Class r V\ Zj 74 - GQKRIGHT DEPOSm % American Citizens and Their Government BY KENNETH COLEGROVE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY s&EMnBaogw^ THE ABINGDON PRESS NEW YORK CINCINNATI / *** Copyright, 192 1, by KENNETH COLEGROVE FEB 18*22 Printed in the United States of America ©CU653856 dedicated to Mrs. George Alexander McKinlock and a group op public-spirited women whose interest in the study of american gov- ernment led to the writing of this book : Mrs. John Borden Mrs. Walter S. Brewster Mrs. Marshall Field, 3D Mrs. George Higginson, Jr. Mrs. Morris Leidy Johnston Mrs. Howard Linn Mrs. Russell Lord Mrs. Arthur Meeker Mrs. Charles E. Perkins Mrs. Archie Roosevelt Mrs. Frederic W. Upham Mrs. Barrett Wendell, Jr. Mrs. Leonard Wood CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Origin of the American Government 13 English origins — Union of the original States was inevitable — The constitutional convention of 1787 — The Fathers of the constitution — The compromises of the convention — Severe struggle to create the new Union — The accomplishment of the Fathers — Unjust criticism of the Fathers — Personal sacrifices of our early Presidents — Stability of the constitution. II. The National and State Constitutions 27 The nature of the constitution — Written and un- written constitutions — The constitution is a grant of powers — Did the constitution create a national gov- ernment? — The supremacy of the national govern- ment — The System of Checks and Balances — The coordinate position of the Supreme Court — The ex- pansion of the constitution — Expansion of the con- stitution by usage — Expansion of the constitution by statutory law — Expansion by judicial interpretation — Expansion of the constitution by amendment — The liberal character of our constitutional develop- ment — The State constitutions — Comparison of the early constitutions with later constitutions — Framing the State constitutions — Amendments to State con- stitutions. III. Citizenship and Suffrage 51 Nature of citizenship — The dual citizenship in the United States — The custom of modern nations as to citizenship — The alien and the acquisition of citizen- ship — Naturalization— The Americanization program — The alien in the United States — Immigration — Expul- sion of undesirable aliens — Some inconsistencies in our laws upon aliens — Racial problems in the United 5 6 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE States — Acquisition of citizenship by annexation — Rights and duties of citizenship — Civil rights — Political rights — Woman suffrage — The duties and obligations of citizenship. IV. Political Parties and Platforms 70 The functions of the electorate — Permanency of political parties — History of our political parties — Washington's failure to prevent the growth of par- ties — The later history of political parties — Third- party movements — Organization of the national par- ties — The National Committee — The national chair- man — State and local committees — State and local politics — Organization of the State parties — The "machine" and the "boss" — Reasons for the exist- ence of political machines — American ideals in poli- tics. V. The President 93 The election of the President — The present method of electing the President — (1) Selection of delegates to the nominating convention — (2) Work of the na- tional conventions — (3) Selection of the tickets of Presidential Electors — (4) The national campaigns and the November election — (5) Election of the President by the Electors — The powers and functions of the President — The strictly executive powers of the President — Diplomatic powers — Military powers — Legislative powers — Political powers — The Pres- ident's cabinet — Presidential succession. VI. Congress 117 The functions of Congress — Sessions of Congress — The House of Representatives — The congressional districts — Qualifications for members in the House — The House is the judge of the qualifications of its members — Congressional elections — Organization of the House of Representatives — The committees of the House — Work of the committees — Bill procedure CONTENTS 7 CHAPTER PAGE — The Senate — The election of Senators — Organiza- tion of the Senate — Freedom of debate in the Senate — Party control in the Senate — Powers and functions of the Senate — The legislative functions of the Sen- ate — Confirmation of appointments — Ratification of treaties — The power to try impeachments. VII. Administration of National Welfare 142 The executive departments — Department of State — Department of the Treasury — Department of War — Department of Justice — Post Office Depart- ment — Department of the Navy — Department of the Interior — Department of Agriculture — Department of Commerce — Department of Labor — The federal boards and commissions — Director of the Budget — Interstate Commerce Commission— United States Railroad Labor Board — The Federal Reserve Board — The United States Shipping Board — Civil service. VIII. Problems of National Welfare 157 Foreign relations — The Monroe Doctrine — America as a world power — National defense — The American Navy — Taxation and finance — Budgetary reform — Money and banking — The Federal Reserve Banks — Regulation of interstate commerce — Regulation of the railways — Conspiracies and unfair competition — Public health, safety and morals — Government and labor — Conservation of natural resources. IX. The Courts: National and State 179 Organization and jurisdiction of the federal courts — Organization of the federal courts — Jurisdiction of the federal courts — The practice and procedure of the federal courts — Procedure in the Supreme Court — Prestige of the Supreme Court — Power to declare acts unconstitutional — Character of the justices of the Supreme Court — The State courts — The organi- zation of the State courts — Juvenile courts — Civil 8 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE and criminal procedure — Civil procedure — Criminal procedure — Complaints against the jury system — Reform in civil and criminal procedure — Reform of criminal procedure — The selection and removal of judges. X. The State Governments: Governor and Legisla- ture 210 The State governor — Powers of the Governor — (i) Executive powers — (2) Legislative powers — (3) General oversight of State administration — (4) Military powers — (5) Relations with the federal government and other State governments — (6) Social and ceremonial duties — State administration — The State legislatures — Criticism of our State legislatures — The initiative and referendum — Are the initiative and referendum satisfactory? — Reconstruction of State governments — Reorganization of the State legislatures — The Governor as a legislative leader — Readjustment of the relations of the Governor and the legislature — Budgetary reform — The reconstruc- tion of the administrative departments. XI. State Welfare and Administration 233 The States and public welfare — Education — Voca- tional training — Public health — Charities and correc- tion — Business protection and regulation — Labor conditions — Military and police — Public property and the conservation of natural resources — Taxation and finance — Information concerning State govern- ments. XII. County and Rural Government 255 Local government — Three types of local govern- ment in America — The county — The county board — Justice and police — Other officers of the county — County charter government — The township — State supervision of local government — Farm tenancy and rural credits. CONTENTS 9 CHAPTER PAGE XIII. City Government 269 Reasons for the growth of American cities — Or- ganization of city government — The city and the State — Three types of city government — The mayor- and-council system — Defects of the mayor-and- council system — The commission form of government — The city-manager plan — City administration and welfare — City finance — Police administration — Fire protection — Public works — Public health and sanita- tion — Municipal housing — Public recreation and so- cial centers — Schools and libraries — Poor relief and charity — Public utilities — Municipal ownership — City planning. XIV. Tendencies in the Development of Our Govern- ment 296 Tendencies revealed by these changes — The in- stinct of liberty — Overthrow of political adventurers — Economic and social evolution — All these tenden- cies operate together — Reaction against machine rule — Direct legislation — The recall — The Australian bal- lot — The primary — The short ballot — Nonpartisan reform in the cities — Enlarged activities of govern- ment — The model American citizen. Index 317 PREFACE This book owes its immediate origin to a series of conferences or private lectures given to the group of public spirited women in Chicago whose names appear in the dedication. The material has, however, been worked over with a view to its presentation to the general public. In the rewriting, I have freely drawn upon my classroom lectures at Northwestern Univer- sity. The aim is to present in brief compass a general view of American government. The needs and inter- ests of the average American citizen and voter have been kept in mind. While the work cannot go into complete detail, nevertheless, it attempts to give a broad survey of the vital factors in our national, state, city, and town government. In the preparation of the text I have received the generous aid of David Maydole Matteson of Cam- bridge, Massachusetts; Theodore Wesley Koch, li- brarian of Northwestern University; John Henry Wigmore, Dean of the Law School of Northwestern University; Chauncey Peter Colegrove, President of Upper Iowa University; of my colleague, Professor P. Orman Ray and of Professor Norman E. Richard- son, editor of the series in which this book appears. Evanston, Illinois, July 22, 192 1. II CHAPTER I ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT The United States is a group of commonwealths united in a federal government. These common- wealths, and the Union, are the product of many cen- turies of political experience. The original thirteen States were not the instantaneous creation of the American Revolution of 1776; and the federal con- stitution did not originate solely in the Constitutional Convention which met in Philadelphia in 1787. Glad- stone once enthusiastically called the American con- stitution "the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man." But when the Fathers of 1787 patiently labored through- out a sultry summer in Independence Hall to draft a constitution which would bind the thirteen sovereign States into a more perfect Union, a century and a half of political experience in the art of colonial self- government, and more than ten centuries of English constitutional development entered into their delibera- tions. The constitution was a practical document. It produced no sudden break with the past. The new government was the logical outcome of previous po- litical lessons. ENGLISH ORIGINS The American Revolution of 1776 was in no sense a political upheaval such as the French Revolution. It was rather a civil war, Englishmen against English- 13 14 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT men. The English liberals in Parliament opposed the colonial policy of King George III and his party almost as bitterly as did the Americans. When the thirteen States declared their independence there was no sweep- ing abolition of existing political institutions. The new State governments were modeled upon colonial precedents. Connecticut and Rhode Island actually kept their royal constitutions until 1818 and 1842. The colonists had carried to America the rights of Englishmen. They had considered themselves as en- titled to these rights even when residing in a land across the seas, and the English law had recognized their claim. The great constitutional documents of British liberty, such as Magna Charta, the Petition of Right, the Habeas Corpus Act, and the Bill of Rights, are in a very large measure the foundations of our democracy. The framers of our State constitutions copied in many cases the exact wording of these char- ters of freedom. Under the colonial rule the government of the col- onies had been similar to that of Great Britain. The governors were the representatives of the crown; the colonial legislatures had a popular assembly like the British House of Commons; and the colonial courts administered the Common Law of England. After the break with England the new States retained these institutions almost intact; and even after the Declara- tion of Independence the English Common Law con- tinued to be administered in our courts. In fact, Eng- lish Common Law is the basis of the legal system which is practiced in our courts even in the present day. Union of the original States was inevitable. — The union of the thirteen States was inevitable. Com- ORIGIN OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT 15 mon birth, common ideals, common language and in- stitutions made such a union easy and convenient ; and national efficiency demanded it. Even in colonial times, attempts at confederation had been earnestly undertaken, and on one occasion actually consummated. As early as 1643 tne colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven had entered into a "league of friendship" for protection against the Indians. In 1696 William Penn urged a Congress for all the colonies; and Robert Livingston proposed a union in 170 1. In 1754 the celebrated Albany Con- gress proposed an elaborate plan for colonial union drawn up by Benjamin Franklin. The quarrel with the motherland led to the Stamp- Act Congress in 1765 and the two Continental Congresses of 1774 and 1775. Finally in 178 1, the Articles of Confederation and Per- petual Union were adopted and a loose confederacy of the States was thereby created. The central organ of government was Congress, in which each State, great and small, had an equal voice. THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1 787 The events leading up to the call of the Convention of 1787 are a familiar story in American history. As John Adams said, the federal constitution was wrung from the hearts of a reluctant people by the grinding necessities of the times. There were thirteen practi- cally separate and independent States. They were proud of their individuality, and they were excessively jealous of each other. The Revolutionary War had held them together when the enemy was in our land; but after victory was won political chaos began. The economic system was demoralized. New York and Connecticut were engaged in a tariff struggle, and 16 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Virginia and Maryland were quarreling over the navi- gation of the Potomac. In 1786 Massachusetts was disturbed by Shays' s Rebellion, when an armed band of radicals defied the commonwealth. The Congress of the Confederation was deplorably weak. It lacked power to levy revenue. The central government was dependent upon contributions from the States. It lacked credit to borrow money. It had no power to regulate commerce and thus was unable to end the tariff disputes between the States. It had no efficient military power. In general, as Washington said, Congress was wanting in coercive power — the power to operate upon individuals. Washington, Hamilton, Madison, and other leading men were convinced that the financial and political disorder could be cured only by the creation of a stronger union. Their efforts in this direction re- sulted in the calling of a convention to meet in the month of May, 1787, in Philadelphia, for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Articles of Confedera- tion. All the States save Rhode Island appointed delegates. The Fathers of the constitution. — The delegates from the States came tardily to Philadelphia. Many of them were of the opinion that little good could be accomplished. All told there were fifty-five delegates. They were the ablest group of statesmen who had ever assembled upon American soil. Virginia sent the strongest delegation, including Washington, Madison, and Edmund Randolph. General Washington, who was chosen president of the convention, was at this time the foremost man in America, the undisputed leader, "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.". ORIGIN OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ly Throughout the Revolutionary War he had served as commander-in-chief of the American army, without one cent of pay. With the coming of peace he had re- tired to his Virginia plantation and devoted his time to agriculture. Now, after scarcely three years of private life, he again was constrained by the critical condition of his country to sacrifice his personal in- clination to the service of the public. Although a man of few words, lacking in oratorical expression, and rather cold in bearing, Washington commanded an almost unparalleled respect from his contemporary fellow citizens. Older men trusted his sagacity and honesty, younger men delighted to place themselves under his orders, while all men, of every degree of in- telligence and station in life, were irresistibly at- tracted by qualities in his character which no biog- rapher has been able adequately to analyze. After a modest speech Washington took the chair. Close by the rostrum, in a seat where he could dis- tinctly hear all that was said, sat James Madison, who not only took a leading part in the debates, but also made full notes of the proceedings from day to day. Many years later these notes were published by order of Congress, as Madison's Journal, and they now sup- ply us with our best information upon the deliberations of the convention. Madison was a supporter of Wash- ington. He belonged to the younger generation of men who were proud to serve under their great chief, and yet whose learning, political sense, and rhetoric were indispensable contributions to the constitutional movement. In the construction of the great document which the convention gave to the American people Madison probably exerted more effective direction than any other man in the convention. 1 8 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Alexander Hamilton represented New York. Al- though one of the youngest men in the convention — being then but thirty years of age — Hamilton was the most brilliant thinker and the most eloquent orator among the delegates there assembled. His passionate advocacy of a strong national government, however, was far too extreme for an occasion where unanimity could be obtained only by painstaking compromises. While the convention admired his abounding intelli- gence and his infallible logic, his words were less ef- fective than the persistent, watchful, unfailing tactics of James Madison. Benjamin Franklin, the most versatile genius of American history, although now feeble and bent with eighty-two years of active life, exerted a marked influence upon the convention. Other members of remarkable attainments were in at- tendance, whose presence alone in any other assembly would have added distinction. James Wilson, Robert Morris, Gouverneur Morris, besides Benjamin Frank- lin, represented Pennsylvania. Rufus King of Massa- chusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, William Pat- erson of New Jersey, and the Pinckneys of South Caro- lina were prominent in the debates. Characteristic of all assemblages, there were a few wordy obstructionists like Luther Martin, of Maryland, who caviled and ha- rangued for no other purpose than to delay the pro- ceedings. But the majority of the delegates were, as described by William Pierce, "respectable charac- ters'* who seldom spoke themselves, but who weighed the arguments of the more ready orators and influenced the decision of the issues by their votes. The compromises of the convention. — The advo- cates of a strong national government spent many anxious weeks before they were assured of any degree ORIGIN OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT 19 of success. The convention was full of conflicting interests and opinions, and agreement was reached only after the most painstaking compromises. In general, there were two opposing groups or parties. The small States opposed the large States, the one group desir- ing to keep the central government weak, the other wishing to strengthen it. Another alignment of oppos- ing interests was found between the agriculturists of the South and the commercial interests of the East. At the opening of the convention the Virginia dele- gation had presented a plan for a national government in which representation in Congress was to be propor- tional to the population of the States. In opposition to the Virginia plan, William Paterson introduced the New Jersey plan, which provided in effect for the practical continuance of the old Confederacy with an equal vote for every State. Fortunately, after several weeks of trying debates a compromise was effected be- tween the large and the small States whereby it was agreed that the new Congress should consist of two houses ; in the upper house every State, great or small, would have two votes, while in the lower house repre- sentation would be proportional to population. Then the Southern planters, fearing that the com- mercial States might use the national legislature to op- press the agricultural States, demanded that slaves be counted in the population for representation in Con- gress, while the free States opposed this claim of the South for increased political influence. At the same time the Eastern commercial interests demanded that Congress should have exclusive control of commerce with foreign nations and among the several States, while the Southern planters, fearing that the foreign trade in farm products might be injured by hostile in- 20 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT terests in Congress, resisted the proposal. In the end, compromises were effected. It was agreed that three fifths of the slave population should be counted in the representation in Congress; and the exclusive control of foreign and interstate trade was given to Congress. Severe struggle to create the new Union. — These compromises were not easily reached. The con- flict of views and interests had been so sharp that at several stages of the business the convention was at the point of breaking up without accomplishing its purpose. At the height of the most depressing dead- lock Benjamin Franklin proposed that the convention should open each morning with prayers. Even upon the last day, when the constitution was reported in its final form, it was not certain that a majority of the delegates would be willing to attach their signatures. Washington and Franklin made appeals for unanimity and only three of the delegates then present refused to sign. On this memorable day Madison completed his notes with the following statement, which has become a classic anecdote in American literature: "Whilst the last members were signing, Doctor Franklin, looking toward the President's chair, at the back of which a rising sun happened to be painted, ob- served to a few members near him, that painters had found it difficult to distinguish in their art a rising from a setting sun. I have, said he, often and often in the course of the session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to the issue, looked at that behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting: but now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun." The work of the convention was submitted to the ORIGIN OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT 21 Congress of the Confederation, and by that body re- ferred to the several States for ratification or rejec- tion. The new constitution had provided that the Union should be automatically established upon ratifi- cation by conventions in nine of the thirteen States. During the following year throughout the country the merits and defects of the proposed form of union were sharply debated. Public opinion divided into two parties, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists, one urging the ratification of the constitution, the other op- posing its ratification. In general, the Southern plant- ers and the commercial interests, together with the sea- board districts of the States, favored the constitution, while the Yankee farmers and the back-country dis- tricts opposed it. The latter were incensed partly be- cause the Fathers, upon the assumption that the rights of citizens were already adequately safeguarded by the State constitutions, had included no Bill of Rights in the national constitution. This objection was met by the solemn promise of leading Federalists to co- operate in adopting a new Bill of Rights as an amend- ment to the constitution immediately after the estab- lishment of the Union. New Hampshire was the ninth State to ratify the constitution. Its convention voted in favor of ratifica- tion on June 21,1 788. Virginia also accepted the con- stitution a few days later, reaching this decision before the action taken by New Hampshire was known in the South, and New York soon followed. The expiring Congress of the Confederation thereupon ordered that the States should choose Presidential Electors to select the President and Vice-President in January, 1 789, and that a new Congress elected under the constitu- tion should meet on the fourth day of March. The 22 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Presidential electors were duly chosen and selected General Washington as the first President. Congress- men were also duly elected, but a quorum of the two houses did not appear in New York, the temporary seat of government, until April, 1789. On the last day of this month Washington was inaugurated in Federal Hall in Wall Street; and the national government was at last established. THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE FATHERS The constitution under which the federal govern- ment was established in 1 789 was a practical, workable document. In planning for the new government the Fathers had followed methods which experience had tested. As James Russell Lowell has said, they knew better than to commit the folly of breaking with the past. Thus the new constitution, while creating a free and liberal government, was grounded upon prin- ciples which commended themselves to sane and level- headed men, men who had already learned that to govern well is not an easy task. Unjust criticism of the Fathers. — Of late years a bitter and unrelenting group of agitators have attacked the federal government and in particular the constitu- tion of the United States. One of their methods is to cast opprobrium upon the men who drafted this docu- ment in 1787. In attacking the personal character of the Fathers these calumniators hope to prove that our government rests upon a dishonest constitution. They contend that the constitution was adopted not to pro- mote the unalienable rights of man — life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — which Jefferson desired, but to safeguard property as the main object of society, as ORIGIN OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT 23 Gouverneur Morris rather unfortunately remarked on the floor of the convention. But assaults upon the personal character and inter- ests of the Fathers are not sufficient proof that our constitution is dishonest. Little can be gained by at- tempting to show that Washington was a haughty, cynical, aristocratic old man, trembling with fears of slave insurrections or radical rebellions in Massa- chusetts. It is true that he was at that time the richest man in America, having an estate worth $530,000; it is also true that he had speculated in lands in the Ohio wilderness. But the possession of property is not pre- sumptive evidence of dishonesty; and it is interesting to note that at the time of the convention Washington, in spite of his many acres, was in financial embarrass- ment. In regard to Washington's speculations in Ohio lands, all sensible persons will admit that the growth of the West in population and prosperity was partly due to the willingness of far-sighted men, like Wash- ington, to risk their capital in pioneer developments. As to the insinuations that Washington speculated in continental currency and hoped for a strong national government for the redemption of this paper money, an examination of the Washington Papers preserved in the Library of Congress has proved these charges to be utterly false. Similar indictments against the character and mo- tives of Madison, Hamilton, and others are likewise worthless. The Convention of Philadelphia was not preeminently an assembly of rich men. It was an assembly of brilliant public leaders, of sound practical men, and of men who had sacrificed much for the com- mon welfare. While some members possessed con- siderable property, and while some had always been 24 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT what we may call aristocrats, there were other mem- bers, like Roger Sherman of Connecticut, who was a shoemaker in early life, but who diligently applied himself to the study of law and in time became a judge of the superior court, and as a representative of Con- necticut had the unique distinction of signing the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Con- federation, and the Constitution of the United States. Personal sacrifices of our early Presidents. — Far from enhancing their material goods by the crea- tion of the Union, the Virginian planters soon found themselves in financial straits. The adoption of the constitution ruined the personal fortunes of the South- ern landowners. The story of the decay of this ancient aristocracy belongs to the realm of economic history. It is sufficient here to say that the commercial powers of Congress under the new constitution were exercised in the manner feared by the Southern agriculturalists in the convention, and partly, although by no means entirely, because of this fact the rich plantations of the seaboard and Piedmont area relapsed into "galled and gullied hillsides and sedgy briary fields." Four of our Presidents in the first four decades of our national history came from Virginia and in a measure were victims of this economic decay. Wash- ington retired after his second term in office, disap- pointed and dejected because of his failure to govern the United States without the bitter strife of political parties, and took up the management of his plantation, already fallen into disrepair. In 1809 Jefferson retired to Monticello, a humiliated and weary man. His lavish hospitality in the White House and neglect of his private estate had brought him to financial ruin, and his friends in pity attempted to induce the legislature ORIGIN OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT 25 of Virginia to permit a lottery in his benefit. James Madison, after eight years service as President of the United States, returned to his plantation, which had fallen into ruin. He vainly attempted to borrow a few thousand dollars at a Philadelphia bank, offering his plantation as security; and he died in straitened cir- cumstances. Monroe at the end of his administration was forced to give up his Virginia home and accept in his old age the hospitality of a relative in New York. The personal sacrifices of these great statesmen is one of the beautiful things in American history. Stability of the constitution. — Of course the worth of the constitution to-day is not to be measured alone by the character of the men who made it. The con- stitution as it is interpreted in the present age is a very different document from that created by the Fathers. The essential virtue of the constitution has been its adaptability to changing conditions in our national progress. It has furnished the basis for a progressive and advancing — and hence enduring — government. This stability in our fundamental law has infinitely promoted the happiness and prosperity of our country. Under weak and precarious governments human enter- prise is shackled by timidity and uncertainty. But under stable and consistent governments men are free to test the utmost possibilities of human genius in art and industry and social welfare. Fortunate it is that the Fathers were practical men. In a convention which consumed a little over three months time they drafted a constitution which has en- dured a hundred and thirty years. In the same year that the federal government was established in New York, Jefferson, our ambassador at Paris, watched the opening debates of the celebrated National Assembly 26 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT which was attempting to build a constitutional govern- ment for France. After two years of excited and im- practical debate on theoretical questions a constitution was promulgated. This constitution endured for scarcely a year. Since 1789 France has had a dozen different constitutions ; while Spain, which adopted its first constitution in 18 12, has overturned its constitu- tion upon five different occasions. There is no Euro- pean constitution, in written form, which has endured as long as that of America. For Further Reading Colonial and English Origins. — A. B. Hart, Ac- tual Government f pp. 39-48; H. J. Ford, Rise and Growth of American Politics, ch. i ; C. A. Beard, American Gov- ernment and Politics, ch. i; S. G. Fisher, Evolution of the Constitution of the United States, ch. i ; W. B. Munro, Government of the United States, ch. i. The Common Law. — C. A. Beard, American Govern- ment and Politics, pp. 553-555 ; O. W. Holmes, Common Law, ch. i; Art. on "Common Law" in Bouvier's Law Dictionary. The Constitutional Convention of 1787. — John Fiske, Critical Period of American History, ch. vi ; Max Farrand, Framing of the Constitution, pp. 68-112; W. M. Meigs, Growth of the Constitution in the Federal Conven- tion of 1787, pp. 1 1 -$5; Writings of James Madison [Edited by Gaillard Hunt], III, pp. 1-22; 164-181 ; IV, pp. 472-483; Jonathan Elliot, Debates on the Federal Constitution, I, pp. 139-145. Work of the Fathers. — H. C Lodge, George Wash- ington, II, pp. 29-39 ; Jared Sparks, George Washington, ch. xxxiii; Gaillard Hunt, James Madison, pp. 108-136; James Parton, Benjamin Franklin, II, pp. 564-584 ; H. C. Lodge, Alexander Hamilton, pp. 56-64; Theodore Roose- velt, Gouverneur Morris, ch. vi. CHAPTER II THE NATIONAL AND STATE CONSTITUTIONS In the words of American jurists the constitution of the United States is the "supreme law of the land." It is the fundamental document establishing our form of national government and determining the relations of this government to the State governments. In other words, the constitution creates a political system, and distributes powers between the central govern- ment and the State governments. It also defines the rights and obligations of citizens, protecting them on the one side from the federal government and on the other side from the State governments. The constitution is the ultimate law of the United States from which there is no appeal. It is the organic expression of the political will of our country. When reading the constitution one may feel that he is face to face with the American people. THE NATURE OF THE CONSTITUTION Notwithstanding the fundamental character of the constitution, it is a very short document, being only a few pages in length, and requiring only a few minutes to read. 1 Various European observers have been as- | tounded by the fact that a government so great as ours * In its most convenient form, perhaps, it can be found in a little pamphlet pub- lished by the Government Printing Office, which may be purchased for five cents by sending the amount in coin or a money order to the Superintendent of Public Documents at Washington, D. C. 27 28 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT should rest upon a constitutional document so remark- ably brief. But a careful study of American history shows that the brevity of our constitution is one of its most admirable qualities. In concise and logical sen- tences, gracefully and masterfully expressed, the Fathers outlined the main features of our political sys- tem. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the men of 1787 used words and phrases which permit a liberal construction as to their meaning. The grants of power to Congress and the President are not hedged about with lengthy exceptions and restrictions which would stifle the spirit of progressive interpretation. Hence the constitution has been easily adapted from decade to decade to the needs of the country, with the result that there has been a stability and endurance in our constitutional life which has been beneficial in the highest degree. Written and unwritten constitutions. — Our con- stitution, as we have just seen, is a written document. England, on the other hand, has an unwritten consti- tution. No fundamental state paper sums up the Brit- ish constitution. It is contained in a vast accumulation of ancient charters, acts of Parliament, and decisions of courts, which if collected together even in part would fill an astonishing number of volumes. The British constitution is an admirable political growth; British freedom, as Tennyson well said, has "broadened down from precedent to precedent" through ten or more cen- turies of almost uninterrupted continuity. An act of Parliament may change any part of the British con- stitution at any time. The constitution is a grant of powers. — Chief Justice Marshall in the case of Gibbons vs. Ogden spoke of the constitution as a grant of powers. This CONSTITUTIONS 29 grant of powers was to the central or national govern- ment. No grant of powers was made to the State governments. At the time that the Constitutional Con- vention met, the thirteen original States were sover- eign and independent; they possessed all the powers of sovereign and independent nations, save for the few meager powers which had been granted by them to the Congress of the Confederation. The federal constitution of 1787 granted no new powers to the State governments. On the contrary, it took certain powers away from the States and gave these powers to the central government. For instance, one of the compromises in framing the constitution resulted in the provision giving Congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States. At the same time the exercise of these powers was prohibited to the States. It is readily seen in our own day that the sovereign independence of the States was really abrogated by the adoption of the constitution. This fact was not, however, so clearly understood in the first decades of our national history, and it caused considerable con- fusion, as we shall presently explain. For the moment we must note that the powers not granted in the con- stitution to the central government were tacitly re- served to either the people of the States or to the States. To clear up any doubt upon this matter, the Tenth Amendment, adopted in 1791, read: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the con- stitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are re- served to the States respectively, or to the people." Such powers are called "residual powers." Did the constitution create a national govern- ment? — To-day there is no hesitation in saying that 30 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT the constitution has created a national government. Whenever we speak of the government at Washington we think of a government of the American people and not of a government representing an aggregate of States. But this view was not the prevailing opinion from 1789 to 1865. While Madison and other mem- bers in the Constitutional Convention spoke of the national government, the term "federal" came to be more generally used. The theory was that the new constitution created a federal republic, wherein for- merly independent States merged their sovereignties in a central government without losing their identities or many of their former powers. It can readily be seen that this theory was always in danger of being upset, on the one hand by the Union-men and on the other hand by the advocates of State's Rights. For nearly seventy years the theory was the battlefield of American politics. Webster and Clay, Calhoun and Haynes debated the question back and forth in the Senate. Not until the end of the Civil War was the dispute finally settled in favor of the Union-men. The term "federal" in reference to our central government continued to be used in preference to the more correct term "national." Thus we speak even to-day of the federal constitution, or the federal powers, although this term has long since lost its original significance. The supremacy of the, national government. — When that gallant soldier, General Robert E. Lee, sur- rendered at Appomattox Court House and the great- hearted General Grant courteously declined to take his sword, one phase of the struggle between the States and the nation came to an end. The claim of the States to the right of forcible resistance to the acts of the central government was swept away. The shibbo- CONSTITUTIONS 31 leth of State's Rights abruptly disappeared, and in a surprisingly short time even the most Southern South lost its fear of centralization. In the meantime the enormous economic development of the United States compelled the national government to expand its powers of control and regulation into fields where its presence necessarily displaced the competing State gov- ernments. The States made a dismal failure of the at- tempt to regulate the railways and the federal govern- ment was compelled to undertake this task by virtue of the powers concerning interstate commerce granted in the constitution. Local inspection of meat-packing and of the manufacture of food-stuffs was inadequate to the needs of the day and the federal government was under the necessity of entering another zone of govern- ment regulation. Every year following the Civil War has witnessed new accessions to the functions exer- cised by the central government. Several of the later amendments to the constitution have added more power to the federal government and subtracted from the powers of the States. Reformers are constantly agitating for more amendments to put still other powers into the hands of the federal authorities for the sake of securing greater uniformity of our laws throughout the Union. How far this centralization will continue is a diffi- cult matter to foretell. Few will deny that the su- premacy of the nation has not been for the good of the country as a whole. Some would go so far as to hope that the States may become in the future mere admin- istrative units, their boundary lines having but a sen- timental or traditional significance. Others contend that the secret of the success of a democratic form of government over so wide an area as the United States 32 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT consists in maintaining a proper balance between the powers of the States and those of the nation and that not only should matters of local concern be left to the States, but also that there should be some opportunity for the legal enactment of local differences of opinion. In general, we may conclude that in all matters wherein varying local decisions will not conflict with the welfare of the whole country, freedom of action may well remain with the States. But local and pro- vincial interests and attitudes should not be permitted to stand in the way of national progress. THE SYSTEM OF CHECKS AND BALANCES The Fathers were under the impression that the liberty of the individual could be preserved only by maintaining a separation of the three departments of government — the legislative, executive and ju- dicial. The legislature was to make the laws, the ex- ecutive was to enforce the laws, and the judiciary was to protect the rights of individuals under the laws. But, on the other hand, no department was to be entirely in- dependent of the others. Thus the Fathers provided that, while Congress should make laws, and the Presi- dent execute laws, nevertheless the President may veto a bill of Congress, while Congress may pass the bill over his veto by a two-thirds vote of both houses. On the other hand the House of Representatives may impeach the President before the Senate, which by a vote of two thirds may remove him from office. The Supreme Court, while judging the rights of citizens under the law, is composed of judges appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate, although these judges when once appointed may not be removed for political reasons. Thus each department of our CONSTITUTIONS 33 .national government balances and checks the other departments and is balanced and checked in its turn. The coordinate position of the Supreme Court. — While the System of Checks and Balances has required some modification in respect to the relations of the President and Congress, the position of independence of the Supreme Court has proved eminently wise and satisfactory. Although there is no other court in the world which enjoys the unique position of our Su- preme Court, it is incorrect to claim that the "doctrine of judicial supremacy" is a part of our political sys- tem. The Supreme Court has no supremacy; there is no superiority of it over Congress or the President. The federal judiciary does not have the power to "nullify" laws. This is a popular misconception due to an inaccurate use of words. It may declare an act of Congress to be unconstitutional and hence null and void. But an act of Congress which is in conflict with the constitution was at no time law, although tem- porarily enforced by the President. The power of the federal courts to pass upon the constitutionality of the acts of Congress is not ex- pressly stated in the constitution. It is, however, clearly implied in the language of Article iii, section 2, and Article vi, section 2. The Supreme Court first asserted this right in the celebrated case of Marbury vs. Madi- son in 1803. Before leaving office, John Adams, the last Federalist President, had appointed John Marshall as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Marshall and Thomas Jefferson, the first Democratic President, were bitter enemies; and in the case concerning the "mid- night appointments" of President Adams, the Chief Justice deliberately made a judicial pronouncement for the confusion of Thomas Jefferson, to wit: that the 34 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Supreme Court had the power to declare null and void any act of Congress which was in conflict with the con- stitution. Of course Jefferson was greatly chagrined because of the opinion of Marshall in the case of Marbury vs. Madison, and he denied the power of the judiciary to pass on the constitutionality of acts of Congress. But the Supreme Court has since that day vigorously ex- ercised this function ; and its right to do so is now un- questioned. Never has this peculiar power proved a menace to the American people, but, rather, it has been a great blessing, partly because the Supreme Court has usually given a liberal and progressive interpreta- tion to the words of the constitution whenever such an interpretation was possible, and partly because of the eminent juristic character of the men who have been appointed to the bench. Far from being absolutely independent of the Presi- dent and Congress the Supreme Court is intimately de- pendent on both. Under the constitution, Congress has power to establish or abolish all the inferior courts necessary for the expedition of business before the Su- preme Court. The judges are appointed by the Presi- dent by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and in the course of his administration the President by appointing new men to the vacancies caused by death or resignation may materially change the com- plexion of the federal judiciary. All judges may be removed by impeachment before the Senate for reason of unfair or immoral conduct; and three times in our history, the judges of inferior federal courts have been so removed. Finally, the President is, as the lawyers express it, not amenable to judicial process. In 1807, when Aaron Burr was being tried for treason, Chief CONSTITUTIONS 35 Justice Marshall, who was not adverse to embarrassing Jefferson, issued a subpoena directing the President to appear in court and bring with him a letter from Gen- eral Wilkinson. President Jefferson refused to appear or to produce the letter, and Justice Marshall was com- pelled to admit practically that he could not serve a compulsory process upon the President of the United States, for that officer as commander-in-chief of the army controlled the force upon which the ultimate ex- ecution of all governmental decision must depend. THE EXPANSION OF THE CONSTITUTION The Fathers never intended to bind coming genera- tions of Americans by immutable rules of government. They wisely foresaw that future years would bring changing political and social conditions. And with the changing conditions would come the need of new rules for new governmental activities. Indeed, one great statesman of America proposed that at the end of every fifty years there should be a total revision of all laws. Hence the Fathers included in the constitution a provision for its amendment. In Article v it was pro- vided that two thirds of both houses of Congress may propose amendments which shall become fundamental law if they are ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the States or by State conventions. Fur- thermore, on application of the legislatures of two thirds of the States, Congress shall call a constitutional convention for proposing amendments which shall be- come fundamental law when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several States or by State con- ventions. It has appeared to some critics that our amending 36 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT process is somewhat laborious, and they have compared us unfavorably with England in this respect, holding that because of the unlimited power of Parliament, the British constitution is flexible, easily amended, and hence progressive; while the American constitution is rigid, seldom amended and ultra-conservative. This comparison, however, is hardly justified, because dur- ing the past hundred and thirty years our constitution has developed in other ways than by the amending process of Article v. Lord Bryce tells the amusing story of an intelligent Englishman who having heard that the Supreme Court was created to protect the constitution and had authority to annul acts of the legislature contrary to it, spent two days in reading the constitution up and down for the purpose of finding the provisions which he had been told to admire! Great constitutional changes have occurred in America without altering one word of the written constitution, and in reality the student of American government soon learns that the fundamental law of the United States must be sought in many other sources than the few pages of the constitution of 1787. Our govern- ment has been greatly modified by methods altogether outside of the amending process. In general, there have been four ways in which our constitution has de- veloped or expanded: (1) by usage, (2) by statutory law, (3) by judicial interpretation, and (4) by amend- ment. Expansion of the constitution by usage. — The Fathers would be astonished to find to-day how ex- tensively the government which they set up in 1 789 has been modified by usage and custom. Through the prac- tices of political parties alone an almost complete revolution of our national system has occurred. For CONSTITUTIONS 37 example, the Fathers drafted the constitution with the deliberate purpose of discouraging the existence of political parties ; but shortly after the establishment of the federal government parties became one of the es- sential features of our political life. In the mode of electing our President the Fathers provided for indi- rect selection. Every four years in each State, Presi- dential Electors were to be appointed. The Presidential Electors were to meet in the capitals of their respective States and after due deliberation were to cast their votes for the best statesman in America. The indirect method as originally provided is still retained, but really the people themselves now elect the President, since the various political parties nominate tickets of Presidential Electors, who everybody knows will vote for the party candidates. The powers of the Speaker of the House of Repre- sentatives, the committee system in Congress, and the custom of "senatorial courtesy'* are other usages which have grown up during the last one hundred and thirty years. All of them are developments in our govern- ment. None of them appear in our written constitu- tion, either in the original itself or in the amendments. Some time in the future they may be incorporated in the written document as amendments. But even as they are, they should be considered as a part of our frame of government. Expansion of the constitution by statutory law. — The constitution, as we have said, is a short document. It prescribes many broad principles of government, and then leaves the details to be filled out by Congress, the President, the judiciary, or even the State legislatures. Strictly speaking, both the principles and the details ought to be called constitutional law. For example, 38 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT the constitution provides that in case of the removal of the President from office or of his death, resigna- tion, or inability to discharge the powers of this office, the same shall devolve upon the Vice-President. And in the case of the inability of the Vice-President, Con- gress shall by law provide for a successor. In pursu- ance of this power, Congress has accordingly by statu- tory act fixed the order of presidential succession in the Cabinet officers in order of their rank. Again in the Judiciary Act of 1789 and the Judicial Code of 191 1, Congress completed by statutory acts provisions of the constitution left to the discretion of Congress. Finally, as new conditions have appeared, Congress has created new governmental agencies concerning which the constitution has no specific provision what- ever. Among such agencies are the Interstate Com- merce Commission, the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Trade Commission, about which we will have something to say in a later chapter. Expansion by judicial interpretation. — The consti- tution has also been expanded by judicial interpreta- tion. It is the business of the courts to interpret and apply the law to particular cases. But interpretation may often result in giving a new meaning to words and phrases, and fortunately the Supreme Court has ex- panded the meaning of the constitution far beyond the original intentions of the Fathers. This expansion of the constitution has largely oc- curred through a wide use of the Doctrine of Implied Powers. This doctrine was most clearly stated at an early date by Alexander Hamilton in his famous opinion upon the constitutionality of the United States Bank, drawn up for the guidance of President Wash- ington, and it was vigorously applied by Chief Justice CONSTITUTIONS 39 Marshall in the formative period of our national de- velopment. This doctrine asserts that although the constitution is a grant of enumerated powers, yet these powers are not described in detail; hence it is proper to construe the government's powers as not simply those expressed in the constitution but also as all those powers which are necessary and proper for the effective exercise of the expressed powers. These necessary and proper powers are called "implied powers," as their existence is to be implied from the grant of the ex- pressed powers. One of the fields of the constitution which has been expanded by liberal interpretation is that of the power of Congress over interstate trade. The constitution provided that Congress shall have power to "regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States." But what does the term "commerce" include? And what does the verb "to regulate" mean? The Su- preme Court was called upon to define these terms in 1824, in the celebrated case of Gibbons vs. Ogden. This case came on appeal from the State courts of New York. Ogden had filed a bill in equity asking for an injunction to restrain Gibbons from operating a ferry between the New Jersey shore and New York City, claiming that the legislature of New York had given Robert Fulton, the inventor, a monopoly of the right to navigate steamboats in the rivers and harbors of New York, and that he, Ogden, had acquired by pur- chase all the rights of Robert Fulton. The com- plainant alleged that Gibbons, in operating his ferry from the New Jersey shore, violated the monopoly granted by the State legislature. In this case the Su- preme Court found it necessary to decide whether or not navigation was included in the term "commerce." 40 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT And it was also necessary to decide whether the phrase "to regulate" implied that Congress had the exclusive power to regulate. On both of these issues the Court decided in the affirmative. Commerce was held to in- clude navigation; and Congress was held to have ex- clusive power to regulate interstate commerce. The monopoly granted by the State legislature was held to be an interference with the powers of Congress and was therefore null and void, while Gibbons was per- mitted to operate his ferry without further hindrance. The interesting case which we have just described illustrates the manner whereby the constitution has been expanded by the interpretation of the courts. The method of procedure has been practical and based upon common sense. Thus the regulation of com- merce has been extended to cover all the new inventions in the rapidly changing industrial world. The Fathers never dreamed of the wonderful mechanical devices which would open up our country to trade and indus- try. Twenty years after the sitting of the Philadel- phia Convention, Robert Fulton tested his steamboat, the Clermont, on the Hudson River, and, to the amaze- ment of the onlookers, it made headway against the current at the rate of four miles an hour. In 1828 the construction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway was begun. Transportation by steam has been the most important feature in the development of economic re- sources. Since the beginning of railways, the tele- graph and telephone have appeared; and, at a later date, pipe-lines for transportation of oil across the continent, and aeroplane transportation. The com- merce powers of Congress have been interpreted as extending to the regulation of all these inventions when applied to interstate trade. CONSTITUTIONS 41 Expansion of the constitution by amendment. — In the last place the constitution has been expanded by amendment, as provided for under Article v. The method employed is that of proposal by Congress and ratification by the State legislatures. Very few amend- ments proposed by Congress have failed of ratification by three fourths of the States. In all there have been nineteen amendments. The first ten were adopted in 1 79 1 as a Bill of Rights, guaranteeing certain rights of citizens against the encroachment of the federal government. The Eleventh, adopted in 1798, pro- hibits citizens from suing a State in the federal courts. This amendment is one of the landmarks in the strug- gle between the nation and the States, which we have already described. The Twelfth Amendment was ratified in 1804, as a result of the election of both Jefferson and Burr to the Presidency in 1800. It re- quires that the Presidential Electors must designate in their ballots the names of the men they wish as Presi- dent and as Vice-President. The Thirteenth, Four- teenth, and Fifteenth Amendments are the so-called Civil War amendments, being ratified in 1865, 1868, and 1870. During the next forty-three years no amendments were made to the constitution, but in 1913 a series of progressive amendments appear. The Six- teenth Amendment gives Congress the power to tax incomes without apportionment among the States ; the Seventeenth provides for direct election of Senators; the Eighteenth for prohibition ; and the Nineteenth for woman suffrage. It is perhaps not too much to say that William Jennings Bryan, the thrice defeated Democratic candidate for President, was more in- fluential than any other man in promoting the adoption of the last four amendments to the constitution. Thus 42 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT while Mr. Bryan has never succeeded in becoming President, he has nevertheless contributed much to change the form of our government. The ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment was the culmination of the movement for woman suffrage which began long before the Civil War. In 1848 Lucretia Mott issued a call for the first national convention upon woman suffrage to meet at Seneca Falls, New York. During the following years the movement slowly gained head- way, until in 19 12 the Progressive Party included this issue in its presidential platform. Finally in the sum- mer of 1919 Congress by a two thirds vote of both houses passed a resolution submitting the so-called Susan B. Anthony Amendment to the States for rati- fication. In August, 1920, the legislatures of three fourths of the States had ratified the amendment, and it thereby became a part of the constitution. The liberal character of our constitutional de- velopment. — The expansion of the constitution in the four methods which we have just described has meant a broadening and liberalizing of our government. The suffrage has been extended; the election of Senators has been put in the hands of the people as well as the election of President in all but form; the government has been made more democratic. Another tendency has appeared in late years, namely, to make the gov- ernment more simple and efficient — to eliminate the in- consistencies, to reduce the unnecessary political agencies, to lessen the friction between the nation and the States, and between the executive and the legisla- tive departments, to introduce good business methods into our political system. The democratization of our government has been carried, theoretically at least, to a very high degree. But our democracy will prove a CONSTITUTIONS 43 failure unless a corresponding degree of efficiency and responsibility can be maintained, and thus constitu- tional amendments which make for more efficient and responsible government are to be welcomed. In the words of Washington's Farewell Address : "The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of gov- ernment. But the constitution which at any time exists till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government, presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government." THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS Like the federal government, the State governments derive their authority from constitutions. In the Revo- lutionary War each of the thirteen original States adopted a frame of government, except Connecticut and Rhode Island, which continued to use their co- lonial charters as State constitutions. New Hamp- shire was the first of the States to adopt a constitution, taking this step as early as January 5, 1776. Virginia and Pennsylvania also adopted constitutions in 1776. The constitution of Massachusetts was not framed until 1 780, but the work was so well done that with the exception of amendments from time to time it remains as the fundamental law of that commonwealth even to this day. When the thirteen States entered the Union each State retained its constitution, the only change being that any part of a State constitution which was in conflict with the federal constitution became automati- cally void. Since 1789 the States have been free to 44 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT amend or to revise their constitutions. All States have used this right, some of them many times. Constitu- tional progress is a prime necessity in State govern- ments as well as in the national government, and the amendment of constitutions has indicated a healthy growth in our republican institutions. Comparison of the early constitutions with later constitutions. — -The first State constitutions were very short documents. The New Hampshire "form of government" in 1776 contained only nine hundred words. The first Virginian constitution was less than fifteen hundred words long. All of these early con- stitutions, in a few well-chosen words, provided for a framework of government. They were an epitome of colonial political experience. They also drew a sharp line between constitutional law and statutory law. The later constitutions, especially those adopted in the last two decades, are comparatively long and de- tailed. Oklahoma ratified a constitution in 1907 which contained fifty thousand words. Many of these new constitutions, as Chief Justice Taft has pointed out, break down the American distinction between consti- tutional and statutory law; they contain a mass of law which more properly should be enacted by the legisla- ture rather than by the constitutional convention. The Oklahoma constitution, for instance, contains a code of law on corporations. Such procedure is really harm- ful; for constitutions are generally more difficult of amendment than are statutory laws ; and, thus, shackles are inadvertently placed upon both the legislatures and the courts. When economic and social conditions are rapidly changing, a mass of constitutional details be- comes an impediment to progress. A constitution should be limited to a statement of the principles of CONSTITUTIONS 45 government and of the distribution of powers. It should never contain policies of government. Hence, the attempt of the Oklahoma people to regulate busi- ness by constitutional law rather than by statutory law is not wholly fortunate. Framing the State constitutions. — Some of the earlier State constitutions were framed by the State legislatures. But all later constitutions have been framed by special bodies called constitutional conven- tions. A constitutional convention, while organized some- what like a legislature, is considerably different from such a body. While our State legislatures are divided into two chambers (an upper house and a lower house), a constitutional convention is unicameral. It is a deliberative nonpartisan assembly. A greater free- dom of debate than obtains in our legislatures is de- sirable, and hence the ordinary rules for preventing obstructive tactics may be omitted. The business of a convention is to construct or reconstruct the form of government and to distribute the powers of govern- ment. It is a process of building for the future. Hence a higher type of citizen is attracted to service in a con- stitutional convention than ordinarily sits in a State legislature. When Virginia amended her constitution in 1829, John Marshall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, served in the convention at Richmond, and two ex-Presidents, Madison and Monroe, were members. The work of drafting the text of a constitution is ardu- ous. Extreme care must be taken in the matter of phraseology alone. The selection of words is impor- tant ; the misplacing of even a comma in punctuating a sentence may render its meaning contrary to the intent of the framers. When completed, the constitution is 46 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT usuall}' submitted to the people for ratification or re- jection. Since 1870 only five revised constitutions have been adopted without popular vote. Amendments to State constitutions. — It is not always necessary to call a constitutional convention in order to amend a State constitution. There are several other methods of amendment. Some States employ more than one method. (1) Under one plan the constitution may be amended by act of the legislature without a direct popular vote. This is similar to the British method; with us it is used by only one State, Delaware. (2) Most of the States employ a method whereby amendments may be proposed by a constitutional con- vention. The constitution of New York provides that every twentieth year, or oftener if the legislature so decides, the electors shall vote upon the question of summoning a convention to revise the constitution. If the vote is in the affirmative, then the electors shall choose a certain number of delegates from each dis- trict to sit in the convention, and the amendments pro- posed by the convention shall be submitted to a popu- lar vote within six weeks of the adjournment of the convention. Other States require that the vote of the people upon the question of calling a convention shall be taken every ten years. (3) Besides the second method which we have just described many State constitutions contain a provision for the proposal of amendments by the legislature and for the submission of such proposals to the vote of the people. In these States the legislature may propose a constitutional amendment which becomes a part of the fundamental law if ratified by the people at the polls. Since the holding of a constitutional convention CONSTITUTIONS 47 is expensive and should be undertaken only when the constitution needs a general overhauling, it is con- venient to have a means whereby parts of the consti- tution may be readily altered. In several of the States, however, this process of amendment has been rendered worthless because of peculiar provisions attached to its use. In Indiana, under the constitution of 1851, two successive legislatures must propose an amendment before it is submitted to the people for ratification, and no additional amendment may be proposed by the legislature to the people while any proposal which has already passed the legislature is await- ing the action of the succeeding legislature or the vote of the people. The Indiana constitu- tion also requires that an amendment is to be considered as adopted only if a majority of the electors actually attending the polls voted for the amendment. As the amendments are usually submitted at the gen- eral elections for State officials, and as many electors failed to vote upon the proposed amendment, such a majority vote has been difficult to obtain. Further- more, since an amendment once submitted to the people is considered as being before them indefinitely until either ratified or rejected by a majority vote, during this period no new amendments may be proposed. The constitutional development of Indiana has been paralyzed for more than half a century. (4) In some States, amendments may be proposed by popular initiative. Oregon, in 1902, adopted this mode of altering her constitution. Voters hereafter might propose amendments by petition. If the petition bears the