticket. Thus a provision for the election of commissioners at large from an unwieldy district is likely to relapse in practice into the presentation of candidates representing small districts, each with a local reputation in his own district. This becomes in substance an election of commissioners from districts and yet the range of choice by the voter resulting from the coming forward of candidates will be very much restricted because of the expense of making a canvass in the unwieldy district and the necessity for an organized support. Candidates who are successful in being elected from the unwieldy district are likely to be beholden to an organization, whether it be temporary or permanent, which has aided them in the election. A system of electing commissioners at large from an unwieldy district in a greater or less degree produces a condition which tends to keep alive the extra-legal government. On the other hand, with elections in wieldy districts the number of candidates who come forward is the largest possible. The choice of the voter is, therefore, the widest.