Ubc Bmerican State Series PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY BY JESSE MACY PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AT QRINNELL COLLEGE, FORMERLY IOWA COLLEGE 1 »>,J*«! NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1918 Copyright, 1904, 1912, by The Centur-j Co. (I CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE i The Political Cycle 3 n The American Party as a Unifying Agency . 15 III Presidential Leadership 25 IV Congressional Leadership 43 V Party Terminology 56 VI The National Committee 65 VII The Congressional Committee 87 VIII State Party Organization 96 IX Party Organization in a Republican State— Pennsylvania Ill X Democratic Party Organization in Pennsyl- vania 127 XI Party Organization in a New England State —Massachusetts 133 XII Parties in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania Compared 145 xiii Party Organization in a Typical Doubtful State— Indiana 165 xrv Party Organization in Missouri 176 XV Party Organization in the South .... 186 ill ii*78313 CONTENTS CBAPTKB PAGE XVI Legalized Party Organization — California 198 XVII Party Reorganization 207 xvin Effect of the City upon the Party System . 216 ^ XIX Party Finance 236 XX The Party in Power and the Party in Op- position 248 XXI Party Accessories 260 XXII The Party as a Teaching Agency .... 274 xxiii Party Loyalty 283 Appendix 289 Index 311 IV PREFACE This work is intended as a contribution to the more perfect understanding of the American party system as an integral part of the political institutions of the country. Party organization is described in its re- lations to presidential, congressional, and senatorial leadership. Party Organization and Leadership would have been, indeed, as consistent a title as the one chosen. Much difficulty was encountered in the formulation of a plan for the presentation of state and local party organization. The one finally adopted involved the selection of certain typical States and localities for illustrating different phases of local organization. But this is by no means adequate or satisfactory. A text should be prepared giving full and authoritative information as to party organization in every State and Territory of the Union. In States where party rules are printed, little would be required except to collect and publish these. Specimen copies of such party guides are given in the Appendix of this book. Future publications ought to make it as easy for the citizen and the student to gain reliable intelligence V PREFACE concerning the party organization as concerning any other part of the government. Indeed the necessity for thorough knowledge of party machinery is pre- eminent, because it is the citizen's only means of access to other instruments of government. The good citizens who do not believe in the party system should be made to realize that the maintenance of an atti- tude of aggressive ignorance toward the means of government now in use tends to render it extremely improbable that a superior agency will be discovered. The author is indebted to the editor of this series for many helpful suggestions. Professor James A. Woodbum, of the State University of Indiana, has rendered timely assistance. From him was received a large part of the information used in the prepara- tion of the chapter on Indiana. A long list of names might be given, in addition, of members of Congress and other public officers, of members of the various party committees, state and Federal, of newspaper reporters, and other citizens who have supplied valu- able information or have pointed out the sources of Imowledge. To all of these grateful acknowledg- ments are due. Jesse Macy. Iowa College, Gbinnell, Iowa, September 17, 1904. VI PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION During the eight years since the publication of this book the reorganization of the party system has been a subject of continuous debate in all the States. The change from the nominating convention to the direct primary was already begun, as is shown in the chap- ters on Massachusetts and the South. Reasons for this change were pointed out in the chapter on Pennsyl- vania. In this new edition the original chapters re- main practically unchanged. A chapter is added on California which gives in miniature the complete revolution in the party system. There the party ma- chine passed into the hands of a business corporation which then by means of it controlled the government. To regain power over their government the people have taken the nominating process out of the hands of the voluntary party organization and have made it a state function. The party thus becomes a legally rec- ognized agent of the State; party committees become state officers elected by the State to fulfill legally pre- scribed duties. The revolution which has taken place in California has been experienced also in a majority of the States. Much, however, of the convention sys- vii PREFACE tern still remains, and a knowledge of that system is essential to an understanding of the new plan. Little change was therefore required in the text of the first edition; but additional chapters explain the process of change from the convention to the direct primary. Grinnell, Iowa, May 3, 1912. vm INTRODUCTION Thousands of years of slow progress toward democ- racy have marked the history of human government; but thus far only an imperfect and confused idea of the democratic state has been attained by the common citizen, and we must hence conclude that the establish- ment of government in harmony with the principles of democracy, government through the formation and expression of a self-conscious, authoritative general will and purpose, is among the most difficult of hu- man endeavors. The development of the democratic state is opposed not alone by the disposition of the strong to enslave the weak ; a far greater obstacle has been the subjection of the masses of the people to blind, unreasoning instinct and custom. The vol- untary association of subjects to resist the encroach- ments of tyrannical rulers has evolved the idea of democracy. In this