members of the senate, five had seen service in the immediately pre-. ceding session of the house of representatives, and nine had previously been in the state senate. In the session of 1919, of the twenty-six newly elected members of the senate, nineteen had had legislative service immediately preceding their election.

No constitutional provision requires continuity of service in the house of representatives, although by election a fair degree of continuity is maintained. In the Fiftieth General Assemblly (1917), of the 153 members, 90 had served in the next preceding session either of the senate or of the house of representatives. In 1919, of the 153 members of the house of representatives, 97 had served in the next preceding session either of the senate or of the house of representatives.

A member by frequent re-elections to the house or senate acquires a degree of expertness in legislative matters, and some continuity of membership through re-election is almost necessary to the working of the present cumbersome machinery of legislation. A house of representatives composed entirely of persons without previous legislative experience would be almost helpless, however high the ability of its members may be.

Anyone who has had to deal with the legislative organization of Illinois or of any other state must be impressed by the cumbersomeness of the present legislative machinery. Skill and persistence are required to take a piece of proposed legislation through all stages in each house and finally through the process of executive approval. No plans have been worked out by the constitution or through legislative procedure for the careful co-ordination of the work of the two houses. The citizen without legislative experience ordinarily finds himself lost when he comes for the first time in contact with this highly cumbersome procedure. The theory upon which this procedure and the limitations upon the legislature have been built up is apparently that the legislature must be practically prevented from doing anything in order that it may be prevented from doing wrong things, and such a plan is practically certain to lead to undesirable consequences.

The process of legislation has two distinct aspects: (1) The expert, (2) The popular. Any legislative organization should be of such a character as to reflect upon matters of legislation the needs and the views of the people of the state. It must also be borne in mind, however, that the technical aspect of legislation is no less important, and that a large part of business to be acted upon by a legislature has to do with matters upon which the public may have very little opinion either way. Even upon matters with respect to which the public has positive views, the technical element is important and care upon the technical side of legislation is essential if the people are finally through legislation to get what they desire. This balancing of the technical and the popular aspects of legislation presents the most serious problem with respect to the matter now under consideration, and the problem is one which has not been dealt with to any extent as yet in this country. From the standpoint of the expression

of popular opinion and the accumulation of popular views there is of course a distinct value in having a large popular body meet occasionally as is now the case with the Illinois General Assembly. Small bodies of technical experts holding office permanently or for long terms are not likely to be proper representatives of the popular views and the popular needs.

The functions to be accomplished by a legislative organization are: (1) Satisfactory positive action in accord with the views of the people of the state, and (2) technical correctness in the legislation enacted in accord with popular views and, also in the enactment of the numerous measures needed for the proper conduct of administrative matters with respect to which the public at large will normally have no decided opinion one way or the other.

This combination of the temporary popular element in legislation with the permanent technical element in legislation may be worked out in several different ways:

(a) The permanent skilled element may be organized in the executive, which has necessarily a permanent, continuous organization, leaving the legislature with an organization more or less like that now in existence for the expression of the popuar view upon matters presented by the executive, and also for the enactment into legislation of matters demanded by public sentiment but not proposed by the executive.

(b) There might be a permanent technical legislature such as that suggested in a quotation earlier in this pamphlet from a message to the Kansas legislature by Governor Hodges. Clearly, however, a small permanent body composed of technical experts would not be adequate as a means of reflecting the popular needs and desires in legislation, and if there were a small and permanent technical body such as Governor Hodges suggested, much of the work of such a body would have to be submitted either to a larger and more representative legislative body or to a referendum of the people.

(c) It may be possible to establish a permanent expert staff subject to the general assembly or to a combination of executive and legislative control, this permanent expert staff drawing up the measures suggested by the administrative bodies of the state and local government or by members of the legislature and submitting these measures to the legislature meeting very much as at present. The legislative reference bureau is an approach to what is here suggested, although the chief function of the legislative reference. bureau has been that of drafting bills desired by members of the General Assembly, after they have come into session; and there has not as yet been any effective way of preparing in advance of the legislative session the matters which it may be desired to submit to the General Assembly.

XII. MORE DETAILED PROBLEMS IN ILLINOIS.

When once a legislative organization has been established, and has become a part of the governmental organization of the state the possibility of changing it in any radical way is not very great, although there should be some possibility of making adjustments as to some of the problems which make greatest difficulty in Illinois today.

The more detailed problems, however, bearing upon the operation of the present legislative machinery are much more apt to receive favorable consideration, and a brief review should be made of these problems, and also of the possible problems which may present themselves if the initiative and referendum are adopted as instruments of legislation in this state.