requisite number of valid signatures, the pro- posal is submitted in a referendum to the people, with- out any action of the legislature. If ratified at the 48 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT polls, the proposal becomes constitutional law. Four- teen States have thus far applied the initiative and ref- erendum to the proposal of constitutional amendments, although some States have adopted restrictions which retard the practice of this method. In Massachusetts two succeeding legislatures must vote on the proposal, and it does not go to a vote of the people unless one fourth of all the elected members in joint session vote favorably. The amendment of State constitutions is an impor- tant matter. Industrial and social conditions are rap- idly progressing and the government must be prepared to meet these new conditions. Much of the irritation expressed against our State courts is a result not of any arbitrary conduct on the part of the courts but because of the failure of the people to amend their constitutions in a proper manner. The duty of the courts is to apply the laws and the constitution; and if the people fail to provide the necessary constitutional authority, the courts cannot be blamed for the mis- carriage of justice. For Further Reading The Constitution as the Supreme Law of the Land. — Emlin McClain, Constitutional Law in the United States, ch. i. The Supremacy of the National Government. — W. W. Willoughby, American Constitutional System, ch. i, v-x; James Bryce, American Commonwealth, I, ch. xxvii-xxx ; J. T. Young, New American Government and Its Work, pp. 3-9 ; Woodrow Wilson, Constitutional Government in the United States, ch. vii; H. L. West, Federal Power: Its Growth and Necessity, ch. i, ii, xiii. The System of Checks and Balances. — Woodrow CONSTITUTIONS 49 Wilson, Constitutional Government in the United States, pp. 54-57, 198-222; T. M. Cooky, Principles of Consti- tutional Law (1898), ch. vii; The Federalist (Edited by P. L. Ford), No. 48, 51 ; Everett Kimball, National Gov- ernment of the United States, pp. 41-43, 67-73; W. B. Munro, Government of the United States, pp. 47-52; C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, pp. 152-155; Jesse Macy and J. W. Gannaway, Comparative Free Government, pp. 24-30; J. Q. Dealey, State and Government, ch. xi; C. G. and B. M. Haines, Principles and Problems of Government, pp. 228-231 ; W. F. Wil- loughby, Government of Modern States, ch. xi; J. W. Garner, Introduction to Political Science, pp. 407-417. The Supreme Court and the Unconstitutionality of Acts. — Emlin McClain, Constitutional Law in the United States, pp. 18-25; W. W. Willoughby, Constitu- tional Law of the United States, I, ch. i ; Edward S. Cor- vin, Doctrine of Judicial Review, ch. i ; A. C. McLaugh- lin, The Courts, The Constitution, and Parties, ch. i; C. A. Beard, The Supreme Court and the Constitution, ch. vii; B. F. Moore, The Supreme Court and Unconsti- tutional Legislation, pp. 171-241. Amending the Constitution. — James Bryce, Amer- ican Commonwealth, I, ch. xxxi ; C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, pp. 60-71. Expanding the Constitution. — W. B. Munro, Gov- ernment of the United States, pp. 57-70; C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, pp. 72-77; P. S. Reinsch, Readings on American Federal Government, PP- 739-773- The Relation of the Federal and the State Gov- ernments. — W. W. Willoughby, American Constitu- tional System, ch. i, v-x; Woodrow Wilson, Constitu- tional Government in the United States, ch. vii. Admission of New States into the Union. — W. W. Willoughby, American Constitutional System, ch. xviii. Extradition of Criminals. — W. W. Willoughby, 50 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Constitutional Law of the United States, I, pp. 222-224; pp. 148-149. State Constitutions. — C. A. Beard, American Gov- ernment and Politics, pp. 445-454; J. Q. Dealey, Grozvth of American State Constitutions, ch. iii-viii. Amendments of State Constitutions. — W. F. Dodd, Revision and Amendment of State Constitutions, ch. i; R. S. Hoar, Constitutional Conventions, ch. xviii; Bulletins for Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, 1917, no. i, xxxv ; Illinois Constitutional Convention Bul- letins, 1920, no. i, iii. CHAPTER III CITIZENSHIP AND SUFFRAGE The Fathers of the American constitution consid- ered the people as the source of political power, and the most outstanding principle of the Declaration of In- dependence is that governments exist to secure to men the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. The preamble of the constitution was made to read : "We the People of the United States, . . . do ordain and establish this Constitution/'' In America, sovereignty, or the supreme power, rests in the people. In the memorable words of Lincoln, ours is a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people." NATURE OF CITIZENSHIP By the word "people,'' the Fathers meant citizens. Although the original constitution speaks of citizens of the United States, no definition of citizenship is given. The Fathers evidently assumed that the definition of the term as found in English law would continue to be used, namely, citizenship is recognized mem- bership in a political community. It is to be deter- mined by allegiance, the tie which binds the subject to the government in return for the protection which the government affords to him. Citizenship is a privi- lege which attaches to every man, woman, and child who is thus a member of the state. All are entitled to 5i 52 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT the rights of citizenship and all owe the obligations of citizenship. Even a babe in arms has the right to own or transfer property or even to bring a suit in court, like any adult, although, of course, the helpless- ness and ignorance of the infant require that such ac- tion must be brought in its name by the parent or some adult friend. The law fixes an age limit, usually twenty-one years, when children are more or less under the guidance of their parents or guardians. But even as minors, children have rights and owe obligations to the state. The dual citizenship in the United States. — In our early history considerable confusion occurred from the lack of a definition of "citizen" under the constitution. Was a citizen of a State, by that fact alone, a citizen of the United States ? And was a citi- zen of the United States also a citizen of the State in which he resided ? In the Dred Scott case, decided in 1857, the Supreme Court held that a citizen of one State was not necessarily a citizen of the United States, and that Dred Scott, a former Negro slave who claimed to be a citizen of the State of Missouri, was not a citizen of the United States, for no State could by naturalizing an alien or a slave, invest him with the rights and privileges of federal citizenship. The question of our dual citizenship was greatly clarified by the Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, which provides that "All persons born or nat- uralized in the United States, and subject to the juris- diction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State in which they reside." Aliens resident in the United States are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and hence all children born to them while in our country, are under the terms of the Four- CITIZENSHIP AND SUFFRAGE 53 teenth Amendment, citizens. There is one exception : the diplomatic representatives of foreign states at Washington are not considered as under the jurisdic- tion of our government, and hence their children born in our country are not American citizens. On the other hand, although the immigration of Mongolians into the United States is prohibited by law, yet, ac- cording to the Fourteenth Amendment, all children born of the one hundred and fifty thousand or more Chinese and Japanese aliens in our land are citizens of the United States. We have, thus, a dual citizenship in America. A person is a citizen of the United States and at the same time a citizen of the State in which he resides, a man's residence being determined by his domicile or home. Each of these citizenships confers certain rights and immunities. As a citizen of the United States a man has certain rights guaranteed to him under the federal constitution. As a citizen of a State he also has other rights guaranteed under the consti- tution of his State. The custom of modern nations as to citizenship. — Citizenship is acquired by birth, naturalization, or annexation. The rule for determining whether a per- son is a native-born citizen is not uniform among na- tions. Some nations hold to the rule that all children born of citizens even when abroad are citizens of the home state. Other nations hold to the law that all persons born within the country are citizens of that country. England, Portugal, and most of the South American states follow the former rule. Germany, Austria, Sweden, and Switzerland follow the latter rule. France, in a measure, may be considered as fol- lowing both the above rules. The United States like- 54 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT wise follows both rules; the Fourteenth Amendment provides that all persons born within our jurisdiction are citizens; and an act of Congress provides that "All children heretofore born or hereafter born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, whose fathers were or may be at the time of their birth citi- zens thereof, are declared to be citizens of the United States; but the rights of citizenship shall not descend to children whose fathers never resided in the United States." In the majority of states a woman by marriage ac- quires the citizenship of her husband. Such is the law in the United States. By marriage with an alien, then, since no one can have two allegiances, the wife loses her rights as a citizen of her native state. Upon the death of her husband, or the annulment of the mar- riage, she may regain her American citizenship by registering within one year at an American consulate if abroad, or by residence in the United States. THE ALIEN AND THE ACQUISITION OF CITIZENSHIP A foreigner may acquire American citizenship by re- nouncing his former allegiance and complying with certain requirements. The constitution gave Congress power to make a uniform naturalization law, and Con- gress by statutory act has prescribed a method of naturalization. Since 1802 the minimum residence re- quirements have been five years. The business of re- nouncing a former allegiance and assuming a new citi- zenship is a serious matter, and the law on the subject is very precise. Naturalization. — There are three steps in the ob- taining of citizenship papers : ( 1 ) the declaration of CITIZENSHIP AND SUFFRAGE 55 intention, (2) the petition for naturalization, and (3) the certificate of naturalization. In the first place the alien must secure his "first papers" or declaration of intention. This can be ob- tained in a Clerk's Office of a United States District Court, or of any County Court. The declaration may be made as soon as the applicant arrives in the United States, provided he is eighteen years old. He must swear/or take an affirmation that he renounces his al- legiance to the country of which he has been a subject, that he is not an anarchist nor a polygamist, and that he wishes to be naturalized and reside permanently in the United States. Thereupon he receives from the Court Clerk a copy of his declaration of intention. The declaration of intention becomes invalid for all purposes after seven years. The second step is the filing of the petition for nat- uralization. This should be done not less than two years nor more than seven years after the date of the declaration of intention. The applicant must now have resided five years in the United States, and he must bring into the Court Clerk's Office two witnesses who are citizens of the United States and who have known him personally in the United States. These witnesses are to testify that the applicant is of good character, is attached to the principles of the constitution of the United States, and would make a good citizen. The applicant must now be able to speak the English lan- guage unless physically disabled, he must not be op- posed to organized government; he must not be a po- lygamist, he must be attached to the principles of the constitution of the United States, and he must be pre- pared to swear that he intends to renounce his alle- giance to the country of which he has been a subject. 56 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT There can be no divided allegiance, nor any mental reservations on this point. And the applicant must intend to reside permanently in the United States. The third and last visit is made to the court at least three months after the riling of the second papers, when the applicant and his two witnesses appear in open court before a judge upon a fixed date. Before proceeding to this third step the applicant should know something of the history and geography of the United States. He should have read and studied the Declara- tion of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. And he should have made a study of State, county, and city government. The judge may examine the applicant upon these subjects. If the judge is satisfied with all the preceding steps, the sol- emn oath of allegiance is then administered to the ap- plicant, whereby he renounces all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, or state and promises in the following words: "I will support and defend the constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, so help me God." A certificate of naturalization, of- ficially signed and sealed, is thereupon handed to the new citizen. The naturalization of the father of a family includes his wife and minor children. The Americanization program. — There has been an attitude expressed of late years, that immigrants who come to America to make their home should undertake as soon as possible to acquire the rights and responsi- bilities of citizenship. And one of the prominent fea- tures of the Americanization Program inaugurated during the World War was that of more efficiently preparing aliens for the privileges and duties of Amer- CITIZENSHIP AND SUFFRAGE 57 ican citizens. It has sometimes happened that un- scrupulous politicians in our municipalities, wishing to secure more votes, have herded ignorant immigrants into court, where, with the connivance of corrupt of- ficials, citizenship papers have been fraudulently granted. These mass-made citizens then received a bribe Jor their trouble, and in the next election they were expected to vote as the "boss" directed them. Such outrages are no longer common occurrences. And a genuine effort is now made on the part of several well-organized associations to give the immigrant an opportunity to make himself a good citizen. Night schools have been opened; libraries established. In the interval of two or more years between the signing of the first and the second papers the applicant for American citizenship should be taught at least the fol- lowing subjects : the English language, both spoken and written, United States geography, United States history, the Declaration of Independence, the Con- stitution of the United States, and the government of the State, county, and city. The business of qualify- ing oneself to become a citizen of the United States should be made a dignified and ennobling process. The alien in the United States. — In ancient times the foreigner was treated as an enemy. In early Greek or Roman history the outsider was a barbarian to be attacked on sight. But with the rise of trade and ship- ping, merchants and sailors were tolerated as oc- casional visitors. In the modern world citizens of one state are free in a very large degree to enter and reside within the boundaries of other states. International Law, however, does not give any person an absolute right to enter another country. An alien enters and resides in a state subject to the will of that state. 58 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Under International Law a nation may exclude, or even expel, any or all aliens from its jurisdiction. While residing within a state aliens must obey the laws of that state, and they are subject to the same punish- ment for infraction of these laws as are the citizens of the state. At the same time an obligation rests upon the state to protect the life, liberty, and property of aliens whom it permits to reside within its jurisdiction. America has been generous toward the alien in our midst in respect to legal rights. An alien may own property. He may sue in our federal and State courts. He is entitled to the rights and privileges guaranteed to our own citizens in the federal and State constitu- tions, such as trial by jury, religious freedom, free speech, liberty to move about and trade and seek em- ployment. Under the Homestead Act of 1862 Con- gress has granted millions of acres to foreigners. In some States the alien may, under certain conditions, vote at all elections, and even hold office. Indeed, there are few restrictions imposed upon an alien which would put him at a disadvantage when compared with either the native-born citizen or the naturalized for- eigner. At the present time there are about four mil- lion aliens in the United States who have not declared their intention of becoming American citizens. Immigration. — America has been remarkably gen- erous in admitting immigrants into our borders. Dur- ing our Revolutionary War the French statesman Tur- got declared : "The American nation is the hope of mankind. The shelter which it is going to offer to the oppressed of all nations will console the earth." Tur- got was right. Ever since the day that the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock we have considered our country in a peculiar sense to be the refuge of the op- CITIZENSHIP AND SUFFRAGE 59 pressed. And we have always asserted the right of European subjects to come to America, renounce their former allegiance, expatriate themselves, and acquire our American citizenship. Before 1820 Europeans from the continent came in only small numbers. By 1842 a hundred thousand immigrants came yearly, while after the year 1880 hordes of aliens poured through Ellis Island. Notable among these immigrants besijd€s the English, Scotch, and Irish, have been the Germans, Scandinavians, Austrians, French Cana- dians, Italians, Russian Jews, Magyars from Hungary, Bohemians, Poles, Croatians, Slovenians, Slovaks, and Greeks. On the eve of the World War, a million immigrants were landing on our shores each year. This huge influx has been both a blessing and a misfortune. It has been a blessing because it is noble to offer an asylum to the oppressed people of the world, and be- cause the development of our natural resources has re- quired the man-power which the incoming European races have supplied. And many of the newcomers, like Carl Schurz, have made valuable contributions to our cultural life. But immigration has produced some unfortunate conditions. It has increased the conges- tion of our cities. It has injected great masses of dis- contented populations into our country. It has brought anarchists and maligners of our social, political, and religious institutions, and even such outcasts as Czol- golz, the assassinator of President McKinley. Withal the huge immigration of the past forty years has greatly increased the difficulties of the problem of good government. Expulsion of undesirable aliens. — In late years the United States has found it necessary to take ex- treme measures against certain classes of aliens. As 60 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT we have already seen, a nation has a right under In- ternational Law to expel foreigners from its borders. In 1798 Congress passed the Alien Act empowering the President for two years to apprehend and remove dangerous aliens. No deportations, however, took place under authority of this act. Somewhat similar powers of expulsion were granted to the Secretary of Labor in the Act of October 16, 19 18, which authorized this official to deport aliens who advocated the over- throw of organized government. Under this law, in December, 19 19, some two hundred and fifty alien anarchists were deported to Russia upon the transport Buford. Some inconsistencies in our laws upon aliens. — Some strange anomalies exist in our government with reference to alien residents. Under the federal con- stitution the qualifications for voters for Presidential Electors in each State are the same as those for the lower house of the legislature in that State. Six States — Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, and Wisconsin — permit aliens who have declared their intention of becoming citizens of the United States to vote at all elections. In these States, therefore, per- sons are permitted to vote in the presidential elections, who are not citizens of the United States. Again, under International Law, every nation owes a certain degree of protection to all aliens whom it allows to reside within its borders. But in the United States the protection of a person's life and property from mob violence is within the jurisdiction of the States and not of the federal government. And the diplomatic relations of the United States with foreign countries have often been embarrassed because of the failure of a State to perform its duty and because of CITIZENSHIP AND SUFFRAGE 61 the inability of the federal government to compel the performance of this duty. Another problem is that concerning the status of the alien who has taken his first papers but not his second or third papers. The American government has often attempted to main- tain that such men are entitled to all the rights of our citizenship and that they are under the protection of our government even when they return to their native country. Complications, of course, arise when such citizens return to a country which may deny the right of expatriation and compel the wanderers to do mili- tary service. A number of aliens have come to Amer- ica in the past to take their first papers solely for the purpose of securing at small cost the protection of a powerful and generous nation in foreign parts. Racial problems in the United States. — We should not forget that we have other racial problems which concern good citizenship. The chief of these is the Negro problem. In our population of one hundred and five millions there are ten and a half million colored people. The bulk of this population has always been in the South ; but during the World War large numbers of Southern Negroes and their families, attracted by high wages, have come into our Northern manufactur- ing towns. Here they have found the problem of housing difficult and their contact with other racial groups has often been unfortunate. A little over half a century ago the Negroes were slaves. The Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 guaran- teed their freedom. The Fourteenth Amendment made them citizens of the United States and of the State in which they resided, and was also intended to protect them from the loss of any civic rights by State action, while the Fifteenth Amendment, adopted in 62 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT 1870, aimed to guarantee their rights politically, in- cluding the right to vote. This sudden grant of full political rights to a great body of former slaves was a very serious matter. From the excesses of the "carpet- bag" days, when the State governments fell into the hands of unscrupulous whites who easily manipulated the Negro vote, there was, of course, a strong reaction. And some Southern States still disenfranchise a part — not always the greater part — of the Negro vote by educational tests and other methods. A few years ago the celebrated leader of the colored people, Booker T. Washington, advised his race to give up, for the present, any agitation of the suffrage question and to look more to bettering their economic condition. Acquisition of citizenship by annexation. — Citi- zenship may also be acquired by annexation. When Louisiana and Florida were annexed it was provided by treaty that the inhabitants should be admitted as soon as possible to all the rights and immunities of citizens of the United States. And when the Republic of Hawaii made an annexation treaty with the United States, in 1898, it was stipulated that all those who were formerly citizens of the island should become citizens of the United States. The treaty of 1899 whereby Spain ceded Porto Rico and the Philippines to the United States left the question of citizenship with Congress. In 191 7 Congress made the Porto Ricans citizens of the United States, but Congress has not yet seen fit to confer the status of full American citizenship upon the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands. Nevertheless, the Filipinos owe allegiance to the United States, and our government in return owes them protection in life, liberty, and property. Inter- national Law recognizes the existence of such a tie, CITIZENSHIP AND SUFFRAGE 63 even though the Filipinos are not considered citizens. Under International Law these people are called na- tionals. RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF CITIZENSHIP Civil rights. — Civil or civic rights are the privi- leges, liberties, immunities, and dues which belong to the citizen. These rights are guaranteed to the citizen in the /federal and State constitutions. Many of the State constitutions have a chapter or section headed "Bill of Rights." And we have already seen that the first ten amendments to the federal constitution were also called a "Bill of Rights," although many other civil rights had been guaranteed in the original text itself. These rights, such as jury trial, habeas corpus, free speech, and religious liberty, are the heritage of ages of constitutional history. The rights protected by the federal and the State constitutions overlap each other, but are not always identical. For instance, the federal constitution guarantees that the federal gov- ernment will not infringe upon the religious liberty of a citizen of the United States nor take his property without just compensation. The State constitutions make the same guarantee to the citizens of the respec- tive States. On the other hand, a person enjoys the right to use the navigable rivers of the United States, to trade with a citizen of another State, and to acquire State citizenship by residence in a State, solely because of his federal citizenship, while he enjoys the right of protection from mob violence, the right to acquire and possess property of every kind, the right to engage in business, and the right to sue in the courts of his State solely because of his State citizenship. In connection with the right to sue in the courts and be sued it should 64 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT be noted that corporations are treated as "citizens" of the State under whose laws they are chartered. Political rights. — All citizens equally possess civil rights. But not all citizens have political rights. The latter are the rights of participation in the government, the right of voting and of holding office. Sometimes people confuse political and civil rights. Voting is not a civil right, nor is holding office a civil right. Chil- dren cannot vote in any State, and yet they are citizens. Before the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment women were without a vote in many States. Under the federal constitution also, no one may hold the office of Representative unless he is twenty-five years old and has been seven years a citizen of the United States, and no one is eligible to the office of President unless he is thirty-five years old and a native-born citi- zen. The distinction between the two classes of rights was illustrated in the case of Minor vs. Happersett, which came before the Supreme Court in 1874. Mrs. Minor, the plaintiff, was a native-born free white citi- zen of the United States and of the State of Missouri, and over twenty-one years of age. Wishing to vote in the presidential election of 1872, she applied to Hap- persett, the register of voters in her election district, to enroll as a lawful voter. Happersett refused, giving for cause that Mrs. Minor was not a male citizen of the United States, and consequently not entitled to vote. Mrs. Minor thereupon sued Happersett for al- leged willful refusal to place her name on the polls, by which refusal she had been deprived of her right to vote. The court decided that while Mrs. Minor was clearly a citizen of the United States, she was not entitled to vote because the right of suffrage was not necessarily one of the privileges and immunities of CITIZENSHIP AND SUFFRAGE 65 citizenship. The provision of the constitution of the State of Missouri which confined the right to vote to "male citizens of the United States" was not considered by the court to be a violation of the federal constitu- tion. Woman suffrage. — The Fathers left the question of suffrage to the decision of the States. The consti- tution/ thus provided that the qualifications of voters for Presidential Electors and for Representatives in Congress should be the same in each State as those for the members of the lower house of the legislature. After the Civil War, however, the Fifteenth Amend- ment limited the control of the States over suffrage providing that "the rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Even before this time, as we have already seen in the preceding chapter, the movement for woman suffrage had begun, and thisr/ movement culminated in the Nineteenth Amendment, adopted in 1920, prohibiting any abridgment of the right to vote on account of sex. In the meantime many States had already granted to women the power to vote in all elections. Wyoming as a territory adopted woman's suffrage as early as the year 1869. Alto- gether, women were allowed full rights to vote in fifteen States before the final ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. The possession of political rights entails certain moral obligations. Every citizen who has the right to vote and fails to exercise that right according to his convictions and best judgment is guilty of gross neglect of duty to the state. The inefficient and dishonest government in some of our States and municipalities ' ', 66 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT is due to the fact that many intelligent citizens have disregarded the duties which they owe to their com- monwealth by failing to register and vote at elections. Now that women have the ballot in national, State, and local elections, they share in this responsibility. Here- after the fault for bad government will fall upon women equally with men. The duties and obligations of citizenship. — Theodore Roosevelt said, "The fundamental evil in this country is the lack of sufficiently general appreciation of the responsibility of citizenship." Too frequently people emphasize the rights of citizenship without con- sidering the obligations which are also attached to citizenship. We should not forget, however, that rights and obligations travel hand in hand. We cannot have the one without the other. We should not expect to receive constant benefits from the state and never give to it corresponding service. The good citizen owes much to the state from which he has received his education, liberties, rights, and pro- tection. He owes the duty of jury service, of keeping the peace and helping others to keep the peace. He should be willing to sacrifice his life for his country, if need be, in time of war and public disturbance. He owes taxes for the support of the government in pro- portion to his ability to pay. He owes personal service in office according to his ability to serve. One of the beautiful things of the ancient Massachusetts town- meeting government was the willingness of the ablest men to undertake public duties. The good citizen also has an obligation to inform himself upon political questions of the day, to judge reasonably of men and measures, and to cast his ballot after this due con- sideration and reflection. CITIZENSHIP AND SUFFRAGE 67 Rights and obligations are derived from the ethical ideals of rational human beings. They are based on common sense, and existed even before governments were established. But it is one of the chief functions of government to give these ethical rights the sanction of law, and to enforce them against all violators. Be- fore the state so acted individuals were accustomed to secure their rights against aggressors by means of threats and violence if necessary. But in time the state did away with this method of securing justice. Rights were then defined by law, and legal means of remedying wrongs were provided. Henceforth it was illegal for the individual to enforce a right save in the courts of the state. The state became the fountain of justice and sole agent in righting of wrongs. It cannot be too strongly impressed upon all classes of citizens that every civil and political right secured to us by the government of State or nation implies a corresponding obligation. The patriotism of any citi- zen who talks much about his rights but never wil- lingly renders a service to the state is open to serious suspicion. Why should not the citizen aim to make himself an efficient force in the community? As Dr. Hough has said : "Our American citizen must study his own life, its weakness and its strength, its limitations and its powers, and as he comes to know himself bet- ter he will be able to take a new and sympathetic and accurate appraisal of all his fellow citizens. It is one thing to study citizenship as a collection of duties for other men; it is quite another to study myself and my duties as a citizen. Am I willing to run personal risks for the good of the community ? Am I willing to make sacrifices for the sake of reform and civic betterment ? Am I willing to wear the patriot's shoes when they are 68 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT very uncomfortable for the feet? It is only as indi- vidual men will ask these questions and answer them in the affirmative that there is any use in talking of such a thing as genuine citizenship. The man who has studied his own life, has fought his own battles with selfishness and greed, and has won his own victories, is ready to be a leader in the matters of practical patriotism. The man who will vote for what is good for the country, even if it is not personally good for him, is a sort of civic saint." For Further Reading The Dual Citizenship in the United States. — Emlin McClain, Constitutional Law in the United States, pp. 275-279; Everett Kimball, National Government of the United States, pp. 73-78 ; W. W. Willoughby, Amer- ican Constitutional System, pp. 241-249; J. T. Young, New American Government, pp. 486-489. Customs of Modern States as to Citizenship. — G. G. Wilson and G. F. Tucker, International Law, pp. 130-141. Naturalization. — Frederick Van Dyne, Treatise on the Law of Naturalization in the United States; H. D. Thompson, How to Obtain Citizenship Papers, (issued by the National Security League, 19 West 44th Street, New York City, and mailed to any address for a two- cent stamp) ; N. C. Fowler, How to Obtain Citizenship. Immigration and Aliens in the United States. — J. R. Commons, Races and Immigrants in America, pp. 179-197; J. W. Jenks and W. L. Lauck, The Immigration Problem, pp. 127-146; Grace Abbott, The Immigrant and the Community, ch. x. Americanization Program. — Winthrop Talbot, Americanization, pp. 38-43 ; E. S. Bogardus, Essentials of Americanization, pp. 11-22; Albert Shaw, President Wilson's State Papers and Addresses, pp. 290-294; An- CITIZENSHIP AND SUFFRAGE 69 nual Report of the Secretary of the Interior for 1918 (Washington, 1918) pp. n-32; Philip Davis, Immigra- tion and Americanization; Selected Readings, pp. 673- 647; Americanization Studies (Allen T. Burns, Di- rector). The Rights and Immunities of Citizens. — A. B. Hart, Actual Government, pp. 19-33; A. J. Lien, Privi- leges and Immunities of Citizens of the United States, ch. v(i. Duties and Obligations of Citizens. — E. L. Godkin, Problems of Modem Democracy, pp. 199-224 ; Theodore Roosevelt, Applied Ethics; Albert Shaw, President Wil- son's State Papers and Addresses, pp. 114-118; R. T. Ely, Social Law of Service, pp. 77-102; Elihu Root, Ad- dresses on Government and Citizenship, pp. 3-19. Woman Suffrage. — Carrie C. Catt, Woman Suffrage by Federal Constitutional Amendment, pp. 1-11; Helen M. Sumner, Equal Suffrage, pp. 214-260; Elizabeth Cady Stanton, History of Woman Suffrage, I, ch. i-vii ; K. H. Porter, History of Suffrage in the United States, ch. vii, ix; W. H. Allen, Woman's Part in Government, ch. v ; W. F. Ogburn and Inez Goltra, How Women Vote in Political Science Quarterly (1919), XXXIV, pp. 413-433. CHAPTER IV POLITICAL PARTIES AND PLATFORMS In the preceding chapters we have seen that the term "American people" includes all citizens of the United States, native-born or naturalized. We have seen also that the term "citizen" is a very much broader one than the term "voter" or "elector." It is true that in the United States government is of all the people and for all the people, but it is not by all the people. Only legally qualified voters, or electors, have any active share in controlling our government. In view of these facts three principles clearly appear: (i) The collec- tive body of voters, called the electorate, are as truly and vitally a department of our government as are the legislature, the executive, or the judicial departments. (2) A very large proportion of our citizens who are for any reason debarred from the right to vote must look to the electorate to safeguard their interests and protect them in their rights. (3) There must be some practical method, some political machinery, to enable the electorate to initiate and continue the actual and necessary processes of democratic government, such as the framing of constitutions, the making and en- forcing of laws. The functions of the electorate. — (1) The first function of the electorate in a state where the powers of the government are set forth in some formal writ- ten agreement is to frame and adopt such an agree- ment. Such a document may be called Articles of 70 POLITICAL PARTIES 71 Confederation, United States Constitution, or State Constitution, but the aim of all of them is to determine the general principles, form, and method of the pro- posed government. In our American democracy no other function of the electorate surpasses in impor- tance this constitution-making power. The process of framing and amending our State and national constitu- tions has been described in the preceding chapters, and need not be further discussed here. (2) The second function of the electorate as an integral department of our government is to select hon- est and efficient representatives to make, enforce, inter- pret, and administer the laws enacted under the powers granted in the constitution. Honestly and intelligently to perform his duty in the choice of such officials is the supreme obligation of the voter in time of peace, as it is his supreme obligation in time of war to die, if need be, for his country. In the United States the method or machinery by which the members of the electorate are enabled to select representatives to carry out the provisions of the constitution and all laws framed under such provisions, may be labeled a political party, and the statement of principles of such a party is its platform. Permanency of political parties. — In modern states political parties usually have a permanent organ- ization and a continuous history. In England the Lib- erals and the Conservatives have faced each other for almost three quarters of a century, and before them came the Whigs and the Tories. In America, the present Democratic Party is almost a century old ; and the Republican Party was organized nearly seventy years ago. Of course parties break up in time, or are displaced by more vigorous competitors, but the major 72 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT parties generally possess large and elaborate organiza- tions in all parts of the country which give them a high degree of stability. HISTORY OF OUR POLITICAL PARTIES The history of political parties in the United States begins soon after the Constitutional Convention in 1787, although the framers of the constitution were earnestly opposed to party government in any form. Madison condemned the 'Violence of faction" and Washington feared the "danger of parties in the state." Accordingly, they undertook to construct the new government in such manner that the rise of parties would be discouraged. Especially in the matter of electing the President the Fathers sought to prevent the appearance of any partisan contest. It is one of the ironies of history, however, that the convention itself was divided in factions and that the struggle over the ratification gave rise to the first national political align- ment — the Federalists and the anti-Federalists. Washington's failure to prevent the growth of parties. — After the new government was established Washington endeavored to ignore parties. He wished to draw into his administration the ablest men in the United States. He appointed his Cabinet upon a non- partisan basis : Hamilton and Knox were Federalists ; Jefferson and Randolph held opposite political views. But Washington attempted to maintain an impossible situation. Party contests appeared in Congress where the influence of Hamilton was checked by the influence of Jefferson. In the Cabinet Hamilton and Jefferson came face to face, and as the differences between these virile personalities waxed greater the sessions became very painful experiences. After repeated requests POLITICAL PARTIES 73 from both secretaries that Washington accept their res- ignations, the President finally, with great reluctance, permitted them to leave his Cabinet. Jefferson with- drew in December, 1793, and Hamilton in January, I 795- Up to the end of his second administration Washington endeavored to govern impartially, and in his "Farewell Address" he warned the American people against "the baneful effects of the spirit of party." After leaving Washington's Cabinet, Jefferson founded the Jeff ersonian Republican Party ; and in the presidential election of 1800 the new party defeated the Federalists and elected Jefferson to the Presidency. In general the policy of the Federalists was to expand the national powers at the expense of the State governments, while the Jeffersonian Republicans were zealous for State's rights and endeavored to resist all encroachments by the federal government as attacks upon personal liberty. The Federalists favored a lib- eral or "loose" interpretation of the constitution ; and the Jeffersonian Republicans demanded a "strict" in- terpretation. Nevertheless, when Jefferson became President he acted in much the same way as had Wash- ington and Adams, and his ministers at Paris nego- tiated for the purchase of Louisiana, although the con- stitution gives no express authority to the federal gov- ernment to acquire federal territory. At the same time the Federalists out of office criticized Jefferson as over- stepping the constitution. The present Democratic Party originated about the year 1828 with the supporters of Andrew Jackson, who considered himself a follower of Jefferson. Theoretically, the Democratic Party has always stood for "strict" construction, whereas the Federal- ists, Whigs, and Republicans for a broad construction 74 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT of the constitution. Even in late years the Democratic national platform has contained a general affirmation of the necessity for guarding against the usurpation of the federal government and for protecting the "sov- ereign rights" of the State. As a matter of fact, however, the practical attitude of the parties depends upon their tenure of power. If the Republicans con- trol Congress, the Democrats reproach them for over- stepping the bounds of the constitution; but if the Democrats control Congress, the old doctrine of "strict" interpretation is discarded only to be seized by the Republicans who lament that their opponents are playing fast and loose with the supreme law of the land. The reason for this anomaly is not hard to find. The minority party feels obliged to criticize all the measures of its opponents, and seeks to tie the hands of the majority party by arguments on constitutionality. Parties in power tend to take a liberal view of the con- stitution and parties out of power demand a strict con- struction of that document. The later history of political parties. — The story of the Democratic Party, the rise and fall of the Whig Party, and the appearance of the Republican Party belongs to American history ; and, although an account of these political parties is full of human interest, space forbids our entering upon any extended consid- eration of this subject. The Republican Party arose in the West. A meeting of citizens at Jackson, Michi- gan, in July, 1854, during the excitement over the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, may perhaps be said to be the origin of this party. At any rate, the Republicans carried several Northern States in the election of 1854, and in the national campaign of 1856 they displaced the Whigs. In this election the Democrats secured 1,838,- POLITICAL PARTIES 75 169 votes, the Republicans 1,341,264 votes, and the Whigs only 874,534. Never in American history has a major party been so quickly and completely sup- planted by a third party as were the Whigs. A split in the Democratic Party four years later contributed to the election of Abraham Lincoln on the Republican ticket, an event which was preliminary to the Civil War. The Civil War ended with a great enhancement of the Republican strength. Under this party the Union had been saved; and the name of Lincoln cast a luster which is never forgotten when its voters describe its virtues. The war had demoralized the Democrats, both in the North and in the South, while Republican poli- ticians in Congress deliberately manipulated reconstruc- tion legislation and constitutional amendments so as to insure the permanency of their control. Until the Amnesty Act of 1872 large numbers of the white popu- lation in the South were disfranchised and several States experienced a scandalous regime of "carpet- bag" rule, as the governments were called that were set up by unscrupulous whites who used the Negro vote for securing public plunder. The reaction against this condition produced the "solid South." The South has been for fifty years the bailiwick of the Democratic Party. Since 1876 Republican candidates for the Presidency have seldom carried a State below Ken- tucky and Maryland. In the North the Democratic Party recovered some of its former strongholds, particularly in cities like New York and Boston, where powerful local machines had long existed. But the political prestige of the Re- publicans remained so dominant that they controlled the Presidency from 1861 to 1913, with the exception 7 6 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT of only eight years. Cleveland was President in 1885- 1889 and again in 1 893-1 897. In 19 12, when the Re- publican Party was weakened by the secession of the Progressives, the Democrats won the presidential elec- tion, and Mr. Wilson again carried the country in 1916. Third-party movements. — For more than half a century the Republicans and the Democrats have been the two major parties in America. In the presidential election of 1912 the Progressives outvoted the Repub- licans; but in the following election the greater part of the vote returned to the Republican Party or else joined the Democrats. Except for this episode neither party has been seriously menaced by a third party. The two-party system is one of the features which have distinguished American and English legislatures from continental European legislatures. For a smooth- running democracy Americans have generally consid- ered the two-party system as almost a necessity; and frowned upon third-party movements. Nevertheless, third parties have played an important role in prodding the leaders of the major parties to give heed to certain popular demands. Since the Civil War the third-party movements in the United States have been largely expressions of protest against the policies of the major parties, and many of them have flourished in the West and South. The Greenback Party was formed in the seventies as a protest against the Republican policy of retiring the paper currency issued during the Civil War. It also served as the organ of a part of the agricultural class to express their discontent with the policies of the con- trolling party in Congress. In the nineties the Popu- list Party served the same purpose in many regions POLITICAL PARTIES 77 throughout the West and the South. After his "cross- of-gold" speech at the Chicago Convention in 1896, Mr. Bryan won the greater part of the Populist vote for the Democratic ticket. In 19 12 a formidable section of the Republican voters under the leadership of Roose- velt bolted the ticket and organized the Progressive Party. In the presidential election of 1912 the Pro- gressive Party succeeded in relegating the Republicans to the third place, but the Democrats won the presi- dency and the control of Congress. The following table will show the strength of the third parties in the election. Presidential Election of 1912 Parties Popular Vote Electoral Vote Democratic 6,293,019 435 Progressive 4,H9,507 88 Republican 3,484,956 8 Socialist 901,873 Prohibition 207,828 Socialist-Labor 29^59 Mr. Roosevelt's insurgency had been in large meas- ure a revolt against the bosses and machines which con- trolled the Republican Party. Earnest efforts were made to create a new and permanent organization for the Progressive Party. The World War, however, in- tervened and the support which Mr. Roosevelt gave the Republican candidate in 19 16 practically brought an end to the new party. A glance at the election returns for the past fifty years will show that three or four minor parties gener- ally make a small showing in each presidential cam- paign. But upon only one occasion has a third party risen up as an equal competitor with the two major 78 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT parties. Many of the new parties have only a local existence like the Nonpartisan League in the North- west. Even when they succeed in winning seats in Congress their strength consists in making alliances with the old parties which they have defied and de- nounced. Of course the leaders of a minor party hope that the party will grow into a formidable organ- ization, but the average American voter generally shuns them, believing them to be impractical, Utopian, or founded upon pernicious class-antagonism; and what is good in them is generally absorbed in the end by the two major parties. It cannot be denied that minor parties serve a valuable purpose in our republic. They present new issues to the country, they make voters think, and they compel party leaders to give heed to expressions of dissent. In conclusion, however, it may be said that sudden increases in the size of minor parties, whenever they occur, may be taken as a sign that our democracy is not running smoothly. In continental Europe the Socialists are one of the strongest elements in the national legislatures. In America, however, the two organizations which go un- der the name of Socialists are minor parties ; they never have won even one electoral vote, and seldom have a representative in Congress. The smaller of these or- ganizations is the Socialist-Labor Party, which polls about thirty thousand votes for President. This party is composed of unrelenting Socialists, firm believers in Karl Marx. The larger organization has the name of the Socialist Party, and corresponds to the group of Socialists found in the continental European legisla- tures, who believe in using political means in working toward their goal, which is the industrial democracy and the nationalization of the productive resources of POLITICAL PARTIES 79 the country. The first of these parties is much older than most people are aware. It was formed out of the Working-Men's Party in the national convention held at Newark, New Jersey, in 1877. The latter party was founded by Eugene V. Debs shortly after the presidential election of 1896. In 1904 Mr. Debs won 402,895 votes for the Presidency, and in the election of 19 1 2 the Socialists made a remarkable gain, hav- ing slightly over 900,000 votes, but in 19 16, on the eve of America's entrance into the World War, the Social- ist vote fell to 590,415. The party has a perma- nent organization with headquarters in New York. It is supported by small monthly fees paid by its mem- bers. The Socialist Party in America is grounded upon class-antagonism; and it is doubtful whether this appeal can win a large following. ORGANIZATION OF THE NATIONAL PARTIES Parties do not run themselves; they require careful direction by men who make it their business to promote their party's advancement. The success of a political party depends almost as much upon the discipline which the managers are able to instill into the rank and file of its membership, as upon political wisdom in choos- ing issues and candidates. To secure discipline, to carry on a program of advertisement, to persuade new voters, and finally to see that all members of the party go to the polls — all these things require a vast organ- ization covering the entire country. The nomination of candidates is but the preliminary work of a cam- paign. Political reformers frequently overlook this fact and expect the ability of their candidates and the real worth of their platform to win the election. Such methods fail to win elections in a large democracy 80 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT where men are unequally interested in the conduct of government and where the majority of voters would never appear at the polls unless pressure of some sort were exerted upon them. The work of the national party organization con- sists in conducting a congressional campaign every two years and a presidential campaign every four years. In these national campaigns the two great parties usually develop organizations so complete that the national committees are able to keep in touch with any local committee in the remotest corner of the Union. The National Committee. — The organization of the two major parties consists of a network of com- mittees extending from the national headquarters into every part of the country. The first of these commit- tees is the National Committee, chosen in the case of the Democratic Party by direct primary election. There is one member from each State and territory. These men are usually experienced politicians, shrewd observers of public opinion, and they exercise a con- ciliatory influence over local dissensions for the inter- est of the whole party's welfare. For the conduct of the presidential campaign the committee is assisted by auxiliary committees, including an Executive Com- mittee, a Finance Committee, and a Campaign Com- mittee in charge of speakers, literary propaganda, and newspapers. The national chairman. — The chief officer of the National Committee is the national chairman, who may or may not be a member of the committee. Nominally chosen by the committee, he is really selected by the party's nominee for the Presidency. He is the mana- ger of the campaign, the chief strategist of the party. POLITICAL PARTIES 81 He must be a man of great political wisdom, force- fulness, and tact. He must see to it that a compre- hensive campaign for educating the electorate is planned and effectively carried on in every part of the country, that the strong points in his party platform are emphasized, that the money raised for campaign purposes is wisely expended, and he must be able to infuse into his workers such a degree of confidence and enthusiasm that the entire country is thoroughly aroused. The national chairman must keep a watch- ful eye on the nominees of his party. He must decide whether they shall tour the country or carry on a "front-porch" campaign. Their public utterances must be carefully guarded as well as their daily program of activities. In the heat of a presidential campaign one injudicious letter, like Henry Clay's on Texas, or a single unfortunate phrase, such as "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion," during the campaign of 1884, has cost a great political party the election. The national chair- man must keep a close touch with the State and local politics in all sections of the country. He must curb the selfish ambitions of party bosses, he must heal factional strife, and by means of compromises and conciliation weld his party in each State into a solid political unit. He must with unfailing judgment select the doubtful and the pivotal States and concentrate his energies on a supreme effort to carry them, while at the same time he must not neglect any portion of the coun- try that is "conceded to be safe." He must be alert to detect danger, to meet new situations, to answer sud- den attacks of the opposing political general, and to take instant advantage of every favorable development. And at the last he must summon every energy of his party workers to "get out the vote" on election day 82 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT regardless of local conditions, for it has happened more than once in our national history that the difference of a very few votes in a single State has determined the result of a presidential campaign. Standing so near the President, the national chairman of a successful party has a large measure of federal patronage at his disposal. His own services may be rewarded by office, as when President McKinley, after the election of 1896, helped Chairman Hanna into the United States Senate. Each of the major parties has a congressional cam- paign committee, selected from members of Congress. The purpose of this committee is to promote the elec- tion of candidates for Congress who belong to the party. State and local committees. — In each State the political parties have State committees which have immediate charge of the campaign for their respective areas. These committees are permanent, and act in the interest of the party not only during campaigns but between elections as well. The number of members varies in the different parties and States ; some of the State central committees have a membership of more than a hundred. The chairman of a State committee is the nominal head of his party in the State. Some- times he is a United States Senator, or a State official ; sometimes he is a mere puppet of a boss or a political leader. The committee raises funds for the party, sends forth speakers, distributes literature, and urges the local committees to activity. In every county, town, city, and ward there are local committees. These organizations come into actual con- tact with the voters. They are the fighting lines of the parties. They distribute literature prepared by the POLITICAL PARTIES 83 National and State Committees ; they arrange for rallies and mass meetings which are addressed by the speakers sent out by the central organization; they instruct voters as to the requirements for registering and vot- ing and when and how to cast the ballot; they see to naturalization of aliens; they often make a house-to- house canvass of their district in order to estimate the party strength ; they appoint watchers at the polls ; and, finally, on election day, they bring the dilatory voters to the polls in automobiles and busses. It is this yeo- man service in the doubtful States that brings success to a party. The Utopian reformer is prone to scoff at the careful, painstaking work of these local organ- izations in pursuing the individual vote; but the pro- fessional politician is a better observer of human na- ture. He knows that very practical methods must be employed to interest the average voter in either party and finally induce him to take an hour of his time once in two years to cast his ballot. Parties and party organizations are thus an impor- tant part in the working of a large democracy. They place candidates and issues before the people and they urge the voter to use the franchise. It is true that parties often falsify public opinion, distort issues, and frequently there is practically little difference between the Republican and the Democratic platforms; but nevertheless our two-party system is the most prac- tical device for the expression of public opinion in our democracy. STATE AND LOCAL POLITICS Long before the federal constitution was adopted political factions existed in the States. After the estab- lishment of the Union these groups did not remain 84 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT distinct from the national parties. They were absorbed by the national parties, and disappeared almost entirely as independent bodies. To-day, the parties in the States are branches or subdivisions of the national parties, although in no sense is the policy of a State party upon local issues dictated from the headquarters of its national party. The amalgamation of the parties is a convenient arrangement which permits the use of the same party machinery for presidential and for State elections. Of course the issues of the national parties generally have no relation to the issues involved in the government of the States ; and the voter who casts his ballot for one party in the national election may not agree with the policy of that party upon local problems in his State. Occasionally party lines break down in a State because of dissensions within the parties or be- cause of the failure of the parties to take a popular stand upon some nonpartisan issue. These exceptions, however, are not common. As a rule, State parties remain intact, Democrats and Republicans opposing each other at the polls for the control of the State government. Few voters do much independent think- ing on political issues. Most electors vote their party tickets year after year merely as a matter of habit; and probably the greater number of young men and women join a political party for the reason that their fathers and mothers belong to that party. Organization of the State parties. — At the head of the party organization in the State is the State Cen- tral Committee. This is composed of committeemen representing in some States the different congressional districts, in other States, the counties. They are fre- quently selected by the delegates to the State conven- tions ; but in States like Wisconsin, where the conven- POLITICAL PARTIES 85 tion system has been abolished, the committeemen are elected by the voters in the direct primary. The terms of the committeemen vary in the different States from one to four years. The chairman of the State com- mittee is often a powerful political leader, as in case of Senator Quay of Pennsylvania, or in the case of Governor Odell of New York. Sometimes the chair- man is a mere figurehead and takes his orders from party leaders or "bosses." In' States where the State convention system still exists the central committee has the duty of calling the State convention consisting of delegates from the coun- ties. These delegates in their turn are elected either by county conventions or by county committees. Until a few years ago the State conventions nominated all the State officers and drafted the party platform. Re- cently in many States laws have been passed placing the nominations of candidates in the hands of the voters at the primaries. In most States the conven- tion still draws up the party platform and in some States the convention still nominates the party candi- dates. The conventions are called by the Central Com- mittee once every two years in States having biennial elections. Below the State Central Committee are the com- mittees in the counties, cities, wards, townships, and towns. These committees carry out the routine work of the party, urging the registration of voters, can- vassing from house to house, holding local rallies, providing carriages and automobiles to carry voters to the polls on election day, and, in general, mustering the full party strength at the elections. The "machine" and the "boss." — These terms have come to be commonly used to designate certain 86 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT very serious abuses in American political methods. In a former paragraph a political party has been defined as the method or machinery by which the members of the electorate are able to select representatives to carry out the provisions of the constitution and all laws framed under such provisions. When the electors are vitally interested in public affairs, intelligent and alert, we hear very little of "machine rule" and "party bosses." But wherever the average voter is more inter- ested in business than in the future of his children and the welfare of his neighbors, when respectable men and women possessing the right of franchise abdicate their power in favor of the bribe-taker and the poten- tial or real criminal, where they shirk civic duties and permit treasury-looters to get control of the party organization and to perpetuate themselves or their kind in office, there will be found every form of evil controlled and commercialized by "machines" and "bosses." We should carefully distinguish between party or- ganization and the so-called machine. Party organ- ization is the pyramid of committees from the National Committee and the State Committees down to the local committees in the wards and townships. It is true that occasionally the machine is identical with some of these committees or else is able to control them. Thus Tam- many Hall is actually the Democratic organization in New York City, while the Philadelphia machine is the Republican organization in that city. In Illinois the Thompson-Lundin machine controls the Republican organization of the city of Chicago and has consider- able influence over the Republican organizations in several of the counties of the State. In Indiana the Taggart machine has dominated the Democratic organ- POLITICAL PARTIES 87 ization of the State for a long period of years. But usually a machine is limited to an area less than an entire State ; and thus it is possible to find several ma- chines within the same party in a single State. As a rule, there is only one Republican or Democratic organ- ization for a State and, happily, in some States there are no machines. The motives of the members of a party organization and of a machine are somewhat different. The former seek to advance the interests of the party. The latter subordinate party interests to their own personal advantages and are frequently will- ing to sacrifice the party for the gain of the machine. The men in control of the machine are frequently called "bosses." In a city machine there is generally a "boss" for the city and a "boss" for each ward. The lesser "bosses" are sometimes called henchmen or "heelers," and many of them are men of very shady character. The chief quality required in a political leader who aspires to become a boss is skill in handling men. There is a fundamental distinction, of course, between a boss and a political leader of the type which we like to consider as the American ideal. As Roose- velt put it : "The difference between a boss and a leader is that a leader leads and a boss drives. The difference is that a leader holds his place by firing the conscience and appealing to the reason of his followers and that a boss derives the greater part of his power from deeds done under cover of darkness." The versatility of an astute boss is remarkable. He knows where to secure campaign funds, and he is judicious in distribution of these funds; he is a sort of social leader for the community, and a dispenser of charity with a reputation for being "kind to the poor" ; he has business relations with corporations in- 88 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT terested in building public works, supplying mate- rials, or operating public utilities, and, on occasion, he may blackmail corporations and fill his pockets with their hush-money. Almost incredible stories are told of the power of certain bosses. A few years ago vis- itors at the capitol of Rhode Island were shown an office room where the "State boss" used to sit and issue his orders during the sessions of the legislature. In Missouri at one time the "boss" was accustomed to sit behind a curtain back of the speaker's chair and from there direct the legislative business. Political machines and bosses comprise what Mr. Root has aptly called "invisible government." Reasons for the existence of political machines. — The political machine is an institution peculiar to America. It has thrived in our land because of sev- eral reasons. (i) In the first place our elections are more fre- quent than in European countries. A few States elect their governors and legislatures annually and most States elect these officers at least as frequently as every two years. Even in States and cities where the terms of office are two years elections are nevertheless held in every year. For example, the term of aldermen in Chicago is two years but there are two aldermen from each ward and one is elected each year. This frequency of elections has promoted the growth of machines. If elections were as far apart as four or six years, as in some European countries, the local machines could not so easily hold together. (2) In the second place the multiplicity of elective offices has contributed to the growth of machines. There are so many officers elected by popular vote that the average elector does not know even the list of elec- POLITICAL PARTIES 89 tive offices, to say nothing of knowing the candidates or their qualifications for office. The average voter thus must depend upon some direction as to casting his ballot or else take the easiest course and vote the straight party ticket. The leaders of the machine, however, are well informed as to elective offices and make it their business to control as far as possible the party nomination of candidates for these offices. (3) In the third place the machine is an organiza- tion for securing public patronage. It is the essence of the spoils system. The men who labor year after year to build up a local machine are not working with motives of pure patriotism. Undoubtedly some of the leaders in a machine may have noble ambitions, or love of power, rather than motives of mere financial gain. But the majority of the political workers who canvass the voters, watch the polls and do the