way, large and ever larger bodies of men have become trained in habits of forming and executing a common purpose, and despotism has thus contributed to its own downfall. It has always been an easy matter for powerful subjects to depose an obnoxious ruler ; but it has been exceedingly difficult to secure in place of the tyranny destroyed a more tolerable form of government. Many states have been overthrown through conflicts between masters and ix INTRODUCTION slaves, or between tyrants and subjects. Only under rare.rand peculiar conditions, in the midst of peoples of Exceptional morality and enlightenment, has there been continuous progress toward the betterment of government by the substitution for the will of rulers of a consciously formed general will on the part of subjects. One institution there is which is peculiarly fitted to throw much needed light upon the mysterious pro- cesses involved in this slow evolution of the modern democratic state. The political party has appeared in every modern state where the principles of democracy have secured recognition. Parties, we are told, have appeared in all historic states ; but this is true or false according to the definition of the term. In some of the modern states the party is an established political institution whose professed object is the discovery and expression of the will of the body politic. In the United States, and in the various states of the British Empire, distinct party government exists ; legislation, administration, and to a limited extent judicial pro- cesses, are in the hands of men who feel joint respon- sibility as members of a political party. The party in power is accountable to the entire people for the well- being of the state, and this responsibility is enforced by the presence of a rival party equally united and established, equally organized, whose duty it is to watch the conduct of the party in office, to expose its defects, to criticize its policy, and in case of its failure to fulfil the general will to displace the delinquent government and assume its responsibilities. It is quite in order for the opponents of party gov- INTRODUCTION eminent to maintain that the system fails in all of its professions ; that it is a device for the prevention c f the expression of the common will ; that it misleads ana ob- scures public opinion ; that it is simply another form of despotism. It is not in order, however, for any one to deny that the modern party is an interesting and im- portant political institution and worthy of the careful attention of the student of government. It is not in order for one who would throw light upon the progress of political thought to confuse the modern party with other associations and organizations, ancient and re- cent, which happen to be called by the same name. Everything vital has its roots in the past. The modern party system of government grew out of former con- ditions ; yet it is as unique in its leading characteris- tics as are the theories of the modern democratic state with which it has been in close association. The friends and the enemies of the system ought to find common ground in the admission that it is as original and as distinct from all that has gone before as any- thing political can be. Still further should they agree in conceding that it is not an artificial product inten- tionally formed and projected at a given date. In its earlier stages especially, it came without observation. The statesmen w^ho inaugurated the policies which finally resulted in making the party an established political institution, were wholly unconscious of the ultimate consequences of their course. The party grew and became dominant in spite of the protests of the wise and the learned. Walpole was accustomed to deny that England was governed by a secret con- clave of Whigs. Bolingbroke perceived the tendency xi INTRODUCTION toward the establishment of government by party and denounced it in unmeasured terms. At the same time he recognized the fact that the term party as used in the time of Walpole denoted something distinct from the earlier political factions. Party and faction he declared to be both bad; but he conceded that the party at least professed to seek the commonweal and that under certain conditions it may be wisely used, while he accounted faction wholly selfish and evil. "While the party is found in every state in which public opinion is an openly recognized factor, the form of organization exhibits great variety. In Eng- land during the eighteenth century the cabinet found means of harmonizing the legislative, the executive, and a limited body of voters; and, as the head of a political faction or party, it became known as the party in power. For a long time the organization was confined chiefly to the legislature ; but when the voting constituency was enlarged, after 1832, party organi- zation was extended to the voters themselves, and the English party system has since been adopted in the self-governing colonies of the Empire. It is distinctly a biparty system ; the body of men who, for the time, conduct the government has the support of a majority in the legislature, but it depends for its existence as a party upon the fact that it is confronted by the leaders of an opposing party who stand ready to exchange places so soon as they can succeed in winning the ad- herence of a majority of the legislature and of the voters. A different type of party organization prevails in various states of Continental Europe, each state pre- xii INTRODUCTION senting its own peculiarities. All are, however, alike in this, that no one party is large enough to control the legislature, majorities being secured by a combi- nation of party groups. Some of these parties repre- sent special interests, as the Church or the landed aristocracy. The Socialists in Germany and some of the other states have become a large and growing party by appealing to a wider range of interests, and by advocating governmental reforms. But in none of these states has party government become as distinct and definite as under the biparty systems of England and the United