Whilst it is clear that the proposal for a Reference
to the people of important legislation has already stirred, and will later stir much more deeply, the heart of the nation, the Unionist leaders have shown in their speeches unmistakable signs that the more they study the question of the Poll of the People, the more they realise that, though it is in no sense destructive to representative government, it affords an essential corrective to the chief evils of the party system. As we have pointed out elsewhere, indeed, the Poll of the People, wisely used, is far more likely to preserve and strengthen our representative institutions than to injure them. While mitigating the fury of party, and restraining the tyranny of the caucus, it will free us from the dangers of legislative log- rolling and the oppression of the " group " system,—two things which are most seriously threatening popular government in this country.