drudgery of the machine expect to receive the loaves and fishes as a reward for their labors. They expect to get an office or employment b> the city or State. Some workers want other things, like the award of a con- tract to construct public works or to furnish supplies. Particularly in the large cities the opportunities for jobbing and graft are numerous. For example, in 1908 it was discovered that the government of New York City had paid some one sixty-five cents apiece for cheap coat hooks which any citizen might buy at a hardware store for five cents ; at the same time it took two workmen thirty-one days at eight dollars a day to put up the one hundred and sixty-five hooks ! Petty graft, however, is but one part of the story. Contracts for building, hauling materials, and other work involv- ing millions of dollars have been let at exorbitant prices. Finally, the leaders of a machine are often 9o AMERICAN GOVERNMENT closely connected with interests like public-service utili- ties or other concerns which receive favors from the State legislature and city councils and which contribute to the financial support of the machine. (4) A large number of other reasons account for the existence of the machine. Our cities are full of for- eign immigrants, and until recently few Americans save political workers have shown an interest in urging them to take out citizenship papers and secure the bal- lot. Machines in the cities are also frequently sup- ported by professional law-breakers, bailsmen of ill- repute, and keepers of dives and criminal resorts who have arranged with the machine for pro- tection against prosecution under the law. The political apathy of many citizens and the slavish devotion to party by other citizens are also con- tributing causes to the great power of political ma- chines. Finally, the leaders and workers for a machine exert themselves to spread good fellowship and com- radeship in their wards. They learn to know the voters, speak a friendly greeting to them as they pass on the streets, watch for opportunities to be of per- sonal service to some workingman and his family, and, in time, they build up a reputation for democratic kindness and good will which is not forgotten when election day comes around. Some political societies like Tammany Hall are charitable and social institu- tions, giving relief to widows and orphans and oc- casionally furnishing balls and entertainments. The astute managers of our political machines have searched the human heart exhaustively in devising means for promoting their control of the popular vote. American ideals in politics. — Anyone who un- derstands America knows that the mismanagement and POLITICAL PARTIES 91 corruption which have characterized much of our State and local history in the last half century is not typical of the American spirit. Why it has happened will be one of the puzzles for future historians. The Ameri- can ideal is something finer and nobler than that indicated by the character of many of our city govern- ments. The morals of our people are admittedly on a higher plane than those of European people, although grafters and blackmailers do not govern European cities. This nation is composed of a great collection of people, the majority of whom, even including the immigrants, are of sound judgment. There is no need to despair of American democracy. It is true that in our country democratic principles have often been mis- applied and certainly abused; but we may confidently expect that the regard of the American people for efficiency and honesty will find a remedy for present defects in our government. For Further Reading The Character and the Purpose of Political Parties. — P. O. Ray, Introduction to Political Parties and Practical Politics, ch. i; A. L. Lowell, Public Opinion and Popular Government, pp. 57-110; Jesse Macy, Party Organisation and Machinery, ch. i, ii; H. J. Ford, Rise and Grozvth of American Politics, ch. xxvi ; James Bryce, American Commonwealth, II, ch. liii-liv ; Woodrow Wil- son, Constitutional Government in the United States, ch. viii; H. C. Emory, Politician, Party and People, ch. ii; E. L. Godkin, Problems of Modern Democracy, ch. vii. The History of the Parties in the United States. — C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, ch. vi; J. A. Woodburn, Political Parties and Party Prob- lems in the United States, ch. i-viii; Everett Kimball, National Government of the United States, ch. v; Ed- 92 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ward Stanwood, History of the Presidency, I, ch. xxxi; F. E. Haynes, Third Party Movements Since the Civil War, pp. 221-303 ; B. P. DeWitt, The Progressive Move- ment, ch. i. Organization of the National Parties. — P. O. Ray, Introduction to Political Parties and Practical Politics, ch. x-xi; James Bryce, American Common- wealth, II, ch. lv-lx; M. Ostrogorski, Democracy and Party System in the United States (1910), pp. 225-281 ; J. T. Young, New American Government and Its Work, ch. xxvi; Everett Kimball, National Government in the United States, ch. vi; C. A. Beard, American Govern- ment and Politics, ch. ix. Political Parties in the States. — P. O. Ray, In- troduction to Political Parties and Practical Politics, pp. 240-242; James Bryce, American Commonwealth, I, ch. xlvi ; C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, pp. 656-672; and his Readings, ch. xxx; W. B. Munro, Government of the United States, ch. xxxiii ; C. L. Jones, Readings on Parties and Elections in the United States, pp. 169-21 1, 274-334; C. E. Hughes, Conditions and Progress in Democratic Government, ch. iii-iv. Machines and Bosses. — P. O. Ray, Introduction to Political Parties and Practical Politics, ch. xvi; James Bryce, American Commonwealth, II, ch. lx-lxvi; M. Ostrogorski, Democracy and the Party System in the United States, ch. xl; Lincoln Steffens, The Struggles for Self Government, pp. 3-78-; George Vickers, The Fall of Bossism, ch. ii-viii; S. P. Orth, The Boss and the Machine, ch. ii-viii. CHAPTER V THE PRESIDENT The President of the United States is the head of the executive branch of the federal government. While it is the function of Congress to make the laws, it is the function of the President to execute the laws. In order to insure the faithful execution of the laws, the Fathers of the American constitution centered ad- ministrative responsibility upon one official. Because of this great burden of responsibility the President is the most conspicuous figure in American political life. THE ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT In providing for the election of the President, the Fathers aimed to secure some plan that would ex- clude political parties from participation. Accordingly, they rejected the plan of direct election of the President by the people, and adopted a scheme of Presidential Electors. Under the constitution, every four years, each State was to appoint, in such manner as the legis- lature thereof should direct, a number of Presidential Electors equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State might be entitled in Congress. The Electors were to meet at their re- spective State Capitols and vote by ballot for two persons, one of whom should not be a resident of the same State as themselves. The ballots were to be sent to the presiding officer of the United States Sen- ate, who should open and count them. The person 93 94 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT having the highest number of votes was to become President providing he had a majority of the electoral votes, and the person having second highest was to become Vice-President. If no person had a majority, the House of Representatives was to choose a Presi- dent from the five highest names on the list. The Fathers hoped that the choice of a President by the Presidential Electors in each State would be the well- considered act of a thoughtful and nonpartisan group of men. The first presidential election, in January, 1789, which was in favor of Washington, conformed to the plan of the Fathers. But after the retirement of Washington the political parties sought to control the election. In 1800 the Federalist members of Congress nominated Adams and Pinckney for President and Vice-President, while the Jeffersonian Republicans nominated Jefferson and Burr. The result of the election was seventy-three votes for both Jefferson and Burr, and only sixty-five for the Federalist candi- dates. This threw the election into the House of Rep- resentatives, and because of the awkward situation which developed on account of Burr's disloyalty to Jefferson, a constitutional amendment was adopted in 1804 requiring that thereafter the Presidential Elec- tors were to use separate ballots for President and Vice-President. The present method of electing the President. — The constitution has not been altered. in regard to the election of President since 1804, but the method of election has been considerably modified by custom. There are at present six steps in the election of Presi- dent : ( 1 ) the selection of delegates to the nominating convention, (2) the choice of candidates by the nomi- THE PRESIDENT 95 nating convention, (3) the selection of the tickets of Presidential Electors, (4) the presidential campaign, (5) the November election, and (6) the election of President by the Electors. (1) Selection of delegates to the nominating con- vention. — Each of the great political parties chooses its candidate for the Presidency in a national nominat- ing convention. The time and place of these conven- tions is decided by the National Committee of each party. The National Committee is the permanent cen- tral party organization and consists of forty-eight rep- resentatives, one from each of the States. The chair- man of this organization in either party, known as the National Committee chairman, is a powerful figure in party politics. In a presidential year the National Committees call their respective conventions to meet in June or July. In late years the Republicans have met in Chicago ; the Democrats in Baltimore, Saint Louis, and San Fran- cisco, and the Socialists in New York. The conventions are composed of delegates from the various States and territories. The Democrats permit each State to send twice as many delegates as it has electoral votes. The number of Electors of a State, as we have already seen, corresponds with its representation in Congress. Each State has, therefore, four delegates chosen at large corresponding to the two Senators; and for every member of the House of Representatives it has two delegates. Furthermore, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, the Philippines, and Porto Rico are per- mitted to send six delegates each. Thus the Demo- cratic Convention of 1920 had one thousand and ninety-four delegates. In the same year the Republi- can Convention consisted of four delegates-at-large 96 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT from each State, two additional delegates-at-large for each representative-at-large in Congress from any State, one delegate from each congressional district in each State, and one additional delegate for each congres- sional district in each State in which the vote for any Republican Presidential Elector in the presidential elec- tion of 19 1 6, or for the Republican nominee for Con- gress in the congressional election of 191 8, was not less than 7,500; together with two delegates each from Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico, the Philippine Islands and the District of Columbia. The purpose of this compli- cated system was to eliminate the undue representation of Southern States, in which the Republican vote is very small, and thus to abolish the abuse which was partly the cause of the Taft-Roosevelt controversy of 19 12. Alabama, having ten Congressional districts, sent twenty delegates together with four delegates-at- large to the Democratic Convention in 1920, while sending only ten delegates together with the four dele- gates-at-large to the Republican Convention. At the Chicago Convention in 1920 there were nine hundred and eighty- four delegates. The delegates to the National Conventions are se- lected by two methods, namely, by the direct primary or by party conventions in the States. In 19 12 the laws of twelve States provided for some form of presidential primaries. In this year the Democratic National Convention adopted the principle of the presidential primary (conducted under either State laws or party rules) as the approved method for selec- tion of delegates to the National Convention of 19 16. In 191 3 the Republican Party, while not going so far as the Democratic Party, recognized the presidential primary as the legal process for choosing delegates THE PRESIDENT 97 when such elections were required under State laws. By 19 1 6, twenty States had adopted laws requiring presidential primaries. In fourteen States the delegates are chosen in presi- dential preference primaries. In these States the reg- istered members of the several parties have the right to elect delegates and alternates, and at the same time to instruct them to vote for a certain candidate as the nominee of the party for the Presidency. The primaries are held in each congressional district. Can- didates for the position of delegates secure the placing of their names upon the primary ballots by filing a petition with the proper State official signed by a pre- scribed number of voters; while the names of various candidates for the Presidency also are placed upon the ballots by similar petition. Each party has a separate ballot. The registered members of the several parties at the primary elections are given their proper ballots and they vote for their choice of delegates, while at the same time they indicate which candidate for the Presidency they desire the delegates to support in the nominating convention. The States having presidential preference primaries for the selection of national delegates are Illinois, Mon- tana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wisconsin. In the remaining States the delegates are chosen either in primaries without instructions, or are appointed by the State party conventions which are convened in some States shortly before the meeting of the national conven- tions. The members of the various party conventions in the States are frequently chosen by county commit- tees or caucuses. In five States, Indiana, Maryland, 98 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Michigan, North Carolina and Vermont, a preference vote is taken on the presidential aspirants, but the na- tional delegates are not elected in the direct primaries. (2) Work of the national conventions. — The na- tional convention accomplishes two things. It adopts a platform defining the position of the party on the problems of the day, and it nominates candidates for President and Vice-President. The platform is a cam- paign document. It "views with alarm" and "points with warning to" certain conditions in the country for which it holds the opposing party responsible ; and it promises reforms which will be secured if the party wins in the November election. The nomination of the presidential candidate, of course, is the chief business of the convention. While the majority of the delegates may be uninstructed, considerable sentiment has usually been manufactured in favor of each of the various aspirants. Campaign headquarters are set up in the hotels. The sessions of the convention are held in a gigantic auditorium gaily bedecked with flags and bunting and with pictures of the candidates and of celebrated leaders of the past. The national committeemen and distinguished visitors sit on a huge platform. Immediately below are placed the representatives of the press, while the delegates are seated on the main floor, with the alternates sitting di- rectly behind them. The places of the delegates are indicated by standards bearing the names of their respective States and territories. Further in the rear, and in the galleries, sit a multitude of spectators. On the second or third day of the convention the candidates are put in nomination. For this purpose the States are called in alphabetical order. Great care is used in selecting the proper orator to make the nomi- THE PRESIDENT 99 nating speech. Seconding speeches are also made, the most effective speech in the Chicago Convention of 1920 being a seconding speech delivered by a woman, Mrs. Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, a sister of "T. R." After the nomination of each candidate it is customary to begin a demonstration. The interested delegates and alternates march up and down the aisles shouting and singing; desperate struggles over State banners sometimes occur; brass bands blare out popular airs; cowbells and horns add to the din, and cheer leaders exert themselves to stir up the spectators in the gal- leries to shout and hurrah. It used to be thought that this applause from the galleries had some influence with the delegates. But to-day few would claim that such boisterous outbursts produce any real effect. The seasoned politicians who constitute the bulk of the convention and practically control the less experienced members of their delega- tions understand that these exhibitions of approval are manufactured for the occasion. After the nomination of candidates the balloting be- gins. The roll is again called and the States cast their ballots orally in alphabetical order. Seldom is a candi- date nominated on the first ballot. In the Republican convention a majority vote nominates. But the Demo- cratic convention requires a two-thirds vote. In both conventions the balloting may go on for several days. In 19 1 2 Woodrow Wilson did not win in the Demo- cratic convention at Baltimore until the forty-sixth ballot. Feverish excitement prevails during the ballot- ing and in the intervals between the sessions. In the committee rooms and at the headquarters of the State delegations conferences are held far into the night. Messengers run from one headquarters to another, ioo AMERICAN GOVERNMENT private meetings are arranged behind closed doors be- tween political leaders, and clever tactics are employed by eager managers to secure a concentration of votes upon their candidates, while old-time "bosses" with their own axes to grind watch for an opportunity to secure some advantage for themselves. Throughout this turmoil the members of the State delegations re- main somewhat closely together. Each delegation has its chairman, and its headquarters in some hotel. They proceed to the convention hall in a body, sit in a body on the main floor, and hold meetings from time to time to decide upon their course of action. Political alliances are usually necessary to gain the votes of delegates. The "bosses" of the various State "machines" usually are present in the conventions as delegates from their States, or else they are in com- munication with the leaders of the convention. Their influence, although not all-powerful, is a great deciding force. ( 3) Selection of the tickets of Presidential Electors. — The national conventions place the nominees of the various parties before the American people. But the people do not vote directly for these candidates in the November election. They vote in each State for tickets of Presidential Electors named by the various parties. These tickets are nominated either by State conventions or by the primaries. Until recently all tickets of Presidential Electors were presented by State conven- tions of the various political parties ; but now a number of States have supplanted these institutions with the di- rect primary method. In the latter case primaries are held for the Democratic and Republican voters. The names of candidates for Presidential Electors in either party are placed on the primary ballot by petition, and THE PRESIDENT 101 the people in each congressional district vote for one Elector and for two Electors-at-large for the whole State. (4) The national campaigns and the November election. — In a presidential year, the election of Presi- dent and of congressmen both occur at the same time. This is on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November, as fixed by Congress in 1871. During the four months previous to the election all the parties conduct a nation-wide campaign. The organization which the political parties use to win elections is headed by the National Committee. Below the Na- tional Committee are the State committees, the county committees, the town and city committees, the ward committees and many other committees of various sorts and kinds. In charge of the National Committee is a national chairman, who is nominally chosen by that committee but who is really the choice of the presi- dential candidate. The national chairman is the great leader of the presidential campaign. He manages the contest, allots the campaign funds among the States, and directs the energies of his party. Early in the campaign each party prepares a cam- paign textbook containing the platform, the notifica- tion and acceptance speeches of the candidates for President and Vice-President, the biographies of the candidates, speeches and addresses of distinguished congressmen, criticisms upon the opposing party and arguments, statistics and comments upon business, currency, immigration, the tariff, the League of Na- tions, and other issues of the day. Large numbers of these textbooks are distributed to newspapers, maga- zines, speakers, and campaign committees. For the general public a vast amount of pamphlets, speeches, 102 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT cartoons, and posters are published and distributed. The United States Senators and Representatives usually take an active part in the speech-making, and the presidential candidates enter the campaign. In 1896 Mr. Bryan made a grand tour of the country, delivering six hundred speeches in twenty-nine States and covering an itinerary of eighteen thousand miles. A representative of the Associated Press estimated that he spoke to five million people. Mr. McKinley stayed at home, but from the porch of his house in Canton, Ohio, he addressed many large delegations. Nothing stirs American sentiment more than a presidential election. Our imagination is awakened. Eloquence abounds. Dry statistics become interesting, and the dullest citizen will generally have some opinion as to the personalities of the candidates even though he fail to examine the economic or political policies offered by the opposing parties. A presidential election is the transcendent event of our national life and a great means of political education. (5) Election of the President by the Electors. — As we have already said, the people at the November elec- tion do not vote directly for President, but for tickets of Presidential Electors. The party ticket in each State having the highest number of votes wins the election. The duly chosen Electors meet at the State capitols in the following January and cast their ballots for Presi- dent and Vice-President. Of course there is no legal obligation compelling the Electors to vote for the can- didate of their party. The moral obligation, however, is strong. They were nominated at the primaries and elected at the November polls with the understanding that they would vote for the party candidates. With the possible exception of the election of 1797, no THE PRESIDENT 103 Elector has ever broken this implied pledge. If, at some time in the future, faith should be broken, the episode would probably lead to a constitutional amend- ment providing for the abandonment of our present roundabout method of electing a President and sub- stituting direct election by the people. The electoral certificates are sent to the presiding officer of the Senate, who, in February, in the presence of the two houses of Congress, opens the certificates and causes the electoral votes to be counted. This act, like the meeting of the Electors at the State capitols, is but a formality. The result of the election is always known two months earlier, generally on the morning following the November election. THE POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF THE PRESIDENT In modern democracies there are two kinds of ex- ecutives: the parliamentary, and the presidential. In a parliamentary government the Prime Minister is chosen by the legislature and holds office as long as his party remains in power. Great Britain is the leading type of this form of government. In a presidential government, on the other hand, the Chief Executive is elected by the people and holds office for a stated term of years, independently of the legislature. The Presi- dent of the United States is an executive of this sort. Mexico and the South American republics have copied the presidential form of government as found in the United States, while many of the European democ- racies and the self-governing dominions of the British Empire have adopted a modified form of the parlia- mentary government of Great Britain. The principal virtue of the parliamentary form of executive is that the responsibility for both making 104 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT laws and executing laws is concentrated upon one official who may be turned out of office at any time that the majority of the elected representatives of the people so choose; or, if he appeals to the people as against the majority in Parliament by having the king dissolve Parliament and order elections, the voters de- cide the matter. The Prime Minister is a leader of Parliament as well as head of the administration. On the other hand it should be observed that in spite of the Theory of Checks and Balances, the President of the United States in recent years has assumed a quali- fied role as leader of Congress. It is true that the powers and functions of the President are prescribed in the constitution. Nevertheless, in actual practice the influence of the President is not to be measured by the mere letter of the law. His ability to appeal to public opinion, his personal influence with politicians, and his sagacity and judgment will determine the limits of his influence upon the national government. Under the constitution he is the undisputed head of the adminis- tration; but by virtue of his exalted position he has it within his power to become leader of his party, leader of the nation, and leader of Congress. The powers and functions of the President may be classified under five heads : ( I ) the strictly executive or administrative powers, (2) diplomatic, (3) mili- tary, (4) legislative, and (5) political. The strictly executive powers of the President. — The President as head of the national administration possesses the power of appointment, the power of re- moval and the power to pardon. The President's power of appointment is not unlimited. The constitu- tion (Art. ii, sec. 2) provides that the President shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent THE PRESIDENT 105 of the Senate, shall appoint the more important officers. The President thus shares the appointive power with the Senate. Because of this division of power a custom called "senatorial courtesy" has become a part of our unwritten constitution, namely, the Senate will generally refuse to confirm a nomination if the President has failed to consult with the Senators of his own party from the State in which the vacant office lies. Thus, before nominating a per- son to the office of United States District Attorney in Missouri the President will consult with the Senators from that State, provided they are of the same party as his own. There are, however, some nominations which the Senate usually confirms without question, for in- stance, the members of the President's Cabinet. The power to remove is generally considered one of the indispensable powers of an efficient adminis- tration. The constitution makes no provision for re- moval save by impeachment, but the Supreme Court has held that the President has power to remove all officers unless such removal is specifically denied by the constitution. This applies even to officers whose nomination requires the confirmation of the Senate. Federal judges may be removed only by impeachment. The President also possesses the power to grant re- prieves and pardons for offenses against the United States laws except in cases of impeachment. Diplomatic powers. — The diplomatic powers of the President are of vast importance. The President is the official spokesman of the nation, as Jefferson in- formed Citizen Genet as early as 1793, and the for- eign policy of the nation is very largely in his hands. It is true that all treaties require a two-thirds vote of the Senate, that the nomination of ambassadors, min- 106 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT isters, and consuls requires senatorial confirmation, and that an act of Congress is often necessary for the execution of treaties. Nevertheless, the President takes the initiative in the formulation of a foreign policy and the Senate must play the role of either fol- lowing or objecting. The constitution provides that the President shall receive all ambassadors and public ministers from for- eign states. Under this provision the President may receive a minister from a government in rebellion with the mother-country, and thus cause the United States to recognize the independence of the revolting section of that country. In 1903 Mr. Roosevelt thus recog- nized the Republic of Panama in rebellion against Colombia. The President may also dismiss an am- bassador of a foreign power in the United States, and sever all diplomatic relations with that power, as Mr. Wilson did in regard to Germany in 191 7, two months previous to the declaration of war by Congress. As commander-in-chief of the army and navy the Presi- dent may move the armed forces of the nation in such a way as to lead the United States into war. In 1904 President Roosevelt informed Kaiser Wilhelm that he would send Admiral Dewey with the Atlantic squadron to raise the "pacific blockade" of Venezuela if the German cruisers were not withdrawn in ten days* time. If an engagement had occurred between the two fleets, Congress might have been compelled to declare war. In 1846, after the annexation of Texas, President Polk dispatched federal troops into the disputed territory, and after the attack upon these troops the President in- formed Congress that war had been begun by the act of Mexico. In his messages to Congress the President may pronounce a foreign policy which profoundly af- THE PRESIDENT 107 f ects our international relations. In this manner Presi- dent Monroe established the celebrated Monroe Doc- trine; and President Cleveland, in 1896, by means of his message to Congress precipitated the Venezuelan controversy with Great Britain. It is proper, of course, that the President should possess such large diplomatic powers. In our relations with foreign countries it is necessary that the nation act unitedly and that full responsibility be borne by a single official rather than scattered among a group of less responsible and less conspicuous leaders. Military powers. — Under the constitution the Presi- dent is the commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States when called into the service of the federal gov- ernment. During wartime the conduct of hostilities is almost entirely in the hands of the President, and his power is not limited to the mere direction of the armed forces. Under his own power he may, for in- stance, govern conquered territories. President Lin- coln, whose exercise of war powers was extremely extensive, suspended the writ of habeas corpus in States which were not within the area of hostilities, abolished slavery in several States, and proclaimed a blockade of Southern ports without authority from Congress. Even in times of peace the military power of the President is important. He may use the regular army to enforce federal law against resistance that cannot be overcome by civil authority. The constitution pro- vides that "the United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive 108 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT (when the legislature cannot be convened) against do- mestic violence.'' Accordingly, at the solicitation of State governments, the United States has occasionally dispatched armed forces to the assistance of a State. The federal government may even send troops into a State against the protest of the governor in order to suppress any disorder which interferes with the execu- tion of federal law. Thus President Cleveland, in 1894, against the protest of Governor Altgeld, used the federal army to prevent the rioters in the Pullman strike in Chicago from interfering with the passage of the United States mail. The Supreme Court in the Debs case held that the President had not exceeded his authority. Legislative powers. — Although the President is the head of the executive branch of the government, nevertheless he has certain legislative powers. Under the constitution he is required from time to time to give to Congress information of the state of the Union and to recommend to their consideration such meas- ures as he may judge necessary and expedient. The President's annual message in December is the most conspicuous public document in America. It is printed in all newspapers of any size and is read by thousands of citizens all over the country. It is one of the com- mon bonds of our national life. A homely cartoon was published in the press some years ago under the caption "His Favorite Author," showing an old farmer with chin whiskers, sitting before the fire and reading the President's message. Many citi- zens who never or seldom read a speech by a Senator or Representative will study the address of the Presi- dent. Washington used to deliver his annual address to Congress in person, driving to the federal hall in a THE PRESIDENT 109 coach and four; but Jefferson began the practice of sending all messages in writing. In 19 13 Mr. Wilson revived the practice of Washington and read his an- nual message in person before both houses of Congress, and Mr. Harding followed Mr. Wilson in this respect. Congress ordinarily convenes early in December of each year, but the President has power to summon special sessions of Congress. Frequently a new Presi- dent will summon a special session of Congress in April following his inauguration in order to redeem the election pledges of the presidential campaign. The President also has it in his power to promote legisla- tion in various other ways. He may not only urge Congress by message to pass legislation on a given subject, but he also may draft a bill himself or cause his cabinet officers to draft a bill and have it intro- duced in one of the houses by some member friendly to the administration. Such bills are called "adminis- tration bills." Then the President and his cabinet officers by interviews with individual congressmen may use their influence to secure the passage of these bills. Finally the President has the power of veto. The constitution (Art. i, sec. 7) provides that every bill passed by the two houses of Congress shall, before be- coming law be presented to the President. If he ap- proves, he signs it; but if not, he returns it with his objections to the house in which it originated. Such a bill, if passed again by a two-thirds majority of both houses, becomes law without the President's signature. Now it is difficult to pass a bill over the President's veto, and because of this fact the veto power of the President is important. President Roose- velt went so far as to inform Congress that if certain bills under consideration were passed without his pro- no AMERICAN GOVERNMENT posed modifications he would veto them. Later Presi- dents have followed this practice. Under the constitution a bill passed by both houses becomes a law without the President's signature if he fails to return it within ten days unless Congress in the meantime has adjourned. Occasionally a President has permitted a bill which he did not heartily indorse, to become a law in this manner, On the other hand, a large number of bills are passed hurriedly at the end of every session. Of course the President approves most of these bills. Sometimes, however, a President has in- tentionally neglected to sign a bill passed within ten days of the adjournment of Congress. This is called the "pocket veto." It would not be an exaggeration to say that the veto power has seldom if ever been abused by a President. This check upon hasty and unwise legislation is one of the best features of our government; and while the chief executive may well hesitate to oppose the will of the majority of the national legislature, neverthe- less, there are occasions when he should fearlessly use his powers. Chief Justice Taft would even go fur- ther than this. In his book on Our Chief Magistrate he has proposed that the veto power of the President should be extended by constitutional amendment em- powering him to veto separate items in bills without vetoing the entire bill. Such an amendment would permit a President to eliminate worthless "riders" or extravagant items for the expenditure of public funds which politicians in Congress frequently attach to otherwise excellent measures. Political powers. — In recent years it has become customary to consider the President as the leader of his party. Roosevelt was unquestionably the leader of THE PRESIDENT in his party during his two terms of office. Taft was not so fortunate in asserting his leadership in competition with Speaker Cannon and other powerful members of Congress; but Wilson secured and maintained the leadership of his party from the beginning to the end of his term of office, while Harding was compelled against his inclination to assume leadership as early as the special session of Congress called in April, 192 1. The President feels a greater obligation to carry out the election pledges of his party than do the individual congressmen. The Republican Party platform in 1908 contained a plank pledging the party to a reform of the tariff, but the framers of the Payne-Aldrich Bill in 1909 ignored these pledges. Accordingly, President Taft threatened to veto the bill unless changes were made in the proposed tariff, and although he was not able to effect a complete fulfillment of preelection pledges he was able to secure a compromise. In 19 13 President Wilson won a complete victory over the leaders of his party in Congress who opposed his at- tempt to redeem the Democratic platform pledges. In speaking of the President's political position Mr. Taft has well said : "Under our system of politics the Presi- dent is the head of the party which elected him, and cannot escape responsibility either for his own execu- tive work or for the legislative policy of his party in both houses. He is, under the constitution, himself a part of the legislature in so far as he is called upon to approve or disapprove acts of Congress. A President who took no interest in legislation, who sought to exer- cise no influence to formulate measures, who altogether ignored his responsibility as the head of the party for carrying out ante-election promises in the matter of new laws, would not be doing what is expected of him ii2 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT by the people. In the discharge of all his duties, ex- ecutive or otherwise, he is bound to a certain extent to consult the wishes and even the prejudices of the members of his party in both houses, in order that there shall be secured a unity of action by which neces- sary progress may be made and needed measures adopted." 1 Of course when the President and one or both houses of Congress are of the opposite parties, the effectiveness of the President's political leadership is greatly impaired. In the last two years of Taft's ad- ministration the House of Representatives was in the control of the Democrats, while in the last two years of Wilson's administration both the House and the Senate were in control of the Republicans. THE PRESIDENT'S CABINET While the burden of responsibility for the execution of the laws rests upon the President, the actual work of administration is accomplished by the heads of the departments who comprise the President's Cabinet. This body consists of eleven members, namely, i. The Vice-President. 2. Secretary of State. 3. Secretary of the Treasury. 4. Secretary of War. 5. Attorney-General. 6. Postmaster-General. 7. Secretary of the Navy. 8. Secretary of the Interior. 9. Secretary of Agriculture. 10. Secretary of Commerce. 11. Secretary of Labor. l Four Aspects of Civic Duty (Yale University Press), p. 99. THE PRESIDENT 113 Although the Fathers were familiar with the Brit- ish Cabinet, the constitution makes no provision for such a body, with the possible exception of the clause giving the President power to "require the opinion in writing, of the principal officer in each of the execu- tive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices." In 1789 Congress created the Departments of State, Treasury, and War, as well as the office of Attorney-General. Washington appointed Jefferson as his Secretary of State, Hamil- ton as his Secretary of the Treasury, Knox as his Sec- retary of War, and Randolph as his Attorney-General. In 1793 Washington began the practice of summoning these officers to meet frequently as a council. The term "Cabinet" came to be applied to this group of Presidential advisers. Other Presidents followed Washington's practice, and as new departments were created the heads of these departments were included in the Cabinet. Thus arose the President's Cabinet, which has no authorization under law, but has grown out of custom to be a recognized part of our national administration. In 1921 President Harding initiated the practice of including the Vice-President among the President's advisers. The Cabinet now meets regularly, generally on a particular day of each week, which is known in Wash- ington as Cabinet Day. The meeting occurs in the Executive Offices of the White House. The President sits at the head of the table, the Vice-President at the foot; on the right hand of the President is the seat of the Secretary of State, and on the left hand sits the Secretary of the Treasury, while the other members are seated in order of their rank on either side. The meetings of the Cabinet are secret; and if any account ii4 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT of the discussions is given to the press, it must come from the President alone. The primary purpose of Cabinet meetings is to secure unity in the administra- tion and to give the President advice upon the prob- lems of the moment. The President is not obliged to accept any advice; the Cabinet members, moreover, are the subordinates of the President and may be re- moved by him from office, although generally a hint from the President is sufficient to secure the resigna- tion of any member. In late years it has been proposed that the Cabinet officers be given seats on the floor of both houses of Congress with the right to debate but not to vote. A committee of the Senate made such a proposal in 1881, but their project was not well received by their col- leagues. Chief Justice Taft has recently recommended this reform as a measure contributing to cooperation between the executive and legislative departments. Under such an arrangement Congress would have bet- ter facilities for making the President disclose his policies, while the President would have the oppor- tunity to defend or explain his policies by means of the speeches of his Cabinet officers. PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION The constitution provides that in case of the "re- moval of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President," and that Congress shall provide for the presidential succession after the Vice-President. By law, therefore, Congress has provided that in any such emergency the heads of the departments shall succeed to office in order of their rank. The consti- THE PRESIDENT 115 tution is not clear as to what constitutes inability to discharge the powers and duties of the office of Presi- dent, and no provision is made other than by impeach- ment for declaring the office to be vacated. In conclusion, we should observe that while the powers of the President are very extensive there is small danger of his becoming a tyrant or a despot. The enemies of a strong President in Congress nat- urally raise the cry of "executive usurpation" and "one man power"; but such accusations mean little if they are not followed by impeachment proceedings, and only once has the House of Representatives ever impeached a President. The President, with the ex- ception of the Vice-President, is the only federal of- ficer elected by all the people ; the Senators and Repre- sentatives represent only sections of the voters. Hence in recent years there has been a tendency to consider the President in a very real sense as the leader of the nation. If a President is wise in his counsel and is backed by public opinion, Congress cannot long resist him. For Further Reading Presidential Elections. — James Bryce, American Commonzvealth, II, ch. lxix-lxxiii ; P. Orman Ray, In- troduction to Political Parties and Practical Politics-, ch. viii; C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, ch. ix; J. B. Bishop, Presidential Nominations and Elec- tions, ch. xii, xiii; M. Ostrogorski, Democracy and the Party System in the United States, pp. 133-224; W. J. Bryan, The First Battle: A Story of the Campaign of 1806, pp. 210-237, 580-620; A. K. McClure, Our Presi- dents and Hozv We Make Them, pp. 261-269, 309-315; Edward Stanwood, History of the Presidency, II, ch. iv. Presidential Primaries. — P. Orman Ray, Introduc- n6 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT tion to Political Parties and Practical Politics, pp. 198- 203; R. S. Boots, The Presidential Primary in National Municipal Review (1920), IX, pp. 597-617; A. B. Hall, Popular Government, ch. v. Parliamentary and Presidential Government. — Jesse Macy and J. W. Gannaway, Comparative Free Government, pp. 435-446, 466-477; James Bryce, Mod- ern Democracies, II, ch. lxviii; C. G. and B. M. Haines, Principles and Problems of Government, pp. 259-279; Woodrow Wilson, Congressional Government ; W. F. Willoughby, Government of Modern States, ch. ix;. W. W. Willoughby and L. Rogers, Introduction to the Prob- lem of Government, ch. xvii-xviii. Powers of the President. — James Bryce, American Commonwealth, I, ch. vi; C. A. Beard, American Govern- ment and Politics, pp. 187-214; Everett Kimball, Na- tional Government of the United States, pp. 168-206; W. B. Munro, Government of the United States, ch. viii. The Presidential Veto. — J. H. Finley and J. F. San- derson, The American Executive and Executive Meth- ods, pp. 206-226; W. H. Taft, Our Chief Magistrate and His Powers, pp. 14-28. Leadership of the President. — Theodore Roose- velt, Autobiography, ch. x ; W. H. Taft, Our Chief Mag- istrate and His Powers, ch. i; Woodrow Wilson, Con- stitutional Government in the United States, ch. iii. The President's Cabinet. — Everett Kimball, Na- tional Government of the United States, pp. 207-221 ; James Bryce, American Commonwealth, I, ch. ix; C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, ch. xi ; W. B. Munro, Government of the United States, ch. ix; Jesse Macy and J. W. Gannaway, Comparative Free Govern- ment, ch. viii ; M. L. Hinsdale, History of the President's Cabinet, pp. 1-16; H. B. Learned, The President's Cabinet, pp. 97-158. CHAPTER VI CONGRESS In drafting the constitution the Fathers created a bicameral or two-chambered legislature. Congress was to consist of the Senate and the House of Representa- tives. The former was to be the upper house; the latter was to be the lower house. In planning thus the Fathers were not unmindful of the British model. The British Parliament was divided into two houses; the colonial legislatures had been so divided ; and all the new State legislatures, save three, followed this ar- rangement. From the beginning of their deliberations in the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the Fathers felt that the people should be represented in the lower house. The scheme for representing all the States equally in the upper house while representing the people proportionally in the lower house was the result of the famous compromise between the small States and the large States. Under the constitution, each State was to send to the Senate two Senators elected for six-year terms by the legislatures of the States; and the people in each State were to elect every two years members to the House of Representatives. The number of representatives from a State was to be proportional to its population. The System of Checks and Balances was applied to the relations of the two houses in Congress. No bill could pass Congress without a majority vote in both branches; and, since upper houses are proverbially 117 ti8 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT more conservative than lower houses, it was thought that the Senate would act as a check upon the impul- sive popular house. There is a tradition that Thomas Jefferson one morning at Washington's breakfast table protested against the need of two houses in Congress, and Washington asked, "Why did you pour that cof- fee into your saucer?" "To cool it," replied Jeffer- son. "Even so," said Washington, "we pour legis- lation into the Senatorial saucer to cool it." More- over, it was expected that the Senate would repre- sent the interests of the States and would resist any encroachment of the people upon the rights of the States. The expectations of the Fathers were well founded. The Senate was long the protector of State's Rights ; and although the Seventeenth Amendment, in 1913, brought us popular election of Senators, the Senate has remained the more conservative house of Congress. The functions of Congress. — By means of the Check and Balance System, the national legislature was made to fill a nicely prescribed position. Congress has two great functions, first, to make the laws which it is the duty of the executive to enforce, and second, to check all encroachments by the executive. The power of Congress to oppose and obstruct the Presi- dent is very comprehensive. (1) Any bill of Congress which the President vetoes may be enacted without the President's signature by a two-thirds vote of both houses. (2) The confirmation of the Senate is re- quired for all appointments, unless Congress by law confers this power upon the President or other officials. (3) All treaties negotiated by the President must be ratified by a two-thirds vote in the Senate; if not rati- fied, no treaty is valid. (4) The President may be im- CONGRESS 119 peached by the lower house, the trial being held before the upper house, which by a two-thirds vote may con- vict him of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors and remove him from office. ( 5 ) As in the British government, no taxes may be levied without the vote of the legislature, the American constitution, like the British, providing that all revenue bills must originate in the lower house. (6) Finally, no money can be drawn from the national treasury but in conse- quence of appropriations made by law. Thus the supply of money necessary for the maintenance of the executive is in the hands of Congress. In an added effort to separate the executive and legislative departments the Fathers provided in the constitution : "No Senator or Representative shall, dur- ing the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no person holding any office under the United States, shall be a member of either house during his continuance in office." The Fathers feared that the President might connive with members of Congress and agree to reward their services to him by appoint- ment to lucrative offices. This prohibition in the con- stitution bars a Cabinet officer from membership in either house of Congress. Sessions of Congress. — "Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day," says the constitution. Accordingly, the regular sessions of Congress convene each year upon the first Monday in December. This date, however, is not the beginning of the Congress- 120 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT men's term of office. In 1788 a resolution of the Con- gress of the Confederation fixed the following March 4th, as the date on which the new government should go into effect. As a result, the commissions of all elected officers begin and end at noon on the fourth of March. Unfortunately, this date does not corre- spond with the time for the convening of the regular session of Congress, and as a result the sessions lack a uniformity of length. The long session convenes ordi- narily in December, although it may be summoned by the President at any time after his inauguration on the 4th of March; and it continues until adjournment sine die. The short session extends from the next De- cember to the following fourth of March. Each in- coming President usually summons a special session of the Senate to confirm his Cabinet appointments; and he may, if he desires to hurry along his party's legis- lative program, call a special session of both houses of Congress. THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES The number of members in the House of Repre- sentatives is fixed by Congress, subject to the limita- tion that it shall never exceed one for every thirty thou- sand inhabitants, but each State has at least one Repre- sentative. Representatives are apportioned among the States according to their population, which is deter- mined every ten years by the national census. After every census a new apportionment is made. The first House had sixty-five members. This membership has increased from time to time; after the census of 1910 it was set at four hundred and thirty-five at which figure it still remains. The ratio of representation by the apportionment of 192 1 was 242,267 persons. CONGRESS i2i This method of apportionment is largely a matter of adjustment. Care must be taken not to increase un- duly the size of the House. On the other hand, grow- ing States want more Representatives in Congress and no State wants its membership reduced. The ratio is finally obtained by dividing the total population of the United States by the figure representing the new mem- bership of the House. In the apportionment of 1921, three States — Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming — were given a Representative solely because of the con- stitutional requirement. The congressional districts. — The constitution makes no provision as to congressional districts. It declares that the time, place, and manner of holding elections for Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the legislature thereof, but Congress may alter these regulations. It was not until 1842 that Congress used this regulating power. The Appor- tionment Act of that year directed the legislature in every State having more than one Representative to create as many congressional districts composed of "contiguous territory," as the State was entitled to elect Representatives. At a later day Congress required that the congres- sional districts be composed of "contiguous and com- pact territory containing as nearly as practicable an equal number of inhabitants/' or else that all the mem- bers should be elected at large. This requirement was intended to end a practice in which State legislatures too frequently indulged, called "gerrymandering"— a picturesque nickname originating in the clever way in which a distinguished Republican, Elbridge Gerry, in 181 1, redistricted the State of Massachusetts with the curious result that the map of one of the districts 122 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT looked like a salamander. In apportioning the con- gressional districts the majority party in the legisla- ture is sorely tempted to use its power to its own advantage. By skillful manipulation of boundary lines the congressional districts may be constructed in such manner that the voting strength of one's own party will be nicely distributed so as to insure a majority in the greater number of districts. Thus, the famous "sad- dlebag" district in Illinois (the 23rd) was constructed by attaching a large number of Democratic counties together for the purpose of leaving a fairly safe margin of Republican votes in the five adjoining districts. The "belt line" district around Cook County in the same State is another example of gerrymandering. On the other hand, the Democrats in Missouri have juggled the Republican border counties and formed the cele- brated "shoe-string" district (the 14th), which stretches almost across the State. Qualification for members in the House. — The constitution requires that a Representative must be twenty-five years of age, a citizen of the United States for at least seven years, and at the time of his election a resident of the State from which elected. Custom has furthermore prescribed that a Representative must also be a resident of his congressional district. There is, of course, a reason for this custom. In America, sectional interests and prejudices have always pressed very strongly for expression, and the American people have felt that only an inhabitant of their own particu- lar locality could accurately give voice and adequately demand recognition for the peculiar interests and de- sires of their sections. The theory underlying the custom of requiring our Representatives to be residents of the district which CONGRESS 123 they serve is one which has afforded occasion for de- bate in all representative governments. Should the member of a national legislature consider himself as a representative of a particular district, bound to echo with mathematical accurateness the demands of his constituents, or should he attempt to represent the whole people ? Should he speak and vote in the inter- ests of the nation rather than in the interests of his own individual section? These are questions more easily raised than answered. It would seem that local inter- ests had a right to be heard in the legislative halls, and that local prejudices and opinions should be con- sidered in weighing questions of national importance; but it is too much to demand that a representative should be simply the mute recorder of his district's vote. He is a member of a body which makes laws for all the people. If he is a statesman, he will think of the good of the nation more than the good of a single district. In 1 774-1 780 Edmund Burke as a member of the British Commons frequently disobeyed the instructions of his constituents of Bristol and sup- ported many unpopular measures in Parliament. In explaining his conduct to the electors he said: "I conformed to the instructions of truth and nature, and maintained your interest, against your opinions, with a constancy that became me. A representative worthy of you ought to be a person of stability. I am to look, indeed, to your opinions; but to such opinions as you and I must have five years hence. I was not to look to the flash of the day. I knew that you chose me, in my place, along with the others, to be a pillar of the state, and not a weathercock on the top of the edifice, exalted for my levity and versatility, and of no use but to indicate the shiftings of every fashionable gale," 124 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT We like to think that Congress, as the deliberative assembly of a great nation, is guided, not by local pur- poses and prejudices, but by the general good result- ing from the general reason of the whole. Neverthe- less, in practical politics the ideal presented by Edmund Burke is difficult to attain. The pressure of local interests upon congressmen is enormous. No one can fully appreciate the weight of local public opinion in America, who has not held an office which is ex- posed to popular sentiment. It takes a man of more than average courage, self-reliance, and conviction to speak and vote in Congress in opposition to his constit- uency. The House is the judge of the qualifications of its members. — "Each house shall be judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own mem- bers." In these words the constitution provides that the House shall be the sole and final judge of the right of any member to hold his seat. The constitution also gives each house power to expel any member by a two-thirds vote. Not infrequently both houses exer- cise their powers of expulsion. In 1912 the Senate excluded a Senator from Illinois for corrupt practice in securing his election, and in 19 19 the House refused to permit Victor Berger of Wisconsin to take the oath of office. Mr. Berger had been convicted by a jury in a federal court of disloyal acts committed dur- ing our war with Germany and had been sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment in the penitentiary. Pend- ing his appeal to the Supreme Court he had been re- leased on bail, and was permitted to defend himself before the committee of the House which investigated his case. After his exclusion from the House a special election was held and Mr. Berger was again elected CONGRESS 125 by his constituents, and for a second time he was ex- cluded by the House. No injustice was inflicted upon the voters of Mil- waukee by the exclusion of their Representative. It would be manifestly wrong for the House to exclude a Representative because of his membership in any political party ; but the House may judge of the char- acter and personal qualifications of the particular agent whom the people of any district have chosen to repre- sent them. It would be improper for a felon to sit in Congress and help make the laws which all must obey even if the people of a certain district were determined to be represented by a felon. Exclusion by the House does not mean that the district remains unrepresented in Congress. By special election called by the Governor of the State, the constituency has an opportunity to return another member. Congressional elections. — Under its power to su- pervise federal elections Congress has designated the Tuesday after the first Monday in November of every other year as the date for electing congressmen. Elec- tion day was placed in midweek as it was considered a more convenient time than the week-end for voters to go to the polls. The act of Congress which fixed the date for congressional elections allowed any State to maintain its former time of election if it so wished, although hereafter the election might not be changed to any other date save the one designated by Congress. Accordingly, by virtue of an earlier unrepealed law, Maine holds its congressional elections in September; and since Maine is frequently a "doubtful" State, weather-wise politicians watch the Maine elections with considerable interest. Before 1842 the State conventions of the various 126 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT parties used to place in nomination the candidates for Representatives. After the creation of congressional districts, conventions of the parties within the dis- tricts nominated the candidates for the Representatives chosen by the district, while the State conventions nominated the candidates for congressmen-at-large, if there were any such. Since 1900 most States have adopted the primary system. Under this system the primaries are usually held in the summer, several months before the congressional elections. In the pri- maries the Republican voters choose their candidate, the Democrats choose their candidate, and voters of other parties do likewise. The names which appear on the ballots of the various parties are placed there as a result of petitions filed with the election officials at the State capitals. The successful candidates in the primaries become the candidates of their respective parties in the congressional election and their names appear on the ballots which the voters mark on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November in the even-numbered years. ORGANIZATION OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Like all deliberative bodies, the House of Repre- sentatives has a presiding officer. Unlike his British prototype, the Speaker of the House of Representa- tives is not an impartial moderator but is a partisan officer using the power of his position to promote the interests of his party. Indeed, from the election of Henry Clay as Speaker in 181 1 to the downfall of Joseph Cannon in 19 10, the Speaker was the leader of his party in the House and the formidable rival of the President as the leader of his party, not only in Con- gress but in the country at large. The Speaker is the CONGRESS 127 choice of the majority party. Before a new Congress convenes it is customary for the members of each party to meet in secret caucus and select their candi- dates for Speaker. Then on the opening of Congress each party nominates this candidate for the speaker- ship, and a ballot is formally taken, although the result of the election is a foregone conclusion. The nominee of the minority party is tacitly the leader of his party in opposition. The majority party in its caucus chooses not only the Speaker, but, since the Speaker is the pre- siding officer, it also selects a floor-leader. In 191 1- 19 19, when the Democrats controlled the House, Champ Clark of Missouri was the Speaker, and Mr. Underwood of Alabama and later Mr. Kitchin of North Carolina were floor-leaders. Under the Repub- lican regime beginning in 19 19, Mr. Gillett of Massa- chusetts became Speaker and Mr. Mondell of Wyo- ming the floor-leader. The caucus of the majority party also appoints a so-called "steering committee," a par- tisan committee of leaders for the purpose of deciding what measures shall have precedence and for guiding legislation in various other ways. The committees of the House. — The work of Congress is very largely accomplished in the commit- tees. In fact, one critic has remarked that the Amer- ican people are governed by committees. This is partly true, because not only are the committees busied with the drafting of bills, but they also take the leading part in the discussion, alteration, rejection, or approval of bills. The debates on the floor of the House are of far less importance in the matter of influencing legislation than are the discussions in the committee rooms. Not all of the committees of the House are of equal importance. There are sixty-one standing commit- 128 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT tees. The Committee on Ways and Means, which frames the revenue bills, heads the list in importance, while the Committee on the Disposition of Useless Executive Papers is perhaps of the least impor- tance. A committee like the Committee on Im- migration and Naturalization may, on occasion, assume a prominent place in the business of Con- gress when a new immigration law is being framed, only to fall back into insignificance during the following years when the question is no longer before Congress. The most important commit- tees are the following: (i) Ways and Means, (2) Ap- propriations, (3) Rules, (4) Interstate and Foreign Commerce, (5) Banking and Currency, (6) Judiciary, (7) Agriculture, (8) Post Office and Post Roads, (9) Military Affairs, and (10) Naval Affairs. Each committee is composed of members from both the majority and the minority party. The majority party retains the chairmanship and the greater num- ber of members. Thus in 19 19 the Committee on Ways and Means had twenty-five members, fifteen of them being Republicans and ten of them Democrats. On the rolls of a committee the chairman's name comes first, and after his name follow those of the other mem- bers of his party in strict order of seniority. In an- other column the names of the minority members are placed in rank of seniority. Before 191 1 the committees were appointed by the Speaker, but since this date they have been elected by the House. This election, however, is only nominal, for the party slates of committee appointments are framed by the handful of men who lead their party, are ap- proved perfunctorily in secret caucus and elected as a matter of course when Congress convenes. In fram- CONGRESS 129 ing the slate of commitee appointments the leaders fol- low the rule of seniority. A new member of Congress has practically no chance of securing the chairmanship of any committee, and he will be fortunate if he can secure the lowest place on a committee of even second- rate importance. Work of the committees. — The committees have been called a "species of miniature legislature." They are bipartisan in their composition, being made up of members from the majority and minority parties. They conduct hearings, investigate questions pertain- ing to proposed laws, draft bills, discuss bills, and finally report their bills to the House. Every bill, and nearly every resolution introduced in the House, is referred to some committee for a report before the House takes action upon the measure. On the opening day of Congress bills are introduced in great numbers. Any member may introduce a bill which he has prepared or which some other person, association, or corporation has prepared and requested him to introduce. He writes his name on the bill and drops it into the box at the desk of the clerk of the House. In the second session of the Sixty-third Con- gress, 26,106 bills and nearly 2,000 resolutions were introduced. This ease in introducing bills accords with the democratic principle that the voice of the people should reach to the national legislature, but obviously the practice is subject to abuse. Many useless bills containing foolish Utopian projects, or ill-digested and unsound measures are proposed every year. The bills are referred by the clerk to the proper com- mittee, and if there is any doubt as to the proper com- mittee for considering a bill, the Speaker decides where it shall go. Hereafter the fate of the bill lies very i 3 o AMERICAN GOVERNMENT largely in the hands of the committee. The commit- tees may act upon a bill in one of three ways, (i) It may ignore the measure or "pigeonhole' 5 it, in the words of the political jargon. The greater number of bills introduced in Congress thus expire in committee, for it is difficult to get the House to consider a bill which a committee does not report. (2) The com- mittee may report the bill favorably to the House, in which case the bill is debated and given three read- ings. (3) The committee may substitute its own meas- ure on the same subject and report it to the Housed When a bill is under consideration, it is the practice for the committee to hold hearings, at which any per- son, corporation, or society, or their attorneys, will be permitted to appear and present an argument or give evidence for or against the measure. In