States. In all their varied forms and stages of development the European parties serve as landmarks on the way to democracy. America has contributed to world politics a new system for the federation of states. Her legislative procedure, her methods of administration, and the re- lations of the executive to the legislature, are distin- guished by marks of originality. America was the; first state to make the legislature subject to the judi-' ciary ; our local government, the government of cities, the public school system, are peculiarly our own. Yet, of all our political institutions, not one is so new, so entirely made, as it were, out of whole cloth as the American party system. Like the English it involves two equal and coordinate parties ; but the English system is bipartizan because of the fusion with the cabinet system of government, while in America there has never appeared the slightest suggestion of the cabinet form of government. Some superficial connection can, indeed, be made out between the two party systems from the fact that certain opposing xiii INTRODUCTION opinions had come to be associated in America with the English party names Whig and Tory. Jefferson stigmatized the Federalists as the American Tories; and in later years the name Whig was saddled upon the opponents of Jackson through the far-fetched analogy to English Whig resistance to the Stuarts and to George III; but the form of organization of the American party had nothing English about it. While our party system is without Old World mod- els, it is strikingly in harmony with our other forms of political activity. The same qualities and condi- tions that have stamped the mark of originality upon other American political institutions have made our party government unique. Before independence was acquired there had been upon the Western Continent nearly two hundred years of practice in the organiza- tion of political and social institutions in a free and open field,— two hundred years of the movement of an experienced people upon vacant lands of boundless fer- tility and extent. After independence the organizing went on in the wide territory of the West. Settlers, self-moved, invaded new regions and created for them- selves such institutions as they desired. In many in- stances the land" was occupied without the warrant of law, and in more than one case State government has been organized and recognition forced upon an un- willing Congress. When we are told that the Amer- ican party is characterized by an excess of organiza- tion, we may reply that America has had, in compari- son with the old world, an excess of organizing experience. In the older countries men are the sub- jects of institutions whose origin is lost in obscurity. xiv INTRODUCTION Americans know when and how their political institutions came into being. If their party organi- zation is pronounced artificial they remember that in that particular too it is like their other institutions, — like, for example, that vast system of land survey which at the same time marks the limits of property, bounds local municipalities, and determines the loca- tion of highways, all in utter disregard of the physical features of the country. The two great organizations, known respectively as the Democratic and Republican parties, whose rami- fications reach to every voting precinct in the land, appear to be as permanent a part of the government under which we live as do our systems of local govern- ment. They have been more than a hundred years in forming. They have all that time had arrayed against them a large and influential body of public opinion, yet they have continued to grow until the great multi- tude of our citizens have come to believe that no other scheme is possible in a country such as ours. And even those whose convictions are opposed to the system concede that it must last until a better one is evolved. Here is an institution which from every point of view challenges the careful attention of the student of pol- itics. The institutional political party furnishes the first clearly definable agency for coordinating and express- ing the general will of the subjects of a large and populous state in such a way as to provide a tolerable substitute for despotic government. Strange indeed would it be if this first device for the accomplishment of a task hitherto impossible should not abound in XV INTRODUCTION crudities and defects. A sense of imperfection must be associated with all political institutions in a progres- sive state. Only thus are men stimulated to adequate efforts for initiating reforms. But the political party grew out of contention; from the very nature of its functions it has been kept in the field of rasping con- troversy; by virtue of those functions it has ever incurred a maximum of damaging criticism, while at the same time, in America at least, among all our varied and interesting institutions it has received a minimum of impartial, scientific study and exposition.^ 1 The writings of Lord Bolingbroke are especially important for the light they throw upon the evolution of the party from the older factions. They contain an early suggestion that, un- der certain conditions, the party may be made useful. Burke's apotheosis of the Whig party is a classic instance of glorification of party by a party leader. Various references to party and fac- tion found in Tlie Federalist illustrate the type of American ideas which prevailed before the American party system appeared. (See paper No. X, by Madison.) April 12, 1808, James Hillhouse introduced a bill into the United States Senate for changing the method of electing the President, with the object of saving the country from ruin through party organization. The remarks upon this bill by mem- bers of the Senate, the references to the subject of the measure which are found in the life of Timothy Pickering and in the lec- tures of Chancellor Kent, throw much light upon the sentiment then prevalent against party organization. Thomas H. Benton's "Thirty Years in the United States Senate" exhibits a corre- sponding apprehension at the time of the