[106]
But this is no more than half the story. Granting even that political
power may be worth having, its attainment is beset with difficulties and
dangers more than sufficient to make responsible leaders pause. The
causes reside once more in the form of government, also in the general
nature of American politics, and in political history and tradition. To
begin with, labor would have to fight not on one front, but on
forty-nine different fronts.[107]
Congress and the States have power to legislate on labor matters; also,
in each, power is divided between an executive and the two houses of the
legislature. Decidedly, government in America was built not for strength
but for weakness. The splitting up of sovereignty does not especially
interfere with the purposes of a conservative party, but to a party of
social and industrial reform it offers a disheartening obstacle. A labor
party, to be effective, would be obliged to capture all the diffused
bits of sovereignty at the same time. A partial gain is of little avail,
since it is likely to be lost at the next election even simultaneously
with a new gain.
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