the course of its investigations a committee sometimes summons individuals or officers of government to ap- pear before it and give testimony. These hearings are usually public, and the newspapers often report the pro- ceedings more fully than the debates on the floor of the House. Bill procedure. — Upon introduction, a bill is num- bered, referred to a committee, and printed. When a bill is reported by a committee to the House it is placed on one of the three calendars from which it will be taken in its regular order for consideration by the House. Because of an ancient custom of parliamen- tary practice a bill is given three readings, but these readings are not in full. The first reading is by title only, and the same is usually also true in regard to the third reading. The second reading is in full for the offering of amendments. The debate occurs on the motion to pass to a third reading. CONGRESS 131 After a bill has passed the House of Representatives it is sent up to the Senate for concurrence. If the Senate passes the bill, then it is engrossed on parch- ment and transmitted to the President. On the other hand, if the Senate passes the bill with amendments, it is sent back to the House. In case the House refuses to concur in the amendment a conference committee of three Senators and three Representatives is ap- pointed to arrange, if possible, a compromise between the two houses. The debates in the House are limited. The amount of legislation to be considered is prodigious and the membership of the House is large, with the result that the individual member cannot claim as much time as he may desire to address the House. As already stated, the real work of the House is done in committees and not on the floor of the House; and, after a party has decided in secret caucus to support a measure, all the eloquence in Christendom will not swerve it from its purpose. Accordingly, the House has been rather im- patient of long speeches, and since the time of the cele- brated victory of "Czar" Reed in 1890, filibustering, or the use of obstructive tactics by obstreperous members, has been effectively stopped. Any member who wishes to say more upon any measure than he can in the time allotted to him may obtain permission to extend his re- marks in the Congressional Record, and the complete speech including both that part actually given and the remainder also may be reprinted and mailed under the member's frank (free of charge) to his constituents. THE SENATE The Senate is the upper house of Congress. It con- sists of two members from every State, in all ninety- 132 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT six members. We have seen that one of the compro- mises of the Fathers provided for the representation of the people in the House of Representatives, while the States should be represented in the Senate. The small States feared the encroachment of the large States. But during nearly a century and a half of national history there has never been, as Hamilton foresaw, any divi- sion of interests and political contests between the large and small States. The difference in the population of States is far greater to-day than it was in 1787. New York with its population of 10,385,227 has two Senators in our upper chamber; but Nevada, with its population of only 77,407, also is entitled to send two Senators. It is very unlikely that the representation of States in the Senate will be modified at any time in the near future, for the last clause in Article v of the constitution stipu- lates that "no State, without its consent, shall be de- prived of its equal suffrage in the Senate." In spite of this disproportion of representation, the Senate is more broadly representative of the United States than is the lower house. As President Wilson has pointed out, it does not represent merely units of population, but, rather, regions or sections of our country. The House draws its membership in a large part from the denser centers of population, the closely crowded industrial and commercial cities in the North and East. But the Senate draws its membership equally from every section or State. As a result it represents the varieties and diversities of America in a greater measure than does the House. The election of Senators. — As originally pro- vided in the constitution the Senators were elected by the legislatures of their States, and sometimes legis- CONGRESS 133 latures undertook to "instruct" their Senators how they should vote in Congress. In 19 13 the Seventeenth Amendment was adopted, placing the election of Sena- tors in the hands of the people. Theoretically the Sev- enteenth Amendment was an abrupt break with the past. Practically it has had little effect upon the char- acter of the Senate. As we have already noted, the term of office is still six years; and the comparative smallness of the membership and prestige of the Sen- ate attract the ablest political talent of the country. Ever since the Jacksonian era the Senate has been composed of more brilliant, learned, and versatile men than has the House. The Senator, unlike the Representative whose term of office has ordinarily half expired when he takes his seat, is not immediately concerned with his reelection. As Lord Bryce has said, a Senator has the opportunity of thoroughly learning his work and of proving that he has learned it. Once elected to office a Senator has good chances of a second, third, or fourth election; because the office carries with it great political influence in the State as a result of its control of federal patron- age. But if a Senator loses an election, it is difficult to regain his seat. The new incumbent appropriates the political prestige and patronage of the office and he has six years to build up a following within the State. The entire membership of the Senate does not seek reelection every six years. The Senators are divided into three groups, so that one third of the members are elected every second year at the same time that the Representatives are elected. Organization of the Senate. — The Senate meets in its chamber in the south wing of the Capitol. The i 3 4 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Vice-President of the United States is the presiding officer, but he has no right to debate, nor to vote save in case of a tie vote. There are two kinds of sessions. In legislative session the Senate performs its law-mak- ing functions coordinately with the House. In execu- tive sessions the Senate exercises certain executive powers which we shall describe later in this chapter. The legislative sessions are open to the public, who, as in the Hall of the Representatives, may listen to the debates from the galleries. The executive sessions, however, are usually held behind closed doors. As in the House, the chief work of the Senate is accomplished in committees. Altogether there are thirty-four standing committees. They are elected in the Senate by ballot every two years. Six of these com- mittees are of first importance, being the committees on: (i) Finance, (2) Appropriations, (3) Foreign Relations, (4) Judiciary, (5) Interstate Commerce, and (6) Rules. The other committees vary from year to year in importance, according to the legislation be- fore Congress. Freedom of debate in the Senate. — The proce- dure of the Senate is in many respects like that of the House. But while debate is strictly limited among the Representatives, the Senators enjoy almost unlim- ited freedom of discussion, and any member may intro- duce a bill and have it put on the calendar for debate without reference to a committee. Compared with the House, the membership of the Senate has always been small, particularly in the beginning of our national history when there were only twenty-two Senators. Because of the smallness of the Senate there has not existed that necessity for rigid self-restraint which must be practiced in a large assembly of four hundred CONGRESS 135 and thirty-five members. Hence the Senate has al- ways liked to consider itself as a house where debate is unlimited, where time and opportunity are permitted for presenting every phase of a subject, where action is taken only after due deliberation. In allowing this freedom of debate the Senate has traditionally de- pended upon the good faith of Senators and upon their consideration for the dignity and quality of the upper house, where once was heard the oratory of Webster, Clay, and Calhoun. No hour-rule limiting speeches exists, and it was not until 19 17 that a cloture rule was adopted. Until this time any Senator could talk as long as he desired upon any measure before the house. Unfortunately, the rather idealistic freedom of the Senate's rules has been rather shabbily abused in late years. As filibustering was eradicated from the House it appeared in the Senate. In 1903, near the close of a session, a certain Senator announced that he would keep the floor until Congress expired and thus prevent the passage of some important appropriation bills un- less an item was included for the payment of a claim by his State of some seventy years standing. Both the House and the Senate disapproved of the item but the appropriation bills were urgent and eventually Congress surrendered to the stubborn Senator. Many other cases of flagrant obstruction might be cited. There is nothing particularly clever or brilliant in thus holding up the process of legislation by abusing the rights which Anglo-Saxon majorities like to grant to minorities. Indeed, the resort to such tactics suggests a type of mentality quite opposite to that indicated by the powerful oratory of Webster or the brilliant logic of Calhoun. Notwithstanding this unabated nuisance 136 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT the Senate was extremely reluctant to adopt any rule which would interfere with the traditional freedom of debate. A crisis was reached, however, on the eve of our war with Germany, when Senator LaFollette and a "little group of willful men" used a filibuster to pre- vent the enactment of a measure recommended by President Wilson. In the next session of the Senate, under pressure from the President, the upper house adopted a complicated rule known as the cloture; but so deep-rooted is the tradition of freedom of debate in the Senate that the cloture has been seldom used. Party control in the Senate. — As in the House, the controlling party in the Senate uses the secret party caucus for the purpose of securing harmony of action. In caucus each party chooses a floor-leader, and the caucus of the majority party usually appoints a "steer- ing-committee' ' to guide legislation. At the opening of Harding's administration Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts was the leader of the Republican ma- jority, while Oscar W. Underwood of Alabama was the leader of the Democratic minority. POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF THE SENATE According to the plans of the framers of the con- stitution the Senate occupied a peculiar position in the System of Checks and Balances. It is the upper branch of Congress, and shares the lawmaking power with the House of Representatives. But it has also execu- tive and judicial functions. In fact Hamilton wrote of the executive power as divided between the Presi- dent and the Senate. The functions of the Senate may be grouped under the following heads : CONGRESS 137 1. Legislative power as a coordinate house of Con- gress. 2. Special executive powers, including confirmation of appointments and approval of treaties. 3. Special judicial power, namely, to try impeach- ments. The possession of these varied powers by one organ of government might seem to be inconsistent with the theory of separation and distribution of powers among the three departments of goverment. But the Fathers thought of the Senate as performing a very necessary office in the System of Checks and Balances. It was to be a special check upon the executive. In the mak- ing of treaties with foreign nations and in the difficult business of making appointments to office it was asso- ciated with the President, not in an initiating capacity, but in an advisory or negative capacity. In regard to trying the President for malfeasance in office, the House was given power to prosecute the impeachment, the Senators were to act as judges. When the Senate exercises its legislative powers it sits in legislative ses- sion; when it exercises its executive powers it sits in executive session, usually behind closed doors; and when hearing impeachments it sits as a court of im- peachment, although in 1868 the term "high court of impeachment" was discontinued. The legislative functions of the Senate. — The Senate as a coordinate branch of Congress shares the legislative power with the House of Representatives. Every bill and joint resolution must pass both houses before being presented to the President for his signa- ture, and must pass both houses by a two-thirds vote in order to become law over the President's veto. Bills may originate in either house with one exception. 1 38 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Under the constitution, all bills levying a tax must come from the House of Representatives. As a matter of fact the Senate originates as much financial legisla- tion as does the House, especially in the framing of tariff bills. This is possible under the power of the Senate to propose amendments to a House bill, but the exercise of this power is a violation of the spirit of the constitution, although it may be easily condoned since the Senate like the House is elected by the people. Confirmation of appointments. — The Senate shares the appointing power with the President. The President nominates and the Senate confirms. This applies to about ten thousand principal office-holders who are not under the civil service, besides the military officers. As we have already seen, the President practically is compelled by the custom of "senatorial courtesy" to confer with the Senators from the State in which the office lies providing these Senators or one of them belong to his political party. Ratification of treaties. — The constitution pro- vides that "the President shall have power by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur." It is not clear from these words whether or not the Fathers intended that the President should ask the ad- vice of the Senate before opening negotiations for treaties with foreign nations. Washington held the opinion that the President should consult the Senate, and he actually came into the executive session of the Senate to receive such advice. The Senate, however, objected to his presence so obstinately that Washington gave up the practice. Thereafter the President nego- tiated treaties upon his own initiative and usually sub- mitted nothing to the Senate until the formal treaty CONGRESS 139 was signed. This document was then transmitted to the Senate for ratification or rejection. While the President by long custom possesses full authority for initiating treaties, the Senate has the power of obstructing his work, for no treaty is valid without the Senate's ratification, and the Senate has never been timid in the matter of destroying presi- dential policies. The Senate, in 1870, defeated Grant's plan for the annexation of San Domingo; in 1904 it rejected the great accomplishment of Secretary Hay for arbitration, and in 191 1 it rejected the arbitration treaties of President Taft. Because of the hostility with which the Senate habitually views the executive, a prudent President, as Mr. Wilson well said in his celebrated essay written in the year 1908, will keep in touch with the leaders of the Senate and the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and will privately in- form them in regard to the progress of negotiations. Indeed, he will ask their advice from time to time upon important phases of the negotiations. 1 Failure to fol- low his own recommendations upon the conduct of a President caused Mr. Wilson to meet a disastrous de- feat in 1919 when he submitted the Treaty of Ver- sailles to the Senate. Sometimes the Senate will approve a treaty with res- ervations ; but, since a treaty is a contract between two nations, such reservations are effective only upon agreement with the other nation or nations that are parties to the treaty. The power to try impeachments. — The Senate has a judicial function. Under the constitution it is given "the sole power to try all impeachments." The House of Representatives prefers the charges of im- 1 Constitutional Government in the United States, pp. 130-140. i 4 o AMERICAN GOVERNMENT peachment and prosecutes the case. The Senate sits as a court, passes upon the evidence, hears the argu- ments for and against the accused, and by vote deter- mines his guilt or innocence. A vote of two thirds is required for conviction and removal from office. The Vice-President presides, except in case the President is impeached; in such a case the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides. All civil officers may be removed from office upon impeachment and conviction of "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misde- meanors." There have been only nine federal im- peachments and only three have resulted in convic- tions. Andrew Johnson, the only President of the United States to be impeached, was acquitted in 1868. Because of its extraordinary executive and judicial powers the Senate is the more important of the two houses of Congress. Individually the members of the Senate are more conspicuous than the members of the House, and, as a rule they are more experienced in public life, for the term of six years in office insures a greater continuity of service. In recent years the Sen- ate has been frequently attacked as the refuge of special interests and the home of vain obstructionists, while on the other hand it has been praised as guardian of the constitution against executive usurpation. What- ever the truth may be, the Senate has played a prom- inent role in our national history ; it has humbled many Presidents and more than held its own against the lower house. For Further Reading Organization and Procedure of the House of Representatives. — Everett Kimball, National Govern- ment of the United States, ch. xi-xiii; C. A. Beard, CONGRESS 141 American Government and Politics, ch. xii, xiv; James Bryce, American Commonwealth, I, ch. xiii, xiv; W. B. Munro, Government of the United States, ch. xii, xiii; C. G. Haines and B. M. Haines, Principles and Problems of Government, pp. 280-312; W. W. Willoughby and L. Rogers, Introduction to the Problem of Government, ch. xiv. The Committee System. — S. M. McCall, The Busi- ness of Congress, pp. 43-60; Everett Kimball, National Government, pp. 344-356. A list of the committees of the House may be found in the Congressional Directory, which is published at the beginning of every session. The Caucus and Party Leadership. — Everett Kim- ball, National Government, pp. 310-314; 316-331; A. S. Alexander, Procedure of the House of Representatives, pp. 66-136; The Searchlight (a periodical published in Washington, D. C), May, 1919, pp. 2-7; June, 1919, pp. 2-4; Lynn Haines, Your Congress, ch. iv. Organization and Procedure of the Senate. — James Bryce, American Commonwealth, I, ch. x-xiii; Everett Kimball, National Government, ch. xi-xiii ; C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, ch. xii, xiv; W. B. Munro, Government of the United States, ch. x, xi; P. S. Reinsch, Readings on American Federal Gov- ernment, pp. 79-126. Character of the Senate. — James Bryce, American Commonwealth, I, ch. xii; Woodrow Wilson, Constitu- tional Government in the United States, ch. iv; H. C. Lodge, The Senate of the United States, ch. i; P. S. Reinsch, Readings on American Federal Government, pp. 155-172. CHAPTER VII ADMINISTRATION OF NATIONAL WELFARE A number of years ago when an unusually large appropriation bill was before Congress, some one taunted the majority party with the remark that it was a "billion-dollar Congress/' to which the Speaker of the House replied that this was a billion-dollar country. The rapid growth of America in wealth and population has made it necessary year by year to en- large the sphere of our national government. The greater part of this governmental development has been authorized by acts of Congress ; and the executive departments and commissions are charged with the duty of carrying out this legislation. The duties laid upon these departments and boards are so varied and their organization is so vast that several volumes would be required to give a detailed view of the business of the American government at Washington and of its agencies throughout the country. THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS All of the members of the President's cabinet save the Vice-President are heads of the various executive departments. These departments are legally separate and independent. But practically they are correlated, inasmuch as the department chiefs are appointed by the President and can be held responsible to the Presi- 142 NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 143 , dent. The general policies of the administration are discussed in the cabinet meetings, but the details of administration are left to the departments concerned. • Department of State. — The Secretary of State is the chief of the Department of State, and under the direction of the President he has charge of the for- eign relations of the United States. It is through this department that the President acts when dealing with other nations, writing diplomatic notes or making treaties. The Secretary of State also has the duty of publishing the amendments to the constitution. As a rule, the Secretary of State is the most prominent man in the President's cabinet, and often he is the closest official adviser of the President. The diplomatic service and the consular service are under the supervision of the Department of State. Our diplomatic representatives abroad are of four grades: (i) ambassadors; (2) envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary; (3) ministers resident, and (4) charges d'affaires. An ambassador or min- ister is accredited to the sovereign or executive head of a foreign state and he resides at the capital of that country. Unlike the European practice our diplomatic service is neither permanent nor well paid. With a few exceptions, the United States does not even furnish our diplomatic representatives with a residence or of- fice. As a result the more important embassies can be assigned only to men with private means. Further- more, the practice of changing our representatives abroad at every change in administration is demoraliz- ing to the service. Notwithstanding these handicaps, however, America has been represented at times by men of great distinction, like Bancroft, Irving, Mot- ley, Lowell, and John Hay. i 4 4 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT The function of the diplomatic service is to keep the President informed as to the attitude of foreign governments, to serve as a means of communication between the President and foreign governments, to negotiate treaties under the direction of the State De- partment and to protect American citizens abroad. The consular service is maintained for the purpose of taking care that the provisions of commercial treaties are observed, for the purpose of serving the interests of citizens abroad in such matters as authentication of acts under seal, vise of passports and other services, and for the purpose. of collecting information concern- ing trade and commerce. American consulates are established in many of the larger cities of the world. Department of the Treasury. — The Secretary of the Treasury is the principal financial officer of the national government. His duties are very extensive, and may be summarized as follows : ( i ) the collection of revenue including customs duties, income taxes and other internal duties; (2) the management of the na- tional debt; (3) keeping the public money; (4) audit- ing and paying the public accounts; (5) coining money; (6) regulation of currency; (7) serving as chairman of the Federal Farm Loan Board; and (8) the administration of all matters pertaining to foreign loans and finance, and loans and payments to the rail- ways under the Transportation Act of 1920. The Bu- reau of Internal Revenue, which has charge of the collection of internal revenue taxes, is also charged with the enforcement of the national prohibition act. At Washington the Department of the Treasury occu- pies the huge granite building on Pennsylvania Avenue east of the White House. Customs-houses are located in many of the large cities of the United States. Gov- NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 145 ernment mints and assay-offices for the purchase of bullion and for coining money are located in Phila- delphia, San Francisco, and Denver. The Department of War. — While the President is the commander-in-chief of the army and navy, the Department of War is under the immediate direction of the Secretary of War. Since 1814 the post of Sec- retary has usually been held by a civilian, and, indeed, we carried on the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and the World War with secretaries having no military experience. This has been partly due to the desire of the American people to subordinate the military power to the civil authority. The Chief of Staff is a military officer. He is the im- mediate adviser of the Secretary of War upon all mat- ters relating to the army and national defense. All orders to the armies in the field are issued through him. Besides military affairs the work of the War Department includes: (1) construction of public works like river and harbor improvements and (2) the government of our insular possessions, the Philip- pines and Porto Rico. Department of Justice. — The Attorney-General is the head of the Department of Justice. The chief function of this department is to give legal advice to the President and to the other departments, and to prosecute in the federal courts all violations against the laws of the United States. As an illustration of the work of this department we may cite the enforcement of the Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906. The Bu- reau of Chemistry in the Department of Agriculture makes analyses of samples of foods and drugs, and col- lects evidence concerning any violation of the law. This evidence is turned over to the Department of 146 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Justice for criminal prosecution of the offenders in the federal courts. Post Office Department. — Of all the governmen- tal departments the Post Office is most closely asso- ciated with the people. Its branches reach into every city and village. Altogether there are 53,243 post offices, and 43,445 rural routes covering 1,151,832 miles. Nearly nine billion letters are mailed by the American people every year, and over six billion par- cels of other mail matter. The department operates a money-order system for transmitting payments, maintains a postal savings bank, and operates an ex- press service called the parcel post. The employees of the department number 286,840 and its yearly receipts amount to nearly four hundred million dollars. The Postmaster-General of the United States has charge of the largest single business organization in the world. Department of the Navy. — The Secretary of the Navy is under the direction of the President as com- mander-in-chief of the navy. The department has supervision of the construction, manning and dispatch of our vessels-of-war. While the Secretary is gen- erally a civilian, the Chief of Naval Operations is an officer of naval training. Besides having control of the operations of our war fleets, the department also governs certain strategic outposts, including Guam, Samoa, and the Virgin Islands. In 1921 a proposal was made to President Harding by the Joint Congres- sional Committee on Reorganization for the amalga- mation of the Navy Department with the War De- partment, creating a new Department of National De- fense. Department of the Interior. — The Department of the Interior is a huge organization covering a great NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 147 variety of services. It has charge of the survey and disposition of the public lands of the United States ; it is the guardian of the Indians, who are considered as the wards of the United States ; it supervises the pen- sions paid to the veterans of our wars ; it administrates the Patent Office and the national Bureau of Education. It directs the Geological Survey of our country and the Bureau of Mines. It has charge of the Reclama- tion Service for the construction and operation of ir- rigation works in arid regions. The department also has the care of our national parks, consisting of forty preserves like Yellowstone Park and Hot Springs Res- ervation; and finally it has supervision of two terri- tories, Alaska and Hawaii. Department of Agriculture. — This department, like the department which we have just described, is intimately connected with the economic welfare of the people. It is charged with the work of promoting agri- culture and of enforcing certain acts of Congress re- lating to the production of farm products. The Bureau of Animal Industry has supervision of the inspection of meats; the Bureau of Chemistry is concerned with the enforcement of the Pure Food and Drugs Act. The Bureau of Plant Industry is engaged in finding ways in which the farmer may improve his crops and in discovering and introducing new crops like the Egyptian cotton in Arizona. The boll-weevil, which devastates the cotton fields of Texas, the Hessian fly, which attacks the Kansas wheat, the beetle, which ruins the beautiful elms of New England, are warred upon by the Bureau of Entomology. The Bureau of Soils makes a study of soils in the interest of farm im- provement. The Weather Bureau forecasts the atmos- pheric changes for the information of agriculturists 148 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT and navigators. The Office of Farm Management studies the farmer's economic problems. The States Relations Service cooperates with the State agricul- tural colleges and experiment stations in teaching agri- culture and home-economics in rural communities. The Bureau of Public Roads administers the Federal Aid Road Act, and the Bureau of Markets gathers and pub- lishes information regarding the marketing of farm products. Finally, the Forest Service administers the one hundred and fifty-one national forest reservations in the United States. Department of Commerce. — The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to promote the commerce of the United States and its mining, manufacturing, shipping, fisheries, and transportation. The Bureau of the Census in this department takes the census every ten years, and publishes annually a small volume called Statistical Abstract of the United States, being an up-to-date summary of information. The Bureau of Standards has custody of the standards of weights and measures. There are other bureaus dealing with fisheries, navigation, lighthouses, steamboat inspection, and coast and geodetic survey. The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce has charge of the promotion of American commerce in foreign lands. In 192 1, when Herbert Hoover accepted the invitation of President Harding to become Secretary of Commerce, it was with the understanding that the powers of the department in regard to the promotion of foreign commerce would be greatly expanded. Department of Labor. — In 19 13 the Department of Labor was created as a separate department. The Secretary is authorized to promote the welfare of the wage-earners of the United States. He also is charged NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 149 with the enforcement of the immigration laws; and for this purpose the Secretary has under his direction a large corps of inspectors at Ellis Island in New York harbor and at other ports on the coast. The Division of Conciliation has power to act as an arbitrator in all disputes between capital and labor that are submitted by both parties for decision. The Children's Bureau reports upon child- welfare in the United States, the Bureau of Naturalization supervises the naturalization of aliens; and the United States Employment Service seeks employment for the unemployed. This is a brief description of the great departments of the federal government, employing over half a million persons and requiring more than two billion dollars each year for maintenance. The various de- partments have not been created at the same time but like all governmental agencies they are a growth. The Departments of State, the Treasury and War and the office of Attorney-General were created in 1789, while at this time the Post Office was a branch of the Treas- ury. The Navy Department was created in 1798, the Interior in 1849, Agriculture in 1889, Commerce in 1903 and Labor in 19 13. THE FEDERAL BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS Besides the ten departments whose chiefs sit in the President's cabinet there are a large number of inde- pendent bureaus, boards and commissions created by act of Congress to perform certain functions. The heads of all these bureaus and the members of the boards and commissions are appointed by the Presi- dent, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Director of the Budget. — One of the most impor- tant of these miscellaneous institutions is the Director 150 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT of the Budget. This office was created by Congress in 1 92 1. The director has authority to prepare a budget for transmission to Congress, showing all estimates of funds needed by the various departments for the com- ing year. The director is responsible directly to the President and not to the Secretary of the Treasury. Interstate Commerce Commission. — One of the most important commissions is the Interstate Com- merce Commission, which was created in 1887. It is composed of eleven members appointed by the Presi- dent, with the confirmation of the Senate, for a term of seven years. The work of the commission is almost judicial in nature, for it adjudicates disputes between shippers and interstate railways relating to rates and transportation facilities. The commission has power to fix reasonable rates for the common carriers to charge. From its decisions appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court. United States Railroad Labor Board. — This board was established by act of Congress in 1920. It is composed of nine members appointed by the Presi- dent with the confirmation of the Senate. The board hears and renders a decision in disputes concerning wages and conditions of labor between the employers and employees of interstate railways. Unlike the other federal boards and commissions, the Railroad Labor Board sits at Chicago and not at Washington. The Federal Reserve Board. — The Federal Re- serve Board was created in 191 3. It is composed of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Comptroller of the Currency, and five other members, one of whom is Governor of the Board. This board has supervision of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks throughout the country. NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 151 The United States Shipping Board. — This board was set up under an act of Congress in the year 19 16 to assist in establishing a merchant marine. It is au- thorized to construct, purchase, or lease vessels suitable as naval auxiliaries in time of war. During the World War a vast fleet of ships was acquired by the Shipping Board; and after the war the management of this property was left to the board. Besides the boards and commissions above men- tioned there are many more. Only a few of them may be named here. The Federal Trade Commission has the duty of enforcing the provisions of the Clayton Act of 19 14 prohibiting unfair methods of competition in interstate trade. The Tariff Commission studies the problem of customs duties and reports to the President and to Congress. The Civil Service Commission has charge of the examination of candidates for posts in the federal employ. The Veterans' Bureau has charge of the war risk insurance instituted by the government during the World War and of the vocational training of incapacitated soldiers. Finally the federal govern- ment maintains several great institutions of science and learning. The Library of Congress is one of the larg- est depositories of books in the world. The Smith- sonian Institution, which is devoted to the promotion of scientific studies, was created by act of Congress in 1846 under the terms of the will of James Smithson, an Englishman, who bequeathed his fortune to the United States to found an establishment for the "in- crease and diffusion of knowledge among men." CIVIL SERVICE Excluding the army and navy there are 771,117 152 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT officers and employees in the service of the federal government. Of this number about ten thousand are presidential appointees ; and a considerable number are appointed by the heads of departments and the courts. Nearly all of the remainder are under the Civil Service. The history of the Civil Service is an important chapter in the record of our national progress. Wash- ington as President followed a very honorable course in reference to political appointments. Jefferson was the first President to come into office with a change of parties, and although he was strictly a party man, being the leader of the Jeffersonian Republicans, he re- sisted with a considerable degree of consistency the pressure from his party to oust Federalist officehold- ers and appoint "deserving" Republicans to their place. In regard to the federal patronage Jefferson said : "The only questions concerning a candidate shall be, is he honest? Is he capable? Is he faithful to the consti- tution?" In 1829, however, Jackson began a practice of frank brutality. "To the victors belong the spoils," said Senator Marcy, one of the Jackson men; and on this principle nearly half of the officials of the former administration were removed for political reasons. This vicious "spoils system" was continued for half a century and more. The unseemly scramble among politicians for office and the injustice rendered to faithful employees who were discharged for no fault of their own became a disgrace to the administration. Life is hard and cruel even at best, and this is true of the public service as well as of private employment, but at least we may hope that our government will not use a system of ruthless favoritism and brutality. A picture of the old system is given by Theodore Roose- velt, one of the early Civil Service Commissioners ; NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 153 I once came across a case in Washington which very keenly excited my sympathy. Under an Administration prior to the one with which I was connected a lady had been ousted from a government position. She came to me to see if she could be reinstated. (This was not possible, but by active work I did get her put back in a somewhat lower position, and this only by an appeal to the sympathy of a certain official.) She was so pallid and so careworn that she ex- cited my sympathy and I made inquiries about her. She was a poor woman with two children, a widow. She and her two children were in ac- tual want. She could barely keep the two chil- dren decently clad, and she could not give them the food growing children need. Three years before she had been employed in a bureau in a department of Washington, doing her work faithfully, at a salary of about $800. It was enough to keep her and her two children in clothing, food, and shelter. One day the chief of the bureau called her up and told her he was very sorry that he had to dismiss her. In great distress she asked him why; she thought that she had been doing her work satisfactorily. He answered her that she had been doing well, and that he wished very much that he could keep her, that he would do so if he possibly could, but that he could not ; for a certain Senator, giving his name, a very influ- ential member of the Senate, had demanded her place for a friend of his who had influence. The woman told the bureau chief that it meant turn- ing her out to starve. She had been thirteen or fourteen years in the public service; she had lost all touch with her friends in her native State; dismissal meant absolute want for her 154 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT and her children. On this the chief, who was a kind man, said he would not have her turned out, and sent her back to her work. But three weeks afterward he called her up again and told her that he could not say how sorry he was, but the thing had to be done. The Senator had been around in person to know why the change had not been made, and had told the chief that he would be himself removed if the place were not given him. The Senator was an extremely influ- ential man. His wants had to be attended to, and the woman had to go. And go she did, and turned out she was, to suffer with her children and to starve outright, or to live in semistarva- tion, just as might befall. I do not blame the bureau chief, who hated to do what he did, al- though he lacked the courage to refuse ; I do not even very much blame the Senator, who did not know the hardship that he was causing, and who had been calloused by long training in the spoils system; but this system, a system which permits and encourages such deeds, is a sys- tem of brutal iniquity. 1 Some time after the Civil War a reform movement began. The new spirit was typified by Cleveland's famous saying that "a public office is a public trust." Finally Congress passed the Civil Service Act of 1883. This act created a Civil Service Commission consist- ing of three members appointed by the President, not more than two of whom should be of the same party. The commission is to aid the President as he may request in preparing rules for the service and in hold- ing competitive examinations for the purpose of test- ing the fitness of applicants for office. Clerks and Autobiography (Scribner), p. 155. NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 155 certain officers in the departments are classified accord- ing to salary and functions, and appointment to this classified service may be made only after competitive examination. In other words, no Senator or Repre- sentative is permitted to make recommendations for ap- pointment to the classified service. The Act of 1883 was originally applied to only 14,000 offices, but soon it was widely extended. In Roosevelt's administration nearly 100,000 offices were put under the Civil Service, and now about sixty per cent of federal employees are so designated. After the examinations the Civil Service Commis- sion places the names of eligible candidates on its regis- ter; and, upon application from any department, sub- mits the names of three candidates for any vacant position, one of which may be selected by the appoint- ing officer. In this way hundreds of thousands of positions are filled with clerks, stenographers, drafts- men, interpreters, expert chemists, patent examiners, and postal clerks. After appointment, removals are not to be made "except for such causes as will promote the efficiency of the service.' ' The regulations of the Civil Service Commission are carefully drawn in the endeavor to give absolute justice to all who wish to enter or remain in federal employment. For Further Reading National Administration. — C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, ch. xi ; W. B. Munro, Govern- ment of the United States, ch. ix; Everett Kimball, Na- tional Government of the United States, pp. 241-270. The Executive Departments. — All of the executive departments except the Department of State publish an- nual reports which may be obtained on request. For each 156 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT session of Congress a Congressional Directory is pub- lished. Among other data this book gives an account of the duties and powers of the principal officers and bureaus in each department at Washington. The names and addresses of the present incumbents of office are also given. This useful volume may be obtained from the Superintendent of Public Documents, Washington, D. C, by sending coin or a money order (stamps not accepted) for sixty cents. The Civil Service. — Everett Kimball, National Gov- ernment of the United States, pp. 221-232; C. R. Fish, Civil Service and the Patronage, ch. i, ii, v, x; J. F. Rhodes, History of the United States, VIII, ch. xi ; P. S. Reinsch, Readings on American Federal Government, ch. xiii; Theodore Roosevelt, Autobiography, ch. v; W. D. Foulke, Fighting the Spoilsmen, ch. xvii-xviii; Lewis Meriam, Principles Governing the Retirement of Public Employees, ch. i. A detailed description of the Civil Service is published each year in the Annual Reports of the Civil Service Commission, which may be secured free of charge by writing the Commission at Washington, D. C. The Of- ficial Register of the United States contains a compre- hensive list of government employees. CHAPTER VIII PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL WELFARE The preamble of the constitution states that the fed- eral government was established "to promote the gen- eral welfare" of the nation. In order to carry out this purpose certain powers were conferred by the constitution upon Congress and the President, and under these powers Congress has created from time to time the various departments and officers which have been described in the preceding chapter. Policies relat- ing to the public welfare have been enacted by Con- gress into law and the duty of enforcing these policies has been laid upon the above-mentioned officers. In the space of this book it will be impossible to give more than a brief account of a few of the problems that have to do with national welfare. FOREIGN RELATIONS Because of our distance from Europe the United States has been able to remain more aloof from Euro- pean affairs than would have been possible if the At- lantic Ocean were not between us and the Old World. In the early days of the republic when our population was small and our economic resources undeveloped, Washington adopted a policy of avoiding entangling alliances with European powers, although he prophe- sied that some time in the future our expanding trade would lead us into a world organization. In spite of our early hopes for isolation it was not many years be- fore we found ourselves considerably involved in a 157 158 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT general European conflict, the Napoleonic Wars, and in 1 812 we were actually at war with England. Our statesmen, however, remained convinced that American affairs should be separated, if possible, from European affairs; and in 1823 this policy was expressed in the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine. — The immediate cause for the statement of this policy was the proposal of the Holy Alliance (Russia, Austria, Prussia and France) to aid Spain in the reconquest of her American colo- nies. The United States as well as Great Britain ob- jected to this undertaking and President Monroe in his annual message to Congress stated for the benefit of the Holy Alliance that, whereas America did not pro- pose to intervene in the internal affairs of European countries, she would not tolerate European interven- tion in the American hemisphere. "With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowl- edged, we could not view any interposition for the pur- pose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power, in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States." The Monroe Doctrine, as modified from time to time, has been the cardinal policy of the United States in foreign affairs. On numerous occasions it has been invoked for the protection of our Latin-American neighbors, as in 1902 when Roosevelt compelled Great Britain, Italy, and Germany to submit their claims against Venezuela to arbitration. NATIONAL WELFARE 159 America as a world power. — At the end of the nineteenth century events seemed to point to the day foreseen by Washington when the United States would be compelled to play a more important part in world politics. The Spanish-American War resulted in the unexpected acquisition of overseas possessions, and recent aggressions by the Powers in China led Secre- tary Hay to formulate his celebrated Open Door Policy. In 1900 Hay won a great diplomatic victory by securing the assent of Great Britain, Russia, Ger- many, France, Italy and Japan to this policy. Like- wise the United States played a leading part in the Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907 which for- mulated codes of International Law and set up the Hague Tribunal for the pacific settlement of inter- national disputes. The United States and Mexico were the first nations to submit a controversy to the decision of this international tribunal. In 19 10 ex-President Roosevelt startled the world by a speech at Christiania, Sweden, proposing that the great powers form a League of Peace "not only to keep the peace them- selves, but to prevent, by force if necessary, its being broken by others." At the outbreak of the World War in 19 14 the United States attempted to remain neutral, but eventu- ally we were drawn into the great conflict and declared war on Germany, April 6, 191 7. The entrance of America turned the tide of battle and on November 11, 1918, an armistice was signed on the basis of Presi- dent Wilson's "Fourteen Points." The President him- self attended the Peace Conference at Paris and nego- tiated personally with the Prime Ministers of Great Britain, France, and Italy and the plenipotentiaries of the other powers there represented. The President 160 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT was convinced that the Hague Tribunal was ineffec- tive in preventing such catastrophes as the World War because it had no force behind it, and, accordingly he proposed a League of Nations to compel recalcitrant states to keep the peace. The idea was in line with Roosevelt's suggestion of 19 10. Due almost entirely to President Wilson's insistence, the Powers incorpo- rated the covenant of the League of Nations in the Treaty of Versailles. After President Wilson's return to America, however, the Senate refused to ratify this treaty. The League of Nations in 192 1 consisted of fifty-one states including all the great nations save the United States, Russia, Germany, Mexico, and Turkey. All nations are represented equally in the Assembly which meets each year at Geneva in Switzerland. Nine powers are represented in the Council, in which Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States (if we enter the League) have permanent seats while the four remaining seats are held by states selected from time to time by the Assembly. A new Permanent Court of International Justice has been established at The Hague. Under the covenant all the members of the League are automatically at war with any state, whether a member or not, that attacks a member or goes to war without fulfilling certain requirements con- cerning arbitration and conciliation. The Assembly, which meets annually, is a convenient means (as were the Hague Conferences) for negotiating treaties for the purpose of establishing new principles of Inter- national Law. International Law may be defined as the rules and customs observed by civilized states in their intercourse with one another. As we have already implied, some NATIONAL WELFARE 161 of these rules have been collected in such treaties as the Hague Conventions of 1899 an< ^ I 9°7- The Su- preme Court of the United States has consistently held that International Law is a part of the law of our land and must be administered by our courts as often as questions of right depending upon it are duly presented for their determination. 1 NATIONAL DEFENSE The Fathers of the American constitution were not unmindful of the necessity for national defense, and, accordingly, the constitution gives Congress full power to raise and support an army and navy and to lay its hand upon every citizen and every dollar within our border for this purpose. Ever since the Revolutionary War the American people have been opposed to a large standing army, and until the World War we have de- pended largely upon volunteers to fight our battles. A Military Academy, however, has been maintained since 1802 at West Point for the training of officers. After the Civil War our regular army was reduced to 25,000 men. The various States maintained militia or volun- tary organizations. In 19 16, two years after the open- ing of the World War, Congress increased the regular army to 175,000 men and federalized the militia. The National Defense Act of this year defined the militia of the United States as all able-bodied male citizens from eighteen to forty-five years of age and all other able-bodied males of the same ages who have declared their intention of becoming citizens. The act divided the militia into three classes, the National Guard, the Naval Militia and the unorganized militia. The 1 Compare the case of the "Paquette Habana" and the "Lola," 17s United States Reports, 677. 1 62 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT strength of the National Guard was fixed at about 440,000 officers and men. In each State the National Guard is under the supervision of the Adjutant- General of that State as well as the United States War Department; and an oath to obey the orders of both the Governor and the President of the United States is required. When the United States entered the World War we profited by the recent experience of Great Britain and adopted at the outset the policy of conscription. Under the Selective Service Law all able-bodied men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five (with a few excep- tions) were made liable for service, and 23,709,000 persons were so registered with the 4,557 draft boards. Altogether 3,665,000 men were inducted into service, and 2,800,000 were actually in France before the war came to an end. After the war the regular army w r as reduced to 175,000, and efforts were made to recruit the National Guard to the authorized strength. The World War impressed the American people with the necessity for preparedness in the matter of defense, and one of the results of this policy has been the maintenance of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, for the purpose of supplementing West Point in the training of officers. All of the colleges and uni- versities which have received land-grants from the fed- eral government are required to, and other institutions may, maintain student corps under the instruction of army officers furnished by the War Department. In 1 92 1 there were 244 educational institutions having units of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and there were more than 100,000 students enrolled. The gradu- ates of these units are eligible for appointment in the Officers' Reserve Corps, which, together with the regu- NATIONAL WELFARE 163 lar army, serves as a skeleton organization prepared for training a larger army in case of national emergency. The American Navy. — The naval history of the United States is a subject which an American citizen may contemplate with a considerable degree of pride. The traditions of our navy have long been household stories. Every schoolboy knows that John Paul Jones, in command of the Bonhomme Richard, encountered Captain Pearson with the Serapis and Scarborough, and, running into one of the ships of his antagonist, was compelled to cease firing for a moment. Cap- tain Pearson then called out, "Have you struck your colors?" — to which Jones replied, "I have not yet begun to fight." Many years later, in an engagement off Boston Harbor between the Chesapeake and the frigate Shannon, the mortally wounded Captain James Lawrence cried as he was borne below, "Don't give up the ship." Such stories have more than a heroic ap- peal ; the wise teacher has used them to point a moral and teach a lesson of courage for fighting life's battles every day. The victories of the American navy in the Revolu- tionary War, the expeditions to Tripoli and Tunis to punish the Barbary pirates, and the War of 1812 make a long story of maritime achievements. In 1853 Com- modore Perry with four American warships visited Japan, and as a result of his tact and courtesy the her- mit nation was induced to open a few of her ports to foreign trade. This was the beginning of the sudden rise of the Japanese Empire as a world power. In the Civil War we introduced the use of the ironclad. For the Spanish-American War, America was well prepared on the sea although poorly prepared on land. Our victories at Manila Bay and Santiago were com- 164 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT plete, and as a result the war was soon ended. Ten years later, in Roosevelt's administration, our Atlantic fleet of sixteen ships demonstrated that it was possible for a fleet of battleships to make a cruise of the world. In the World War, after the destruction of the German fleet, our navy became second only to England's. Congress authorized, in 191 6, an extensive naval pro- gram. Five years later the composition of the fleet was as follows: the Atlantic Fleet, 189 vessels; the Pacific Fleet, 192 vessels; and the Asiatic Fleet, 17 vessels. The cost of our navy reached half a billion dollars a year. This is an enormous burden upon taxpayers, and in 1921 President Harding invited Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and China to meet in a conference in Washington to discuss disarmament as well as the settlement of the problem of the control of the Pacific. TAXATION AND FINANCE Under the constitution Congress has power to levy and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises. It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of this power, for there is profound truth in the statement of Chief Justice Marshall that "the power to tax involves the power to destroy." Indeed, if this power were unlimited by the constitution and unrestrained by wise legislators, the federal government might use it to de- stroy the State governments or to abolish any kind of private property or any form of business. The primary purpose of taxation is that of supplying funds for the support of the government. In recent years there has been an enormous increase in the amount of money required by the federal government. Part of this increase in late years is due to the depre- ciation in value of the dollar and to obligations grow- NATIONAL WELFARE 165 ing out of the World War, but much of the increase is due to expanded governmental activities. The fol- lowing chart will indicate this expansion in our finances. FEDERAL REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE Year Revenue Expenditure 1791 $4,409,000 $3,097,000 i860 $56,954,600 $63,200,876 1890 $403,080,983 $297,736,487 1900 $567,240,854 $487,713,487 I9H $734,673.167 $700,254,490 1920 $6,694,565,389 . . . .$6,403,343,841 Taxation is the chief source of our national revenue. The proceeds of the public land sales and the Panama Canal tolls are included in our revenues, but these sums are comparatively small. Until 1909 our prin- cipal federal taxes were the tariff and internal revenue taxes on liquors and tobacco. In 1909 an income tax on corporations was levied, and in 191 3 an income tax on the incomes of all persons above a minimum of $3,000 for unmarried persons and $4,000 for married persons. A tax rate of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 per cent was levied on all incomes above $3,000, $20,000, $75,- 000, $100,000, $250,000 and $500,000 respectively. The personal exemption of $3,000 for unmarried and $4,000 for married persons was free of tax in all in- comes ; and the progressive higher rates did not apply to a person's total income, but only to the fraction in excess of the amount which called for the higher rate. During the World War, the income tax rates were greatly increased and the exemption was lowered. This tax has become, perhaps, the most important item in our national tax system. 1 66 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT It is a sound principle of public finance that no more money should be taken from the people in form of taxes than is actually needed by the government. A large surplus in the treasury merely tempts the govern- ment to extravagance. In the past the United States has been exceedingly careless in the matter of treas- ury balances. The English Chancellor of the Ex- chequer, in normal times, would be humiliated if the expenditure side and the revenue side of his account did not nicely balance. But in 1890, the federal treas- ury had a surplus of more than $100,000,000 and this happens year after year. Congressmen are under severe pressure from their constituents to secure appro- priations of federal money to spend in their congres- sional districts. Every town and village wants an imposing post-office building; appropriations are de- manded for the purpose of dredging out rivers with the hope that commerce will be diverted into new courses; demands are made for roads, monuments, pensions, and many other things. The unrivaled pros- perity of the United States in the past has led Con- gress into very extravagant habits, and the lack of any centralized responsibility for financial legislation in Congress also has brought chaos into our national finances. The Committee on Ways and Means in the House and the Committee on Finance in the Senate are concerned with the drafting of revenue bills; while the Committee on Appropriations and seven other committees in the House and two committees in the Senate report appropriation bills. There has been no connection between the policy of raising revenue and the policy of spending revenue ; and thus America, with the "glorious privilege of youth," as Lord Bryce once remarked, has wasted millions annually. NATIONAL WELFARE 167 Budgetary reform. — The enormous expenditures of the federal government following the World War di- rected the attention of the American people toward economy. Although practically every other country in the world, and many of the States of the Union, had adopted budgetary systems, the United States had none. The budget of Great Britain, which is justly ad- mired, is of the sort known as an executive budget. The Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Cabinet annually prepares an estimate of the expenditures and the revenues of the government. He also drafts and introduces into the House of Commons a Finance Bill providing for the raising of revenue and an Appropria- tion Bill for appropriating money. An endeavor is made to consolidate into these two bills all the taxes and appropriations of the government. Under a rule adopted more than two hundred years ago the Com- mons may not increase any appropriation which the Cabinet has proposed, nor may it propose any new item. This feature acts as a powerful check on extravagance. An initial step in budgetary reform was taken in 1 92 1 with the creation by act of Congress of the office of Director of the Budget. This officer is responsible only to the President. He has the duty of preparing an itemized report of the money required each year by all departments and the miscellaneous institutions of the government, and he has power to cut down any estimate proposed by any department or officer. The President transmits the report of the Director of the Budget to Congress. No other administrative officer may apply to Congress for appropriations. The estab- lishment of the office of Director of the Budget has already effected considerable economy in our national government. 