Cumulative voting system. The cumulative voting system is one which has for some time been under attack in this state and probably a good deal of time in the constitutional convention will have to be devoted to this problem. As has been suggested earlier in this pamphlet, the alternatives to the plan of cumulative voting are a return to the majority system or an advance beyond cumulative voting to a more proportional system of representation. However, it is likely that in the movement for the abolition of cumulative voting, the chief effort will be made to return to a plan of majority voting. As has already been suggested, if the state returns to majority voting, there is a distinct advantage in retaining the plan of having but one series of legislative districts, using the senatorial district as a basis for electing representatives, as at present. If a complete new series of districts is to be created for the election of members of the house of representatives, care should at least be taken to see that such districts do not cross the lines of the larger senatorial districts.

Limitation of representation. The problem of limiting the representation of Chicago and Cook County will present itself, and with this problem will also be presented the question of a greater degree of municipal home rule not only for Chicago but for other cities in the state as well. The subject of limited representation has already been fully discussed elsewhere in this

pamphlet, and in this summing up of the matter attention should be again called to the fact that some modification will necessarily be made in the cumulative system if Chicago or Cook County is to be represented in one house upon a different basis from that in the other house. The cumulative system could still be applied under such an arrangement, but the application of the cumulative or any other system will require two more or less independent series of legislative districts if the representation of a large area of the state is to be upon a different basis in the two houses.

Initiative and Referendum. Bulletin No. 2 in this series discusses fully the initiative and referendum and analyzes in detail the constitutional provisions of the states which have adopted these institutions. It is unnecessary to repeat that matter here, but attention should be called to the fact that the adoption of the initiative and referendum will set up a new and additional type of legislative machinery. Of course, if the indirect initiative is adopted, the machinery of popular legislation will be closely related to the present representative organization; and if the referendum is adopted merely as a means of repealing, rather than of suspending, laws, the problems of relationship between the two types of legislative machinery will be much simplified. The initiative and referendum have not to any large extent replaced the representative legislative machinery even in the states where they have been used most frequently, but there are tendencies in some of the constitutional provisions in other states toward forcing an increased use of the initiative and referendum, through placing limitations upon the amendment or repeal by the regular representative legislative body of acts adopted or approved by popular vote. If the initiative and referendum are adopted, care must be taken to see that proper relationships are established between the two methods then existing for the enactment of legislation.

Relation of legislative power to the constitution. In Bulletin No. 3 of this series a full discussion will be found of the relationship of legislative action to the amendment of the constitution. It is there said that a constitutional convention is a cumbersome piece of governmental machinery, properly to be used only at long intervals and in case material changes in a constitution are desired. The machinery for legislative proposal of amendment (to which may be added an initiative proposal if the initiative is adopted) should be employed when less fundamental changes are desired. The process of specific amendment has been so cumbersome in Illinois under the constitution of 1870 that it has not served its proper purpose as a means of making less fundamental and less material changes. The proposal of specific amendments.

is much simpler and cheaper than is the assembling of a convention, and even though a constitution is limited to things now regarded as fundamental and permanent, it is likely that the views of the present day as to these matters may change before a new constitution is framed for this state, so that a relatively simple amending process will be necessary even though the constitution may be now regarded as framed in such a manner that it will need infrequent change.

The most important problem as to the relationship between the legislature and the constitution is that of legislative powers. A detailed and complex constitution will of course limit the powers of the general assembly to a very great extent, and will probably require frequent alteration. A simple constitution which seeks to deal merely with fundamentals will leave the general assembly a wider power and will require less frequent amendment. Of course, as has already been suggested, a simple type of constitution containing only fundamentals but containing also broad constitutional guarantees, which have already been strictly construed, may prevent the enactment of legislation which is desired. A further discussion of the whole problem of the construction of broad constitutional guarantees will be found in the pamphlet on the judicial department. It seems desirable to return if possible to a simple constitution and to a simpler legislative machinery, less hedged about by all sorts of limitations. It also seems desirable to bring, if possible, a closer relationship between the executive and the legislative departments in legislation, and through such a closer co-ordination to make more effective the permanent and technical aspects of legislation. If these matters are properly handled, there seems no necessity for adhering to the method now employed in the states of this country of hedging about legislative bodies, and of making the actual enactment of legislation a hazardous task.

Amendment by reference. Consideration has already been given to the problem of amendment by reference in this state. A more detailed discussion of this matter will be found in the pamphlet entitled "Constitutional Conventions in Illinois" and a detailed statement of the results of cases will be found in the Annotated Constitution. The present situation in this state with respect to amendment of prior laws by reference is one which increases very materially the hazards of legislation, without any real gain, and some change should be made in this respect.

Other procedural problems. A discussion appears earlier in this pamphlet of the problem of three readings of each bill at large. in the house, and of the problem presented by the constitutional provision as to time when laws shall take effect. Perhaps it may be desirable also that the convention devote some attention to the matter of printing bills with all amendments thereto before final passage. The require