The change was made by reasoning from analogy:  it was supposed that in a free country all offices ought to be elective and for short terms.  But the case of a judge is not really analogous to that of executive officers, like mayors and governors and presidents.  The history of popular liberty is much older than the history of the United States, and it would be difficult to point to an instance in which popular liberty has ever suffered from the life tenure of judges.  On the contrary, the judge ought to be as independent as possible of all transient phases of popular sentiment, and American experience during the past century seems to teach us that in the few states where the appointing of judges during life or good behaviour has prevailed, the administration of justice has been better than in the states where the judges have been elected for specified terms.  Since 1869 there has been a marked tendency toward lengthening the terms of elected judges, and in several states there has been a return to the old method of appointing judges by the governor, subject to confirmation by the senate.[17] It is one of the excellent features of our system of federal government, that the several states can thus try experiments each for itself and learn by comparison of results.  When things are all trimmed down to a dead level of uniformity by the central power, as in France, a prolific source of valuable experiences is cut off and shut up.

[Footnote 17:  For details, see the admirable monograph of Henry Hitchcock, American State Constitutions, p. 53.]

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT.

1.  Modifications of state government during the present century:—­

  a.  Property qualifications for office.
  b.  The distinction between the upper and the lower house.
  c.  The advantage in retaining a two-chambered legislature.

2.  The suffrage:—­

  a.  The persons to whom it is granted.
  b.  The qualifications established.
  c.  The persons excluded from its exercise.

3.  The separation of the executive and legislative departments:—­

  a.  The relation of the great executive officers to legislation in
       Europe.
  b.  The work of legislation in the United States.
  c.  The most serious of the dangers that beset democratic
      government.
  d.  Important safeguards against such a danger.

4.  The state executive:—­

  a.  The governor as a part of the legislature.
  b.  Officers always belonging to executive departments.
  c.  Officers frequently belonging to executive departments.
  d.  The relation of the governor to other elected executive
      officers.

5.  The ordinary functions of the governor:—­

a.  Advising the legislature. b.  Commanding the militia. c.  Pardoning criminals or commuting their sentences. d.  Vetoing acts of the legislature.

6.  Why is the power to veto particular items in a bill appropriating public money an important safeguard against corruption?