1 68 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Money and banking. — Congress has the exclusive power to coin money. The money of the United States is of two kinds : metal coins and paper money. By act of Congress in 1900 the American monetary system rests on a gold basis ; that is to say, silver coins are subsidiary and the monetary standard is the dollar expressed in gold. The paper currency is of four kinds : (1) government notes; (2) certificates of coin or bul- lion in the treasury; (3) national bank notes, and (4) Federal Reserve Bank notes. Years of experience have proved that banking is an exception to the general rule that the government should not interfere too largely in business. Govern- mental regulation of banking institutions is necessary, otherwise ignorant and unscrupulous persons would engage in this business, robbing depositors of their funds and creating financial panics. When Alexander Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury a United States Bank was chartered, and this institution exer- cised a wholesome influence on banking all over the country; but through the antagonism of Andrew Jack- son the federal government withdrew its support and this centralized banking system came to an end in 1836, the abrupt change helping to bring about the great Panic of 1837. Thereafter the United States lacked a good system of bank regulation. Banking houses were chartered under State laws. In 1863 Congress provided for the chartering of banks under federal law, and these banks were given the exclusive right to issue bank notes guaranteed by United States govern- ment bonds. This system, however, proved utterly inadequate. The bank currency was inelastic, it did not expand and contract to meet financial needs of the country. In the summer and autumn when the crops NATIONAL WELFARE 169 were harvested and moved eastward, money was always difficult to obtain and a yearly stringency oc- curred, while in the winter and spring the money mar- ket was expanded; deposits then accumulated in New York, where they stimulated speculation and precipi- tated panics. The Federal Reserve Banks. — In 191 3 the Fed- eral Reserve Act was passed by Congress. Under this act the country is divided into twelve districts each having a Federal Reserve Bank located at the follow- ing cities : Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Francisco. The Fed- eral Reserve Banks do not conduct a banking business for individuals. They are banks for banks. Their capital stock is held by the national and State banks which become members of the system. Any member bank, if it needs more funds, may rediscount its notes, drafts and bills of exchange issued or drawn for agri- cultural, industrial or commercial purposes with the Federal Reserve Bank in its district. That is to say, the local banks may obtain additional funds from the reserve bank by disposing of their "commercial paper" to this bank. Such a system relieves the local banks from the embarrassing stringencies which used to oc- cur annually. The rates for rediscounting are subject to review by the Federal Reserve Board at Washing- ton. If it is evident that the local banks are loaning money too freely, the Federal Reserve Board will raise the rates of rediscount; credit is thus more diffi- cult to obtain and speculation will be checked. The Federal Reserve Banks issue notes which are a part of our paper currency. Unquestionably the new system has provided an admirable means of expanding and 170 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT contracting the currency of the United States and has inaugurated a new era in American banking. REGULATION OF INTERSTATE COMMERCE One of the reasons for the adoption of the federal constitution was the desire to improve the economic condition of the States after the Revolutionary War. Hence the constitution provided that "Congress shall have power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes." In a previous chapter we have already seen that the interpretation of this power has been expanded from time to time, keeping pace with the progress of the country. By a long line of judicial decisions, "interstate commerce" has been interpreted to mean the transportation of passengers and commodities from one State into another. It also includes the transmis- sion of orders and information by telegraph or tele- phone from one State into another. Intrastate com- merce, or commerce wholly within the borders of one State, is not, of course, subject to federal regulation under the commerce clause of the constitution. The regulation of interstate commerce may be treated under three groups: (i) regulation of the railways, (2) pre- vention of conspiracies in restraint of trade and unfair competition, and (3) regulation of various things in behalf of public health, safety, and morals. Regulation of the railways. — The growth of rail- ways in the United States has been remarkable. In i860 there were 30,626 miles in operation; in 1914 there were 263,547 miles, twice as many as in any other country in the world. After the Civil War the railways were compelled by competition to resort to many unfair practices like granting rebates to large or NATIONAL WELFARE 171 favored shippers and making other unjust discrimina- tions. The various States attempted to compel the railways to abandon these abuses, but their attempts were not successful. Finally, in 1887, Congress es- tablished the Interstate Commerce Commission and provided certain regulations for all railways engaged in interstate commerce. More recent laws have ex- tended these regulations. The granting of rebates and discriminations among shippers is prohibited. All freight rates and passenger fares must be published; and no change may be made in the published schedule except upon thirty days' notice to the Interstate Com- merce Commission, which has power to compel a rail- way to charge a reasonable rate. If a shipper believes that a rate is unreasonable, he may complain to the Interstate Commerce Commission. A hearing will then be held at which attorneys for the shipper and the rail- way may appear and give evidence and arguments on their respective sides of the case. The commission then makes a decision. The work of the commission has been eminently successful in securing justice as be- tween the shippers and the railways. Conspiracies and unfair competition. — In the latter part of the nineteenth century the American people became alarmed over the rapid growth of huge corporations and "trusts." Some of these organiza- tions had used unfair means in stifling competition. In reply to the popular demand, in 1890, Congress passed the celebrated Sherman Anti-trust Act, de- signed "to protect trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies." This law forbade all com- binations or conspiracies in restraint of interstate trade. It was several years before the federal government was able to prosecute violators under this law; but event- 172 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ually the Standard Oil Company and the Tobacco Trust were ordered dissolved by the federal courts. In the meantime President Roosevelt had made a dis- tinction between "good" trusts and "bad" trusts, plac- ing in the former category all corporations, no matter how large, which used fair methods of competition, and in the latter category all corporations which used unfair and vicious methods. In line with this same policy the Supreme Court in 1920 dismissed the suit against the United States Steel Corporation when the competitors of this corporation testified that its methods of business were fair and when the court was convinced that the corporation was not a monopoly. The Clayton Act of 1914 extended the regulation of the federal government by defining certain unfair meth- ods of competition in interstate commerce. The Fed- eral Trade Commission was created to enforce the act. Public health, safety and morals. — Congress has used its power under the commerce clause of the constitution to pass laws for promoting the public health, safety and morals. Under the Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906 all fraudulent and unhealthful foods and drugs are prohibited in interstate commerce. Under the Meat Inspection Act all meats shipped in interstate commerce must be carefully examined by federal inspectors. The Net- Weight Act requires that packages of food and drugs shall contain the quantity marked on the label. In the interest of public morals Congress has prohibited the sending of lottery tickets through the mails, or in any other way, from State to State. GOVERNMENT AND LABOR The labor problem and its relation to government NATIONAL WELFARE 173 has become a very important question in recent years, partly because of an awakening interest in the im- provement of labor conditions and partly because the organization of workmen into trade unions has pro- duced serious clashes between capital and labor. The American Federation of Labor was organized in 1886 as a national combination of trade unions. In 1920 it had a membership of 4,078,740. The cardinal purpose of trade unions is to force employers to adopt the "closed shop" and to employ only members of the union as workmen. Then by a "collective bargain," arranged between the officials of the trade union and the mana- gers of the factory or railway, agreements upon wages and conditions of labor may be reached. Some em- ployers have been unwilling to accept the "closed shop," and a grim struggle between capital and labor has often been the result. In these contests, the trade unions sometimes resort to the "strike" and the "boycott." A "strike" is the concerted quitting of work by the union men, and this is usually followed by "picketing," which means the posting of groups of union men at the ap- proaches to the establishment against which the strike is declared for the purpose of persuading strike- breakers from work. The "boycott" is an attempt to prevent the use of nonunion-made goods. In the struggles between labor and capital the law has been almost always on the side of the employer. The use of violence or intimidation upon a nonunion man to prevent his taking the place of a striker is a crim- inal act, and the courts have been inclined to protect an employer's property even from indirect injury, hold- ing that anything tending to bar the free and uninter- rupted access to a factory is unlawful. Thus the courts, upon application from employers, have granted 174 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT injunctions commanding employees to refrain from such injuries to property. Any person who disobeys an injunction of a court is in contempt of court, and his offense is determined and punished not by trial before a jury, but by the judge alone. Since corporations are frequently "citizens" of an- other State than that in which the striking employees reside, it has been possible for them during labor dis- putes to obtain injunctions from the federal courts as well as from the State courts. Naturally, when the officials of a labor union are conducting a strike in an orderly manner such a formidable document as an injunction from a federal court is a very discouraging obstacle, and the unions have complained with some justice that injunctions are a hardship. After a long political controversy over this question, the Clayton Act which was passed by Congress in 19 14, legalized peaceful picketing and labor assemblies (as far as federal jurisdiction is concerned) and provided rules of procedure which the federal courts must follow in issuing injunctions in labor disputes. No injunction may be issued except when the judge is convinced that immediate and irreparable injury will result and then a speedy hearing must be had. Industrial warfare is costly and inconvenient to the public. Hence there has been a growing demand for improved means for the settlement of labor disputes by arbitration. The Transportation Act passed by Con- gress in 1920 is a landmark of progress in this respect. It created the Railroad Labor Board with headquar- ters at Chicago. If any dispute as to wages or condi- tions of labor between the management and the em- ployees of an interstate railroad cannot be settled in the shop nor by a local board of adjustment, it is re- NATIONAL WELFARE 175 ferred to the Railroad Labor Board. This central board consists of nine members appointed by the Presi- dent with the consent of the Senate. Three of the members represent the public, three represent labor, and three represent the railroads. The decision ren- dered by the board is not binding upon either the rail- roads or the employees; but public opinion in the United States is so strongly in favor of arbitration in labor disputes that both the railroads and the em- ployees feel constrained to accept the award. The crea- tion of the Railroad Labor Board is one of the most progressive steps that the government has yet taken in industrial reconstruction. CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES The United States has possessed at one time or an- other a public domain of 2,889,000 square miles. Much of this land has been sold to settlers or given outright to schools and railway corporations. To-day eight hundred thousand square miles remain in the hands of the government, chiefly mountain ranges and deserts, a large part being in Alaska. As our national estate has decreased, farsighted statesmen have seen the ne- cessity of adopting some plan of preserving a portion of the people's heritage. The "conservation move- ment" received considerable impetus from Roosevelt when President; he even attempted to enlist the coop- eration of the State governments by calling the Con- ference of Governors at the White House in 1908. Roosevelt was particularly interested in the preserva- tion of the forests, and he gave enthusiastic support to the plans of Gifford Pinchot, the Director of the Forest Service. Our forests once covered about 822,- 000,000 acres. They have now shrunk to 133,000,000 176 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT acres of virgin timber. Fires, disease, and wasteful timbering without replanting have caused this great inroad upon the timber lands. At the present rate of consumption our woods will be exhausted in another half century. Forests are necessary to conserve the water supply in the mountains, to prevent floods and erosion of hillside farms. Moreover, the sources of many streams are in the forests, and if the government grants these lands to private persons and corpora- tions, it loses control of water power and the produc- tion of electricity. The Geological Survey has esti- mated that the water power in the United States avail- able for development amounts to 54,000,000 continu- ous horse power. As coal becomes less abundant the importance of this supply of energy can scarcely be over emphasized. In 1906 Pinchot and Roosevelt developed the policy of leasing the use of power-sites to electric power companies for a limited period of forty years at an annual rental. Under the old method the federal government granted absolute ownership of these lands. In promoting his policy of conservation of resources Roosevelt took advantage of a law of 1 89 1 giving the President authority to set aside by proclamation any part of the public domain covered with timber as public reservations. Under this law, Roosevelt withdrew large blocks of public lands, and incorporated them in the National Forests. In 1907 powerful interests in Congress sought to undo this policy of forest preservation, and a "rider" was at- tached to the Agricultural Bill which prohibited the creation of new forest preserves in the northwest ex- cept by act of Congress. Roosevelt, however, defeated the opponents of his policy by quickly withdrawing millions of acres of forest lands in the northwest before NATIONAL WELFARE 177 signing the bill. At present there are 151 National Forests covering 153,933,460 acres. The management of this huge domain is no small task. The development of an inland waterways system is another project to which more attention will be de- voted in the future. The waterways of the United States have a total length of more than 70,000 miles, but only half of this mileage is now used. At present commerce is increasing more rapidly than are our rail- way facilities and there is need for a greater use of our rivers, canals, and lakes. At the same time water car- riage is cheaper than transportation by rail. While Congress has spent much money in the past on rivers and harbors, the work has been haphazard and unsys- tematic. In behalf of economy and permanency more coordination of governmental agencies is needed. National projects should have precedence over local demands. This will probably be the policy in the fu- ture. In 1920 the Inland and Coastwise Waterways Service was established under the Department of War. For Further Reading Foreign Policy of the United States. — A. B. Hart, The Monroe Doctrine, ch. iii, iv, xiv; J. B. Moore, Amer- ican Diplomacy, ch. vi, viii ; J. H. Latane, From Isolation to World Power, ch. i, ix ; W. E. Dodd, Woodrow Wilson and His Work, ch. xiv ; Covenant of the League of Na- tions (Text sent to any address on receipt of five cents in stamps by the World Peace Foundation, 40 Mount Vernon St., Boston, Mass.). National Defense. — C. A. Beard, American Govern- ment and Politics, xviii ; Everett Kimball, National Gov- ernment of the United States, ch. xvii; Maj.-Gen. Leonard Wood, Our Military History, ch. i, vii; Rear- Admiral F. E. Chadwick, The American Navy, ch. xxii. 178 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT See also the Annual Reports of the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy. Finance and Taxation. — C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, ch. xvii; W. B. Munro, Gov- ernment of the United States, ch. xv, xvi, xxi; Richard T. Ely, Outlines of Economics, ch. xxiii-xxiv; C. C. Plehn, Introduction to Public Finance, pp. 262-290; W. F. Willoughby, Problem of a National Budget, ch. viii. Money and Banking. — D. R. Dewey, Financial His- tory of the United States, ch. xxi. Regulation of Interstate Commerce. — J. T. Young, New American Government and Its Work, ch. vi-ix; W. B. Munro, Government of the United States, ch. xvii ; R. T. Ely, Outlines of Economics, ch. xiii ; E. R. Johnson, American Railway Transportation, ch. xxv- xxiv; Theodore Roosevelt, Autobiography, ch. xii. Government and Labor. — G. G. Groat, Organised Labor in America, ch. xii, xxi, xviii, xxiv ; Monthly Labor Review (U. S. Dept. of Labor), April, 1920, pp. 50-57; May, 1920, pp. 46-49; J ul y> i9 20 » PP- 2 6-43- Conservation of Natural Resources. — C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, ch. xx; C. R. Van Hise, Conservation of Natural Resources in the United States, 1-14, 359-379; Electric Power Development in the United States (Washington: 1915), II, n-15. CHAPTER IX THE COURTS : NATIONAL AND STATE No government can long endure which does not possess some permanent and ready means for main- taining justice. The means should be ready because belated justice often fails to right a wrong or to teach a moral lesson, and permanent because judgments upon human conduct should not vacillate with the whims and fancies of the day, but should be based upon ethical precepts which have grown out of years of human experience. The process for rendering such justice in the American government is supplied by the judiciary. As the principal organ of the national government for maintaining justice, the Fathers intended that the federal courts should settle all disputes among the States of the Union, and between the States and the central government, while it should also protect the rights of citizens of the United States as guaranteed to them in the constitution in precisely the same fashion that the existing State courts protected the rights of citizens within their respective States as guaranteed under the State constitutions. ORGANIZATION AND JURISDICTION OF THE FEDERAL COURTS The constitution provides that there shall be a Su- preme Court of the United States and such inferior courts as Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. It also provides that the judges shall be 179 180 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and that "the judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, re- ceive for their services a compensation which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office." This provision gives the justices of the Supreme Court an independence which is necessary for maintaining a strong judiciary. It does not mean, however, that an unworthy judge may continue to hold office. He may be impeached by the House of Representatives before the Senate for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors," and if convicted he is removed from office. Such impeachments have been very rare, for the judicial officers of the United States have been a class of men of unusually high moral character and legal attainments. Organization of the federal courts. — Congress has provided for the organization and procedure of the federal courts in the Judiciary Act of 1789, which has been amended from time to time as the need for more courts has grown. At present the federal ju- diciary consists of the Supreme Court, nine Circuit Courts of Appeal, and eighty-one District Courts, to- gether with several special courts which we shall specify a little later. There are nine justices in the Su- preme Court — one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is determined partly by the constitution and partly by act of Congress. Its original jurisdiction (that is, its hearing of cases in the first instance) is small, and is limited to only two classes of cases, those in which either ambassadors or else States are parties. Its ap- pellate jurisdiction is more extensive. In general, this THE COURTS 181 includes: (i) all cases from State courts wherein it is claimed that a law or treaty of the United States or a right under the federal constitution has not been upheld, and (2) certain cases that may be appealed from the District Courts and from the Circuit Court of Appeals. Next below the Supreme Court come the Circuit Courts of Appeal. Under the Act of 191 1 the States are grouped into nine circuits. In each Circuit Court of Appeal are two or more circuit judges. These courts have no original jurisdiction, but very large ap- pellate power. They may review upon writ of error all cases decided by the District Courts in the circuit except those which are carried directly to the Supreme Court. Their judgments and decrees are in many cases final. In the last place the United States is organized into eighty-one judicial districts, each of which has a Dis- trict Court. These are the lowest federal courts. They have all the original jurisdiction of the federal ju- diciary, with a few exceptions. Besides the courts above mentioned there are a number of special federal courts. In 1855 the Court of Claims was established. As we have already seen, it is beneath the dignity of a sovereign State to be sued by an individual, and yet many instances occur in which individuals are entitled to reparation for some act or neglect of the government. To render justice to such claimants the Court of Claims was created with juris- diction to hear and determine the merits of all claims, with some exceptions, for damages against the United States. The Court of Customs Appeal was established in 1909 to review decisions of the customs officials in respect to the classification of merchandise 182 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT and imposing of duties under the tariff laws. There are also special courts for the District of Columbia and the territories — Alaska, the Philippines, Porto Rico, and Hawaii. Under treaty agreement with China a United States court was established in 1906 at Shanghai with jurisdiction to try certain cases in- volving American citizens. Jurisdiction of the federal courts. — The jurisdic- tion of the federal courts was definitely prescribed in the constitution. Altogether there are nine classes of cases over which the federal courts have jurisdiction. It will not be necessary to describe all these classes in detail. It will be sufficient to give a few examples of cases which come before the federal courts. In the first place, all suits involving the rights claimed under the constitution, acts of Congress, or treaties with a foreign power are within the sphere of the federal judiciary. A person or corporation which is prose- cuted in a State court under a law which seems to in- fringe any part of the federal constitution, as, for in- stance, the provision that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, may seek relief in the federal courts. Again, all ques- tions involving the right of subjects of a foreign state to inherit property under a treaty are brought into a federal court. All criminal prosecutions instituted by the United States against persons or corporations for infractions of federal law are heard in the District Courts, and, in certain cases, on appeal they come before the Su- preme Court. For example, we may cite the case of the Northern Securities Company. In 1901 President Roosevelt directed Attorney-General Knox to file a bill in the federal court at Saint Paul against this cor- THE COURTS 183 poration for alleged violation of the Sherman Anti- Trust Law. The federal court granted the petition of the government and ordered the combination to be dissolved. The Northern Securities Company then ap- pealed to the Supreme Court, which affirmed the de- cree of the lower court. The bulk of the litigation in the federal courts con- sists of suits between citizens of different States. Suits between citizens of different States are frequently prosecuted in the State courts, but in all such cases, on motion of either party, the suit may be removed to the federal District Court. Of course the suit may be brought in the federal court in the first place. The framers of the constitution extended the jurisdiction of the United States judiciary over cases of diverse citizenship in order to secure to the parties in such cases a trial before a court free from any prejudice or bias that might exist in a State court on account of the citi- zenship of any of the parties to the suit. The business relations of many corporations and even persons reach into more than one State, and thus it happens that a large proportion of the suits brought against them for breaches of contract or other causes, or of suits prose- cuted by them, is likely to involve parties outside of their own State. For purposes of jurisdiction a cor- poration is presumed to be a citizen of the State within which it is chartered; and any plaintiff residing in a different State may bring his suit in the federal District Court of the district in which the main offices of the corporation are located. THE PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE OF THE FEDERAL COURTS The practice and procedure in the federal courts is 1 84 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT determined partly by the federal constitution, partly by act of Congress, and partly by regulations made by the courts. This procedure involves many technical rules with which, of course, the attorney who is admitted to practice in the federal courts must be familiar, but which we cannot here describe in detail. Suffice it to say that the procedure of the federal courts is freed from much of the irrelevant and confusing considera- tions which complicate procedure in the State courts. The federal judges also exercise considerable authority in the management of the trial and in assisting the jury to analyze and sum up the evidence. As a result, legal technicalities do not so frequently obstruct justice, and prejudiced appeals to juries are less common. Lawbreakers prefer to be tried in State courts. On the other hand, litigants in suits over which the fed- eral and the State judiciary have concurrent jurisdic- tion often resort to the federal courts in preference to the State courts. This varies, of course, with the States; the judiciary of some States, especially Massa- chusetts and New York, have an exceedingly high repu- tation for juristic learning; but, as a rule, the federal judges are held in greater respect than State judges. Moreover, cases involving a constitutional question reach a final decision more rapidly by an immediate resort to the federal courts. Procedure in the Supreme Court. — Nearly all of the cases heard by the Supreme Court are cases that come before this court on appeal. The Supreme Court sits in Washington from Octo- ber to the end of May. The sessions are held in the old Senate Chamber in the Capitol at noon on every week-day except Saturdays. At these sessions are heard the oral arguments of the attorneys in the cases THE COURTS 185 before the Court. Briefs are also filed, together with records of the case, which the justices study with care. On Saturday of each week the Court meets in confer- ence and discusses the cases which have been argued. Finally the roll is called and each justice votes to af- firm, reverse, or modify the judgment of the lower court. The Chief Justice then distributes the cases among the justices, one justice becoming the organ of the court in writing the majority opinion. Other jus- tices may write concurring or dissenting opinions if they desire. Prestige of the Supreme Court. — The Supreme Court of the United States is perhaps the most conspicuous national tribunal in the world. It enjoys a position that is unique among the great courts of our civilization. Unlike the judicial systems of Great Britain and of continental European countries, the American courts have the power to pass upon the va- lidity of acts of the legislatures, and the Supreme Court is the final authority in testing the constitution- ality of acts of Congress. It is, moreover, a branch of government coordinate with the President and Con- gress. Power to declare acts unconstitutional. — In an earlier chapter we have seen that the Supreme Court first asserted its power to determine the constitutional- ity of acts of Congress and of the State legislatures in the celebrated case of Marbury vs. Madison in 1803. Among publicists there has been a long controversy as to whether or not the framers of the constitution intended to lodge this power in the hands of the federal courts. Evidence can be produced to show that such indeed was the intention of many members of the Con- stitutional Convention. But, irrespective of original in- i86 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT tentions, it is difficult to see how it would be possible, under the letter and spirit of the constitution, for the federal courts to be without this authority. The con- stitution is described as the supreme law of the land; and since the federal courts are given authority to de- clare what is law under the constitution, they must have the power to refuse to recognize as law an act of Congress or an act of a State legislature which they find to be contrary to any provision of the constitution. Whatever may have been the doubts upon the existence of this power in the early part of the nineteenth cen- tury, it is unquestioned to-day. Up to 191 1 the Su- preme Court considered 1,183 cases in which the con- stitutionality of a federal or State statute was questioned. In 904 cases the statutes were upheld and only in 279 cases were the statutes declared uncon- stitutional. In only 218 cases were federal acts under consideration, and in only 33 of these cases were the statutes declared to be unconstitutional. Character of the justices of the Supreme Court. — The reputation of our Supreme Court both at home and abroad does not depend solely upon the power of the court to declare acts of Congress to be unconstitu- tional. The men who have been appointed as justices have almost invariably been jurists of the highest character and legal attainments. America has been fortunate in possessing some of the greatest jurists of the age. A succession of eminent judges have oc- cupied seats on the Supreme Court and by their great ability and learning they have contributed to the pres- tige of American law. Among the great jurists who have presided over the Supreme Court, John Marshall stands foremost. From 1 80 1 to 1835 he was Chief Justice. This was the THE COURTS 187 period when the powers of the federal government be- gan to unfold in more complete form and when the liberal opinions of Marshall and his associates per- mitted the progressive development of the constitution which we have more than once remarked in the pages of this book. Most Anglo-Saxons like the law to be consistent; and legal principles once established are seldom changed without good reason. Hence the great constitutional decisions rendered by the Court under Justice Marshall became precedents which have influ- enced constitutional law down to the present day. THE STATE COURTS The greater part of the litigation in the United States comes before the State courts. There are few citizens who are not at some time in their life con- cerned with a case in these tribunals. If he is a mer- chant and wishes to collect a debt from another person residing in his State, he brings suit in the proper State tribunal. He would bring suit in the federal courts in case the debtor were a resident of another State. If he is injured through the negligence of a neighbor, he may sue for damages. If he makes a contract for purchasing a house and the owner refuses to deliver the property, he may institute an action at law for damages or he may file a bill in equity for the specific performance of the contract. In many other ways he comes into contact with the courts. He may be sum- moned as a witness to tell what he knows of circum- stances involved in a lawsuit. He may be summoned to serve upon the jury. Finally, upon his death, his last will and testament is probated in court. The organization of the State courts. — The judi- cial systems of the States vary in organization. They 1 88 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT are alike in one respect : in each State there is a graded series of courts. (i) The lowest courts are the justice of the peace courts and municipal police courts. In Illinois there are 2,900 justices of the peace and 650 police magis- trates. They have jurisdiction in criminal actions in which punishment is by fine only and does not exceed $300, and in a large variety of civil cases where the amount claimed does not exceed $300. In rural com- munities the work of the justices of the peace is ordi- narily well done; but in urban centers this is rather the exception. Appeals may be taken from both the justices of the peace and the police magistrates to the higher courts. (2) The next grade of courts includes the county courts and the city courts. In most States each county has a court of record, which has jurisdiction over civil suits, appeals from the justices of the peace and municipal police courts, probating of wills, and criminal prosecution of offenses against the laws of the State. Many cities have municipal courts not under the jurisdiction of the county courts. Over these tribunals presides a judge who in most States is elected by the people for a term of six years. (3) Finally each State has a tribunal of last resort variously called a Supreme Court, Court of Errors, or Court of Ap- peals. These courts have a very limited original ju- risdiction. Cases come to them on appeal from the lower courts. Many of the States have special courts. Some States have probate or surrogates' courts for the set- tlement of estates of deceased persons, although this is usually the work of county courts. There are also courts of claims for hearing and determining claims THE COURTS 189 against the State. Many cities have special courts. Cleveland has a Conciliation Court, where without the presence of lawyers litigants present cases involving less than fifty dollars and the judge arranges an ad- justment between the opposing parties. New York has a Night Court, and Chicago a Morals Court for the expeditious judging of persons arrested for offenses against public decency. Many cities have a Court of Domestic Relations where a judge who is a specialist in this branch of law hears cases regarding marital re- lations. Such courts are necessary in order that wronged women and children without the means to employ a lawyer may obtain justice under the law. A deserting husband is summoned and compelled to sup- port his family. Quarrels between husband and wife are adjusted. Juvenile courts. — Many cities also have established Juvenile Courts. The modern science of psychology bids fair to revolutionize our treatment of crime. Em- phasis has been placed upon the need for treating cases individually instead of collectively, for giving special treatment to abnormal persons, and, above all, for res- cuing children from careers of crime and vice. Judge Lindsey, of Denver, deserves credit for leadership in the practical application of scientific principles to juve- nile offenders. The purpose of the Juvenile Courts is to separate children from the old and hardened criminals. Formerly these youthful offenders were committed to prison and trial in courts along with the mature criminals. If the jail often makes a criminal of the adult first offender, what chance has the child who for some petty offense may be put in the "bull pen" with those more hardened than himself? His grudge against policemen becomes a youthful passion. More 190 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT offenses follow ; then the reformatory, the workhouse, and the penitentiary. In Juvenile Courts the children are given sym- pathetic and special attention. If a child is found to be mentally defective, he is sent to a psychopathic institution for study and treatment. Otherwise first offenders are not committed to institutions, but after kind advice are let out on probation unless their home influences are positively noxious or unless their parents testify to their incorrigibility. Accordingly, it has been necessary to attach a number of probation officers to each Juvenile Court. The officers visit the homes of the children, tactfully instruct the parents as to the treatment of their children, and, in general, supervise the reform of wayward children. The city of Cleve- land owns a large farm upon which are erected home- like cottages, where amidst fresh country surroundings youthful offenders may be trained for lives of useful- ness. The stigma of the reformatory is here lacking. Self-respect, courage, and honesty are developed. By twentieth-century methods nine out of every ten ca- reers of crime and degradation can be reversed; and, at a comparatively small cost, it is possible for the state to gain useful citizens in place of robbers and mur- derers. CIVIL AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE The whole realm of law is divided into two parts — civil law and criminal law. Civil law relates to the private relations between members of a community and to the legal proceedings employed in settling them. It includes the private rights and remedies of men as members of the state in contrast to those rights and remedies which are public and relate to the govern- THE COURTS 191 ment. Among the various subjects under civil law are : law of real property, law of personal property, con- tracts, torts or violation of private rights by false im- prisonment, trespass, and nuisance; domestic relations or law of marriage; inheritance; and law of corpora- tions, partnerships, and associations. Criminal law relates to crimes and their punishment. The state defines certain evil deeds as crimes and at- taches penalties thereto. A crime is public wrong — a wrong against the state. Although usually a crime is an injury to some person, it is considered also as an injury to the state, since the government is charged with the duty of protecting the lives and property of the citizens. The state thus undertakes the prosecution of all crimes. A criminal act may also give rise to a civil suit. Thus if a person assaults another, he may be prosecuted by the state for committing a crime, and a civil suit for damages may also be brought against him. Crimes are divided into two groups. Felonies in- clude the graver crimes which are punished by death or confinement in a State penitentiary. Among the felonies are classed murder, manslaughter, arson, bur- glary, robbery, and grand larceny. Lesser crimes are called misdemeanors, and are punished usually by fines or imprisonment in the city or county jails for short terms. Among misdemeanors are bribery, malicious libel, assault and battery, petit larceny, and disturbance of the peace. Civil procedure. — In order to recover some civil right or obtain redress for a wrong, a person may bring a civil suit in court. In this action he is known as the plaintiff and the suit is brought against the defendant. The plaintiff files with the court a complaint or declara- 192 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT tion which is served upon the defendant with a sum- mons to reply within a certain time. In return the de- fendant may either file a demurrer or he may file an answer or plea. If he admits the facts but denies that the plaintiff has a right of action, he files a demurrer. On the other hand, the defendant may deny the facts as set forth in the declaration, or he may admit the facts but evade their legal effect by setting up new mat- ter. In this case he may file an answer or plea. After these pleadings before the judge the case is put upon the docket of the court, and in due time comes up for trial. If it is a case in equity, it is tried by the judge without a jury; if it is a suit at law it will be tried with a jury unless jury trial is waived by agreement of both parties. Testimony is taken by examining the wit- nesses orally. The witnesses of each party may be cross-examined by the counsel of the opposing party. Then the counsels on both sides make their arguments, and the judge delivers his charge to the jury, in which he instructs them as to the law applicable to the case. The jury then retire to decide upon their verdict. In actions at law the remedy is usually money dam- ages. A judgment for the amount of the damages which has been assessed by the jury is entered against the defendant. If he does not readily pay this sum, an execution or order to the sheriff may be issued. In this case the sheriff seizes the defendant's property and sells it at auction. If the defendant be a man without property, the plaintiff has, of course, no redress. Many lawsuits never come to trial. The defendant often has no defense, and does not attempt to make one. The result is a judgment against him for default of ap- pearance. Suits in equity do not result in a judgment for money damages, but, rather, in a decree of the THE COURTS 193 court ordering a person to perform or refrain from performing a certain act. Criminal procedure. — Prosecutions for crime are brought by the government. In most States there is a high official known as the Attorney-General, and each county usually has a county attorney. These of- ficers are charged with the duty of prosecuting crimi- nals before the courts of the State. Criminal proceed- ings usually commence with the arrest of the accused person. Upon complaint by an officer or a private individual a magistrate may issue a warrant for the de- tention of an offender; and sometimes the arrest is made by the police without a warrant, especially when the criminal is apprehended in the midst of his crime. After arrest, the prisoner is brought before the mag- istrate; and, unless his crime is of the most grave na- ture, he may be released on bail, until his case comes up for a hearing. In other words, if he can give reason- able assurances that he will appear in court when his case is brought on for trial and will submit to any punishment imposed, he may be released after filing a bond with a money penalty signed by persons of finan- cial responsibility. If the offense is petty, the magis- trate hears the case without a Grand Jury indictment. Otherwise it is necessary that the prosecuting attorney for the State, county, or city lay before the Grand Jury the evidence in the case. The Grand Jury is a body of men, generally twenty-four in number, chosen by lot. They are summoned by the court, and their sessions are secret. If this body are satisfied that there are good grounds for a criminal prosecution they indorse the indictment as "A true bill"; if not satis- fied, they indorse the bill as "Not a true bill" or with the Latin word Ignoramus. 194 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Some States do not require indictment by a Grand Jury in all cases of criminal prosecution; but instead of this they permit a process called information. This is a hearing before a magistrate wherein the prosecuting attorney presents his evidence. If the judge deems the evidence sufficient, the accused is presented for trial. After indictment comes the arraignment. The ac- cused is brought before the court and allowed to plead guilty or not guilty. If the plea is guilty, the judge imposes the penalty forthwith. If the plea is not guilty, the accused is held for jury trial. A prisoner is permitted, of course, to employ counsel, and if he has no means, the court will assign a lawyer to defend him. The court appointed a well-known member of the bar to appear in behalf of the assassinator of President Mc- Kinley in 1901. When the day for the trial arrives the accused is brought into court. The first step is that of impaneling a jury of twelve men. A jury is selected for each case; the jurors being chosen by lot from a jury-list prepared by the sheriff at the beginning of each term of court. The business of impaneling the jury is a long process, especially if the case is a sensational or bitterly contested affair. The prosecuting attorney and the counsel for the defendant in turn examine the jurors as they are summoned, and they have the right to challenge any juror as prejudiced or as unlikely to render a fair verdict in the case. The judge deter- mines the validity of the objections opposed to jurors, although each side is generally allowed a certain num- ber of peremptory challenges. When twelve persons are secured against whom no valid objection or other charge can be made they are sworn to render a fair THE COURTS 195 and impartial verdict and they become the jury for the trial. The function of the jury is to hear and determine the value of the evidence which the trial judge permits to be presented. In deciding what evidence may be offered and considered the judge applies rules of evi- dence which are definitely formulated in the law ; and the jury may consider only the evidence which is sub- mitted to them. In other words, the judge determines the law and the jury determines the fact. The ma- jority of suits at law depend upon the credibility of evidence submitted by the contending parties. After the evidence has been offered and the arguments of the counsels have been heard, the judge instructs the jury with regard to the law ; and he may in a few States even comment upon the evidence and intimate his opinion as to the weight which should or should not be given to any particular testimony. In all other States the statutes prohibit the judge from commenting on the credibility of the witnesses or the weight of the evidence. In all States, however, the presiding judge actually exerts a certain influence over the jury; and this is well, for without the guidance of an intelligent judge, juries would more frequently commit great travesties on justice. After being instructed by the judge the jury retires to consider the evidence of the case in secret, and in most cases it must agree unanimously upon a verdict in favor of one party or the other. If the jury cannot agree unanimously after long and tedious sessions, it is discharged and a new trial is ordered. In some States, women as well as men may serve on juries. All State constitutions contain the usual prohibitions on "cruel and unusual punishments." The days of 196 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT tongue-piercing, ear-splitting, branding with irons and pillorying in the market place are passed. No judge can order such punishments to-day. The statutes of Delaware still permit the courts to order a public whip- ping, but the usual punishments are fines and impris- onment for periods extending from one hour to a life term. As a rule, sentences of imprisonment are re- duced by one fifth for good conduct in prison; and many prisoners are paroled or pardoned years before their sentences expire. In thirty-six States the death penalty is inflicted for murder in the first degree. The execution of this punishment is carried out in a quick and scientific manner. It is not a "cruel and unusual punishment." Complaints against the jury system. — At present there are many complaints made against the jury sys- tem, and no doubt this institution, notwithstanding its beneficial character, contributes to the vexatious delays of our courts. Jury service is disagreeable and tedious, and business men almost universally seek to avoid it. Certain classes, including attorneys, physicians, pub- lic officers, and teachers, are exempt. The impaneling of juries devours the time of the courts and obstructs the administration of justice, and in many kinds of cases, especially those involving liquor-selling and strikes, it is difficult to secure twelve men who will unite in a verdict of guilty. The proposal for having professional jurymen is dangerous, and no State has adopted it. Eighteen States have permitted a less than unanimous verdict in civil cases; in some States nine jurors out of the twelve may render a verdict; in Ne- vada eight are sufficient. In all States a unanimous verdict is required in capital cases. In trials for mis- demeanors several States permit a two-thirds verdict. THE COURTS 197 A few States provide for a jury of less than twelve (usually six) in certain civil and criminal cases. REFORM IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE Among no people is the love of justice and the ha- tred of wrong more highly developed than in the United States. The American ideal demands equal justice for rich and poor alike. The founders of the republic cherished the words of Magna Charta that right and justice shall be sold to no man, and never denied or delayed. Although the American ideal as to right and justice has been irreproachable, yet the practical application of this ideal to civil litigation in the petty courts and to the prosecution of criminals has failed to advance with the age. In 1906 Dean Roscoe Pound addressed the American Bar Associa- tion upon the causes of popular dissatisfaction with the administration of justice. He pointed out that the expense and technicalities of petty litigation in our great cities was a grave injustice to the poor and a danger to the nation. Americans have been so occu- pied with the huge problems of our material develop- ment that we have failed to take note of our lack of progress in the small matters of law. There is a lurk- ing danger in this condition, for failure to obtain jus- tice produces contempt, hatred, desperation, and other malignant feelings which may incite violence and revolution. A story related by Mr. R. H. Smith in his Justice and the Poor will illustrate this fact. Theodore Roose- velt when police commissioner of New York City one day stepped into the offices of the Legal Aid Society to observe their methods. A glazier was relating to an official of the society how he had set twenty-two 198 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT panes of glass for the owner of a barn and the owner had then refused to give him the $6.60 which had been promised. He had been out of work and needed money for his family's supper. On his way home to the East Side he had crossed Fifth Avenue at Forty-fourth Street and had glanced at the luxurious restaurants. His own children went to bed supperless. The next morning he consulted a lawyer, who told him that to bring suit would cost him ten dollars. Of course he could not pay this. He then sought out a judge of the municipal court, who was compelled to advise him that since he had no money to prosecute his suit he had better drop it. As the man sat in the office of the Legal Aid Society telling his story he was an incipient anarchist. In some cities, notably New York, Chicago, Cleve- land, Portland (Oregon), Topeka, Leavenworth, and Kansas City, much has been accomplished to improve the administration of justice among the poor. But this reform even in these cities has not yet proceeded as far as it should. The poor man is not the only person who suffers from the complexity of the American legal system. All honest business men are seriously handicapped by it. The grievance was tersely expressed by Mr. Root in the debates of the New York Constitutional Conven- tion in 1915. I heard the other day a lawyer in New York boast that he could postpone any litigation for seven years, and I asked a lot of friends as I came along whether that was true, and they all said they did not doubt it. How? Why, by compelling the honest fellow that comes into court to redress a wrong or to secure a right, THE COURTS 199 to litigate one after the other these statutory- rights that have been created by the legislature. Courts cannot ignore them because they are rights given by law. The courts must observe the law, and so the plain man who wants to get a wrong redressed has, bristling between his demand for redress and his judgment, a dozen litigations that he has to fight out before he can get to the end of his cause. My friends of the bar, we have been making our system of procedure here conform to the subtle, acute, highly trained ideas of lawyers. That is not the true basis. The system of pro- cedure, of course, cannot be simple, but as far as possible, it ought to be made to conform to the plain man's intelligence and experience. It ought to be so that the farmer and the merchant and the laborer can understand it, and know why he is delayed in getting his rights ; can un- derstand that the processes to which he is sub- ject have a reason and know what the reason is, otherwise you cannot have that respect for the law, that confidence in its justice necessary for the maintenance of a system of just adminis- tration. And furthermore the existence of this great variety of minute, detailed statutory provisions has been breeding up a great number of code lawyers, and by that I mean lawyers whose principal concern is with the statutory code of rights and not with getting justice for their clients. Now, we ought to get back to the fundamental idea of our profession which is the administration of justice. 1 This caustic criticism by Mr. Root is leveled, of Robert Bacon and J. B. Scott, Addresses on Government and Citizenship by Elihu Root (Harvard University Press), p. 179. 200 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT course, at the confusion and multiplicity of laws passed by the State legislatures, which by their own unwieldy weight block the path of justice in the courts. In 1916 a remarkable proposal in the matter of legal reform was made by Dean Wigmore of the Law School of Northwestern University. After, calling attention to a vexatious case in the Illinois courts involving dam- ages claimed by the widow of a man killed by a fallen electric wire, which case required five different trials and consumed nine years of litigation, Dean Wigmore suggested that the State should provide for an officer to be known as the Chief Judicial Superintendent, who should have "the power and the duty to inquire into each and every sort of botch-product of our justice- system, and to take measures to improve it against the recurrences of such failures." 1 Reform of criminal procedure. — Our criminal procedure in particular, needs reform. The laxity which exists in our large cities in regard to prosecut- ing professional criminals has become scandalous. After reading the morning papers the citizens of Chicago and other large cities must feel that they live in the days of Caesar Borgia, when men were stabbed in the streets of Rome and poisoned at banquets with the utmost impunity. Whoever follows the news- papers for a number of years will discover that the same individuals are apprehended and arrested for crimes year after year, and yet they are allowed their freedom as any peaceful citizen. Have our courts failed to function? Are there not laws against mur- der, robbery, and assault? In commenting on these delays in justice President Taft stated to Congress in 1 Wanted, A Chief Judicial Superintendent in Illinois Law Review (1916), XI, pp. 45-49; also in Journal of the American Judicature Society (1917), I, pp. 7-9. THE COURTS 201 1909: "The expedition with which business is dis- posed of both on the civil and the criminal side of English courts under modern rules of procedure makes the delays in our courts seem archaic and barbarous. ... I do not doubt for one moment that much of the lawless violence and cruelty exhibited in lynching is directly due to uncertainties and injustice growing out of these delays in trials, judgments, and the executions thereof by our courts." The conditions existing in Chicago up to 1920 were typical of the administration of justice in many other large cities. It will not be necessary here to explain the multiplicity of courts with seventy judges existing in Cook County. The plain facts can be briefly told. Chicago has a population of over 10,000 professional criminals. In 19 15 Mr. Merriam's committee to in- vestigate crime reported : "Many professional crimi- nals escape the penalty of the law and prey at will on society. . . . Professional criminals have built up a system which may be called a 'crime trust' with roots running through the police force, the bar, the bonds- men, the prosecutor's office, and political officials." The chief defects in criminal procedure in Chicago courts, as stated by Dr. Robert H. Gault, editor of the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, are as fol- lows: (1) The municipal and county judges are elected by the people and some of them are deeply in- volved in machine politics. County Court judges hold office four years; Superior Court, Circuit Court, and Municipal Court judges hold office for six years. (2) The same judges are assigned to both criminal and civil cases, and, as a rule, judges tend to neglect crimi- nal cases in order to devote their time to the more interesting legal phases of equity suits. There should 202 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT be a permanent division between criminal and civil assignments; in other words, judges should sit regu- larly in separate courts, one side for criminal cases and the other for civil cases. Only in this way may judges become acquainted with the professional crimi- nals who appear in court year after year and who escape justice by tricks and devices which could hardly be played more than once by the same person on the same honest judge. (3) Certain judges who are mixed up in politics are remarkably careless in the matter of releasing hardened criminals on bail. Bonds are furnished by professional bailsmen, "straw-men," who are careful to see that the property described in the bond is sold before the case comes up in court and the offender fails to appear. (4) Again, certain judges allow continuances of cases whereby offenders secure a delay of years before their cases are tried, and by the time that their cases come to trial the crime is forgotten and the witnesses dispersed. (5) Fre- quently offenders are put on probation and permitted to return to their haunts and commit depredations, only to be arrested again for serious offenses, and put on probation a second time or even a third time. (6) Before the reform of the system of pardons and pa- roles in Illinois under Governor Lowden, the abuse of the pardoning power in freeing notorious criminals was a disgrace to the State. Finally, in the words of Dr. Gault, "Our methods of handling the mentally defective and the insane, whether they are defendants in the criminal courts or already under commitment to a penal institution, are extremely inadequate. Many who belong to these classes repeatedly commit minor offenses and as often they are confined for short terms in houses of correc- THE COURTS 203 tion. It frequently happens persons are found who have served as many as a dozen terms in such insti- tutions. Less frequently they repeatedly commit ma- jor offenses. In many instances they are able to put up such a front as to create a favorable impression upon the lay jury or commission to which they are entitled when a hearing is had with a view to commit- ment to an institution for the care of mental cases. The result is that the community continues to bear the burden not only of their maintenance but of their crimes and, in general, of the moral contamination that flows from them. The condition can be in large measure corrected by developing the practice of com- mitting such persons — once the question of mental health has been raised — to a suitable hospital for men- tal cases for a limited period, say six months, for observation. Automatically, at the conclusion of the period, the defendant comes again for a hearing to determine the question of commitment to a hospital or asylum for an indefinite period until cured. In such cases neither laymen nor professional men will be likely to find contrary to the report of the hospital staff that has made the observation. Such procedure would relieve the courts and public from the spectacu- lar and wasteful differences between opposing experts in the courts in cases in which insanity is alleged. It would bring science to the aid of justice." The laxity of the State and municipal government in preventing and punishing crime has led the business men of Chicago to use private means for the purpose of urging reluctant officials to apprehend and convict criminals. In 1919 the Association of Commerce or- ganized the Chicago Crime Commission. The aim of this organization is to collect information concerning 204 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT actual violations of law, to compel the proper officials to prosecute on the basis of this information, and to bring political pressure to bear upon officials who refuse to act. It is significant that in 1920 the Superintendent of Police in Chicago was forced to resign. This is about as far as private enterprise can go in reform measures. Enlightened jurists are convinced that what is now needed is a permanent criminal bench; and the judges should be appointed for life by the Governor of the State. In New York City the city magistrates having power to try petty criminal offenses and hold prisoners for trial are appointed by the Mayor for a term of ten years. It would be better to have them appointed by the Governor. The majority of the municipal judges are learned, honest, fearless, and upright men. But one or two corrupt judges in a municipal court are sufficient to provide an open gate- way to freedom for criminals who have political in- fluence. The selection and removal of judges. — The founders of the American republic were zealous for the independence of the judiciary; and the federal con- stitution together with the State constitutions pro- vided for the selection of judges by appointment. In the middle of the nineteenth century, however, many States changed their constitutions and adopted the elective system. There are now three methods of se- lecting judges. (1) In thirty-eight States the judges of the highest courts are elected by the people. And in all of these States, except one, the trial judges are also elected. In Florida the trial judges are appointed by the Governor although the judges of the Supreme Court are elected. (2) In five States, Rhode Island, Virginia, South Carolina, Vermont, and Connecticut, THE COURTS 205 the judges are elected by the legislature. (3) In five States, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Dela- ware, and New Jersey, the highest judges are appointed by the Governor. The tenure of office of the judiciary varies in the different States. In general, the judges of the high courts have long terms and the trial judges, in the lower courts, shorter terms. In Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island the judges hold office for life. In Pennsylvania the term of the highest judges is twenty-one years; in New York, fourteen; in seventeen States it is only six years. In all States, judges may be removed by impeach- ment, or else by the Governor upon address by the legislature. Six States permit the recall of a judge by a popular vote. These States are Oregon, California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Kansas. Colorado, in 1912, also adopted the recall of judicial decisions. Although ten States permit the recall of public officers, four States specifically exempt judges from this pro- vision, namely, Idaho, Washington, Michigan, and Louisiana. Much has been said in recent years for and against the popular election and dismissal of judges. It is true that appointment of judges and long tenure of office may in some cases tend toward arbitrariness and ill-treatment of lawyers and litigants by the judges on the bench. But, on the other hand, as Chief Justice Taft has pointed out, a comparison between the work of the appointed judges and the elected judges shows that appointment secures in the long run a higher aver- age of experts for the bench. We have had many able judges by popular election, but this is not always the case, and elective judgeships are frequently the pawns 206 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT of politicians. Judges who are appointed and enjoy long tenure of office tend to be more impartial and efficient, for they are not burdened with the necessity of seeking reelection, and they have opportunity to master their judicial duties and to gain experience. Learning, experience, character, and moral courage are indispensable for an independent judiciary. Mr. Taft has well said : "It is the judges who are not grounded in the science of the law, and who have not the broad statesmanlike view that comes from its wide study, that are staggered by narrow precedent and frightened by technical difficulty. The decisions of courts criticized for a failure to respond to that progress in settled public opinion which should affect the limitations upon the police power, or the meaning of due process of law, have generally been rendered by elected courts. Paradox as it may seem, the ap- pointed judges are more discriminatingly responsive to the needs of a community and to its settled views than judges chosen directly by the electorate, and this because the Executive is better qualified to select greater experts/' 1 In conclusion, it should be observed that the Amer- ican people in the past have been profoundly devoted to the reign of law, and they have always invested the judicial office with a special dignity. For years the people of Cook County tolerated the Thompson-Lundin machine, but when that organization attempted in 1 92 1 to gain complete control of the local courts the voters were at last aroused to exert themselves and defeat the machine. There is a deep feeling among the American people that the courts are the bulwark of Popular Government (Yale University Press) , p. 192. THE COURTS 207 individual liberty and they resent any partisan attacks made upon this institution or any efforts to control it. For Further Reading Independence of the Judiciary. — S. E. Baldwin, American Judiciary, ch. i-iii; Everett Kimball, National Government of the United States, pp. 379-383; Wood- row Wilson, Constitutional Government in the United States, ch. vi. Organization and Jurisdiction of the Federal Judiciary. — Emlin McClain, Constitutional Law in the United States, ch. xxv-xxvi; Everett Kimball, National Government of the United States, ch. xv; C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, ch. xv; W. B. Munro, Government of the United States, ch. xxiv-xxv; W. W. Dewhurst, Annotated Rules of Practice in the United States Courts (1919), pp. 763-827; Register of the Department of Justice and the Courts of the United States (contains maps of the federal judicial circuits). The Organization of the State Courts. — S. E. Baldwin, American Judiciary, ch. viii; Illinois Consti- tutional Convention Bulletins, 1920, pp. 740-754. Juvenile Courts. — H. H. Hart, Juvenile Courts in the United States (Russell Sage Foundation) ; G. B. Mangold, Child Problems, pp. 221-345 ; T. D. Eliot, The Juvenile Court and the Community, ch. i; Annual Re- port of the Children's Court of the City of New York, 1916, pp. 8-44; Juvenile Court of Cook County, Illinois (Chicago: 1912), pp. 9-58. Court of Domestic Relations. — W. W. Gemmill, Chicago Court of Domestic Relations in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, March, 1914, pp. 11 5-123; J. C. Colcord, Broken Homes, ch. vi-vii; E. E. Eubank, A Study of Family Desertion, ch. vi. Civil and Criminal Procedure. — C. A. Beard, 208 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT American Government and Politics, pp. S57~S77 \ Timothy Walker, Introduction to American Law, ch. xxxvii ; S. E. Baldwin, American Judiciary, ch. xiii-xvii; H. F. Stone, Law and its Administration, ch. v; W. L. Clark, Handbook of Criminal Law; W. L. Clark, Handbook of Criminal Procedure; James Gould, Treatise on the Prin- ciples of Pleading in Civil Actions; Joseph Story, Com- mentaries on Equity Pleadings; Art. on "Pleas at Law" and "Pleas in Equity" in McKinney's Encyclopedia of Pleading and Practice; Art. on "Equity" in Corpus Juris; Art. on "Criminal Law" in American and English Cyclo- pedia of Law. Defects of the Jury System. — S. E. Baldwin, Amer- ican Judiciary, pp. 189-196, 239-243 ; Maurice Parmelee, Criminology, ch. xx; Arthur Train, The Prisoner at the Bar, ch. xi. Popular Election or Appointment of Judges. — W. H. Taft, Popular Government, pp. 186-215; W. S. Carpenter, Judicial Tenure in the United States, ch. iv, v ; A. M. Kales, Methods of Selecting and Retiring Judges in a Metropolitan District in Annals of American Acad- emy of Political and Social Science (1914), LII, pp. 1-12; Bulletins for Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, 1917, no. xvi. Reform in American Legal Procedure. — J. W. Works, Juridical Reform, ch. i-xv ; R. H. Smith, Justice and the Poor (Carnegie Foundation for the Advance- ment of Teaching) ; Moorfield Story, Reform of Legal Procedure, ch. i-v ; Maurice Parmelee, Principles of An- thropology and Sociology in their Relations to Criminal Procedure, ch. xii ; C. R. Henderson, Preventative Agencies and Methods, pp. 261-315; Eugene Smith, Criminal Law in the United States, pp. 94-113; Report of the City Council Committee on Crime of the City of Chicago; pp. 9-16; Edwin W. Sims, Fighting Crime in Chicago in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, May, 1920, pp. 8-20 ; Bulletin of the Chicago Crime Com- THE COURTS 209 mission (179 West Washington Street), no. xi; Model Short Procedural Act in Journal of the American Judi- cature Society (1920), IV, pp. 104-110; Conciliation and Informal Procedure (American Judicature Society, 31 W. Lake Street, Chicago), Bulletin no. xv; Roscoe Pound, Causes of Popular Dissatisfaction with the Ad- ministration of Justice in Reports of American Bar As- sociation (1906), XXIX, pt. i, pp. 395-417; J. H. Wig- more, Shall the Legal Profession be Reorganized? in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, January, 1914, pp. 461-463 ; Reform in the Administration of Jus- tice in Annals of .American Academy of Political and Social Science (1914), LII, pp. 1-223. CHAPTER X THE STATE GOVERNMENTS: GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE The average American citizen comes in contact with his State government far more frequently than with the national government. As Lord Bryce has wittily remarked: "An American may, through a long life, never be reminded of the federal government, except when he votes at presidential and congressional elec- tions, buys a package of tobacco bearing the govern- ment stamp, lodges a complaint against the post office, and opens his trunks for a customhouse officer on the pier at New York when he returns from a tour in Europe. His direct taxes are paid to officials acting under State laws. The State, or a local authority con- stituted by State statutes, registers his birth, appoints his guardian, pays for his schooling, gives him a share in the estate of his father deceased, licenses him when he enters a trade (if it be one needing a license), mar- ries him, divorces him, entertains civil actions against him, fines him for overspeeding his automobile, de- clares him a bankrupt, hangs him for murder. The police that guard his house, the local boards that look after the poor, control highways, impose water rates, manage schools— all these derive their legal powers from his State alone/' 1 While this is too strong a statement of the situation, nevertheless it comes near the truth. Notwithstanding the increased supervision of the federal government the supervising activities of American Commonwealth (Macmillan), I, p. 425. 2IO GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE 211 the States have not decreased; in fact, they have been greatly augmented. The regulation of business, public morals, and general welfare within the States requires more attention every year. Moreover, the vast scope of law concerning the relations of persons to each other is within the domain of the States. Laws dealing with inheritance, corporations, bills and notes, etc., are within the jurisdiction of the States, as well as criminal procedure and the laws for protecting the property of the citizens from violence. At the same time the administrative work of the local governments is exten- sive and vital, including education, promotion of public health and morals, control of streets and highways, and the care of public buildings and roads. THE STATE GOVERNOR Like the federal government, the State governments are constructed according to the Theory of Checks and Balances which the framers of the federal constitution so greatly admired. The Governor is at the head of the executive department, the State legislature is the lawmaking body, and the State courts comprise the judicial department. Theoretically a strict separation of powers exists, but it will be convenient to discuss in this chapter both the Governor and the State legisla- ture in order to indicate the methods used at the present time to secure cooperation between these two depart- ments. Powers of the Governor. — In many respects the powers of the Governor correspond to the powers of the President of the United States, although they are not so numerous or complete. At the time of the American Revolutionary War, when most of the orig- inal States adopted their first constitutions, there was 212 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT a profound distrust of the office of Governor, due, of course, to the late conflicts with the royal governors in the colonies. Accordingly, the early State constitu- tions greatly restricted the powers of the Governor, while granting large powers to the legislature. In the nineteenth century, however, the people began to dis- trust the legislatures, and as a result the State consti- tutions were amended from time to time giving more powers to the Governors and placing greater limitations upon the legislature. (i) Executive powers. — The Governor possesses the usual executive powers of appointment of certain officers and boards. In some States the number of officials whose appointment rests with the Governor is large; but in all States certain executive officers, like the Secretary of State and the Treasurer, are elected. The Governor has also the power of removal of cer- tain officials. And, like the President, he has the power of pardoning convicted offenders against State law. In some States the Governor has been partly relieved of the burden of this embarrassing power by the crea- tion of a Board of Pardons which acts in his name. (2) Legislative powers. — Like the President, the Governor has certain legislative powers. He convenes the legislature in extra session if necessary, he sends written messages to the legislature concerning the wel- fare of the commonwealth and recommending the en- actment of laws, and in all States save one, he has the veto power, although the legislature may pass a bill over his veto by a two-thirds vote of both houses. (3) General oversight of State administration. — The Governor, as the head of the executive depart- ment of government, has a general oversight of State administration. The various State officers, boards, and GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE 213 commissions are usually in some degree under his supervision ; but in only a few States does the Governor have the broad powers of control enjoyed by the Presi- dent, while in no State does he have a Cabinet. (4) Military powers. — The Governor is comman- der-in-chief of the military forces of the State. He may call out the militia to repress mob violence or other disturbance ; and, when the legislature is not in session, he may request military aid from the federal govern- ment; otherwise such a request must come from the State legislature. As commander-in-chief of the State troops the Governor has power to declare martial law. (5) Relations with the federal government and other State governments. — The Governor is the medium of communication between the government of his State and the governments of other States in the Union. An occasion for such communication may arise when a fugitive from justice escapes into another State. In this case a request for the extradition of the alleged criminal is made by the Governor of the State where the crime was committed. Governors sometimes act as the agents of the federal government. During the Civil War Lincoln called upon the Governors for aid in organizing the Union army, and in the World War the United States War Department relied upon the advice of the Governors in appointing draft boards. In times of peace the Governors may cooperate in carrying out national poli- cies, as in 1908, when President Roosevelt called a meeting of the Governors at the White House to advise with him upon the problem of conservation of the national resources. Since this date, the State execu- tives have met annually in the Conference of Governors held at various State capitals. 