This American political practice always has and always will tend to give mediocrity to the American popular representation, but it corresponds to one of the most fundamental of American political prejudices, and for the present its abandonment is out of the question.

The work of improving the quality of the average American representative from a small district appears to be hopeless, because as a matter of fact such small districts and the work imposed on their representatives can hardly prove tempting to able men; and unless the American legislator is really capable of becoming exceptionally representative, the fastening of exclusive responsibility upon the state legislatures could hardly result in immediate success.

Its intrinsic merits might carry it to ultimate success, but not until it had transformed many American political practices and traditions.
The truth is, that certain very deep and permanent causes underlie American legislative degeneracy.

When the American legislative system was framed, a representative assembly possessed a much better chance than it does now of becoming a really representative body.

It constituted at the time an effective vehicle for the formation and expression of public opinion.