The theory of representative government has broken
down. To tell the truth, the life of the nation is so complicated that
it is difficult for the private citizen to have any intelligent opinion
about national policies, and we can hardly blame the politician for
despising the judgment of the private citizen. Government departments
are still less malleable by public opinion than the legislature. For an
individual to attack the policy of a Government department is almost as
hopeless a proceeding as if a laborer were to take pickaxe and shovel
and determine to level a mountain which obstructed his view. Yet
Government departments are supposed to be under popular control. The
Castle in Ireland, theoretically, was under popular control, but it was
adamantine in policy. If the cant about popular control of legislation
and Government departments is obviously untrue, how much more is it in
regard to public services like railways, gas works, mines, the
distribution of goods, manufacture, purchase and sale, which are almost
entirely under private control and where public interference is bitterly
resented and effectively opposed.
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