214 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT (6) Social and ceremonial duties. — Finally, we should not forget the many social and ceremonial func- tions which demand the attention of the Governor. Although these duties may seem to the student of American government to be a rather secondary mat- ter, yet in real life they loom very large, and the people are disappointed if a Governor persistently refuses to grace important occasions with a public speech. A great-hearted Governor, in a few well-chosen words of praise and appreciation, may encourage the weary offi- cial, the tired teacher, or the public-spirited citizen to make greater efforts for the common good. State administration. — Besides the Governor, there are a large number of other executive officers. These officials may be classified in two groups: first, the original officers established by the early State con- stitutions, and, second, the numerous boards and com- missions which have been more recently created for the purpose of meeting the new economic and social conditions of the age. The officials of the first class are generally elected by the people. Those of the sec- ond class are generally appointed by the Governor. The chief elected officials are: (i) the Governor; (2) the Lieutenant-Governor, who takes the place of the Governor if incapacitated; (3) the Secretary of State, who keeps the public records and usually has certain functions to perform in regard to State elec- tions such as receiving the petitions from candidates in the primaries, furnishing ballots and tally-sheets to the boards of election, canvassing the returns of the election and issuing certificates of election to the suc- cessful candidates; (4) the Attorney-General, who gives legal advice to the Governor and other State officials; (5) the Treasurer, who keeps the public GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE 215 money and pays it out only on warrant from the proper officials; (6) the Auditor or Comptroller, who audits or examines all accounts, and issues warrants on the Treasurer for the payment of public money; and (7) the Superintendent of Public Education, who has supervision of the public schools in the State. The second class of executive officers are the mem- bers of boards and commissions, such as the State Boards 'of Health and the Railway Commissions. These boards are recent creations, most of them hav- ing been established within the last half century, or since the time when the States began to regulate more thoroughly the economic and social life of their citizens. THE STATE LEGISLATURES Like Congress, the State legislature is the lawmak- ing department of government. It passes the laws for maintaining the public health, for regulating the rail- ways or building State roads, and it has authority to create various boards and commissions to enforce these laws. The State legislature has power to provide for education and vocational training of children, although in most States the administration of public education is left largely in the hands of local authorities. The legislature levies taxes for the support of the State government and it alone has power to authorize appro- priations from the State treasury. It is also the func- tion of the legislature to prescribe the procedure for prosecuting criminals and for enforcing private rights in the courts. The law of contracts, torts, bills and notes, personal and real property, agency, marriage and divorce, insurance, trusts, partnerships and corpora- tions is within the domain of State legislation. Many 216 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT States have enacted codes or compilations of laws upon these subjects. It is unnecessary to describe in detail the organiza- tion of the State legislatures, for it is much the same as that of Congress. In many States the legislature is' called the General Assembly, and in every State the legislature has two chambers, composed of elected members. The upper house (usually called the Sen- ate) is the smaller of the two houses. In Delaware it consists of only 17 members, and in Minnesota of 67 members. The lower chamber, which is called the House of Representatives, contains in Delaware and Arizona 35 members, in New York 150, in Illinois 153, in Georgia 189, in Pennsylvania 207, and in New Hampshire, as many as 404 members! The rules of order, the procedure for the introduction and passing of bills, the committee system, and committee hearings are much like the same proceedings in the national Con- gress. Most of the State legislatures meet every two years. Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and South Carolina have annual sessions. Alabama has a quadrennial session. Criticism of our State legislatures. — The State legislatures have not in late years performed their functions as efficiently as in the early days of our re- public. The character of the legislation passed to-day cannot compare with the excellent quality of the laws passed by State legislatures a hundred years ago. This deterioration in our State laws is due partly to defects in the organization of the legislature, partly to the inordinate size of the legislature, and partly to the lack of technical knowledge by the individual legislators. One of the most prominent critics of our legislative system, Governor George H. Hodges, of Kansas, has GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE 217 pointed out that our statute books are encumbered with thousands of badly drawn, practically useless, and often harmful acts which have been hastily passed by careless legislatures. 1 Laws should be carefully drafted. The language should be in legal style; the subject matter should be an accurate reflection of public morals; and the enactment must, in any event, be in accord with the provisions of the federal and State constitutions. It is not every novice that can draw up such a document. Experienced members themselves sometimes make mistakes. In 1901 Wisconsin estab- lished a Legislative Reference Bureau to serve the members of the legislature by collecting information and comparing laws of different States, and by draft- ing bills upon any subject at the request of members. This work is done by experts who know their fields. Obviously, it has been of great service to the law- makers of Wisconsin; and a majority of the other States have created similar organizations. The estab- lishment of legislative reference bureaus has tended to improve the quality of the laws passed by the State legislatures, but it has by no means prevented the enact- ment of thousands of ill-considered laws on a great variety of subjects. There is altogether too much legislation in the States. In 191 1 the Session Laws of California filled a book of 2,000 printed pages; and the laws of Massachusetts, 1,100 pages. The legislature of Massachusetts enacts each year more laws for its four million people than the British Parliament enacts for its forty-nine million people. The compact character of British legislation is partly due to able executive guidance in the law- making process and partly due to Parliament's refraint ^-Proceedings of the Conference of Governors in 1913. 218 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT from burdening the laws with administrative details which had better be left to the discretion of the execu- tive officers. In America the members of our State legislatures, without the guiding hand of experienced executives, have found themselves beset by clamoring public opinion to enact social and economic reforms, some of these behests being practical and necessary, some Utopian; at the same time all sorts of promoters are asking for privileges in return for alleged bene- fits given to the State; and these demands are thun- dered at the members in the press or urged upon them by professional lobbyists who are hired by associa- tions, corporations, or persons desiring to get bills through the assembly. The path of the lawmaker is thus not an easy one. Local interests besiege him incessantly. The assemblyman who is sent to the leg- islature from some crossroads village for the purpose of securing the construction of a bridge over an ad- jacent river to be built at State expense, meets the representative of another district whose constituents are interested in obtaining a franchise for an electric railway, and thus the vote on the franchise is ex- changed for the vote on the bridge. Each assembly- man helps to roll the other man's log. And when the Governor intervenes and attempts to interfere with this log-rolling process, he becomes the object of indig- nant attack as an encroacher upon the constitutional prerogatives of the legislature. The initiative and referendum. — Popular dis- trust of State legislatures has led to the introduction of the initiative and referendum. These devices were adopted in South Dakota in 1898 and in Oregon in 1902, and since then in eighteen other States. The initiative is a means of popular proposal of legislation. GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE 219 There are two kinds— the direct initiative and the indi- rect initiative. Under the direct initiative, a measure can be proposed by popular petition and then goes directly to the people as a result of such proposal. Ten States have adopted this method. The process is as follows : Any citizen, association, or society may draft a bill for enacting some measure which is desired as law. A petition is then circulated among the voters for their signature. In Oregon, if eight per cent of the electors sign the petition, a State-wide election is held upon the proposed bill; and if a majority of the votes at the polls is cast for the bill, it is automatically enacted into law. Nine States have adopted the indirect initiative whereby a bill proposed by petition is considered by the State legislature before being submitted to the people. In Michigan, for example, the petition in favor of a bill requires the signatures of eight per cent of the voters. After these signatures are obtained the bill must be submitted to the legislature, which may act upon the bill in three ways : ( 1 ) accept the proposed bill without change, (2) reject the bill, or (3) recom- mend a substitute bill to the people. In the first case, the proposed bill is enacted into law without more ado. In the second or third case, the people are called upon to express their decision at the polls. Any bill initiated by petition must, like all statutory enactments, be in accord with the constitution. Fourteen States permit the use of the initiative for the proposal of constitu- tional amendments by the people. The referendum is a means of obtaining a popular veto upon measures passed by the legislature. It has been used for a century and half to ratify constitu- tional amendments proposed by conventions or legis- 220 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT latures, but the application of the referendum to statu- tory law is more recent. In Oregon any bill passed by the legislature is referred to the people if a petition signed by five per cent of the voters is filed with the Secretary of State within ninety days after the ad- journment of the session of the legislature which passed the measure. Furthermore, the legislature it- self may order a referendum. In either case the popu- lar vote is taken at the next ensuing general election. In some States having the referendum an emergency bill enacted by the legislature goes into effect at once, even if a petition for a referendum is filed, while an adverse vote given later at the polls acts as a repeal of the measure. This provision is deemed necessary to prevent a small percentage of voters from delaying the operation of some urgent measure enacted for the im- mediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety. The Governor may not veto any measure ap- proved by the people in either the initiative or the referendum. Are the initiative and referendum satisfactory? — It has been claimed by the advocates of the initiative and the referendum that these devices promote popular government, enabling the people to override obstreper- ous legislatures by taking into their own hands from time to time the lawmaking process. By means of the referendum the people may veto any legislation that they dislike while by means of the initiative they may enact legislation that they desire. As a result, it is claimed, that under the referendum the most pernicious forms of lobbying will tend to disappear because the people would be in a position to block the special favors obtained by unworthy methods from legislative bodies. At the same time both the initiative and the referendum GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE 221 are a means of popular education along political lines. In Oregon, pamphlets are printed by the State when- ever the initiative or the referendum is used for the purpose of giving the arguments, both for and against the proposed bills, and it is expected that the people will study such dissertations before casting their votes. And since the people must understand the laws referred to them, there is an incentive to make the laws simple and direct, which reform is greatly to be desired. Professor Ray contends that in at least one respect the initiative and referendum tend to simplify and clarify the voter's task. "Under our present system of choosing representatives to make our laws, the char- acter and personality of candidates and the necessity for party success are constantly kept before the voters. But we are never quite certain what sort of legislation will be enacted by the men we send to the legislature or city council, or to Congress, for in comparatively few cases are candidates pledged to vote for a definite measure. Even when they are so pledged, there is no assurance that a good representative will remain good after he is elected and will redeem his pre-election promises. Under the initiative and referendum, on the other hand, a definite measure is submitted to the voter for his approval or disapproval. He can decide whether he wishes this particular law or prefers some other law, without regard to the character and promises of candidates and the importance of party success." 1 In opposition to the initiative and referendum it is claimed that the efficacy of direct legislation has been much overestimated. Referring all questions to the people does not bring good government. It is amusing to recall that the two Bonapartist despots of France 1 Introduction to Political Parties and Practical Politics (Scribner). p. 588. 222 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT in the last century delighted to sanction their illegal acts with flattering plebiscites. In America the use of the initiative and referendum has not greatly impaired the grip of "bosses" and "ma- chines" upon our State legislatures. While these methods will occasionally secure an immediate enact- ment of the popular will against opposing interests, yet in the long run the frequent use of the initiative and referendum tends to break down our legislative system. They destroy the responsibility of the indi- vidual legislator. When the reformer demands a new law a surly member of the legislature can reply — "Let the people initiate it if they want it." Moreover, the initiative violates an important prin- ciple of our representative democracy. A legislature should be a deliberative body. Its members come from different parts of the State, from the farm, the fac- tory, the lawyer's office, and the business office; these members have varying interests, attitudes, and opin- ions ; they are supposed to represent all the people. A bill introduced in such a body of representatives may be amended in a way to conform to the best judgment and experience of many men; defects may be cor- rected and valuable additions may be inserted. But this is not the case with a bill drawn up by some person or association, under the system of the direct initiative and offered to the people in a vote at the polls. Leg- islation may be needed upon the subject in question, but the persons who formulated the measure were nec- essarily partisan, and they may have failed to give the proposal the broad view which a truly deliberative body is expected to assume. Under the system of the direct initiative when a proposed bill comes before the people the flaws cannot be eliminated. Corrections and amend- GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE 223 ments are not possible. The people must accept it in toto, or reject it in toto. Of course, in some States it may seem that the adop- tion of the initiative and referendum is necessary as a relief from corrupt politics. But it is questionable whether such a form of direct legislation should be introduced permanently into a representative system. The tendency of the initiative and referendum is to detract from the responsibility of the individual mem- bers of the legislature; and, without such responsibility, representative government becomes a failure. RECONSTRUCTION OF STATE GOVERNMENTS Reorganization of the State legislatures. — Sev- eral proposals for the reform of our State legislatures have been advanced in recent years, including (1) a decrease in membership of the General Assembly, and (2) the abolition of the upper house or Senate. In 19 1 3 Governor Hodges of Kansas proposed that his State should substitute for the present system a one- house legislature consisting of only eight or sixteen members (one or two members being elected from each congressional district). This small unicameral legis- lature, he thought, would attract a better class of pol- iticians, it would focus public attention upon a few men and would thereby fix responsibilty. Moreover, such a legislature would be harder to corrupt. In 191 1 an organization in Oregon known as the People's Power League proposed the abolition of the second chamber, and in 1912 and 1914 a constitutional amendment for this purpose was submitted to the peo- ple of Oregon. A similar constitutional amendment was also proposed in Oklahoma in 1914 and in Arizona in 1916. All of these proposed amendments have failed 224 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT of adoption. In Oklahoma the vote was 71,000 to 94,000; and it is not improbable that a Western State some day will attempt the experiment of abandoning the two-chambered system and will substitute the unicameral legislature, as seven of the nine Canadian provinces have already done. The Governor as a legislative leader. — The con- stitutional balance between the legislature and the Gov- ernor is still so strictly drawn that it is only a Governor with an unusual personality who can maintain a leader- ship of the legislature. With the increase in his powers, however, the executive has tended to become a real party leader. An able, patriotic, and morally ag- gressive Governor with the people behind him can compel a legislature to do his bidding. The history of the last half century offers several striking instances. In 1884 Grover Cleveland as Governor of New York forced a reluctant legislature to pass a civil service bill. In the same State, during the last two years of the nineteenth century, Theodore Roosevelt swept the legislature out of the control of the "bosses," and he would have continued his war upon Senator Piatt's machine for a succeeding term had he not been elimi- nated from New York politics in 1900 by his nomina- tion to the Vice-Presidency of the United States. Sev- eral years later, when Mr. Hughes was Governor of New York, the legislature put off his demand for a bill abolishing racetrack gambling upon the flimsy excuse of lack of time. Accordingly, after the legis- lature had adjourned, Mr. Hughes summoned the two houses to meet in a special session, where, under the focus of public opinion, the "bosses" were compelled to yield. Woodrow Wilson's battle in 1911-1913 with the party leaders in the New Jersey legislature is a well- GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE 225 known story. In this case the party "bosses" attempted to block the enactment of the bills popularly known as the "Seven Sisters" which, among other things, were designed to change the notorious laws of the State re- garding the regulation of corporations. The work of Governor Allen, of Kansas, in establishing the Court of Industrial Relations in 1920, is another illustration of gubernatorial leadership. The success of our best Governors has depended largely upon their attitude toward their office. They have considered themselves to be lawmakers as well as law enforcers. Consciously or unconsciously, they have realized that the Check and Balance System has been tested and found wanting. According to old- fashioned notions the Governor should stay within his narrow sphere and not trouble himself with the legislature ; he should only execute the laws and leave the making of laws to the legislature. It is still thought by some critics that it is not right for the Governor to attempt to lead the legislature; and the "bosses" are always shocked when a Governor like Mr. Roosevelt or Mr. Wilson oversteps the ancient traditions of the office. Leadership of the legislature by the Governor, how- ever, is exactly what the American people desire to- day. We have learned by experience that bodies of men habitually need guidance and management, not necessarily because of weakness of character but be- cause the timely enactment of sound legislation re- quires a certain degree of masterly direction. Should this direction come from "bosses" lurking behind the scenes and cloaking their individuality in the member- ship of a numerous assembly of legislators? Or should it come from a man exposed to the view of the 226 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT people, who can be made to shoulder the responsibility for all acts of government? It would seem that both the leadership and the responsibility should be placed upon a single officer. Our legislatures are usually com- posed of honest men, but the defects of the Check and Balance System have encouraged the subtle influence of the "bosses." It is exceedingly difficult for a group of independent men in the legislature to withstand, or even sometimes to be aware of the pressure of the "machine." What is needed is effective leadership and responsibility. The "machine" can lead, but it is not responsible to the people. The Governor can both lead and assume responsibility to the people. Readjustment of the relations of the Governor and the legislature. — The attempt of various Gov- ernors to exercise the role which public opinion has thrust upon them has sometimes led to friction with the legislatures, not to say unseemly altercations. With a view to eliminating this wasteful antagonism between the two departments, several changes have recently been made in the legislative methods of various State governments. In 19 13 the Illinois House of Repre- sentatives adopted a rule providing that any resolu- tion or bill introduced to carry out a recommendation of the Governor might, by executive message addressed to the Speaker of the house, be made an "administra- tion measure," and when such a bill is reported out of committee it has precedence over all other bills save appropriation bills. This rule very obviously brings the Governor and the legislature into closer relations. It was intended not only to insure that the recommenda- tions of the Governor should have adequate considera- tion in the lower house, but also to impose upon the Governor the obligation to have a legislative program. GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE 227 Virginia and Alabama have adopted another measure which likewise tends to associate the Governor more intimately with the law-making process. In these States the Governor now has the power to propose amendments to bills which the legislature has under consideration. The new legislative methods above described are constitutional aids to the Governor who, acting in accordance with the spirit of the times, frames a legis- lative program and champions it before the legislature. In promoting his program the Governor often sends for the prominent members of the legislature, particu- larly the chairmen of important committees and urges them to support his bills. In some States the Gov- ernor sometimes comes before the committees in person to urge his policies. In all States the influence of the Governor upon the work of the legislature is in- creasing; and his influence has generally been for bet- ter laws. Budgetary reform. — It will be unnecessary to dwell long in this place upon the movement for budgetary re- form because the need for this reform in the States has been the same as that in the national government and we have already covered this ground in a preceding chapter. The majority of the States have in late years undertaken to establish a better system of expenditures and revenues; and have gone much further than the national government in the matter of financial recon- struction. There can be no well-balanced budget with- out the executive having the power to fix the maximum amount for every item in the expenditure side of the financial estimates. This is practically the only way whereby economy in public finance can be obtained. The Governor who wishes to make a good showing 228 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT before the people aims to keep taxes low by eliminat- ing unnecessary and extravagant expenditures. It is also the interest of the legislature to make a good rec- ord by reducing taxation, but the temptation of the individual assemblyman to secure as much money as possible from the public treasury to be spent in his dis- trict or for the benefit of his friends is almost irresist- ible, and by a process of log-rolling the people's money is often waste fully appropriated by irresponsible legis- lators. Hence, more satisfactory results are obtained by the employment of the executive budget, or a budget which is chiefly controlled by the Governor, than can be obtained by the employment of the old-fashioned legislative budget. Maryland perhaps has made the greatest progress in financial reform. As provided by the constitutional amendment of 1916, the Governor at the beginning of each session lays before the Gen- eral Assembly a budget of proposed expenditures and estimated revenues for the ensuing two years. The expenditures and appropriations, as proposed by the Governor, are put in the form of a budget bill. With a few specified exceptions no item in this bill may be increased by the General Assembly. On the other hand, items may be reduced or stricken out, except items for salaries of officers already established, which of course, by constitutional provision, cannot be re- duced during the term of the official then in office. Nearly half of the States of the Union have adopted another method whereby the Governor has a more lim- ited control over the budget. In these States the Gov- ernor submits a proposed budget, but the legislature retains the power to increase or otherwise change the items of the budget. The Governor, however, is em- powered to veto separate items in appropriation bills GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE 229 or to reduce these items. This second method, not so satisfactory, to be sure, as Maryland's, is an improve- ment upon the former chaos in State financial systems. The reconstruction of the administrative de- partments. — Under the first State constitutions the number of executive offices was not large, but during the hundred and fifty years which have since elapsed many new offices, boards and commissions have been established from time to time. These offices, and par- ticularly the boards and commissions, were created not with a view to rounding out the administrative system of the State, but, rather, for the purpose of meeting special social and economic needs. As a result, our State governments have been deficient in the qualities that characterize a well-correlated and centralized ad- ministrative system. Attention was called to the need of reform of American executive methods in 19 10 when President Taft obtained from Congress an ap- propriation of a hundred thousand dollars for a Com- mission on Economy and Efficiency to inquire into the methods of transacting public business. In 19 12 New Jersey and Massachusetts established State commis- sions on economy and efficiency, and in a few years similar action was taken by other States. One of the ablest reports was that made by the Illi- nois Commission in 191 5. It recommended that about a hundred different offices, boards, and commissions be consolidated into less than a dozen executive de- partments and that the chief official in each department should be appointed by the Governor, with the consent of the Senate, and be responsible to the Governor for the conduct of the department. The legislature of Illi- nois was slow to act upon these recommendations until Governor Lowden made a vigorous appeal to the peo- 2 3 o AMERICAN GOVERNMENT pie of the State. Accordingly in 19 17, the legislature enacted the Civil Administration Code, which consoli- dated a large number of executive functions into nine departments under the control of the Governor. The new departments are: (1) Finance, (2) Agriculture, (3) Labor, (4) Mines and Minerals, (5) Public Works and Buildings, (6) Public Welfare, (7) Pub- lic Health, (8) Trade and Commerce, (9) Registra- tion and Education, (10) Military and Naval. A few other States, besides Illinois, have reorgan- ized and consolidated their administrative systems. This reconstruction of the executive offices has pro- moted the efficiency of the public service. At the same time the supervising powers of the Governor have been enhanced; and consequently responsibility has been more conspicuously fixed upon one man. For Further Reading The Governor as Political Leader. — J. M. Ma- thews, Principles of American State Administration, ch. iii; J. T. Young, The New American Government and Its Work, pp. 320-324; J. L. Whittle, Grover Cleveland, pp. 23-35 ; Theodore Roosevelt, Autobiography, pp. 293- 339; W. B. Hale, Woodrow Wilson, pp. 160-213; H. J. Ford, Woodrow Wilson, ch. v; W. E. Dodd, Woodrow Wilson and His Work, ch. v. The Powers of the Governor. — C. A. Beard, Amer- ican Government and Politics, ch. xxiv; W. B. Munro, Government of the United States, ch. xxx; J. M. Ma- thews, Principles of American State Administration, ch. iv, v; A. N. Holcombe, State Government in the United States, ch. x; J. H. Finley and J. F. Sanderson, The American Executive and Executive Methods, ch. vi-xiv. Organization and Powers of the State Legisla- tures. — P. S. Reinsch, American Legislatures and Legis- GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE 231 lative Methods, ch. iv-vi; W. B. Munro, Government of the United States, ch. xxix ; C. A. Beard, American Gov- ernment and Politics, ch. xxv ; B. F. Shambaugh, Statute Law-Making in Iowa, pp. 349-386, 593-602, 613-687; Illinois Constitutional Convention Bulletins, 1920, pp. 528-537. Criticisms on Legislative Methods. — P. Orman Ray, Introduction to Political Parties and Practical Politics, pp. 511-532; J. T. Young, New American Gov- ernment and Its Work, pp. 326-335, 643-651 ; Charles McCarthy, The Wisconsin Idea, pp. 194-232; C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, pp. 532-546; A. L. Lowell, Public Opinion and Popular Government, pp. 129-151 ; B. F. Shambaugh, Statute Law-Making in Iowa, pp. 161-168, 535-569; Illinois Constitutional Con- vention Bulletins, 1920, pp. 555-569. The Initiative and Referendum. — P. Orman Ray, Introduction to Political Parties and Practical Politics, pp. 581-600; W. B. Munro, Initiative, Referendum and Recall, ch. viii ; J. D. Barnett, Operation of the Initiative, Referendum and Recall in Oregon, ch. i-vi, xxv ; Bulletins for Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, 1917, pp. 179-286; Illinois Constitutional Convention Bulletins, 1920, pp. 65-165. The Executive Budget. — J. M. Mathews, Principles of State Administration, pp. 284-293 ; W. F. Willoughby, The Movement for Budgetary Reform in the States,* ch. i- iii ; Bulletins for Massachusetts Constitutional Con- vention, 1917, pp. 51-104; Illinois Constitutional Conven- tion Bulletins, 1920, pp. 268-287. Proposals for the Reorganization of the Legis- lature. — Proceedings of the Conferences of Governors, in 1913, pp. 121-135; A. M. Kales, Unpopular Govern- ment in the United States, ch. xiv-xvi ; Illinois Constitu- tional Convention Bulletins, 1920, pp. 528-533. Readjustment of Relations of Governor and Legislature. — A. N. Holcombe, State Government in 232 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT the United States, ch. xiv ; J. M. Mathews, Principles of American State Administration, ch. iii, xix. Reconstruction of the Administrative Depart- ments. — G. A. Weber, Organized Efforts for the Im- provement of Methods of Administration in the United States, pp. 84-161 ; A. E. Buck, Administrative Consolida- tion in State Governments in National Municipal Review, (1919), VIII, pp. 639-667; J. M. Mathews, Administra- tive Reorganization in Illinois in National Municipal Re- view, (1920), IX, pp. 739-755; Report Reconstruction Commission of New York State, 1919, pp. 3-44. CHAPTER XI STATE WELFARE AND ADMINISTRATION The purpose of all government is the promotion of the public welfare. The States have, therefore, very wisely attempted to solve some of the problems of our modern social and industrial systems, to apply the les- sons of science to the everyday work and life of our citizens, to eliminate crime and poverty by preventive means and to encourage the people in health, right living, and happiness. The industrial revolution in America has made our economic system very complex. With the growth of population, the congestion of cities, the rise of manufacturing, the development of trans- continental transportation, and the appearance of huge aggregations of capital and of powerful labor unions, the States have found it necessary to pass laws to regulate many phases of our industrial life. In order to enforce these laws it has been necessary to estab- lish various boards and. commissions. In every State these boards and special commissioners are numerous. In New York there are 187 such agencies; in Massa- chusetts, 216. They require a vast army of officials and employees, in Illinois nearly 8,000, while in New York there are 20,664. THE STATES AND PUBLIC WELFARE The work of the States in the promotion of the public welfare may be described under nine heads: (1) education, (2) vocational training, (3) public health, (4) charities and correction, (5) business pro- 233 234 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT tection and regulation, (6) labor conditions, (7) mili- tary and police, (8) public property and the conserva- tion of natural resources, and (9) taxation and finance. Education. — In a democratic country education is justly considered as the chief service of the govern- ment. Indeed, the preservation of our democracy very largely depends upon the right training of the youth. A well-known American educator has said: "There is no magic in the word 'republic' to insure good gov- ernment; the magic is in the intelligence and integrity of the people. There is no power in declarations of independence to free people from ignorance and vice. There is no safety in paper constitutions; State and national constitutions must be written in the hearts of the people." Again he said : "The State is vitally in- terested in training good citizens. Every ignorant voter is a menace to democracy. Whenever the ballot does not express the judgment of an intelligent voter, free institutions are in danger, for such voters are the easy prey of the demagogue." It is eminently fitting that the State should under- take the business of educating the children and youth of the land. If the preservation of our democracy de- pends upon the proper education of all the people, then it is a very careless or inefficient government which would neglect this feature of its safety. The State needs good citizens, and the best way to obtain them is to teach the children habits of orderliness, industry, and .prudence, to create in them an idealism, an in- spiration for the good and beautiful things of life. The Fathers were keenly aware of this necessity. Said Madison: "A popular government without popular education is but the prelude of a farce or a tragedy — perhaps both." The hope of Jefferson was a "system STATE WELFARE 235 of general instruction, which shall reach every descrip- tion of our citizens, from the richest to the poorest." When the Puritans came to America, education in England was entirely in the hands of private insti- tutions, but at an early date the New England legisla- tures ordered every town to maintain a public school. Thus, in the beginning, public education was quite largely in the control of local authorities, and there it has very largely remained. To-day, in thirty or more States, the school district is the unit of local adminis- tration, and in forty or more States the county is the unit of school supervision. Iowa is an illustration of the general type. In each school district, rural and urban, a school board is elected by the people. This board has charge of providing school buildings, fur- nishing supplies, employing teachers and levying school taxes. A county superintendent of schools is also elected in each county who has super- vision of the rural schools, but with little power over the urban. Most States elect a State Super- intendent of Public Instruction. Others have a Board of Education, usually appointed by the Gover- nor. The New York board, designated as the Board of Regents, is the oldest in the United States, having been established in 1784. In this State, centralization of the administration of education has gone very far. The regents have power to grant or revoke charters of all universities, colleges, or academies. They distribute the State funds allotted to education. They inspect and prescribe the courses of instruction in the public schools. They examine and pass upon the fitness of pupils to graduate from the grades and the high school. In other States the tendency is now toward centraliza- tion of public-school administration. 236 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT The administration of our public-school systems of- fers problems of the most serious nature. City people have little realization of the importance of rural edu- cation, or of the effect upon the nation as well as upon the city that results in part from the decrepitude of our rural schools in the past. Thirty years ago, while our city schools were rapidly advancing in efficiency and service, the country schools were deteriorating. This defect in our educational system contributed to the remarkable exodus from the farm to the city which has become a serious problem to-day. Some progres- sive educators in America have attempted to remedy this weakness in our educational system. They have striven to increase the efficiency and professional ability of our rural teachers. Normal schools have been es- tablished, and study centers for teachers have been created in every county of some agricultural States like Iowa. Upon the rural schools in a large measure depends the happiness of our nation. The movement toward the city which is leaving the countrysides de- serted cannot be stayed while our country schools are neglected. Vocational training. — "Every man should have a trade," says an old proverb, and it is a matter of con- cern to the state whether its citizens are idle, shiftless and indifferent, or whether they are industriously and happily engaged in the trades and professions. The modern state has found it to be a wise policy to en- courage the learning of trades and professions and the acquiring of skill and excellence on the part of young men and women. The State universities and agricul- tural colleges and many private institutions offer courses where students may specialize in law, medi- cine, engineering, architecture, chemistry, and scientific STATE WELFARE 237 farming. Particularly the agricultural schools, in cooperation with the federal government, have sought to furnish instruction and encouragement to the farm- ers. It used to be said that "any fool can farm," but that is far from the truth to-day. Farming is an occu- pation requiring science, practical knowledge, and skill. Many State colleges offer a course of two or four years to farmer lads in the chemistry of the soil, crop-raising, stock-breeding, and economics of the farm; and some colleges offer short courses in the winter time, when the busy fathers of these lads may leave their work for a few weeks and obtain some of the same instruction which is given their sons. Through the wise foresight of enlightened leaders this vocational training is ex- tending into the rural schools. In some States boys and girls are encouraged to buy and undertake to feed live stock properly or raise an acre of corn under scien- tific management. Banks often loan money to boys and girls for such purposes. A sense of proprietorship, of responsibility, of service, is thus awakened. The proud possessors of these farm animals, or of an acre of corn, are eager to learn the best method of caring for their property; and no case is on record of the failure of any such borrower to repay the principal and interest of his loan. The ultimate result is an early in- terest in scientific farming and a willingness to stay in the country instead of following the lure of the city. In the cities the high schools are offering courses in bookkeeping, carpentry, and machine-work which will train boys and girls for practical work. In some schools the pupils are actually paid a certain wage for shop-work done under the supervision of expert in- structors. Most States also have institutions for the 27,8 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT blind where young pupils are given a twelve-year course in the common branches and in music. They are also taught a useful occupation. The girls learn knitting, crocheting, fancywork, hand and machine sewing, and domestic science. The boys are taught netting, weaving, broom-making, cane-seating, car- pentry, and piano-tuning. Here these unfortunate children may attain the wonderful satisfaction of knowing that they are of some use to the world. Before leaving this subject we should finally observe that the purpose of public education is to train the youth to right-living and right-thinking. It is to teach the people to serve the state, the community, their fellow men. Our schools should make better men and women, better husbands and wives, better citizens. Without progress, hope, ambition, and idealism, life becomes a sorry thing. It has been well said that "youth is no crime, and inexperience is no disgrace; but youth that does not aspire, and age that has not learned from experience are both a disgrace and a crime." Public health. — The attempt to combat disease and preserve the people's health during the first seventy or eighty years of our national history was left to local authorities. Massachusetts was the first State, in 1869, to establish a State Board of Health and to institute a State-wide enforcement of legislation relating to the public health. Other States adopted this reform, and there is to-day no State without some agency of this sort. But the efficiency and powers of State Boards of Health vary; and some commonwealths depend al- most entirely upon the administration of municipal and county authorities. The growth of governmental activity in the regula- STATE WELFARE 239 tion of public health has gone hand in hand with the great discoveries of medicine. The discovery by Pas- teur and others in 1862 of the nature of bacteria revo- lutionized the study of contagious diseases. Science bore out the homely proverb that "an ounce of preven- tion is worth a pound of cure." And medical leaders urged upon the state the necessity of preventing con- tagious diseases by hygienic reforms legally enforced. The result has been a great improvement in public health. In some of the English factory towns during the middle of the nineteenth century the annual death rate was as high as sixty per thousand. In a few Amer- ican industrial centers less than a quarter of a century ago the death rate was over thirty per thousand. The average for the whole United States is now eighteen. The infant mortality during the summer time in our great cities has been heart-rending. But the estab- lishment of milk depots, and the selling of ice at cost has helped to give the babies a "fighting chance" to live. Among the many regulations and activities of the States in regard to public health may be cited : 1. Providing a pure water supply. 2. Quarantine laws. 3. Vaccination and inoculation to prevent contagious or infectious diseases. 4. Pure food laws. 5. Laws regulating the practice of medicine and sale of drugs. 6. Sanitary regulations enforced upon the public in regard to spreading disease. 7. Education of the children in schools regarding health and hygiene. 8. Education of mothers in regard to care of infants and children. 240 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT 9. Establishment of clinics and free dispensaries. 10. Campaign against tuberculosis. Some States have undertaken health administration along all of these lines. Other States have relegated most of such administration to the county or city gov- ernments. Fortunately there is a growing tendency to- ward greater State control. Disease is not a local matter; it is no respecter of boundary lines, but travels from city to city and county to county. To secure effi- ciency in combating disease it is necessary to have large areas under the supervision of a vigilant central authority. Charities and correction. — The modern age is coming to the belief that the greater part of poverty, disease, and crime may be prevented if the state uses scientific methods to train the citizens to right living. Nevertheless, we have among us the pauper, the insane, and the criminal, and it is necessary to provide for these people as well as to seek to eliminate the evil conditions which contributed to their present condition. In the treatment of these classes it has been found that public charity and correction can better be ad- ministered by the State than by local authorities; and there is a tendency to put all public charitable institu- tions and houses of correction under the supervision or complete control of State boards. In New Jersey there is a State Board of Control composed of the Governor and eight members, one of whom must be a woman, appointed for a term of eight years by the Governor, subject to the confirmation of the Senate. This board has complete jurisdiction over the fifteen State institutions for the insane, feeble-minded, epilep- tic, juvenile delinquents, adult delinquents, tubercular patients, disabled soldiers, and the blind. STATE WELFARE 241 In New York all private charitable institutions which receive public aid are subject to the inspection and supervision of the State Board of Charities. In this State the problem of public charities is staggering in its dimensions. There are 53,000 defectives, depend- ents, and delinquents in the thirty-nine State hospitals, charitable institutions and prisons. This is but a small part of all defectives, dependents and delinquents in the State; the number in public and private institutions receiving public aid which are subject to the visitation and inspection of the State Board is 777,814, or eight per cent of the population, an almost increditable num- ber. 1 This does not include patients in private insti- tutions which do not receive public aid; and hence the total figure will be a little greater. Of the thirty- nine public charitable institutions in New York, there are thirteen hospitals for the insane, four institutions for the feeble-minded, one for the care of epileptics, one for patients with incipient tuberculosis, one for the care and treatment of deformed and crippled children, two reformatories for men, two reforma- tories for women, two reformatories for boys, one reformatory for girls, one school for the blind, and other institutions for Indians and soldiers and sailors. The State must also provide prisons and penitentiaries to guard and house all criminals who have been con- victed of violating State laws and sentenced by the courts to imprisonment. The State of New York maintains sixteen penitentiaries, reformatories, and farms for vagrants. The administration of these institutions is an enor- mous problem. Within the last half century the meth- Report of Reconstruction Commission of New York Slate, 1919, p. 169. 242 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ods of treating crime, disease, and poverty have been greatly improved. No longer are the inmates of hospi- tals and prisons treated in the mass. There are degrees of physical, mental, and moral deficiency and every in- mate of a State institution should receive individual treatment. In a late report the New York State Board of Charities states that "year after year the relation of feeble-mindedness to crime, poverty, shiftlessness and general helplessness has become more apparent. ,, And the Prison Commission of the same State reported that "authenticated facts are at hand to indicate that at least fifty per cent of the inmates of prisons and re- formatories in New York State exhibit mental ab- normalities which are in need of much more specialized treatment than is afforded by the ordinary methods employed in the average penal institution." Business protection and regulation. — In the early history of our nation there was a general feeling that the government should never interfere with pri- vate business. This theory has been called the doctrine of laissez-faire, or "hands off," "let it alone." But the complexity of economic life after the industrial revolution in America led to the demand for a lim- ited governmental regulation, both for the good of business and for the good of the public. The States at an early date saw the necessity of regulating banking and insurance. These financial institutions are so in- timately connected with the prosperity of the commu- nity that the States have a special interest in securing the stability and reliability of all banks and insurance companies. Hence the establishment of the offices of Bank Examiners and Insurance Commissioners. In order, on the other hand, to give the large business concerns legal rights, the States from the very begin- STATE WELFARE 243 ning granted them charters of incorporation or articles establishing their legal existence. A chartered corpora- tion, of course, has the right to transact business like a person and to sue in the courts. In recent years the States have more closely regu- lated the matter of granting charters, in order to pro- tect the public against investing in worthless mining stock and other worthless securities. In 1909 Kansas passed its celebrated Blue Sky Law, aimed at dishonest promoters who fleece the unwary investor with stocks and bonds having no other basis than the blue sky above and the paper on which they are handsomely printed. The securities of no company may be sold in Kansas which has not been examined and approved by the State Bank Commissioners. State regulation of public service corporations like the railroads, street-railways and traction companies, gas companies and ferry companies has also been undertaken. These corporations enjoy special privi- leges from the State — the right of eminent domain, for instance, whereby a railway may go to court to compel a person owning land in its right-of-way to sell the same. For many other reasons it appears just that these corporations should be regulated in part by the State. The purpose of the regulation is to insure a fair and continuous service to the public. Railway commissions and public utilities commissions have been established to enforce the laws governing such cor- porations. The extension of State control over public utility corporations has been a gradual process. Mas- sachusetts led the way in this development. In 1869 the legislature created a Board of Railroad Commis- sioners, and in 1885 a Gas and Electric Light Commis- sion. In 1906 the Highway Commission was given 244 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT authority to regulate telegraph and telephone com- panies. Labor conditions. — The labor question is one of the most difficult problems which the States have at- tempted to solve. About two persons in every five in the United States work for somebody else. Not only is the labor question important because of the number of wage-earners, but also because the product of the factory and the farm is consumed in the home. Every American family has a direct interest in production, manufacture, and transportation. There are few householders that have not contemplated with dread the approach of a coal strike in the middle of winter, while interruptions in the railway service may cut off the milk supply of a large city and endanger the lives of thousands of infants. The States have wisely attempted to provide means for the settlement of disputes between employer and labor. The most effective way of settling labor con- troversies is a method of adjusting disputes immedi- ately in the shop between the employers and employees concerned. But sometimes labor troubles defy a sat- isfactory solution by such a method and government aid is advisable. As early as 1886 Massachusetts es- tablished a Board of Arbitration and Conciliation of three members, one representing the employer, one representing the employee, and the third being chosen by the other two. This law does not make arbitration compulsory, depending rather upon the weight of pub- lic opinion to compel the obstreperous parties to agree to arbitrate. The Kansas Law of 1920, creating the Court of Industrial Relations, not only compels arbi- tration but denies the right of the workingmen to strike pending the decision of the court. Of course if STATE WELFARE 245 the State undertakes to prohibit strikes, the State must be prepared, as the Kansas law provides, to take over and operate under compulsory process any industry in which the workmen have defied the law by quitting work. Such action may be eminently successful in a State like Kansas, which is preeminently agricultural and where the greater weight of public opinion would be opposed to the lawbreaking workmen. But the Kansas law could not be easily applied to a State almost completely industrial, like Massachusetts or West Vir- ginia, in which for the time being the preponderant popular opinion might be bitterly opposed to the at- tempt of the State to operate the industries involved in the conflict. Half a century ago most factories were dark, damp, and poorly ventilated buildings. The machinery often lacked the proper protections and frightful injuries were suffered by the wage-earners. Finally, however, laws were passed prescribing sanitary and safe con- ditions; factory-commissions were created to inspect industrial plants and enforce the law. These enlight- ened laws, and the wise provisions often taken volun- tarily by manufacturing concerns to add to the com- fort and convenience of the wage-earners have compensated both the employer and the public by producing greater efficiency on the part of the workers. And increased efficiency, of course, means an in- creased production. Women and children in industry have come under the more special protection of the State. Minimum wage commissions exist in some States for the purpose of fixing the lowest wage that shall be paid to women and girls. In the Wisconsin law of 19 13 this wage is determined and enforced by the Industrial Commis- 246 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT sion. Child labor laws have also been widely adopted. In Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Il- linois, no child under the age of fourteen years may be employed in a factory. Commissioners and bureaus of inspection are charged with the duty of enforcing these laws. Workmen's compensation laws are another feature of the industrial legislation of many States. Eighty thousand wage-earners are killed and many more in- jured every year in American industry. Under the common law the employer's liability was limited by the rule of contributory negligence, the fellow-servant doctrine, and the assumption of risk rule. If a wage- earner were injured in the course of his employment, he could not secure compensation or damages from his employer if it could be shown that the workman's own negligence had contributed to the accident, or the neg- ligence of a fellow workman, or if the accident was one of the class of injuries which anyone employed in that work was assumed to risk, like a brakeman who slipped on a railroad bed and was crushed under a freight train. But in the last few years a new principle of industrial justice has been established, namely, that when in the course of his employment a workmen is injured, unless by his own willful negligence, the bur- den of the injury should not be thrown upon himself nor upon his employers, but, rather, should be included in the cost of production and placed upon the ultimate consumers. Some States have therefore enacted, as New York in 19 14, workmen's compensation laws for all hazardous industries. In New York, the State In- dustrial Commission appoints a Workmen's Compen- sation Bureau, which has power to hear all claims arising under the law and award money damages for STATE WELFARE 247 injuries received. The damages are fixed by law and are paid from an insurance fund created by a tax upon all employers in hazardous trades. The tax is com- pulsory, every employer must contribute to the fund according to the extent and hazardous nature of his business. Since all manufacturers are taxed at the same rate in the same State, the cost of this insurance is supposedly added to the selling price of the goods. Nearly every State has a department or commission of labor to investigate labor conditions and to super- vise the various officials and boards who have charge of the enforcement of labor laws. In New York, as we have already seen, this body is called the State Indus- trial Commission. It is composed of five members, appointed by the Governor for a term of five years. Not more than three of the Commissioners may be of the same party; and each receives an annual salary of $8,000. In 19 1 6 John Mitchell, a former president of the United Mine Workers of America, was ap- pointed on this commission, a fact which will serve to illustrate the recognition accorded to labor by our present State governments. Military and police. — The National Defense Act of 1916 provided for an increase in the "State militia," or more properly called "National Guard," and also established a greater degree of federal control. Like the national government, the States have also learned that it is necessary to have an experienced body of troops for emergency action. In 1905 Pennsylvania established what is known as the State Police, con- sisting of four companies of mounted constabulary, 415 troopers all told. In 191 7 New York created a similar force of 237 men, and in 1920 added to it a motorcycle troop. These police forces are under the 248 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT immediate control of the Governor. They can be sent on short notice to any part of the State to secure crimi- nals at large, quell tumults, and keep the peace in emergencies. With the facilities offered by the auto- mobile for the escape of lawbreakers, and the danger of riots spreading beyond the control of local au- thorities, a mobile police force has become more and more necessary. Public property and the conservation of natural resources. — The States possess a vast amount of pub- lic property — roads, canals, public buildings, libraries, forests, museums, farm-lands, mines, fisheries, harbors, and other property. The care of these possessions re- quires the service of a large number of officials. In most States the administration of public property is in the hands of boards. Maryland has a State Roads Commission, Board of Forestry, Geological and Eco- nomic Survey, and a Conservation Commission having charge of fisheries and oyster-beds. Taxation and finance. — All the activities of the State which we have just described cost money. For extraordinary undertakings like the building of a capitol or canals and harbors, a State may issue bonds and borrow money; but in most States the borrowing capacity is, and properly should be, limited by consti- tutional provisions. Louisiana takes the extreme pre- caution (as a result of the experience of "carpet-bag" days, when dishonest politicians shamefully abused the public credit) to prohibit all debt except for the pur- pose of refunding the old debt, or for suppressing in- surrection, repelling invasion, or in time of war. North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia also prohibit State debts, while Maryland, Massachusetts, and Connecticut have practically no important constitutional restrictions on STATE WELFARE 249 State debts. Many States require that all laws for loans must be submitted to popular vote. New York has the largest debt, amounting, in 19 18, to $241,000,- 000. The total for all the States is $502,000,000. The chief sources of State revenue are (1) revenue from public property such as lands and canals; (2) fines and penalties imposed for violation of criminal laws; (3) fees charged for franchises, charters of in- corporation and the like, and (4) taxation. In most States the main dependence for revenue is upon taxation. Several kinds of taxes are levied. (1) The general property tax yields the largest revenue in State systems, nearly eighty per cent of all taxes. This tax is imposed at a certain rate upon all property, real and personal. The rate is fixed by law from year to year, being a certain number of cents on each dollar of valuation. The property is evaluated by local assessors. The State general property tax is added to the local tax, collected by local tax collectors and forwarded by them to the State Treasurer. The tax on real property — land and buildings — is easily collected, for such property is tangible. This property is never assessed, however, at its market value, but at a half or even a fourth of its "full true value/' A State Board of Equalization attempts to equalize as- sessments over the State. On the other hand, the tax on personal property — money, stocks, bonds, mort- gages, jewelry, watches, and pianos — is difficult to collect. Much of this property is intangible, like stocks and bonds and mortgages; it can be hidden in bank vaults or carried outside of the State. Citizens are compelled by law to make true returns of their prop- erty, but the tax on this sort of property is almost universally evaded. "If Jove laughs at lovers' vows," 250 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT said a witty economist, "he probably guffaws at tax- payers' oaths." In 191 1, according to the assessment figures, the full cash value of all diamonds and jewelry in Chicago was only half a million dollars, while in the same city only one person in every one hundred and eighty-eight inhabitants could afford a watch or a clock! The evasion of the tax on mortgages, stocks and bonds in Cook County while difficult to measure, was known to be enormous. Some States have aban- doned their personal property tax. (2) Inheritance taxes are a newer form of taxation employed by some of the States. The rate levied upon estates inherited by direct heirs is low; the rate for collateral heirs — heirs who are not in the direct line of family descent — are considerably higher, in California as high as fifteen per cent. (3) Income tax. Several States, notably Virginia, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Massachusetts, levy a tax on the incomes of individuals. Of course, this field of taxa- tion is also entered by the federal government, causing double taxation. (4) Corporation tax. Many States like New York have levied heavy corporation taxes. These taxes in New York include organization and license fees, an annual franchise tax on capital stock, and a tax on the income of corporations. About thirty per cent of the revenue of the State comes from corporation taxes. (5) Business and professional taxes are levied by a number of Southern States. (6) Automobile licenses supply a new source of State revenue. (7) Poll taxes are levied in some States. This is a very small source of revenue, consisting of a levy of a dollar or two dollars upon every adult man in the STATE WELFARE 251 State. On the theory that every citizen should make some contribution to the support of the government according to his ability, it has been claimed that even the poor man should pay this minimum direct tax. But this tax which was once almost universal is being steadily abandoned. The cost of operating State governments has in- creased enormously. In 1909 New York taxes amounted to $28,000,000. In 19 18 they had increased to $76,000,000. The sources of taxation employed by this State and the tax returns are indicated in the fol- lowing table : New York State Taxes, Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1918 Direct State Tax $13,203,046 Corporation Taxes 12,489,782 Franchise Taxes 9,588,856 Excise Taxes 1 1,045,392 Inheritance Tax 1 1,433,400 Fees of Public Officers 3,184,490 Stock Transfer Tax 5,312,032 Automobile licenses and fines 2,723,704 Investment Tax 1,399,381 Organization Tax 819,365 Mortgage Tax 938,866 Sundry and miscellaneous 4,218,490 $76,357,804 Information concerning State governments. — Democratic governments should seek to keep the people informed as to the activities and business of the government. Many States, therefore, publish handy documents, giving the constitution of the State, the names and duties of the various officials, election votes, 252 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT taxes, legislative appropriations, and considerable other information for the citizen and the student. These documents can usually be obtained from the Secretary of State, or from an Assemblyman. In New York this volume is called the Legislative Manual and is an attractive book of over 1,100 pages containing numerous maps and charts. Pennsylvania publishes the useful Smull's Legislative Hand Book, a veritable cyclopaedia of political information. Iowa publishes an Official Register, Illinois a Blue Book, and Indiana a Year Book. The various boards and commissions publish annual reports, some of them being lengthy technical accounts full of dry tables of statistics, which are necessary for the expert but uninteresting to the public. Other reports are presented in readable and inviting form. The Annual Reports of the Massa- chusetts State Board of Health may be given as ex- amples of excellent presentation. In most States, the reports of boards and commissions can be procured by citizens of those States upon a written request. For Further Reading Education. — C. P. Colegrove, The Teacher and the School, pp. 78-92; C. A. Scott, Social Education, pp. 1-22; C. H. Johnston, The Modem High School, pp. 20- 41 ; John Dewey, Democracy and Education, ch. i-v ; S. T. Dutton and David Sneddon, Administration of Public Education in the United States, ch. i-v ; Alexander Inglis, Principles of Secondary Education, ch. v; E. P. Cubberley, Public Education in the United States, ch. v, xiii ; E. P. Cubberley and E. C. Elliott, State and Comity School Administration, II, ch. i, v; C. H. Judd, Introduc- tion to the Scientific Study of Education, ch. iii. Rural Schools.