Page:The Wisconsin idea (IA cu31924032449252).pdf/315

 ion of the writer, and even a heavier investment should be made to-day either by bonding the state or otherwise, in the development of roads, and forests and in the industrial and agricultural education of the people. It would certainly be worth the investment a hundredfold provided always that efficient machinery prevents waste.

If what has been written has any element of truth in it, if good legislation and prosperity can and do go hand in hand, the result is a monument to the painstaking and toiling way in which the Wisconsin legislature has gone about its task. If the Wisconsin legislation has some elements of solidarity in it, no little of its success may be due to the fact that the cautious, careful German and Norwegian have refused to be domineered by every long-haired reformer who prances into the arena, asking all to "put on the whole armor of God." This type of reformer has been practically unknown in our legislative bodies and, indeed, it is only recently that he has made his appearance at all—then but to receive a very chilly welcome. In the words of the current slang phrase, every Wisconsin legislator "comes from Missouri" and you have to "show him."

Real reformers have yet to learn that they can progress much further if they really build well as they proceed. Many a good business man would welcome certain kinds of legislation if he were convinced that it could be made effective without great distortion of industrial con-