— -H. W. Foght, The American Rural STATE WELFARE 253 School, ch. i, ii ; E. P. Cubberley and E. C. Elliott, State and County School Administration, II, ch. x; G. H. Betts and O. E. Hall, Better Rural Schools, pp. 1-14; Irving King, Education for Social Efficiency, ch. i-iv; R. L. Finney and A. L. Schafer, Administration of Vil- lage and Consolidated Schools, ch. xviii. Vocational Training. — J. M. Brewer, Vocational Guidance Movement, pp. 1-52; A. L. Leake, Vocational Education of Girls and Women, pp. 33-93; R. R. Lutz, Wage Earning and Education, pp. 18-37; F. A. Vander- lip, Business and Education, pp. 56-81 ; J. E. Stout, The High School, pp. 31-43; F. M. Leavitt, Examples of In- dustrial Education, pp. 235-266. Public Health. — Irving Fisher, Report on National Vitality; Its Wastes and Conservation (Washington : 1909) ; W. H. Allen, Civics and Health, pp. 229-267; L. H. Gulick and L. P. Ayres, Medical Inspection of Schools, pp. 1-20; J. M. Mathews, Principles of Amer- ican State Administration, pp. 374-400. Charities and Correction. — A. G. Warner, Ameri- can Charities (1919), ch. xxi-xxiii; F. H. Wines, Pun- ishment and Reformation, ch. i-iii, xii, xv ; E. T. Devine, Principles of Relief, ch. xvi ; C. R. Henderson, The De- pendent, Defective and Delinquent Classes, pp. 169-209; C. R. Henderson, Preventive Agencies and Methods, ch. v ; C. R. Henderson, Prison Reform, ch. i ; C. R. Hender- son, Penal and Reformatory Institutions, ch. iii ; H. H. Hart, Preventive Treatment of Neglected Children, ch. v, vi; Maurice Parmalee, Criminology, ch. v; J. C. Briggs, History of Social Legislation in Iowa, ch. ix-xii ; Report of the Department of Public Welfare of Illinois, 1920, pp. 7-19; Annual Report of the New York State Board of Charities, 19 19, I, pp. 3-24. Business Protection and Regulation. — J. T. Young, New American Government and Its Work, pp. 342-365 ; Bruce Wyman, Control of the Market, pp. 167-188; S. O. Dunn, The American Transportation Problem, pp. 222- 254 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT 280; B. F. Shambaugh, Iowa Applied History Series, I, pp. 97-124, 144-186. Labor Legislation. — J. R. Commons and J. B. An- drews, Principles of Labor Legislation, pp. 294-414; J. J. Young, New American Government and Its Work, pp. 369-396; S. M. Kingsbury, Labor Laws and Their En- forcement, ch. iv ; E. H. Downey, History of Labor Leg- islation in Iowa, ch. i, ii; Debate between Samuel Gompers and Henry Justin Allen {1920) ; The Court of Industrial Relations (issued by State of Kansas, Topeka). Military and State Police. — United States War De- partment, Annual Report for 1917, Vol. I, pp. 847-926; J. M. Mathews, Principles of American State Adminis- tration, pp. 437-454 ; Katheryn Mayo, Justice for All. Conservation of Natural Resources. — C. A. Van Hise, Conservation of Natural Resources, pp. 1-14, 385- 393 ; P. S. Reinsch, Readings on American State Govern- ment, pp, 262-285. State Roads. — J. T. Young, New American Govern- ment and Its Work, pp. 442-445 ; J. E. Brindley, History of Road Legislation in Iowa, pp. 265-350. State Finance and Taxation. — C. A. .Beard, Amer- ican Government and Politics, pp. 706-720; J. M. Ma- thews, Principles of American State Administration, pp. 215-295; Illinois Constitutional Convention Bulletins, 1920, pp. 215-368; Bulletins for Massachusetts Consti- tutional Convention, 1917, I, pp. 107-169; Taxation and Revenue Systems of State and Local Governments (U. S. Bureau of the Census, 1914), pp. 9-10; J. E. Brindley, History of Taxation in Iowa, I, ch. xiv, xv. CHAPTER XII COUNTY AND RURAL GOVERNMENT Every State save Louisiana is divided into counties. In Louisiana the parishes correspond to the counties found in the other States. The counties, in turn, are usually divided into townships ; and in some States the townships are still further divided into school districts. With the exception of the precincts and wards of the incorporated towns, these subdivisions are the smallest units of government. LOCAL GOVERNMENT In regard to local government in America the States are supreme. The national government has no au- thority over local affairs. The State constitutions provide for the form of local government and pre- scribe the powers of some of the local officers. By amendments to the constitution any State may alter its local institutions, may create new local governments or abolish old ones, may even take away local self-govern- ment from towns and counties and vest it in State officials. In States where the constitution has not de- fined the relations of local and State government, the legislature may modify local government by means of ordinary statutes. Local governments in the United States derive their authority, not from the people of the localities, but from the people of the whole State. Three types of local government in America. — Local government, as it exists in the United States, has developed from colonial institutions which were es- 255 256 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT sentially British in their origin. In English history, democracy and representative institutions appeared in the boroughs and shires long before they were won for the nation. The English colonists who came to Amer- ica carried with them traditions of local self-govern- ment that were already eight or more centuries old. Transplanted to America these local institutions devel- oped somewhat differently in various sections of our country, so that to-day we find three types of local self-government, namely, (i) the town-meeting gov- ernment, (2) the county government, and (3) the mixed or county-township government. ( 1 ) In New England the chief unit of local govern- ment was the town, although counties were also or- ganized. The early settlers in this part of America were Puritans in religion and politics ; they were towns- folk, accustomed to intimate municipal relationships, with a penchant for watching the affairs of their neighbors and enforcing a strict communal uniformity. They planted their settlements first along the coast, and then westward in the interior. Each little com- munity, separated by hills and woody tangles from the others, was almost an independent political unit. The management of town affairs was in the hands of the town-meeting, composed of all the freemen, and as- sembling at frequent intervals. At the town-meetings the selectmen and other officers of the town were elected annually, taxes were levied, and ordinances were passed. These Puritan towns were little democ- racies where every freeman participated directly in the government. Any citizen, rich or poor, great or hum- ble, might move a resolution or make a speech. The town-meeting still survives in New England; Boston and other large cities have been incorporated with LOCAL GOVERNMENT 257 charters granted by authority of the State legislatures; but the small towns retain their early system. (2) The Southern States were largely settled by a different class of Englishmen than the Puritans. Cava- liers having affiliations with the Church of England came to Virginia and the Carolinas. Landed estates were acquired, slaves were imported to work on the plantations, and a high-spirited aristocracy was estab- lished. The population scattered over a large area. Towns were few. The economic unit was the planta- tion, and the houses of the planters were often miles apart. The local government was thus modeled upon the English shire or county. While local affairs in New England were managed in a popular assembly, the government of the Southern county was in the hands of a board of commissioners elected every year on the "green" before the county courthouse. As in England, the aristocratic landowners were in control of the county affairs. The county system still exists in the Southern States. County officers have charge of almost all local govern- ment. In some States the counties are not even divided into school districts. (3) In the Middle States, including New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, a different system of local government developed. New York was first settled by the Dutch, and in all the Middle States English settlements were not so old as those in New England. The larger settlements were incor- porated as boroughs, but the county was the main unit of local government. In time, as commerce and manu- factures increased, and as population grew more dense, towns became more numerous, and these organizations secured for themselves a considerable amount of self- 258 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT government. The result was a system of local govern- ment consisting of both counties and towns. This county-township system of local government was also established in the West when settlements were made in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and other States in the old Northwest Territory. Thus, the majority of States in the Union are divided into counties, which are sub- divided into townships. Officers are elected in both townships and counties to perform certain duties, but the duties of township officers are relatively unim- portant. In Louisiana the local unit is the parish. THE COUNTY As we have already seen, every State save Louisiana is divided into counties, and in Louisiana the parishes correspond to the counties existing in the other States. There are 3,028 counties in the United States, varying in size from Bristol County in Rhode Island, which contains 25 square miles, to San Bernardino County in California with 20,175 square miles. The average county in the United States contains about six hun- dred square miles. In population there is also great variation. The average county in most States includes about 20,000 inhabitants. Each county has a "county seat" or a county town, wherein are located the administrative offices and the county court. The county is not only a unit for local administration but it is also a subdivision of the State for the performance of certain functions, such as the collection of taxes and the canvass of elections. The county board. — In all States, save Rhode Island, the counties have a supervising body generally called the county board of commissioners or super- visors. The membership of the county boards varies LOCAL GOVERNMENT 259 from three to over fifty. Usually each township elects a member, while cities within the county sometimes elect one member from each ward. The county boards have both the legislative and ad- ministrative functions. Ordinarily these powers are: (1) to levy taxes for local purposes and appropriate local funds, (2) to construct and maintain roads, bridges, and ferries, (3) to care for the county build- ings, (4) to supervise poor relief and maintain an almshouse, and (5) to supervise the national, State, and local elections. A few words should be said about the last-named function of the county boards. In most States outside of New England these boards establish the polling places and provide the ballots for all elections, and they also act as boards of canvassers to declare the results of the elections. In State and national elec- tions the returns are sent to the canvassing officials at the State capitals. Justice and police. — In most States the county is a judicial area, each county having a county court. In sixteen of the States each county has its own judge ; but the majority of States are divided into judicial districts or circuits with a judge for each circuit, who holds court in succession at the different county seats. Thus Missouri, which has 114 counties, is divided into 36 judicial circuits. Special courts exist in the coun- ties containing large cities like Saint Louis and Kan- sas City. In all States, circuit and district judges, even when elected by the people of those circuits and districts, are usually considered as State officials. The prosecuting officer of the county is the county attorney or variously called the prosecuting attorney, district attorney, State's attorney or solicitor. In most 260 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT States this officer is elected by the people of the county. His principal duty is to conduct prosecutions in the name of the county. In the greater number of States criminal prosecutions, except for petty crimes, must be the result of presentment or indictment by a grand jury. It is the duty of the prosecuting attorney to gather evidence for cases coming before the grand jury; and, after indictment of an offender, it is his duty to prosecute the case before the county or dis- trict court. The county prosecuting attorney is thus an important officer in the matter of enforcing law. Upon his energy and public spirit must depend in a large measure the vigor of the administration of jus- tice. On the other hand, the county attorney cannot compel a grand jury to bring an indictment. Some States, including Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, have dispensed with grand juries in ordinary cases, and permit the county attorney to begin a criminal prosecution by the process known as an information before the proper court. Every county in the United States has a sheriff. This is one of the oldest offices in our government. In English local government, the office existed long before the Norman Conquest, the modern name being derived from the old Saxon "shire-reeve." He was the repre- sentative of the king in the shire, the bailiff, the execu- tive officer, the chief fiscal and military officer, the keeper of the "king's peace," and, at one time, the president of the county court. In America, the sheriff never enjoyed such dignity as in mediaeval England, but even to-day the sheriff retains a large number of his ancient powers. In general, the American sheriff is the preserver of the peace and the executive officer of the courts. As LOCAL GOVERNMENT 261 a preserver of the peace he is bound to pursue and ar- rest all traitors, murderers, felons, and other offenders and commit them to jail for safe custody. To aid him in the capture of criminals, he may summon a posse comitatus; and every man over fifteen years of age is under obligation to obey and follow him. In time of domestic violence and disorder this power is impor- tant only on paper. Practically it amounts to little. If a sheriff cannot quell a riot with the posse comitatus, he may call upon the Governor of the State for military support, and this is what almost always happens. As the executive agent of the court the sheriff has a large number of duties. He or his deputy must attend the sessions of the court to preserve order. He serves summons on the defendants and witnesses, he executes the writs and orders of the court, as well as the final decrees and judgments. He is the keeper of the county jail, and has charge of the hanging or electro- cution of prisoners sentenced to death. The sheriff is responsible for the care and preservation of the life and health of prisoners under his charge. He is liable in a suit for damages for the death of a prisoner by mob violence in case he has been negligent in his duty. The sheriff is generally considered as an officer of the whole State, but in many States there is no central supervision over him. In New York, Wisconsin, and Michigan he can be removed for cause by the Gov- ernor. The coroner is another very ancient local official. In modern days his duties are not so important as in mediaeval England, and are limited to the holding of an inquest to view the body of any person whose death has raised suspicions of violence and crime. For this purpose the coroner impanels a jury of six persons 262 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT and summons witnesses, including a physician or chem- ist to give expert advice. Coroners' inquests have been the butt of ridicule for centuries. Although this an- cient institution does not often contribute to the dis- covery of crime or the apprehension of criminals, yet it is hardly deserving of the derision which Shakespeare in Hamlet (Act v, scene i) heaps upon it. In 1877 Massachusetts improved the methods of the coroners' inquests in that State by providing for the appoint- ment of expert medical examiners. Other officers of the county. — Besides the ju- dicial officers named above there are a number of ad- ministrative and financial officers of the county. The county clerk keeps the records of the county board, and in many States he acts as clerk of the county court. In the latter capacity the county clerk enters all cases for trial on the docket of the court, he records the judgments of the court, and he has the custody of the papers and proceedings of the court. In some States the county clerk supervises the primaries and elections, prepares ballots, and receives election returns. He also issues marriage licenses. In every State save Rhode Island there are county treasurers. They receive State and county taxes, have custody of county funds, and disburse county payments upon authorized warrants. County assessors have the duty of valuing property for taxation. County audi- tors audit the accounts of the county and sign warrants for county disbursements. All of the States provide some means for preserving public record of documents affecting titles to real estate. The custody of these records in Connecticut and Rhode Island is vested in the town clerk; in the majority of States it is vested in a county officer known as the recorder or register of LOCAL GOVERNMENT 263 deeds. He keeps not only a record of the transfer of land titles but also a record of mortgages or loans and other instruments affecting land titles. Because of the expense and delay in examinations of land titles for every purchase or mortgage, some States have adopted the Torrens system of registration of titles of land. The system was devised by Robert Torrens of Australia. Certificates of title are issued by a court and all subsequent transactions affecting land so cer- tified must be entered on the registry of titles. In nearly all the States outside of New England county superintendents of schools are elected. As a rule, these officers have only a meager supervisory ju- risdiction over the rural schools. The city schools are not under their charge; and even in the rural school districts the local school trustees decide most of the administrative questions relating to public education. In many States the county superintendents are the agents of the State superintendent in the distribution of State funds to the schools. Among other county officers in various States are : the county surveyors, who make surveys of lands; county superintendents of highways, who keep the roads in repair; boards of health; overseers of the poor; and superintendents of the poor farms. County charter government. — The practice of electing nearly all of the county officials has not pro- moted the efficiency of county government. Too often a treasurer or auditor or clerk learns his duties only to be supplanted by some other party worker who has a claim on the profits of the office. The county govern- ments are sadly lacking in administrative unity ; and it is difficult for the public to secure information in re- gard to the misconduct of officials. In fact, county 264 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT administration has been called the "jungle of American democracy/' The defects of ordinary county govern- ment are multiplied wherever a large city like New York, Chicago, or Saint Louis extends over a part or all of a county. California in 191 1 adopted a constitutional amend- ment empowering counties, through a board of fifteen freeholders elected by the people, to prepare a special charter for the government of the county. If ratified by popular vote, this charter is submitted to the legis- lature for adoption. In 191 2 Los Angeles County established a new government under this provision of the constitution. The Los Angeles plan is an applica- tion of the commission form of government to the county. A board of supervisors is elected every four years. All county officials are appointed by this board, except the sheriff, district attorney, and assessor. Cer- tain new offices, including those of public defender, superintendent of charities, and civil service commis- sioners, are established. The board of supervisors, like the commission in the new form of city govern- ment, is the administrative and legislative center of the county government. Responsibility is thus centralized, and honest and efficient management of local affairs is encouraged. Several other counties in California have adopted similar forms of government. THE TOWNSHIP Counties are divided into townships for rural gov- ernment. The urban sections are set apart as incor- porated cities or villages. Most of the States have a general law providing the conditions under which the more thickly settled parts of a county may become inde- pendent units of government as villages or cities. LOCAL GOVERNMENT 265 The ancient town-meeting government which still exists in New England has already been described. In New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, and the Dakotas township- meetings are held ; but the authority of these meetings is less than that of the New England town-meeting and is largely limited to the election of officers and the vote upon appropriations by ballot of the property owners. The officers of the township are usually a committee or board of supervisors or trustees. In some States the duties of receiving the township funds and paying the authorized charges, of overseeing the poor, of supervising roads and drains and viewing the fences fall upon these officials. In the States of the Mississippi Valley school dis- tricts are often local corporations distinct from the townships. Townships are divided into school dis- tricts ; and a small number of school trustees are elected each year to supervise the public schools in each dis- trict. In other States townships are also school dis- tricts. The larger unit appears to be preferable for school administration, and accordingly many township high schools have been established, and even township graded schools. To these schools pupils are frequently transported from the outlying rural regions in busses or hacks hired by the trustees. STATE SUPERVISION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT State supervision of local government varies in the different States. This supervision has developed farthest, perhaps, in the field of education. In 1784 New York began to centralize its administration of ed- ucation by establishing the Board of Regents. The State administration of charities and correction, public 266 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT health, and roads is another example of State supervi- sion of local affairs. This field of State government is being broadened from year to year. The States are also beginning to exercise a greater degree of control over local finance. Until a few years ago county audi- tors were generally permitted to keep their books in haphazard fashion, and irregularities and dishonest practices grew up in county finances. Many States now have examiners who point out to county officers any deviations from the law and expose illegal charges against county funds. After the adop- tion of such a system in New York, Mr. Rich- ard S. Childs relates : "In Broome County the county boss had so manipulated things that he was able to draw upon the county's funds for his private benefit whenever he pleased, and he pleased rather often. The unexpected visit of the Comptroller's examiners caught him with a large shortage and he committed suicide." There is a tendency toward reconstruction of county government to-day which is parallel with the movement for bettering the government of our municipalities. This reform contemplates the reduction of elective offi- cers, the centralization of responsibility upon an elec- tive governing board, and the expansion of State super- vision particularly in the matter of public health and finance. Farm tenancy and rural credits. — It will not be out of place to conclude this chapter with a reference to a subject which is intimately connected with the wel- fare of our rural communities. A land-owning popu- lation of farmers is an element of strength and sta- bility to any nation. No people are more tenacious defenders of personal rights than are the agriculturists who cultivate their own acres; hence this class of land- LOCAL GOVERNMENT 267 owners should be encouraged. In some States the pro- portion of farm tenants to farm owners has increased, and has even reached the point where more than half the farmers do not own their land. Many remedies have been proposed, including : ( 1 ) a State land settle- ment commission, (2) equalization of taxes as between used and unused land, (3) State encouragement of co- operation among the farmers, and (4) rural credits. The American farmer has not enjoyed equal oppor- tunities with the city business man to borrow money for carrying on his undertakings. In 191 6 the Federal Farm Loan Act provided for the organization of Na- tional Farm Loan Associations in various parts of the country as cooperative associations with the purpose of making loans to farmers. These institutions have already aided in the agricultural development of the nation. The amount of money which the federal asso- ciations have loaned amounts to not much over three hundred million dollars. A greater expansion of rural credit is needed; and some States, notably the Da- kotas, have adopted liberal legislation on this subject. For Further Reading The Types of Local Government. — J. A. Fairlie, Local Government in Counties, Towns, and Villages, ch. i-iii; James Bryce, American Commonwealth, I, ch. xlviii; W. B. Munro, Government of the United States, ch. xxxvii ; H. G. James, Local Government in the United States, ch. ii. County Government. — J. A. Fairlie, Local Govern- ment in Counties, Towns, and Villages, ch: iv-vii ; C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, pp. 639-648; C. C. Maxey, County Administration of Delaware, ch. i ; C. E. Branson, County Government and County Af- fairs in North Carolina, pp. 7-40; Bulletins for Massa- 268 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT chusetts Constitutional Convention, 1917, no. viii, pp. 36-39; Illinois Constitutional Convention Bulletins, 1920, no. xii, pp. 1 007- 1 078; Jesse Macy and K. F. Geiser, Government of Iowa, ch. iv; F. D. Boynton, Actual Gov- ernment of New York, ch. xii; M. L. Childs, Actual Gov- ernment in Illinois, ch. iv; Proceedings of Conference for Better County Government in New York State, Syracuse, ipi6, pp. 10-15; H. G. James, Local Govern- ment in the United States, ch. iii, iv. County Charter Government. — H. S. Gilbertson, The County, pp. 207-246; C S. Childs, Ramshackle County Government (pamphlet issued by the National Short Ballot Association, 8 West Ninth Street, New York City). The Township. — J. A. Fairlie, Local Government in Counties, Towns, and Villages, ch. viii-xi ; W. B. Munro, Government in the United States, ch. xxxix ; C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, pp. 649-654; Jesse Macy and K. F. Geiser, Government of Iowa, ch. iii; M. F. Childs, Actual Government in Illinois, ch. iii; F. D. Boynton, Actual Government of New York, ch. iii; H. G. James, Local Government in the United States, ch. v; C. R. Aurner, History of Township Government in Iowa, ch. v-xvi. Poor Relief and Care of Defectives. — J. L. Gillin, History of Poor Relief Legislation in Iowa, ch. vii-ix, xviii. State Supervision. — J. A. Fairlie, Local Govern- ment in Counties, Towns, and Villages, ch. xii-xv ; E. C. Branson, County Government and County Affairs in North Carolina, pp. 1 14-133; Illinois Constitutional Con- vention Bulletins, 1920, no. xii, pp. 1054-1055. Farm Tenancy and Rural Credits. — Illinois Con- stitutional Convention Bulletins, 1920, pp. 1084-1120; T. N. Carver, Principles of Rural Economics, pp. 275- 282; E. G. Nourse, Agricultural Economics, ch, xiv; M. T. Herrick, Rural Credits, ch. xxxii. CHAPTER XIII CITY GOVERNMENT During the past century there has been a remark- able growth in the size of cities, both in Europe and America. A hundred years ago England had a com- paratively large urban population, but America, France, and Germany were predominantly rural. In the nineteenth century the urban development in each of these countries was conspicuously great, but par- ticularly so in Germany and America. England still leads in urban development. The United States ranks second. In 1790 there were only seven cities of 8,000 in- habitants in America — Philadelphia, New York, Bos- ton, Charleston, Baltimore, Salem, and Newport. Ninety-five per cent of our 3,929,625 people then lived in the country or in the small towns. During the fol- lowing hundred and thirty years many new cities were built and older cities grew with astonishing rapidity. In 1920 there were nearly a thousand cities of 8,000 or more inhabitants ; and nearly one half of our popu- lation lived in them. New York had a population of 5,621,151; Chicago of 2,701,705; and Philadelphia, 1,823,158. Reasons for the growth of American cities. — The reasons for this sudden growth in American cities are not difficult to find. The old saying that "God made the country and man made the town" suggests one of the explanations for urban growth. Cities are 269 270 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT centers of human energy, storehouses of human cul- ture and learning, the home of libraries, museums, art galleries, universities, and music, and consequently they attract thousands of aspiring young men and women from the countrysides. Some cities grow apace because of political reasons, being State capitals or county seats. Other cities which are strategically lo- cated on the highways of commerce, like New York, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and San Fran- cisco or New Orleans, Memphis, Saint Louis and Minneapolis, are built up through the activities of rail- way transportation and shipping. Cities are also busi- ness centers and distributing points. Factories are often located in urban districts, and wherever factories exist large numbers of laborers are needed. Finally, hordes of immigrants have in late years settled down in the cities rather than spread out into the country. According to the United States census of 1920, a large percentage of the population of the cities of 25,000 and upward are foreign-born. In Chicago this percentage reached 29 per cent; in New York 35 per cent; in New Bedford, Massachusetts, 40 per cent. Many of our cities are melting-pots for the Americanization of races from every corner of the earth. Of New York City some one has said that it contains "more Irishmen than Dublin, more Italians than Padua, more Germans than Potsdam, and more Jews than Jerusalem.' , Foreigners congregate in cities partly because they can more easily find employment in the factories, partly because farm work is distaste- ful to a large part of the immigrants, and partly for social reasons. The immigrant who speaks no other tongue than his native language desires to settle among people who have come from his fatherland. Hence CITY GOVERNMENT 271 large colonies of Italians, Russians, Greeks, Poles, Lithuanians, and Armenians have accumulated in our cities. ORGANIZATION OF CITY GOVERNMENT The city is a local unit within the government of the State. Technically speaking, the American city is a municipal corporation created by authority of the State. In all except a few commonwealths the city is largely subject to the State legislature which grants its charter, establishes its form of government, and limits its powers. Cities are subordinate governments. For convenience a large measure of municipal administra- tion is left in the hands of the city, but the State has the constitutional right to restrict or enlarge any func- tion of the city government. The city and the State. — Complaints are often made against State control of municipalities. It is true that in most commonwealths cities do not have representation in the legislatures proportional with that of the rural districts. Consequently, urban representa- tion is frequently outvoted, and rural minorities some- times impose conditions upon cities which are injurious or unsuitable. At the same time there are a large num- ber of purely city problems, like paving and lighting the streets, which do not concern the rural constituen- cies, and which the city is best fitted to determine. Hence there has been a strong demand on the part of many cities for municipal home rule or political au- tonomy. On the other hand there are reasons why the State governments should not relinquish ultimate control over the cities. Many functions of the cities cannot be discharged without affecting the State. For ex- 272 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ample, in Massachusetts the competition between the cities for water reservoirs required the intervention of the commonwealth. In inland cities the disposal of sewage into the rivers may require the regulation of the State. The jurisdiction of the State also overlaps that of the city in the administration of justice, the arrest of criminals, the care of the insane and mental defectives, and the safeguarding of public health. Complete municipal home rule would be unwise. The constitutional basis of a city government is the charter. A municipal charter is the fundamental law of the city, creating its form of government and grant- ing its powers. Charters are granted by authority of the State legislature. In granting charters four meth- ods have been followed, (i) In the nineteenth cen- tury most States used the general charter system, whereby the legislature granted the same form of charter to every incorporated city. This method is now being abandoned as not adapted to meet the needs of cities varying in size, population, and peculiar con- ditions. (2) The classified charter plan prescribes char- ters for cities of differing sizes. (3) The optional plan prescribes several forms of charters which may be selected at liberty by any city. (4) The special charter plan treats each city as a special problem; a different charter being drafted for each. (5) The home-rule plan has been adopted by fifteen States. Under this plan each municipality is permitted to draft its own charter, subject to the State constitution and general laws. The optional plan, as used in the State of New York, appears to be a satisfactory compromise between local autonomy and State control. Three types of city government. — In the begin- ning of American history our cities were governed CITY GOVERNMENT 273 like the English boroughs by a mayor and council elected by a small number of voters or freemen. As our government became more democratic the muni- cipal suffrage was extended. Changes also occurred in the form of government. There are at present three types of municipal organization : ( 1 ) the mayor-and- council system, (2) the commission form, and (3) the city-manager plan. The mayor - and - council system. — Under the mayor-and-council system the mayor is head of the administration, and the council is the city's legislature. The mayor is generally elected from the city at large. The aldermen or members of the city council are elected from wards or districts into which the city is divided. Chicago may serve as an example of the mayor-and- council type of government. The city is divided into thirty-five wards, and two aldermen are elected from each ward. The term of office is two years ; one alder- man is elected annually from each ward. 1 The acts of the council are called ordinances. The city coun- cil of Chicago has very extensive powers. ( 1 ) It has control of finances. The budget is framed annually, and the council levies taxes to meet the expenditures. (2) The council grants all franchises or concessions to build and operate street car lines, telegraphs, tele- phones, and gas and electric plants. It also has control of public utilities and has power to regulate the rates charged for gas, electric light, and telephone service, subject to review, however, by the Illinois Commerce Commission. (3) The council has the right to create, !ln 1920 the voters of Chicago approved a plan which goes into effect in 1923 whereby the city is divided into fifty wards, and each ward is to be represented by one alderman. 274 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT abolish, reorganize, and define the duties of most of the administrative offices and departments. The mayor, the treasurer, and the city clerks are elected by popular election and their offices may not be abolished by the council. Likewise the civil service commission, election commissioners, board of local improvements, school board and library board are provided by statute and may not be abolished; but all other departments are under the control of the city council. The mayor is the administrative head of the city, and he also presides over the sessions of the council. He is chosen by popular vote for a term of four years. He has the power to veto all ordinances passed by the council and he may even veto separate items in the budget. His veto, however, may be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the council. The mayor has di- rective control of the administrative departments. He appoints the heads of the departments (excepting the election commissioners) with the approval of the coun- cil. There are fourteen principal executive departments. The most important are : the Finance Department ; the Department of Public Works ; the Police Department ; the Health Department; the Law Department; the Building Department; the Department of Electricity, which operates a small municipal electric light-plant; and the Fire Department. Besides these departments there are more than a dozen boards or commissions which are a part of the city administration. The Board of Local Improvements, appointed by the mayor, must pass upon all proposals for street improvements before the council may order such improvements to be made, and it supervises the special assessment by which these improvements are financed. The mayor also appoints CITY GOVERNMENT 275 the Civil Service Commission; and, since a large pro- portion of the city employees are under the merit system, this commission has an important function to perform. The Board of Election Commissioners, ap- pointed by the county judge, divides the city into pre- cincts, appoints election officials, prepares the ballots, and supervises the elections. Connected with the city government are several other substantially independent agencies having exclusive au- thority over their funds, including the Board of Educa- tion, the Library Board, and the Directors of the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium. These boards are organized under acts of the State legislature, and the members on the boards are appointed for definite terms by the mayor with the consent of the council. The Trustees of the Sanitary District of Chicago likewise have no legal connection with the city of Chicago. This board consists of nine trustees elected by popular vote. It has charge of the great drainage canal. Finally it should be noted that the park administration of Cook County and Chicago is complicated. The entire county comprises the Forest Preserve District controlled by the board of county commissioners serv- ing in a separate legal capacity. The city of Chicago includes three large park districts and fourteen small ones. Two of the large parks are administered by boards appointed by the Governor, and the third one is administered by a board appointed by the circuit judges of Cook County. The local governments of Chicago and Cook County are said to be the most complex array of local authorities in the world. Within Cook County there are 392 separate units of govern- ment and 2,557 officials elected by popular vote ! This lack of consolidation and simplification is the cause of 2j6 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT conflicts of jurisdiction and adds to the cost of govern- ment. Defects of the mayor-and-council system. — In his American Commonwealth , James Bryce has said that "the government of cities is the one conspicuous failure of the United States." Unfortunately, there is much truth in this statement, although the management of our cities has greatly improved since the time that Lord Bryce made his observation. As compared with English and German municipalities, American cities have been grossly misgoverned. Indeed, few large American cities have escaped the blight of such graft- ers as the Tweed Ring in New York and the Gas Ring in Philadelphia. One of the chief faults of the mayor-and-council system is the opportunity which it affords for the growth of political "machines" like Tammany Hall in New York and the Thompson-Lundin "machine" in Chicago. The division of the city into numerous wards and the election of a large council promotes "boss" rule and "machine" politics. A city is an administra- tive unity. Civic life tends to be centralized; for in- stance, the leading newspapers are published for city- wide circulation and are not limited to the circulation of one ward. But the mayor-and-council system tends to break up this unity. Chicago has a council of sev- enty members elected from thirty-five wards; New York has a Board of Aldermen elected from sixty- seven aldermanic districts, and the board also includes the president who is elected at large together with the presidents of the five boroughs. It is difficult for the reformers and the newspapers to detect the responsi- bility for graft and corruption in these large numbers; and after detection it is still more difficult to organize CITY GOVERNMENT 277 an opposition to the dishonest aldermen and to defeat them at the polls. There are too many wards and too many elected aldermen. The public cannot bear in mind the names of even a few of them, much less re- member which ones are honest and efficient and which ones are dishonest and spoilsmen. Accordingly, there has appeared a strong demand that responsibility in city government be fixed upon a few officials whom the public may more readily know by name. Two new types of city government, the commission form of gov- ernment and the city-manager plan, meet this demand. The commission form of government. — The com- mission form of city government was adopted by Galveston, Texas, in 1901, as the result of a great tragedy. In September, 1900, a tidal wave swept in from the Gulf, drowning six thousand people, destroy- ing a large portion of the city, and demoralizing its economic organization. Previously Galveston had been one of our worst governed cities. The city debt was enormous, the tax rate was high, and political plunderers wasted and mismanaged the public funds. After the disaster the bonds of the city fell to sixty cents on the dollar, and the problem of reconstruction appeared to be so great that many persons abandoned the city. A group of citizens who held real estate in Galveston, however, resolved to take stern measures to save the city. They asked the legislature to place the city virtually in a receivership, to abolish the old city gov- ernment and to establish a commission of five business- men temporarily to rule the city. The legislature granted this request, and the result of the political ex- periment more than justified the hopes of the pro- moters. After the rebuilding of the city the citizens kept the commission plan permanently. Other Texas 278 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT cities applied to the legislature for similar charters, in- cluding Houston, Dallas, El Paso, Austin,- and Fort Worth. The movement spread to other States. In 1907 Des Moines, the capital of Iowa, adopted the plan. By 1920 more than five hundred towns and cities had adopted the commission form of government. Under the Galveston charter the five commissioners are elected every two years by popular vote. The mayor-president is designated by the commission and presides over the commission. He has no veto power. The commission is both an executive and a legislative body. It passes all ordinances, levies taxes, appropri- ates money, and grants franchises by majority vote. It also directs the administration of its own ordinances. There are four departments : ( 1 ) Finance and Revenue, (2) Water and Sewerage, (3) Police and Fire Protection, and (4) Streets and Public Property. A member of the commission is at the head of each of these departments. The mayor-president is not assigned to any department, but exercises a coordinat- ing influence over all of them. The commission meets at stated times for the transaction of public business very much like the board of directors of a large cor- poration. Each commissioner is directly responsible for the conduct of one department. Appointments to the higher offices in each department are made by the commission ; appointments to the minor posts are made by the commissioner in charge. Not all cities which have adopted the commission form of city government have followed the details of the Galveston charter. Some cities permit the mayor- president and the commissioners to be recalled by popu- lar vote, and some cities have adopted a system of initiative and referendum. But the essential feature CITY GOVERNMENT 279 is maintained, namely, the replacement of the mayor- and-council system by a commission which is expected to govern the city in a businesslike manner. There has also been an improvement in the process of nomi- nation for office. In some cities old party tactics are eliminated and nonpartisan primaries substituted. The patriotic American who resents the unfavorable comparison of our city government with the English and German systems will find a measure of consolation in the fact that the commission form of government is really a return to the original method of governing American cities. The American city council at an early period in our history was a small body of men serving the city as both legislature and executive. The separation of powers, and the multiplication of the members of our city councils proved disastrous to good government. The commission plan is an improvement even upon the original council inasmuch as the com- missioners are not elected from separate wards, but from the city at large. Power and responsibility are thus centralized in a small group of men whom the public may come to know very intimately. Criticism may be effectively directed against unfaithful or un- worthy officials and praise may be bestowed upon the deserving. Under this system city government no longer remains in the obscurity created by a multitude of public officials of small responsibility. Decent public opinion has an opportunity to act and to act effectively. The city-manager plan. — Another step in the re- form of city government is the city-manager plan. The city of Dayton, Ohio, adopted this plan partly as the result of a great catastrophe. In March, 19 13, Dayton was overwhelmed by a flood which poured down the 2 8o AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Miami River. A commission of fifteen citizens was elected, in accordance with the Ohio constitution, to draft a new city charter. They proposed the city- manager plan, and the people accepted it. The plan had already been adopted as early as 1908, by the small town of Staunton, Virginia; but Dayton was the first large city to adopt it. The Dayton charter provides that the entire control of the administration of the city shall be in the hands of a city-manager. His duty is to govern the city in a businesslike manner. He is appointed for no definite term, but he may be removed at any time by a majority vote of the city-commission. This body is composed of five members elected at large for four years, but any member may be recalled by petition and popular vote after six months of service. Nominations are made at a nonpartisan primary, and the ballots at the election bear no party names. All municipal powers, except the control of the public schools and public library, are vested in this commission. It passes or- dinances by a majority vote, makes the municipal budget, and levies taxes. The commission appoints the city-manager, who in turn appoints all other ad- ministrative officers. In 1 92 1 there were about two hundred and twenty cities and towns which had adopted the city-manager plan. Akron and Dayton in Ohio and Grand Rapids in Michigan, are the largest cities in the list. Akron has a population of more than two hundred thousand. In all of these cities the most remarkable result from the use of this system is an improvement in municipal finances. Under this form of government there has been a decrease in current expenditures and a reduction of the city debt. The city-manager plan has already CITY GOVERNMENT 281 developed a distinct profession, as the commissions do not limit their appointments to residents of the city. As a rule, the salaries paid to these officials are high when compared with the salaries formerly paid to the mayors. Dayton pays $12,500 a year. High salaries, however, are no burden in return for efficient manage- ment. Chicago pays $245,000 a year, to its seventy aldermen, and $18,000 to its mayor. It would be economy for the city to have a high-priced city- manager. CITY ADMINISTRATION AND WELFARE City finance. — The financial administration of a modern city is a complicated problem, and in recent years it has become a problem of vast proportions. The budgets of our municipalities have been greatly increased by the growth in the expenditures for the protection of public health, for parks and boulevards, playgrounds, and better schools. In 19 19 the ex- penditure of the city of New York was $273,000,000, while the total debt of the city reached $1,225,055,569. The budget of this city is three times greater than the budget of the State of New York. New York City spends more money than all the New England States, Illinois, Texas, California, and the State of New York combined. Its budget exceeds the national budgets of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Holland. In raising revenue, cities are restricted by the pro- visions of the State constitutions and of their own charters. Generally, the rate of taxation is limited to a certain percentage of the real and personal properly within their boundaries. A limitation is also placed upon the indebtedness of municipalities. Cities are under the necessity of raising the greater 282 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT part of their revenue from taxes on real estate (land and buildings) and personal property. Taxes are also levied upon franchises, banks, mortgages, and licenses of pawnbrokers, motion picture theaters, etc. Among the items of heavy expenditure are the public schools, police department, fire department, municipal courts, public charities, street cleaning, public health, hos- pitals, water-supply and parks. The budget is voted by the council in cities having the mayor-and-council system, or by the commission in cities having the commission form or the city- manager plan. The process of budget making is im- portant. Great waste of revenue may be incurred through slovenly methods of bookkeeping. In this matter American cities have recently made considerable progress. It is difficult for the average citizen to find out whether or not he is paying too much for light, for paving, for water; nor can he readily determine whether his taxes are being squandered by spoilsmen. In 1906 a group of citizens in New York City founded the Bureau of Municipal Research, to examine the records of the city, to inform the public as to the de- tails of municipal business, and to fix responsibility for waste and loss of public funds. This bureau has ac- complished much in the way of promoting efficient and economical government. Police administration. — Society must be protected against thieves, robbers, incendiaries, murderers, and all kinds of criminals. Furthermore, traffic on the congested streets must be regulated and order pre- served at mass meetings and other assemblies. To keep the peace and to guard the city requires a large force of policemen. In most cities the police are under the direction of a commissioner, He is usually ap- CITY GOVERNMENT 283 pointed by the mayor, although the single commissioner in Boston and four commissioners in Saint Louis are appointed by the State Governor. In New York City the police commissioner is appointed by the mayor, but he may be removed by the Governor. In cities which have adopted the commission form of government the police and fire departments have been combined in one. For administrative purposes cities are divided into police precincts with a police station in each. The police force is organized in ranks as captains, lieuten- ants, sergeants, and patrolmen. In large cities there are about two policemen to every one thousand people. The service is under a sort of military discipline. Few cities have permitted policemen to become members of labor unions. Their first allegiance must be to the city which they have sworn to protect. In 19 19 the police service of Boston went on a strike because the commissioner discharged certain members who had joined a union. It was necessary to employ the State militia to preserve order, but the authorities stood their ground and the striking policemen were not reinstated. Comparisons are frequently made between the police systems of Europe and those of America, to the dis- paragement of the latter; but in many respects the American police have a more difficult task than the European. The great influx of foreign immigrants into our cities has made our urban populations more heterogeneous than those usually found in European cities, and the political "machines" which exist in our large cities seriously interfere with the work of the police. The maintenance of peace and order in a city depends not only upon the police service but also upon the efficiency and honesty of the police courts. In many cities police magistrates are elected by popular vote; 284 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT other cities follow the better method of placing the appointment of magistrates in the hands of the mayor or the Governor of the State. Fire protection. — Fire protection is akin to police protection, since both pertain to the function of safe- guarding life and property. In olden days the cities depended upon voluntary associations or fire com- panies, and these still exist in our smaller towns. Our large cities, however, have developed efficient fire de- partments. In this branch of municipal administration we surpass European cities; yet even in the United States the loss from fire amounts to more than $250,- 000,000 annually. Quite a number of fires are started by persons who attempt in this manner to collect in- surance. Public works. — The department of public works in most cities has charge of streets and highways, bridges, sewers, and public buildings. Few people realize the great value of such property possessed by a city. The streets of the average city amount to one fourth or one third of its total area. The work of street cleaning and of paving requires much attention. Even in the small towns of a thousand inhabitants, gravel roads are being replaced by pavements of cement, brick, or asphalt. The lighting of streets is also a large undertaking; a few cities like Richmond, Virginia, own municipal electric plants for street light- ing, but, as a rule, this service is supplied by cor- porations. Public health and sanitation. — The disposal of waste and the cleaning of cities demand more attention every year. In the modern world the old saying that "cleanliness is next to godliness" has come to have a very real meaning. In congested populations it is im- CITY GOVERNMENT 285 possible to prevent disease unless constant vigilance is used to keep the streets and alleys clear of rubbish and refuse, and to dispose of the garbage and sewage in a scientific manner. In cleanliness the German cities have surpassed the American, but in recent years we have made improvement. Before Colonel Waring took charge of the Street Cleaning Department of New York City in 1895, the service was filled with Tam- many employees who brushed the pavements in a lazy and perfunctory manner. Colonel Waring revolution- ized the department; he introduced military methods; he dressed the men in white uniforms, organized leagues of school children to assist in keeping the streets clean, and awakened a genuine civic pride in his work. Under his supervision four hundred and thirty-three miles of streets were cleaned from once to five times every day by an army of two thousand five hundred men. Most cities have a board of public health. Professor Irving Fisher has estimated that there are always three million people sick in the United States, representing a waste of a billion and a half dollars each year. Tuber- culosis alone causes the illness of half a million people. By the alertness of the medical profession, many dis- eases like malaria have been almost eradicated ; and the death rate in other diseases, like typhoid fever, has been greatly reduced. The war on disease, however, has only begun, and city boards of health have a lead- ing part to play in the campaign for public health. Among the various activities of these boards should be mentioned the inspection of milk supply, analysis of water, medical and dental inspection of school chil- dren, promotion of "mother leagues" for giving in- struction as to the care of infants, establishment of 2&6 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT public dispensaries to give free medical advice and treatment to the poor, and the establishment of hos- pitals for contagious diseases and of sanitariums for the treatment of tuberculosis. Municipal housing. — The enormous cost of build- ing materials following the World War increased the problem of housing in American cities. For many years the slum districts have existed in almost every metropolis. Narrow streets are lined with high and unsanitary tenements in which families are living hud- dled together in two or three small, dark rooms. At- tempts to remedy the housing problem in New York City were begun as early as 1857. A few model tene- ments were erected, but the overcrowding of the East Side continued. The destruction of Mulberry Bend as described by Jacob Riis is a well-known story. Finally, in 1894, a Tenement House Commission was ap- pointed. In 1 90 1 a Tenement House Act laid down certain requirements to which all new buildings must conform. Since this date more than a million and a half people have been housed in new tenements. In 1920 the problem of rent profiteering became so acute in New York City that the Governor of the State called a special session of the legislature. Laws were passed regulating the eviction of tenants for refusal to pay an increase in rent. Under this legislation a land- lord who demands a rental which the tenant thinks is exorbitant must prove to the satisfaction of a muni- cipal court that his demand is just and reasonable before the tenant may be evicted. He must file with the court a bill of particulars setting forth the number of rooms in the house, the rentals, cost of coal, repairs, janitorial fees, and general expenses. Public recreation and social centers. — The pro- CITY GOVERNMENT 287 motion of healthy and clean public recreation is one of the modern means of combating disease, vice, and crime. The ordinary human being will quickly respond to the stimulus of fresh air, wholesome games, and pleasant diversion. Growing children need oppor- tunities for play and sports; young men and women must have means for pleasant acquaintanceship and harmless amusement ; the tired mother requires relaxa- tion; the depressed shop-girl, the worried clerk, the factory worker, every toiler, must have means for en- tertainment and healthy recuperation. It would be beyond the limits of this book to describe the numerous ways in which American cities have attempted to pro- mote public recreation. Every city has a more or less extensive park system. New York has invested $684,- 000,000 in parks and playgrounds; Boston, $69,000,- 000; Chicago, $59,000,000. Chicago spends $2,000,- 000 each year in maintaining its parks, which now include four thousand acres. A city park may combine nature with science and art. Lincoln Park, on the north side of Chicago, with its flowers and trees, con- tains the Academy of Natural Sciences, and at the entrance of the park is the statue of Lincoln by Saint Gaudens. In many cities whole blocks of buildings have been torn down to make municipal playgrounds for children, thus taking the little wards of the city off the street and out of harm of automobiles. Public baths have been established. Cleveland has a municipal bathhouse on Lake Erie where a room, bathing suit, and towel are supplied for fifteen cents. Municipal dance halls and pavilions also have been constructed by Cleveland. The city furnishes the music and charges the modest sum of three cents for a dance. Social centers are an- 288 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT other innovation in municipal life. Parent clubs, boys' clubs, sewing circles, debating societies, lecture courses, study classes, and motion picture theaters have been organized by experienced social service workers. In most cities the Department of Public Welfare has di- rection of municipal activities of this sort. Schools and libraries. — Over eighty years ago Charles Dickens rendered a great service to mankind in picturing the sordid absurdities of primary education. To-day the education of children is one of the most im- portant functions of local government. The public school is a means of preparation for good citizenship. Since this preparation is for the future, it is necessary that the methods employed be thoroughly modern and progressive. As Dr. Colin A. Scott has said : "Not only the industrial and business world, but the whole life of to-day is quite different from what it was thirty or even ten years ago. To be really effective the school is forced to idealize the present activities of society, and prepare the young for a future world which exists only in the minds and hearts of the community. The school at its best is a prophecy, as every embryo is a prophecy of a better and nobler life." 1 The public schools of our cities are under control of school boards, which are either appointed by the mayor or elected by the people. The supervision of the schools is a task of large proportions. In most cities from one fourth to one third of the municipal expenditures are for education. New York City spends about $45,- 000,000 a year on its public schools; Chicago $16,000,- 000, Philadelphia $8,000,000, Boston $6,000,000, and Los Angeles $6,000,000. Cities have also been gen- erous in building public libraries and museums, al- iSocial Education (Ginn & Co.), p. 2. CITY GOVERNMENT 289 though in many cases these institutions have also been founded and endowed by private benefactors. In Mas- sachusetts there is not a single town without a free library. Poor relief and charity. — Nowhere is the contrast between rich and poor more conspicuous than in the metropolis. It is true that with the broadening of education, the improvement in the means for securing industrial justice, and scientific treatment of mental defectives, poverty has begun to decrease in the world. Nevertheless, large numbers of indigent persons are found in our cities. Through misfortune, disease, ac- cidents, laziness, viciousness, and desertion of fathers, families are sometimes thrown into very tragic circum- stances. Many institutions for poor relief, like or- phanages, have been established by both public and private philanthropic enterprise. In a half hundred cities, widows' pension bureaus have been created. The tendency at the present time is for private charities to combine together in United Charities Associations and to cooperate with municipal authorities in relieving the distress of the poor. One of the chief functions of these organizations of social service is that of teaching poor people, many of whom are as ignorant as little children of the common rules of health, household economy, and the care of children. Public utilities. — Another municipal function is the regulation of public utilities. The oldest and per- haps the most important of these utilities is the water supply. Only a few American cities now secure their water from private companies; most municipalities own and operate their systems of water supply. For this purpose large engineering projects have been con- structed. Los Angeles draws its supply of water from 2QO AMERICAN GOVERNMENT a reservoir in the Sierra Nevada mountains two hun- dred and fifty miles north of the city. The conduit which carries the water passes through tunnels in the mountains and crosses a hundred and fifty miles of the Mojave Desert. New York City has constructed a reservoir at Croton and another one in the Catskills, a hundred miles up the Hudson River, at a cost of over $330,000,000. Other public utilities operating within the limits of a city are the railroads, electric railways, ferries, gas and electric plants, telegraph and telephones. Over all but the first of these utilities the city may exercise a large degree of control. Steam railroads are under the jurisdiction of the national or State governments, and with them the cities may not, as a rule, interfere. Lighting-plants for gas and electricity, street railways and telephone services are operated under a franchise granted by the municipal or State authorities for a certain number of years. A franchise is a contract by virtue of which a person or corporation is permitted to use the city's streets in distributing certain services or commodities to consumers. For these services or commodities, of course, a charge is made. A public utility is a natural monopoly; and, furthermore, any- one attempting to perform a service without the proper franchise would be a trespasser and liable to prosecu- tion. A franchise is thus a special privilege; and the recipient of the franchise is usually required to pay a stipulated sum for the privilege granted. In New York, Philadelphia, Providence, Richmond, and other cities the corporation receiving the franchise is required to pay the city five per cent of its gross receipts. Chicago receives fifty-five per cent of the net profits of the street railways. CITY GOVERNMENT 291 The granting of franchises is limited by State con- stitutions and State laws, and municipalities are thus restricted in making such grants. Moreover, in some States the regulation of all public utilities is in the hands of the State rather than in the hands of the municipalities. In 1907 the legislature of New York created two Public Service Commissions. The State was divided into two districts and a commission was established in each district. The commissioners have control of all corporations operating railroads, street surface railways, and telegraph and telephone lines, express companies, and all corporations supplying gas and electricity for commercial light, heat, and power. The commissioners have supervision of the rates charged, the equipment provided, and the service ren- dered by the companies operating within its limits. Wisconsin at the same time placed all public utilities under a State commission; Massachusetts had pre- viously created three State commissions dealing re- spectively with the railroads, gas and electric com- panies, and telegraph and telephone companies. In States where the State regulation of public utilities has not been extensively developed, the cities have muni- cipal commissions for supervising the corporations operating under franchises. Municipal ownership. — Municipal ownership and operation of all public utilities has been frequently proposed. There can be no doubt that the water supply system should be owned and operated by cities because of the essential relation between water supply and public health. It is not so clear, however, that other public utilities ought to be put under the complete control of the city. If the service rendered by private companies is efficient, if the prices charged are reason- 292 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT able, there would appear to be small need for burden- ing the city with more heavy responsibilities. But if the abuses of private ownership cannot be abated by adequate regulation, then municipal ownership is a necessary resort. City planning. — In colonial days American cities, although simple and frugal in architecture, possessed a dignified beauty. With the rapid material growth of the nineteenth century a sordid ugliness spread over the land. In recent years there has been a renaissance of municipal building. A civic pride has been awakened which has led to elaborate projects for the rebuilding of our cities. Civic centers have been reconstructed in New York, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Richmond, Virginia. Springfield, Massachusetts, has constructed a remarkable group of municipal buildings on its public square in the heart of the city. Between the city hall and the city auditorium a campanile of beautiful proportions dominates the surrounding country. For the purpose of relieving taxpayers from the heavy burden of municipal reconstruction the principle of excess condemnation has been proposed and success- fully applied. By this method more land is taken from private owners under the right of eminent domain than is needed for the actual construction of the pro- posed public improvement with the view of selling the excess at such increase of value as may result from the improvement. It is a well-known fact that the erection of a beautiful public building or the construction of some other public work will usually enhance the value of the surrounding property. It is just and reasonable that the city as a whole should have the benefit of this enhancement of value and that it should be applied to CITY GOVERNMENT 293 the payment of the improvement. In 1904 Massa- chusetts passed a law known as the "Remnant Act" authorizing cities to employ the principle of excess condemnation. The act has encouraged the develop- ment of programs of city planning. For Further Reading The Growth and Character of the American City. — F. G. Goodnow, Municipal Government, ch. i-iii; W. B. Munro, Government of American Cities, ch. i, ii; F. C. Howe, The City: The Hope of Democracy, ch. i, ii ; C. A. Beard, American City Government, ch. i ; D. F. Wilcox, Great Cities in America, ch. i. The City and the State. — W. B. Munro, Govern- ment of American Cities, ch. iii ; F. G. Goodnow, Muni- cipal Government, ch. viii ; H. L. McBain, The Law and the Practice of Municipal Home Rule, ch. i ; Illinois Con- stitutional Convention Bulletins, 1920, pp. 377-448. Municipal Organization. — W. B. Munro, Govern- ment of American Cities, ch. viii-x; J. A. Fairlie, Muni- cipal Administration, ch. xvii-xix; F. J. Goodnow, Municipal Government, ch. ix, x; Municipal Year Book of City of New York, 1916, ch. i, ii; Illinois Constitu- tional Convention Bulletins, 1920, no. xi; Unification of Local Governments in Chicago (Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency), pp. 7-55. Mismanagement and Graft in City Government. — James Bryce, American Commonwealth, I, ch. Ii ; II, ch. lxxxviii; Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of the Cities, pp. 29-59, 193-229; F. C. Howe, The City: The Hope of Democracy, ch. vi, vii ; Josiah Flynt and Francis Walton, The Powers that Prey, pp. 1-25. The Commission Plan of Government. — W. B. Munro, Government of American Cities, ch. xii ; E. S. Bradford, Commission Government in American Cities, ch. i ; C. R. Woodruff, City Government by Commission, 294 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ch. iii, iv; and his New Municipal Program, ch. xiv; B. F. Shambaugh, Commission Government in Iowa: The Des Moines Plan {Annals Am. Acad, of Pol. and Soc. Sci., November, 191 1). The City-Manager Plan. — W. B. Munro, Govern- ment of American Cities, ch. xv; C. E. Rightor, City Manager in Dayton, ch. i-iii; H. A. Toulmin, The City Manager, ch. ii-viii; The City Manager Plan for Chi- cago (Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency, Bulletin No. 28). City Finance. — W. B. Munro, Principles and Meth- ods of Municipal Administration, ch. x, "Making a Muni- cipal Budget" (New York Bureau of Municipal Research, 1907) ; F. A. Cleveland, Municipal Administration and Accounting, ch. vi; Financial Statistics of Cities (U. S. Bureau of the Census, 1919), pp. 13-27; Henry Bruere, The New City Government, ch. vii. Police Systems and Problems. — R. B. Fosdick, American Police Systems, ch. i, iii-iv; Theodore Roose- velt, Autobiography, ch. vi ; William McAdoo, Guarding a Great City, ch. xxi ; L. F. Fuld, Police Administration, ch. iv; H. M. Pollock and W. S. Morgan, Modem Cities, ch. xv ; M. C. Van Winkle, Municipal Policewomen in American City (1921), XXXV, pp. 93-96. Public Health and Sanitation. — W. B. Munro, Principles and Methods of Municipal Administration, ch. v; Henry Bruere, The New City Government, ch. xi; W. H. Allen, Civics and Health, ch. i-iv; M. M. Davis and A. R. Warner, Dispensaries, ch. i-viii; L. H. Gulick and L. P. Ayres, Medical Inspection of Schools, ch. i-v ; Report of the Department of Health of Chicago, 1911- 1918, pp. 3-13; H. P. Hemenway, Legal Principles of Public Health Administration, ch. i, ii; H. N. Parker, City Milk Supply, ch. vi. Municipal Housing. — C. A. Beard, American City Government, ch. xi ; F. C. Howe, The Modern City and Its Problems, ch. xix; J. A. Riis, The Battle with the CITY GOVERNMENT 295 Slum, ch. i-iii; Art. on "Housing" in American Year Book, 1920. Public Recreation and Social Centers. — Charles Zueblin, American Municipal Progress, ch. xiv, xvi ; Ed- ward J. Ward, The Social Center, ch. viii. Schools and Libraries. — S. T. Dutton and David Sneddon, Administration of Public Education in the United States, ch. vii-x; Statistics of City School Sys- tems, 1917 (U. S. Bureau of Education), pp. 123-141 ; A. Flexner and F. P. Bachman, The Gary Schools, ch. i-xi; A. E. Bostwick, The American Public Library, ch. i-iv; T. W. Koch, Book of Carnegie Libraries, ch. v, vi. Public Utilities. — D. F. Wilcox, Municipal Fran- chises, I, ch. i ; O. L. Pond, Treatise on the Law of Pub- lic Utilities, ch. i, vii; National Civic Federation Report, 1907, I, part ii, pp. 665-758 ; C. A. Beard, American City Government, ch. vii; H. L. McBain, American City Progress and the Law, ch. vi; R. P. Porter, Dangers of Municipal Ownership {Public Ownership League of America), ch. i; General Statistics of Cities, 191 5 (U. S. Bureau of the Census), pp. 41-47- City Planning. — C. M. Robinson, Improvement of Town and Cities, ch. i-iii, xiii ; and his City Planning, ch. iv ; John Nolen, City Planning, ch. vi ; and his Replanning Small Cities, pp. 9-30; Charles S. Bird, Town Planning for Small Communities, ch. i-ii ; F. N. Evans, Town Im- provement, ch. i-iii; Frank Koester, Modern City Plan- ning and Maintenance, ch. iii. Excess Condemnation. — H. L. McBain, American City Progress and the Law, ch. v. ; R. E. Cushman, Ex- cess Condemnation, ch. i ; Illinois Constitutional Conven- tion Bulletins, 1920, pp. 455"5 I 3- CHAPTER XIV TENDENCIES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR GOVERNMENT Government is a developing organism. Progress in government-growth is comparatively slow. Even now great changes are going on in our constitutions and in the scope and forms of our State and national governmental activities. Living as we do in the midst of these changes, they seem to us a very natural and even necessary evolution, and we designate such changes as reforms. But if the men who framed our national constitution in 1787 could return to earth, they would be astonished at the variety and extent of these transformations and would, no doubt, pronounce them revolutionary. TENDENCIES REVEALED BY THESE CHANGES In no instance, however, has any change in our American government been the result of a successful rebellion. All such developments in our organic law and in the scope or form of governmental activities have been brought about by constitutional methods, and have appealed to the majority of our people as being right and necessary, or, at least, the best avail- able solution of some new problem. Thus our govern- ment has grown into something very different from what it was at first, but this development has for the most part been along the lines laid down in our na- tional constitution. The instinct of liberty. — In general, it may be 296 GOVERNMENTAL PROGRESS 297 said that back of all the changes and reforms in our American government is the fundamental human in- stinct of liberty, and, we may add to this the Anglo- Saxon instinct for ordered liberty, or "liberty under the law." No impartial student of American history will ignore or belittle the importance of the intense de- sire for civil and religious liberty that impelled Pil- grims and Puritans, Quakers and Catholics, to seek homes in a new land where such liberty could be possible. The growth of the spirit of liberty in the colonists, their stout resistance to every form of tyranny from without, their passion for self-govern- ment as voiced in the Declaration of Independence, their safeguards of individual freedom written into the fundamental law of their new nation, "dedicated to liberty," as Abraham Lincoln said — all this has pro- foundly influenced the development of our govern- ment. Appeals to this principle are the stock argu- ments of all advocates of government reforms, whatever they may be. Overthrow of political adventurers. — The second tendency revealed by the study of the changes in our government is the effort of the people to protect them- selves from the domination of a minority composed of selfish, shrewd, and unprincipled men who seek to con- trol the government for personal gain. The advent of democracy has not greatly changed human nature. Greed, graft, bribery, and corruption may flourish in democracies as in monarchies, and eternal war must be waged in every community against the power of cor- rupt "bosses" and "machines" who seek to use our legislatures to serve private interests, to paralyze the enforcement of law, and to corrupt our courts of jus- tice. 298 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT Economic and social evolution. — The third ten- dency that has helped to shape the development of our government is due to economic and social causes. No man in 1787 could have dreamed of the marvelous development in our industrial life that a century and a third has wrought. In 1790, when our first census was taken, the land area of the United States was 820,377 square miles. Our population was 3,929,214. There were only three banks. One dollar in silver was worth sixty-five dollars in Continental currency. The appropriation made by Congress for the Depart- ment of State was $6,500. Travel was by boat or on horseback. There were few good roads, fewer bridges, no railroads, steamboats, telegraphs. It took Washing- ton seven days to learn from New York that he had been chosen President. There were only seventy-five post offices. The use of coal was practically unknown and iron was little mined. The total value of our ex- ports was $20,000,000. Only one hundred and three newspapers were published. Ninety per cent of the people lived by agriculture, and the entire wealth of the nation was only $500,000,000. That a plan of government devised for a nation so insignificant as compared with the nation of to-day should, with so few additional amendments, prove to be broad enough and elastic enough to fit our present conditions is one of the marvels of history. Hence we see that the ten- dency of the American people to expand our govern- mental activities from year to year in order to meet new economic and social conditions is a very natural one. All these tendencies operate together. — It is clear that all these tendencies work simultaneously in producing changes in our government. Sometimes it GOVERNMENTAL PROGRESS 299 may be possible to distinguish a certain tendency as the dominant one in bringing about a specific result, but as a rule, no such separation is possible. For ex- ample, it is probably true that the most powerful single influence in the adoption of the Woman Suffrage Amendment to the national constitution was the in- stinctive feeling of the majority of the voters that the disfranchisement of women was not consistent with the principles of liberty on which a democracy should be based. On the other hand, no one will deny that many social and economic changes in American life contributed to the cause of woman suffrage. REACTION AGAINST MACHINE RULE When our American democracy began its course, prophets of evil foretold the dangers that confronted it and the ruin that was sure to overtake it. While, happily, most of these prophecies have failed, we real- ize to-day better than we once did the "perils of democ- racy/' and its failure to establish the Utopia described in glowing terms by the apostles of popular govern- ment. Chief among the evils that have threatened the existence of democratic institutions in America has been the domination of corrupt "bosses" and their "machines," which we have mentioned in previous pages. In the attempt to mitigate the effects of ma- chine rule, several reforms have been proposed, includ- ing: (1) direct legislation, (2) the recall, (3) the Australian ballot, (4) the primaries, (5) the short ballot, and (6) nonpartisan voting in city elections. The first four of these reforms have already been extensively adopted without much change in our politi- cal conditions. More is hoped for the last two methods. Direct legislation.— There are two kinds of direct 3 oo AMERICAN GOVERNMENT legislation employed by almost one half of the States of the Union. These are the initiative and referendum. The former is a means of popular proposal of legisla- tion, and the latter is a provision permitting (or in some cases requiring) a popular vote upon a legislative measure before it becomes finally effective. In gen- eral, it may be said that these attempts to substitute the direct rule of the people for representative govern- ment are evidence of the profound distrust of the voters in the ability and honesty of our legislative as- semblies. In a preceding chapter we have discussed the initiative and referendum as now used in a large number of States, and we have seen that its adoption has tended to weaken the responsibility of the legis- lators to the electorate. Of course the referendum is necessary for the ratification of proposed amendments to the State constitutions, and a provision for this purpose exists in nearly every State. A constitution is fundamental law, and a direct vote of the people is re- quired to modify it. By the same token, however, the enactment of legislative acts belongs to the legislature, and the use of the initiative and referendum for legis- lative purposes tends to break down the distinction between constitutional and statutory law. With the exception of the use of the initiative and referendum in constitution-making, the recent attempts at direct legislation are not logical. They are in a measure a return to pure democracy and an abandon- ment of the principle of representative government. In some small Swiss cantons direct legislation has worked well, but to apply it completely to large democ- racies is impossible, while modified forms of direct legislation tend to destroy the responsibility which should be demanded of legislators and executives. GOVERNMENTAL PROGRESS 301 The recall. — The recall is a device whereby a duly elected or appointed official may be deprived of his office by a popular vote. Oregon adopted the recall in 1908. Ten other States have followed her lead, although in four of these States the law does not apply to judges. In a number of States the recall has been applied to the commission form of city government. In some States a newly elected official is not subject to recall during the first six months or first year of his term of office. The process of securing the recall of a public officer is to circulate a petition for such action. This petition must be signed by from ten to twenty-five per cent of the number of votes cast at the last election. When such a petition has been secured it is presented to the Secretary of State for examination. If he certifies it as correct, it is submitted to the Governor, who must call an election within a certain prescribed time to de- cide whether the officer named in the petition shall be deprived of his office. The recall, if not applied to judges, has much to recommend it. In the commission-plan of city govern- ment, where power is concentrated in the hands of a few officials, the recall is a very satisfactory safeguard of the public interest. Moreover, a State is sometimes embarrassed through the lack of any provision for the removal of officers save by impeachment, which is a slow process when the legislature does not meet every year. The Australian ballot. — Before 1888 the printing of ballots and their distribution to the voters was left to the parties or the candidate. There was thus a lack of secrecy in voting and bribery was facilitated. In 1888 Kentucky passed a law providing for the use of 302 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT the Australian ballot in the municipal elections of Louisville. In a short time every State adopted this system for all elections — municipal, State, presidential, and congressional elections. The main features of the Australian ballot system have been summarized by Professor Ray as follows : (i) All ballots are printed under the super- vision of public officials, at public expense, and are transmitted by these officials to the different voting places a certain number of hours before election. (2) The names of all candidates duly nomi- nated by any political party or independent group are usually printed on a single sheet hav- ing an official endorsement on the back, to pre- vent counterfeiting. (3) A voter can secure a ballot only from the regular election officials after entering the polling place on election day, and after having properly complied with all the preliminary registration requirements. Sample ballots, on colored paper, are usually provided in sufficient quantities, so that voters may become familiar with the names on the ballot before entering the voting place. Such sample ballots are al- ways posted in or near the voting places and in other public places. In case a voter spoils his ballot he may return it to the election officer, who cancels it, and thereupon gives the voter a new ballot. Usually a voter is limited to three ballots. (4) Cards of instruction containing direc- tions for marking a ballot, and other cards con- taining the penalties for infraction of the elec- tion laws, are often posted not only in and about the voting places, but conspicuously in other GOVERNMENTAL PROGRESS 303 places a certain number of days before the day of election. . . . (5) Ballots must be marked in absolute se- crecy within the voting booths with which every voting place is equipped. Having marked his ballot, the voter is required to fold it so that all the marks shall be concealed, and either to deposit it himself in the ballot-box or hand it to the officer in charge for deposit ; this done, the voter is expected to leave the polling place at once. Australian ballot laws all provide that a voter shall not place any mark upon his ballot by which it may be identified. In New York, ballots found to have marks upon them which seem intended for the identification of the voter are excluded from the final count. . . . (6) Many, if not all, of the Australian bal- lot laws include provisions whereby voters who declare their inability to mark their ballots themselves may receive assistance. In some States the voter is required to make oath to his inability to read the names on the ballot, or to his physical inability to mark his ballot, before assistance will be permitted, and even then the assistance must be given by one of the duly au- thorized election officers. 1 The adoption of the Australian ballot system has reduced the facility for fraud and bribery in elections, although it has not caused the elimination of these evils from American politics; The voting-machine, adopted in some States, is a mechanical device which makes no radical departure from the system of the secret ballot already existing. The primary. — Another reform designed to secure 1 Introduction to Political Parties and Practical Politics (Scribners), p. 324.. } 304 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT the election ol public officials who truly represent the people is the direct primary. This method as applied to State elections has been adopted in almost every State of the Union. Previously the nomination of candidates was in the hands of party conventions or party caucuses. The primary, as now in operation, is a party election at which candidates for nomination are chosen directly by the party voters. Any person desiring to stand as a candidate for a political party in the coming elections is required to secure a certain number of signatures to a petition which must be filed with the proper official (the Sec- retary of State in State elections) upon a given date previous to the primary election. On the day of the primary election the names of all such candidates ap- pear upon the official ballot of their parties. At the polls each voter receives the ballot of the party to which he belongs, and indicates on the ballot the names of the persons whom he wishes to be nominated for his party. In case the voter is not satisfied with the names printed on the ballot he may write the names of any candidates that he prefers. When the polls are closed the ballots are counted as at the ordinary elec- tions, and the name of the person having the highest number of votes is declared to be the officially nomi- nated candidate of his party. His name will then be printed on the official ballot at the regular election which occurs at a later date. There are two kinds of primaries — the closed and the open primaries. In a heated campaign voters are sometimes tempted to participate in the primary of another party in order to foist a weak candidate on that party. Consequently, a number of States have found it necessary to provide some method of deter- GOVERNMENTAL PROGRESS 305 mining a person's right to affiliate with a party and to vote in a primary election. Under the New York law a voter declares his party affiliation when he registers as a qualified voter, and a record is kept of his declara tion. Thereafter a voter cannot change his party af- filiation unless he has refrained from participating in the primary of his former party for one year, nor can he vote in the primary of his new party in the year of enrollment, since the affiliation becomes effective only in the ensuing year. Such restrictions, of course, en- courage loyalty to the political machines. The Massa- chusetts law is more lenient to the independent voter, who may change his enrollment at any time during the year by presenting a request for the change in writing to the election officials, the change becoming effective ninety days after the request is filed. Wisconsin and a number of other States have open primaries. There are no tests for party membership. At the primary elections each voter is given ballots of all the parties printed on separate sheets. He votes the ballot for one party only, which ballot is then placed in the ballot box. The unused ballots are placed in the "blank-ballot box." The open primaries are subject to abuse in campaigns which are closely contested; sometimes a corrupt machine is able to eliminate an aggressive reformer in its own party by bribing members of other parties to vote in its pri- mary. The purpose of the adoption of the primary system was to strike at the political machine and at the control of politics by professional politicians. The reform, however, has not met the expectations of its advocates. It has very greatly increased the expense of candidates in running for office, and this fact is a very regrettable 306 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT feature of any nominating system. It has required elaborate preliminary election campaigns for the so- licitation of petitions, and for winning the primaries; and, on the whole, it has complicated our political ma- chinery. It has also weakened the responsibility which should be attached to political parties seeking to control the government. In 1909 Mr. Hughes as Governor of New York proposed an improvement in the direct primary. His bill provided that candidates for nomi- nation should be proposed by the standing committee of each party, and published at a stated time before the primary elections. If a certain number of the party voters were dissatisfied with the nomination of the organization, they might petition for rival candidates whose names would appear on the primary ballots. Governor Hughes' plan avoided the need of resorting to party conventions, which the people rightly have come to distrust; but at the same time it imposed a wholesome responsibility upon the chiefs of the party, and gave the rank and file of the party an opportunity to dissent. The legislature of New York in 191 1 adopted Governor Hughes' scheme in a garbled form. The names of the nominees of the party committees are printed on the primary ballots in a column headed by the party emblem with a circle for voting the straight ticket. On the other hand the names of independent nominees are placed in another column. Such an ar- rangement gives an overwhelming advantage to the organization's candidates. -The short ballot. — We have already seen that the multiplicity of elective offices has contributed to the growth of political machines. The founders of the republic carried the democratic principle of govern- ment by the people to an almost absurd degree. The GOVERNMENTAL PROGRESS 307 appointment of officers was largely taken out of the hands of the Governor, and election of officers by the people or by the legislatures was established. In the first half of the nineteenth century, when the voters lost faith in the State legislatures, a large number of officers were added to the list elected by the popular vote. Thus appeared the long ballot in American politics. This multiplicity of elective officers, how- ever, proved to be very confusing to the voter. For example, in the election of November, 19 16, the voters in Chicago were expected to vote for 71 different of- ficials ; and in November, 1918, for 55. At the Novem- ber election in 191 2, when 86 officials were to be se- lected, the names of 433 candidates appeared on the ballot. At the primary election in 19 14 there were 382 candidates for 51 positions on the Democratic ballot in one district. Upon one occasion the ballot required a printed sheet more than two and a half feet long and over two feet wide. Under our present system it is impossible for the average voter to know the qualifications of the candi- dates for office. There are so many of them that the newspapers cannot even meagerly comment on the relative merits of a tenth of the number. Most voters thus are compelled to vote blindly for some party ticket. A Governor of a State once remarked that he had never voted intelligently in his life except for the head-of-the-ticket candidates. This condition, which is universal in America outside of cities with the com- mission form of government, was aptly described by Woodrow Wilson : In the little borough of Princeton, where I live, I vote a ticket of some thirty names, I suppose. I never counted them, but there must be quite that number. Now, 308 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT I am a slightly busy person, and I have never known anything about half the men I was voting for on the tickets that I voted. I attend diligently, so far as I have light, to my political duties in the borough of Princeton — and yet I have no personal knowledge of one half of the persons I am voting for. I couldn't tell you even what business they are engaged in — and to say in such circumstances that I am taking part in the government of the borough of Princeton is an absurdity. I am not taking part in it at all. I am going through the motions that I am expected to go through by the persons who think that attending primaries and voting at the polls is performing your whole political duty. It is doing a respectable thing that I am not ashamed of, but it is not performing any political duty that is of any consequence. I don't count for any more in the government of the borough of Princeton than the veriest loafer and drunkard in the borough, and I do not know very much more about the men I am voting for than he does. He is busy about one thing and I am busy about others. We are preoccupied, and cannot attend to the government of the town. 1 Of course, if the average citizen is too busy to give his attention to local government, there are not lacking those who are willing to undertake the business of governing. Under our present system of city and State government it is exceedingly difficult to fix re- sponsibility and differentiate between the good and the bad politicians. The trouble with the long ballot is that it covers a multitude of sinners as well as worthy men. It has become a cloak to cover the political machine and bosses. President Roosevelt once said : "I be- lieve in the short ballot. You cannot get good service from the public servant if you cannot see him, and 1 Congressional Record, August, 1911, p. 4204. GOVERNMENTAL PROGRESS 309 there is no more effective way of hiding him than by mixing him up with a multitude of others so that there are none of them important enough to catch the eye of the average workaday citizen." It is one of the ironies of political life that the ap- plication of a democratic principle should result in taking from the people the very power which they jealously sought to safeguard. "Elaborate your gov- ernment; place every officer upon his own dear little statute ; make it necessary for him to be voted for ; and you will not have a democratic government." Such a government is too complicated and miscellaneous for effective popular control; although it submits readily to the domination of the professional politician and his machine. Periodically the people of a city or a State find the rule of some machine unbearable; they have a housecleaning and elect new men, but in an incredibly short time the old order is returned to power, and things are as bad as they were before. "The remedy," said President Wilson, "is contained in one word: simplification. Simplify your processes, and you will begin to control ; complicate them and you will get farther and farther away from their control. Simplification! simplification! simplification! is the task that awaits us; to reduce the number of persons to be voted for to the absolute workable minimum — knowing whom you have selected ; knowing whom you have trusted ; and having so few persons to watch that you can watch them." The short ballot movement proposes the following things: (1) to shorten the ballot to as few names as possible, (2) to limit these names to the most con- spicuous offices, and (3) to have all other offices ap- pointive. Such a reform, of course, would entail 310 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT amendments to the State constitutions. Under the short ballot system the average citizen could vote in- telligently without giving more attention to politics than he does at present. In State and city elections he would vote for only three or four officers instead of thirty or forty, or in some States, for ninety officers. These officers would probably be (i) the Governor, (2) the member of the legislature for his district, and (3) the commissioners of his city. All other officers would be appointed. Thus public attention could be focused upon the few elective officers. The responsi- bility for good or bad government would rest entirely upon their shoulders. The people would know whom to praise and whom to blame, whom to vote for and whom to oust from office. The short-ballot movement has been indorsed by the ablest statesmen in America, including three Presidents, Roosevelt, Taft, and Wil- son, Governor Hughes, Senator Root, Governor Low- den, Mayor Mitchel, Dr. Eliot, and William Jennings Bryan. Nonpartisan reform in the cities. — The bosses of our political machines have shrewdly beclouded municipal politics by stoutly championing one of the major national parties. Tammany Hall in New York is Democratic and, of course, claims the Democratic vote in municipal elections. The Thompson-Lundin machine in Chicago is Republican and likewise claims the Republican vote in municipal elections. There is no good reason for dragging national issues into muni- cipal politics. Does the question of free trade or pro- tection, for instance, have anything to do with the municipal government of a city ? A city is a local ad- ministrative unit. In all elections there should be only one question at stake, namely, efficiency of the GOVERNMENTAL PROGRESS 311 present city government. In choosing candidates the voter under an ideal system of city rule would be dis- tracted by no other questions than these : Which candi- date is the most efficient official? Which candidate has the best policies of city administration? Of course there are certain questions that should be decided by popular vote, such as the decision in regard to borrow- ing money for municipal improvements, but the issues of city elections should never be obscured by national or State politics. The adoption of the commission form of govern- ment in some of our cities is not only a step in the simplification of government, but also has tended to eliminate national and State politics from municipal elections, where they have no place. In other cities which are still under the mayor-and-council system, nonpartisan organizations of citizens have accom- plished some fairly good results in promoting the elec- tion of worthy candidates. In Chicago the Municipal Voters' League was established in 1896 by a group of citizens who were determined to end the unspeakable corruption of the city council. Not more than ten of the sixty-eight aldermen at that time were "even sus- pected of being honest" ; the others were an organized gang for plunder and blackmail. The League has not been able to cleanse Chicago politics, but it has contributed to the defeat of many dishonest officials. In January of each year the League issues a report reviewing the work of the council for the preceding year, and approving or condemning the work of the aldermen who are to stand for reelection in the April election. Shortly before the primaries and before the April election, the League issues bulletins giving the records of the candidates and advising voters as to 3 i2 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT the candidates who deserve election and those who deserve defeat at the polls. Similar nonpartisan or- ganizations have rendered great service to the intelli- gent voter in other cities. Under the system of the long ballot, however, these organizations are not ade- quate to cope with the marshaled forces of the po- litical machines. ENLARGED ACTIVITIES OF GOVERNMENT Many of the changes in our government are due to economic and social causes entirely beyond the control of statesmen or people and often quite contrary to the declarations of party platforms. Every such change in industrial or social life may call for a modification or enlargement of the functions of government both State and national. And as the functions of the gov- ernment enlarge there is a corresponding increase in the number of officials and the cost of government. Thus our political organization becomes more and more complex. A mere list of these spheres of govern- mental control or regulation that have been gradually assumed under the pressure of economic and social changes will show how far we have departed from the simple government of the Fathers. The national government has entered into every de- partment of the life of the people. It regulates wholly or in part our banks and our railroads; it maintains commissions to adjust disputes between labor and capital, it delivers mail at every man's door and sends goods by parcel-post to every corner of the country; it makes every post office a savings bank; it provides funds to irrigate waste lands and loans money to farm- ers; it regulates the manufacture of foods and medi- cines, inspects factories and packing-houses, carries GOVERNMENTAL PROGRESS 313 on vigorous campaigns for public health, combats diseases, and prohibits the sale in interstate commerce of impure drugs; it dissolves conspiracies in restraint of interstate trade and fixes railroad rates, insures soldiers, controls our national parks, maintains a weather bureau. There has been a corresponding development in the extension of the governmental functions of the States and of cities. And this enlargement of the functions of government in our democracy has developed so naturally that nearly all citizens of our republic accept these regulations of the government as reasonable and inevitable. It is not surprising that with all these ac- tivities to perform, the great number of officials neces- sary and the immense sums of money required, there should arise in some cities and States organized gangs of plunderers who practice burglary on a magnificent scale. It is not strange that some officials should be weak, cowardly, or incompetent. But, on the other hand, the American voter should remember that there are thousands of patriotic, capable, and honest men in office who seek to perform their public duties efficiently and in all good conscience. Nor should any true Amer- ican citizen ever ally himself with that class of voters who seem to think that their only duty to their country is to criticize it; nor will he, in spite of all the defects of his government, lose faith in the eternal principles of justice and liberty on which it is founded, and cease to believe in their ultimate triumph. The model American citizen. — Thus briefly and imperfectly we have traced the development of our governmental functions and have pointed out the main tendencies that have produced this development. In conclusion, citizens of this republic should assuredly 3 H AMERICAN GOVERNMENT know that the democratic state must always reflect the character of its citizens. The American people and their government are not two separate and distinct entities, but a composite one. No model state can exist in practice until its virtues are realized in the lives of a majority of its citizens. Such citizens will strive to educate themselves politically. They will study the current problems in government. They will seek to understand the workings of political parties and will endeavor to make their influence felt in the councils of the party of their choice. They will realize that it is far better to prevent the nomination and election of corrupt and dishonest men than to attempt to recall them or annul their vicious acts after they have been in office. And if such citizens aspire to office them- selves, their strongest motive will be the opportunity and privilege of rendering a full measure of honest endeavor to promote the welfare of the republic. For Further Reading The Initiative, Referendum, and Recall. — P. Or- man Ray, Introduction to Political Parties and Practical Politics, ch. xvii, xx; James Bryce, Modem Democra- cies, II, pp. 153-168; A. L. Lowell, Public Opinion and Popular Government, ch. ix-xv; A. B. Hall, Popular Government, ch. vi, ix ; Bulletin for Massachusetts Con- stitutional Convention, 1917, pp. 179-286; Illinois Con- stitutional Convention Bulletins, 1920, pp. 65-165. The Australian Ballot. — P. Orman Ray, Introduc- tion to Political Parties and Practical Politics, ch. xii ; F. A. Cleveland, Organized Democracy, ch. xix ; C. L. Jones, Readings on Parties and Elections in the United States, pp. 212-224; E. C. Evans, History of the Australian Bal- lot System in the United States, ch. iii. The Direct Primary, — P, Orman Ray, Introduction GOVERNMENTAL PROGRESS 315 to Political Parties and Practical Politics, ch. vi; C. E. Merriam, Primary Elections, ch. vii, viii ; F. A. Cleve- land, Organized Democracy, ch. xvii. The Short Ballot. — R. S. Childs, Short Ballot Prin- ciples, ch. i-v; A. M. Kales, Unpopular Government in the United States, ch. i, ii ; Elihu Root, Addresses on Gov- ernment and Citizenship, pp. 191-206; C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, pp. 474-487; E. B. Bullock, Short Ballot, pp. 3-62; A. B. Hall, Popular Government, ch. x; Bulletins for Massachusetts Con- stitutional Convention, 1917, No. x, pp. 5-15; Illinois Constitutional Convention Bulletins, 1920, pp. 337-369 ; The Short Ballot: A Movement to Simplify Politics (published by the National Municipal League, 261 Broadway, New York City, and sent to any address for ten cents in stamps). Nonpartisan Reform in the Cities. — Hoyt King, The Reform Movement in Chicago in Annals of Amer- ican Academy of Political and Social Science (1905), XXXV, pp. 235-246; The Municipal Voters' League (pamphlet published by the Municipal Voters' League, 109 N. Dearborn St., Chicago). INDEX Adams, John on the federal constitution, 15 "midnight appointments," 33 "Administration Bills," fed- eral, 109 "Administration Measures," in Illinois, 226 Agriculture, Department of, 145, 147 Akron, Ohio, city-manager in, 280 Alabama quadrennial legislature, 216 leadership of Governor in, 227 Alaska represented in national nom- inating conventions, 96 governed by Department of Interior, 147 Aldermen members of city council, 273 in New York City, 276 Aliens citizenship of children of, 53 rights of, under international law, 57 extensive privileges in U. S., 58 expulsion of, 59 Alien Act of 1798, 60 may vote in presidential elec- tions in some States, 60 Allen, Governor Henry J., leadership of, 225 Ambassadors appointment of, 105 duties of, 143 Amendment Tenth, 29 Eleventh, 41 Twelfth, 41, 94 Thirteenth, 41, 61 Fourteenth, 41, 52, 61 Fifteenth, 41, 61, 65 Sixteenth, 41 Am endmen t— Contin ued Seventeenth, 41, 133 Eighteenth, 41 Nineteenth, 41, 65 Amendment, process in federal constitution, 41 Amendment, process in State constitutions, 46-48 Amendments, federal, first ten, a bill of rights, 21, 41 American Federation of Labor, 173 American Ideals in Politics, 90 Americanization Program, 56-57 Anti-Federalists, oppose rati- fication of federal constitu- tion, 21, 72 Appointment, to office federal, 104-105, 138, 151-155 State, 212 city, 274-275, 278, 280 Appointment, of U. S. repre- sentatives, 120 Arizona recall of judges, 205 vote on proposal to abolish State Senate, 223 Army, U. S., regular, 161, 162 Articles of Confederation, adoption of, 15 Attorney-General federal, 145 State, 193, 214 Australian Ballot, 301 Ballot Australian adopted, 301 description of, 302 in primary elections, 303-306 short ballot reform, 306-310 Ballots of Presidential Elec- tors, 41, 103 317 3i8 INDEX Bank, United States, constitu- tionality of, 38, 1 68 Banks, Federal Reserve, 169 Bill of Rights English, 14 in federal constitution, 21 in State constitutions, 63 Bill procedure, in Congress, 128-131, 137-138 Blockade, may be ordered by President, 107 Board of Regents, New York, 235, 265 "Bosses" term for a peculiar type of American demagogue, 85 methods of, 87, 90 reasons for existence of, 226, 276, 297, 308 Boston police commissioner appointed by Governor, 283 investment in parks, 287 cost of schools, 288 Bryan, William Jennings influence in amending U. S. constitution, 41 wins Populist vote in 1896, 77 campaign speeches in 1896, 102 short ballot advocate, 310 Bryce, James on the expansion of U. S. constitution, 36 on efficiency of Senators, 133 on extravagance of Congress, 166 on work of State govern- ments, 210 on city government in U. S., 276 Budget, Director of Bureau of, 149, 167 Budgetary Reform federal, 167 State, 227 municipal, 280, 282 Burke, Edmund, on independ- ence of representatives, 123 Burr, Aaron trial of, 34 Burr, Aaron— Continued election of 1800, 41, 94 Business, State protection and regulation of, 242 Cabinet, British, control over the budget, 166-167 Cabinet the President's appointment of members, 105 influence in Congress, 109 members of, 112 origin of, 113 meetings of, 113 proposal to give seats in Con- gress to, 114, 119 California recall of judges, 205 commission form of govern- ment applied to counties in, 264 Canada, provincial legislatures of, unicameral, 224 Cannon, Joseph as speaker, 126 "Carpet-Bag" Regime, 62, 75, 248 Caucus, in Congress nominates candidates in presi- dential election of 1800, 94 selection of candidates for speaker of House, 127-129 selection of floor-leaders and committee members, 127- 129, 136 Census, federal, 148 Chancellor of the Excheq- uer, British head of treas- ury, 166-167 Charities and Correction State regulation of, 240 in cities, 289 Checks and Balances, System of established by the Fathers, 3.2 7 33 position of President under, 104 position of Congress under, 117 position of Senate under, 136 INDEX 319 Checks and Balances— C't'd State governments under, 21 1, 225 Chemistry, Bureau of, 145, 147 Chicago Crime Commission, 203 Chicago Thompson-Lundin machine, 86, 276, 310 seat of Railroad Labor Board, 150 Morals Court, 189 laxity in prosecution of crime in, 200 assessment of personal prop- erty in, 250 population, 269 foreign population, 270 mayor and council of, 273, 276 executive departments, 274 complexity of government in, 275 proposal of city-manager for, 281 investment in parks, 287 cost of schools, 288 street railway franchise, 290 multiplicity of elective offi- cers in, 307 Municipal Voters' League, 311 Chief Justice of U. S. Su- preme Court presides at impeachment of President, 140 head of Supreme Court, 180, 185 John Marshall as, 186 Chief of Staff, 145 Child Labor Laws, 246 Childs, Richard S., on State supervision of local gov- ernment, 266 China, U. S. Court for, 182 Circuit Courts of Appeal, U. S., 180 Citizenship definition of, 51 dual, in the U. S., 52 Dred Scott case, 52 Fourteenth Amendment, 52 Citizenshi p— Continued acquisition of, by birth, 53- 54 citizenship of wife, 54 naturalization, 54-56 acquisition of, by annexation, 62 civil rights, 63 political rights are not civic, 64 duties and obligations, 66-68 the model American citizen, 313 City Government growth of cities, 269-271 organization of, 271-281 finance, 281-282 police administration, 282- 284 fire protection, 284 public works, 284 public health and sanitation, 284-286 municipal housing, 286 public recreation and social centers, 286 schools and libraries, 288-289 poor relief and charity, 289 public utilities, 289-291 municipal ownership, 291 city planning, 292 nonpartisan reform in, 310 City-Manager Plan, 279 Civil Administrative Code of Illinois, 229 Civil Procedure, 190-193 reform in, 197-204 Civil Rights, 63 Civil Service Commission, U. S., 151, 154 Civil Service federal, 1 51-155 municipal, 275 Clay, Henry, as speaker, 126 Clayton Act of 1914, 172, 174 Cleveland conciliation court in, 189 city farm for boys, 190 municipal bath house, 287 Cleveland, Grover President, 76 320 INDEX Cleveland, Grover— Cont'd Venezuelan controversy, 107 Pullman strike, 108 civil service reform, 154 leadership of, as governor of N. Y., 224 Cloture Rule, in Senate, 135- 136 Coinage, 168 Colonies government of the thirteen American, 14 plans for union, 15 Colorado, recall of judges in, 205 Commander-in-Chief, of army and navy, President as, 107, 145 Commerce, Department of, 148 Commerce, interstate, regula- tion of, 40 Commission Form of Govern- ment applied to counties, 263 applied to cities, 277 Common Law, basis of American legal system, 14 Committee System in Congress, 127-130, 134 in State legislatures, 216, 227 Compromises of the Federal Constitution, 19 Conciliation Court, of Cleve- land, 189 Conference Committee, in Congress, 131 Conference of Governors, 175, 213 Congress, of the Confedera- tion, weakness of, 16 Congress power to regulate commerce, 20, 40, 170 first session under the federal constitution, 21 President's message to, 108 special sessions, 109 proposal to give seats in, to cabinet officials, 114 Congress — Continued as part of System of Checks and Balances, 117-119 sessions of, 119-121 congressional elections, 125- 126 organization of House of Rep- resentatives, 126-129 bill procedure, 129-13 1 membership of Senate, 131- 132 election of Senators, 132 organization of Senate, 133- 134 freedom of debate in Senate, 134-136 party control in Senate, 136 powers and functions of Sen- ate, 136-140 extravagance in spending fed- eral funds, 166 power to regulate public health, safety and morals, 172 Congressional Districts, 121 Congressional Elections, 125- 126 Congressional Record, 131 Connecticut tariff contest with New York, 16 retention of colonial charter as State constitution, 14, 43 election of judges by legisla- ture, 205 Conservation of Natural Resources federal, 175-177 State, 248 Constitution British compared with Amer- ican, 28 flexible because easily amended, 36 Constitution, federal praised by Gladstone, 12 making of, 15-20 adoption of, 20-21 establishment of new govern- ment under, 21-22 stability of, 25-26 INDEX 321 Constitution— Continued supreme law of the land, 27 brevity of, 27 as a grant of powers, 28-29 created a national govern- ment, 29-31 created the System of Checks and Balances, 32-33 expansion of, 35-43, 298, 312- 313 . amending process, 41-42 liberal character of, 42-43 Constitutions, State early, 43 brevity of early as compared with later, 44-45 framing of, 45 amending process, 46-48 restrictions upon Governor, in early, 212 Constitutional Convention of 1787, 15-22 events preceding, 15-16 members of, 16-18 compromises of, 19-20 work of, 20-22 Constitutional Law, as com- pared with statutory law, 27, 33, 44, 185, 300 Consular Service, 143 Consuls appointment of, 106 duties of, 144 Cook County judicial situation in, 201 assessment of personal prop- erty in, 250 complexity of government of, 275 Coroner, county officer, 261 Corporations legal status as persons, 63, 174, 243 corporation law, 211, 215 Corporation Tax, 250 Council, city, 273, 276, 279 County origin of, 257 States divided into, 258 county board or supervisors, 258 County— Con tinued justice and police, 259 other officers, 262 charter government, 263-264 County Attorney, 259 County Board, 258 County Charter Govern- ment, 263 County Superintendent, school officer, 235, 263 Courts, federal duties in regard to naturali- zation, 55 organization of, 180-182 jurisdiction of, 182-183 practice and procedure in, 183-185 prestige of, 185 power to declare acts uncon- stitutional, 34, 185 character of justices, 186 Courts, State organization of, 187-190 civil and criminal procedure in, 190-196 punishments inflicted by, 196 the jury system, 196 reform in civil and criminal procedure, 197-204 selection and removal of judges, 204-207 Court of Claims, U. S., 181 Court of Customs Appeal, 181 Court of Domestic Rela- tions, 189 Criminal Procedure, 190-196 reform in, 197-204 Currency, U. S., 168 Dayton, Ohio, adoption of city- manager plan, 279 Death Penalty, 196 Debs, Eugene V. founder of Socialist Party, 79 and the Pullman strike, 108 Delaware amending process in, 46 power of courts to order a public whipping of offend- ers, 196 322 INDEX Delaware — Continued appointment of judges by- Governor, 205 Democracy, American, 27, 51, 70, 296, 306 Democratic Party origin of, 73 attitude toward interpreta- tion of constitution, 73 later history of, 75 organization of, 80-84 national nominating conven- tions, 95-100 methods for controlling Con- gress, 127, 136 and Tammany in New York, 310 Denver, 145, 189 Des Moines plan of city gov- ernment, 278 Dickens, Charles, service to educational reform, 288 Diplomatic Powers of Pres- ident,. 106 Diplomatic Service, 143 Direct Legislation, 218-223, 278, 299-301 Disarmament Conference of 192 1, 164 District Courts, U. S., 180 District of Columbia repre- sented in national nominat- ing conventions, 95, 96 Doctrine of Implied Powers, 38 Domestic Violence, federal government may protect States from, 107-108 Dred Scott Case, 52 Due Process of Law, 182 Economy and Efficiency, Commission on, 229 Education, State control of, 234 Electorate, place of, in a democracy, 70 Eliot, Charles W., advocates short ballot reform, 310 Ellis Island, 149 Eminent Domain, 243 English Origins, 13, 113, 235, 255, 260, 272 Excess Condemnation, 292 Expressed Powers, 39 Farewell Address, Washing- ton's, 43, 73 Farm Tenancy, 266 Fathers of the Constitu- tion, 16-25 work of, 16-22 criticisms of, 22-25 admire the System of Checks and Balances, 32-33 and the amending process, 35 plan for electing President, 93 plans for Congress, 117 and negotiation of treaties, 138 and national defense, 161 and the federal courts, 179 attitude as to power of courts to pass on constitutionality of acts, 185 Federal Farm Loan Board, 144, 267 Federal Reserve Act of 19 13, 169 Federal Reserve Board, 150, 169 Federal Trade Commission, 151, 172 Federalists urge ratification of federal constitution, 21, 72 urge liberal construction of constitution, 73 Fifteenth Amendment adoption of, 41 designed to protect political rights of Negroes, 61, 65 Filipinos, status of, 62 Finance, Senate committee on, 134, 166 Floor-Leader in House of Representatives, 127 in Senate, 136 Florida cession of, 62 appointment of trial judges by the Governor, 204 INDEX 323 Foreign Affairs, Senate com- mittee on, 134, 139 Fourteenth Amendment adoption of, 41 definition of citizen, 52 civic rights of Negroes, 61 France, constitution of 1791, 26 Franklin, Benjamin plan for colonial union, 15 member of convention of 1787, 18 anecdote concerning, 20 Galveston, Texas, commission form of government, 277 Gas Ring, in Philadelphia, 276 Gault, Dr. Robert H., on re- form of courts, 201 Geneva, seat of League of Na- tions, 160 Germany withdrawal of U. S. ambassa- dor from, 106 "pacific blockade" of Vene- zuela, 106 war with, 159 Gerrymander, 121 Gibbons vs. Ogden, 28, 39 Gladstone, praise of U. S. con- stitution, 12 Governor, State oath of National Guard to, 162 powers of, 21 1-2 14 as leader of legislature, 224- 227 and the budget, 228 Grand Rapids, Michigan, city- manager in, 280 Grant, Ulysses S., rejection of his San Domingo treaty, „ I35 U Great Britain declaration of independence from, 14 Venezuelan controversy, 107 opposes Holy Alliance, 158 member of Council of League of Nations, 160 Great Britain— Continued invited to Disarmament Con- ference, 164 leads in urban development, 269 Greenback Party, 76 Guam, 146 Habeas Corpus Act, 14 Habeas Corpus, suspension of, by Lincoln, 107 Hamilton, Alexander member of Convention of 1787, 18 author of doctrine of implied power, 38 in Washington's cabinet, 72, 113 Hanna, Mark, national chair- man in 1896, 82 Harding, William G. follows precedent of Wilson in reading messages, 109 as leader of Congress, 1 1 1 invites Vice-President into cabinet, 113 call of Disarmament Confer- ence, 164 Hawaii inhabitants of, U. S. citizens, 62 represented in national nom- inating conventions, 95, 96 under Department of Interior, 147 Hay, John rejection of his treaties, by Senate, 139 diplomatic victories of, 159 Hodges, Governor George II., criticism of State legisla- tures, 217 Hoover, Herbert, 148 Hough, Dr. Lynn IIakoi.d, on civic obligations, 67 House of Representative the popular branch of Con- gress, 19, 117 membership of, 120 congressional districts, 121 324 INDEX House of Representatives— Continued qualifications of members, 122-125 congressional elections, 125- 126 speaker of, 126-127 party caucus in, 127-128 committee system in, 127-130 Hughes, Charles E. leadership of, as Governor, 224 and primary elections, 306 short ballot advocate, 310 Illinois Commerce Commis- sion, 273 Illinois "saddlebag" district in, 122 courts in, 188 "administration measures" in General Assembly, 226 consolidation of administra- tive offices, 229 Blue Book of, 252 town-meetings in, 265 Immigration generous policy of America regarding, 58 history of, 59 evils of, 59 under charge of Department of Labor, 149 Impeachment, federal process, 34, 105, 118, 137, 139-140, 180 Implied Powers, 38 Income Tax federal, 41, 165 State, 250 Indiana amending process, 47 Taggart machine, 86 Information, a legal process, substituted for indictment, 194, 260 Inheritance Tax, 250 Initiative and Referendum State, 218, 223, 299-301 under commission form of city government, 278 Injunctions, in labor disputes, 173-174 Interior, Department of, 146 International Law, 159, 160 part of domestic law of U. S., 161 Interstate Commerce, power of Congress to regulate, 20, 40, 170 Interstate Commerce Com- mission, 150, 171 "Invisible Government," 88 Iowa study centers for teachers, 236 Official Register, 252 Jackson, Andrew leader of early Democratic Party, 73 and the "spoils system," 152 opposition to U. S. Bank, 168 Jefferson, Thomas sacrifice as President, 24 conflict with Marshall, 33-35 refuses to appear in court, 35 election as President in 1800, 4i in Washington's cabinet, 72, 113 leader of the Jeffersonian Re- publicans, 73 nominated by caucus in 1800, 94 on the President as spokesman of the nation, 106 and federal appointments, 152 on public education, 235 Jeffersonian Republican Party, 73 Johnson, Andrew, impeach- ment of, 140 Judicial Interpretation, ex- pansion of U. S. Constitu- tion by, 38 Judiciary. See Courts. Judiciary Act of 1789, 38, 180 Jury grand, 193 petit, 194 INDEX 325 Jury— Continued complaints against the jury system, 196 Justice, Department of, 145 Justice of the Peace, 188 Juvenile Court, 189-190 Kansas Court of Industrial Relations, 225, 244 Blue Sky Law, 243 Kentucky, first use of Aus- tralian ballot, 301 Knox, Henry, member of Wash- ington's cabinet, 72, 113 Labor, Department of, 148 Labor Problems federal, 172, 175 State, 244-247 La Follette, Robert M., as a filibuster, 136 League of Nations, 160 Lee, General Robert E., 30 Legislative Reference Bu- reau, 217 Library of Congress, 151 Lincoln, Abraham on the people, 51, 297 elected President in 1861, 75 exercise of war powers, 107 appeal to Governors, 213 Lindsey, Judge Ben B., 189 Lobby, in State legislatures, 218 Local Government, 255-258, 265-266 Lodge, Henry Cabot, as leader of Senate, 136 Los Angeles cost of schools, 288 water supply, 289 Los Angeles County, 264 Louisiana cession of, 62 prohibits State debts, 248 divided into parishes, 255, 258 Louisville, Kentucky, adopts Australian ballot, 302 Lowden, Governor Frank O. reform of pardons and pa- roles, 202 Lowden, Gov. Frank O.— C't'd and consolidation of adminis- trative offices in Illinois, 229 short ballot advocate, 310 Lowell, James Russell, on the federal constitution, 22 "Machine" to be distinguished from party organization, 86 methods of, 87 reasons for the existence of, 88-90, 226, 276, 297, 308 Madison, James leader in Convention of 1787, 17-18 as President, 25 use of term "national," 30 attitude toward parties, 72 on public education, 234 Madison's Journal, 17, 20 Magna Charta, 14, 197 Maine congressional elections in, 125 appointment of judges by Governor, 205 Marbury vs. Madison, 33, 185 Marshall, John, Chief Jus- tice on the constitution as a grant of powers, 28 on power of courts to pass on constitutionality of acts of Congress, 33 conflict with Jefferson, 33-35 uses doctrine of implied pow- ers, 38 member of Virginia conven- tion of 1829, 45 on the power to tax, 164 influence as Chief Justice, 186 Martial Law, 107, 213 Maryland, executive budget in, 228 Massachusetts constitution of 1780, 43 amending process, 48 appointment of judges by Governor, 205 life tenure of judges, 205 326 INDEX Massachusetts— Continued administrative offices in, 233 State Board of Health, 238 regulation of public utilities, 244, 291 labor problems, 244 medical examiners, 262 Remnant Act of 1904, 293 primaries in, 305 Mayor head of city administration, 273 powers of, 273 Mayor-President, under com- mission form of city gov- ernment, 278 McKinley, William, "front porch" campaign, 102 Merriam, Charles Edward, report on crime in Chicago, 201 Message to Congress, the President's, 106, 108 Mexico copied U. S. form of govern- ment, 103 declaration of war of 1846, 106 arbitration with, 159 Michigan prosecution by information in, 260 removal of sheriff by Gov- ernor, 261 town-meetings in, 265 Missouri State "boss" of, 86 "shoe-string" district in, 122 judicial circuits in, 259 Militia, definition of, 161. See National Guard Minimum Wage Commissions, State, 245 Minnesota prosecution by information in, 260 town-meetings in, 265 Minor vs. Happersett, 64 Minors, 52, 64 Mints, federal, 145 Mitchel, Mayor, 310 Mitchell, John, 247 Model American Citizen, 313 Money and Banking, 168 Monroe Doctrine, 107, 158 Monroe, James, as President, 25 Morals Court, in Chicago, 189 Morris, Gouverneur, remarks on purpose of society, 22 Mott, Lucretia, 42 Municipal Charters, 272 Municipal Home Rule, 271 Municipal Housing, 286 Municipal Ownership, of pub- lic utilities, 291 Municipal Voters' League, in Chicago, 311 National Chairman, 80-82, 95 National Committee, 80, 95 National Defense, 161-164 National Defense Act of 1916, 161, 247 National Forests, 176 National Guard, 161-162, 247 National Parks, 147 Naturalization Law of the U. S., 54-56 federal bureau of, 149 Navy, American, 163-164 Navy, Department of, 146, 163- 164 Nebraska, town-meetings in, 265 Negroes in the U. S. racial problems, 61 protected by the Civil War amendments, 61 Net- Weight Act, 172 Nevada, recall of judges, 205 New Bedford, Massachu- setts, foreign population in, 270 New England, local govern- ment in, 256 New England Confederation, 15 New Hampshire ninth State to ratify federal constitution, 21 INDEX 327 New Hampshire— Continued first State to frame a consti- tution, 43 appointment of judges by- Governor, 205 life tenure of judges, 205 unwieldy House of Repre- sentatives, 216 New Jersey plan of union proposed in Convention of 1787, 19 judges appointed by Gov- ernor, 205 regulation of charities in, 240 town meetings in, 265 New York City first seat of federal govern- ment, 22 Tammany Hall in, 86, 276, 285, 310 Night Court, 189 Roosevelt as police commis- sioner, 197 magistrates appointed by mayor, 204 population, 269 foreign population in, 270 Tweed ring, 276 Board of Aldermen, 276 expenditures, 281 Bureau of Municipal Re- search, 282 street cleaning, 285 Tenement House Commission, 286 Rent Law of 1920, 286 investment in parks, 287 cost of schools, 288 water supply, 290 New York State tariff contest with Connecti- cut, 15 amending process, 46 long tenure of judges, 205 administrative offices in, 216 Board of Regents, 235, 266 charities and correction in, 241 workmen's compensation law, 246 State police in, 247 large debt, 249 New York State— Continued taxation in, 250-251 "Legislative Manual," 252 removal of sheriff by Gov- ernor, 261 town-meetings in, 265 Public Service Commission, 291 primaries in, 305-306 Night Court, in New York City, 189 Nineteenth Amendment, adopted, 41, 65 Nonpartisan Voting, 310 North Carolina, prohibits State debts, 248 North Dakota Nonpartisan league in, 78 town-meetings in, 265 Northern Securities Com- pany Case, 182 Odell, Governor Benjamin B., political boss, 85 Ohio, prohibits State debts, 248 Oklahoma constitution of 1907, 44 vote on proposal to abolish State Senate, 223 Open Door Policy, 159 Oregon amending process, 47 recall of judges, 205 initiative and referendum in, 218-221 proposal of People's Power League to abolish the Sen- ate, 223 recall of State officers, 301 Panama, recognition by the U. S., 106 Pardons power of President to grant, 105 power of Governor, 212 Paris, Peace Conference at, 159 Parliament, British acts of, a part of British con- stitution, 28 unlimited powers, 36 328 INDEX Parliament, British— Cont'd Prime Minister, leader of, 104 moderation in legislation, 217 Parliamentary Form of Gov- ernment, 103-104 Payne-Aldrich Tariff, hi Penn, William, plan for col- onial union, 15 Pennsylvania delegation in convention of 1787, 18 long tenure of judges, 205 State police in, 247 Smull's Legislative Hand Book, 252 People, Fathers meant citizens, 51 People's Power League in Oregon, 223 Permanent Court of Inter- national Justice, 160 Perry, Commodore, 163 Personal Property Tax, 249, 281 Petition of Right, 14 Philadelphia Constitutional Convention at, 16 mint at, 145 population, 269 Gas Ring in, 276 cost of schools, 288 Philippines status of inhabitants, 62 represented in national nom- inating conventions, 95, 96 under War Department, 145 Pinchot, Gifford, 175 Platforms of political parties, 71 in presidential campaigns, 98 "Pocket Veto," ho Police, administration in cities, 282 Police Courts, 188 Political Rights, 64 Polk, James K., and declara- tion of war on Mexico, 106 Poor Relief in counties, 263 in cities, 289 Poll Tax, 250 Populist Party, 76 Porto Rico citizens of, 62 represented in national nom- inating conventions, 95, 96 under War Department, 145 Posse Comitatus, 261 Post Office, Department of, 146 Pound, Roscoe, 197 President of U. S. Washington elected as first, 22, 94 not amenable to judicial proc- ess, 34-35 election of, 93-103 position of, under System of Checks and Balances, 104, 118 appointing powers, 104-105 power to grant reprieves and pardons, 105 diplomatic powers, 106-107 military powers, 107-108, 145 legislative powers, 1 08-1 10 political powers, 110-112 cabinet of, 11 2-1 15 succession to, 114 as representative of the peo- ple, 115 impeachment of, 118, 137 oath of National Guard to, 162 President's Cabinet. See Cabinet. President's Message. See Message to Congress. Presidential Elections, of 1912, 77 Presidential Electors in 1789, 21 plan of the Fathers in regard to, 37, 92-94 changes made by Twelfth Amendment , 41 selection of tickets of, 100- 102 election of President by, 102- 103 INDEX 329 Presidential Form of Gov- ernment, 103-104 Presidential Primaries, 97 Primaries presidential, 97 congressional, 126 methods, 303 closed and open primaries, 304 Prime Minister, functions un- der parliamentary govern- ments, 103 Prison Commission, New York, 242 Progressive Party and woman suffrage, 42 in the election of 1912, 77 Prohibition national, 41 enforcement of, 144 Public Health, Safety and Morals, 172 regulation of by State gov- ernments, 238 by city governments, 284 Public Utilities, 289 Public Welfare, and State governments, 233-252 Pure Food and Drugs Act, 145, 147, 172 Quay, Senator Matthew S., political boss, 85 Railroad Labor Board, 150, 174 Railways, federal regulation of, 40, 170 Randolph, Edmund member of Convention of 1787, 16 member of Washington's cab- inet, 72, 113 Ray, P. Orman on initiative and referendum, 221 summary of Australian bal- lot, 302 Real Property Tax, 249, 281 Recall of judges, 205 Recall —Continued under commission form of city government, 278, 301 of State officers, 301 Reed, Thomas B., as speaker, 131 Representatives, U. S. apportionment of, 120 qualifications of, 122 expulsion of, from House, 124 election of, 125-126 Removal power of, by the President, 105 by Governor, 212 Reprieves, power of President to grant, 105 Republican Party attitude toward interpreta- tion of constitution, 73 origin of, 74 organization of, 80-84 national nominating conven- tions, 95-100 methods for controlling Con- gress, 127, 136 and the Thompson-Lundin machine in Chicago, 310 Reserve Officers' Training Corps, 161 Residual Powers, 29 Rhode Island retention of colonial charter as State constitution, 14, 43 no delegate in convention of 1787, 16 "State boss" of, 88 election of judges by legisla- ture, 204 life tenure of judges, 205 Richmond, Virginia, municipal electric plant, 284 "Riders," attached to bills, no, 176 Rus, Jacob, his "Battle with the Slum," 286 Robinson, Mrs. Corinne Roosevelt, 99 Roosevelt, Theodore on civic obligations, 66 formation of Progressive Party, 77 33<> INDEX Roosevelt, Theodore— Cont'd on political bosses, 87 recognition of Panama, 106 opposed "pacific blockade" of Venezuela, 106, 157 threat to veto bills, 109 leader of his party, m on the Civil Service, 152 on a "league of peace," 159 and the problem of trusts, 172 and conservation of natural resources, 175 as police commissioner of New York, 197 conference of Governors, 213 leadership of, as Governor, 224 on short ballot reform, 308, 310 Root, Elihu on "invisible government," 88 on reform of civil procedure, 198 short ballot advocate, 310 Rural Credits, 266 Saint Louis, board of police commissioners, appointed by Governor, 283 Samoa, 146 San Francisco, 145 Schools rural, 236 vocational training in, 236 cost of, 282, 288 city, 288 Scott, Colin A., on progress in education, 288 Secretaries, federal, 112, 142, 149. See State, Treasury, War, etc. Secretary of State, 112-113, 143 Secretary of State, in State governments, 214 Secretary of the Treasury, 112-113, 144, 150 Selective Service Act of 1917, 162 Senate plan of the Fathers concern- ing, 117, 135 special sessions of, 120 membership of, 131-132 election of Senators, 132-133 organization of, 133-134 freedom of debate in, 134-136 party control in, 136 legislative functions of, 137- combination of appointments, 138 ratification of treaties, 138 rejection of Treaty of Ver- sailles, 160 Senatorial Courtesy, 37, 105, 138 Seniority, rule of, in Congress, 128 Sessions, regular, of Congress, 1 19-120 Sessions, special, of Congress, 109 Shays's Rebellion, 15 Sheriff, county officer, 260 Sherman Anti-Trust Law, 171, 183 Sherman, Roger, 24 Short Ballot, 306 Smith, R. H., his Justice and the Poor, 197 Smithsonian Institution, 151 Socialist -Labor Party, 77-78 Socialist Party, 77-78 "Solid South," 75 South, attitude in convention of 1787, 19-20 South Carolina, election of judges by the legislature, 205 South Dakota initiative and referendum in, 218 town-meetings in, 265 Spain, constitution since 18 12, 26 Speaker of House of Repre-. sentatives, 126-127 "Spoils System," 154 INDEX 33i Springfield, Massachusetts, civic center in, 292 State Central Committee, 82, 85 State Conventions, of politi- cal parties, 85, 97 State, Department of, 143, 298 State Government powers of the Governor, 211- 214 administration, 214-215 State legislature, 215-218 initiative and referendum, 218-223 reconstruction of, 223-230 public welfare, 233-252 supervision of local govern- ment by, 265-266 control over municipalities, 271-272 State Judiciary, compared with federal, 184 State Legislature powers of, 215 organization, 216 criticism of, 216-218 initiative and referendum, 218-223 reorganization of, 223-224 Governor as leader, 224-227 and the budget, 227-228 State Parties, 84-85 State Police, 247 State Politics, 83-91 States, original thirteen declaration of independence, 14 • sovereignty of, 15, 29 States powers prohibited to, 29 powers retained by, 29 relation to federal govern- ment, 30 constitutions of, 43-48 obligation of federal govern- ment to protect, 107-108 governments of, 210-230 public welfare of, 233-252 State's Rights, 30-31 Staunton, Virginia, use of city-manager plan, 280 "Steering Committee," 127, „ I36 Suffrage, Fathers left ques- tion of, to the States, 65 Superintendent of Docu- ments, sale of copies of U. S. constitution, 27 Superintendent of Public Education, State officer, 215, 235 Supervisors, county officers, 258 Supreme Court position in System of Checks and Balances, 33-35 power to declare acts uncon- stitutional, 34, 185 no jurisdiction over Presi- dent, 34-35 on "regulation of commerce," 39. . definition of citizen, 52 on political rights, 64 on President's removal power, 105 case of Debs, 108 on international law as part of domestic law, 161 on Sherman Anti-trust law, 172 tenure of justices, 180 organization, 180 jurisdiction of, 182 procedure in, 184 Susan B. Anthony Amend- ment, 42 Taft, William Howard on the Oklahoma constitu- tion, 44 on extending the President's veto power, 1 10 as leader of his party, 1 1 1 on giving seats in Congress to cabinet officers, 114 rejection of his arbitration treaties, 139 on need of reform of judicial procedure, 201 on appointed and elected judges, 205 332 INDEX Taft, William Howard— C't'd Commission on Economy and Efficiency, 229 short ballot advocate, 310 Taggart Machine, in Indiana, 86 Tammany Hall, 86, 90, 276, 310 Tariff, 165 Tariff Commission, 151 Taxation federal, 164-166 State, 248-251 city, 281 Tennyson, on British freedom, 28 Tenth Amendment, adopted in 1791, 29 The Hague Conference, 159 Third Parties, 76-80 Thirteenth Amendment adoption of, 41 freedom of Negroes, 61 Thompson-Lundin Machine, 86, 206, 276, 310 Torrens System, 263 Town-Meeting, New England, 256, 265 Township, 264-265 Treasury, Department of, 144 Treaties negotiation of, by President, 105, 138 ratification of, by Senate, 138-139 Turgot, quoted, 58 Tweed Ring, in New York, 276 Twelfth Amendment, adopted, 4i,94 Unconstitutionality of Acts, 33 Underwood, Oscar W., as party leader in Senate, 136 Union proposals of union in colonial times, 15 Washington on, 16 Virginia and New Jersey plans, 19 struggle to create, 20 United States Shipping Board, 151 Venezuela aided by Roosevelt, 106, 157 controversy of 1896, 107 Vermont, election of judges by legislature, 205 Versailles, Treaty of, 139 Veterans' Bureau, 151 Veto of President, part of System of Checks and Balances, 32 President's power of, 109 Governor's power of, 212 mayor's power of, 274 Vice-President, 21, 37, 94, 141 as member of President's cab- inet, 112-113 succession to presidency, 114 presiding officer of Senate, 134, 140 Virgin Islands, 146 Virginia quarrel with Maryland, 16 delegation from, in Conven- tion of 1787, 16 convention of 1829, 45 election of judges by legisla- ture, 205 leadership of Governor in, 227 prohibits State debts, 248 Virginia Plan, proposed in Convention of 1787, 19 Vocational Training, 236 War, Department of, 145, 162 Washington, Booker T., ad- vice to Negroes, 62 Washington, George President of the Convention of 1787, 16 elected President of U. S., 22, 298 character defended, 23 sacrifice as President, 24 on amending the constitution, 43 attitude toward parties, 72 delivered annual message in person, 108 cabinet of, 72, 113 on purpose of bicameral legis- lature, 118 INDEX 333 Washington, George — Cont'd experience with Senate in ne- gotiating treaties, 138 foreign policy of, 157, 159 Water Power, federal control over, 176 Waterways, system of, 177 Ways and Means, House com- mittee on, 128, 166 West Point, military academy, 161 White House, cabinet meets in, 113 Wigmore, John Henry, pro- posal for a chief judicial superintendent, 200 Wilson, Woodrow elected President in 19 12, 76 nominated in Baltimore con- vention, 99 withdraws ambassador from Germany, 106 revives practice of reading messages in person, 109 leader of his party, 1 1 1 compels Senate to adopt a cloture rule, 136 advice to Presidents on hand- ling Senators, 139 his Fourteen Points and the World War, 159 Wilson, Woodrow — Continued leadership of, as Governor of New Jersey, 224 short ballot advocate, 307, 309, 3io Wisconsin party committeemen elected in primaries, 85 Legislative Reference Bureau in, 217 Minimum wage commission, 245 prosecution by information in, 260 removal of sheriff by Gov- ernor, 261 town-meetings in, 265 regulation of public utilities, 291 primaries in, 305 Woman Suffrage, amendment to U. S. constitution, 42, 65 Working-Men's Party, 79 Workmen's Compensation Laws, 246 World War, influence on U. S., 159, 165, 167 Wyoming, and woman suffrage, 65 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 012 050 976 7 I