development of the nominating convention system, during the second quarter of the century. Every new phase in the growth of party machinery has called forth fresh criticism and warning. The literature hostile to the political party is of peculiar importance because of its portrayal xvi INTRODUCTION of a clear recognition of the party as a distinct political institu- tion. Of these attacks upon the party system, Ostrogorski's work is the latest and in many respects the most important. No one can read his book, however, without realizing that the party system is a positive fact to be reckoned with. Those who have written in defense of parties, or from a friendly or sympathetic spirit, have usually failed to recognize in the party a political institution unique, peculiar, and of the deepest significance. Party history such as forms a part of campaign literature is not the history of a party, but is rather political history from a partizan standpoint. The difficulty of distinguishing party his- tory from political history, is illustrated in the experience of Mr. Gordy. The first volume of his work was issued under the title of "A History of Political Parties" ; but in the hands of review- ers the book was shown to be an excellent political history, but not a history of parties. The title was afterward changed to correspond with the facts. In a review of Mr. Gordy's book, Pro- fessor F. J. Turner points out the manner in which a true history of political parties might be written ; but before such a work as he describes would meet with due appreciation, there must have been created a reading public capable of understanding what the historian is talking about. While Mr. Bryce was engaged in collecting material for "The American Commonwealth," he was astonished to find that no one had taken in hand a description of the party system. Much had, indeed, been written about parties, but their importance as an integral part of our political system had escaped notice. Mr. Bryce's own chapters on the subject are of especial interest as an introduction to a new type of expository party literature. Since the publication of the first edition of this book in 1904 a large body of literature on the party system has appeared. For an excellent bibliography of the subject see C. A. Beard's "American Government and Politics" (1910). xvu PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY CHAPTER I THE POLITICAL CYCLE American party machinery has for its professed ob- ject the securing and maintaining of control over the executive and legislative departments of government. In its dual aspects it has grown up around the Presi- dency, and its most manifest, most spectacular, and, in the general public view, most important purpose is that connected with the choice of the Chief Magistrate. The election of a President is, however, but one of its many functions, though that may be regarded as the culmination of its activities and that upon which all others have an ultimate bearing. The national political life falls into a series of periods four years in length. A political cycle begins and ends with the election of a President, when the public excitement reaches its highest point and then, under the ordinary conditions, quickly subsides. Taking the presidential year— the year of the great conventions, the campaign, and the final election— as the end of the series and the period of transcendent interest, the year following may be reckoned the be- 3 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY ginning of the new cycle, when organization appears to the uninstructed observer to lie dormant and public interest is at its low^est ebb. The remarkable events of the preceding year, which have brought out into strong light before the people the gigantic agencies in use for ascertaining and regis- tering the popular will, the intense efforts of the op- posing party organs in the great struggle, the stupen- dous exhibition of skill, of earnestness, and of determination, all have tended to obscure and divert attention from many important facts respecting party organizations and their permanent and unceasing usefulness. The time of least pronounced activity may, therefore, be the most convenient for the begin- ning of a definite study of parties and party action. Each year of the quadrennial period has its own peculiar political significance. In each year elections occur in all of the States, and all have to the eye of the politician some bearing upon the final contest of the presidential year. The first year of the quadrennial cycle is an odd-numbered year, since the presidential election always occurs upon an even-numbered year. Reaction has followed the supreme political effort; many of the extraordinary party agencies are dis- banded ; the new administration has scarcely become established or manifested its distinctive character ; no Federal officers are to be chosen ; no Federal policies or principles are involved. It would appear that only state and local interests need be at all considered. There is, however, one point, even on this first of the "off years," where state and Federal politics touch. Because one third of the members of the Senate of the 4 THE POLITICAL CYCLE United States are elected every two years, some of the States will this year elect members of the state legis- lature who will help to choose a senator of the United States. For the nomination and election of the state and local officers the national party organizations are called into play in all the States and exercise complete control. Nominations are made through the use of party machinery ; party lines are recognized in the selection of candidates ; party committees look after the registration of voters and conduct the canvass. For this use of party agencies when no partizan policy is directly involved a variety of reasons may be given. In the first place, it is economical to make use of the already existing machinery to accomplish the necessary business rather than to do the work with unusual effort and pains by the creation of new forms and methods. Again, party managers sometimes take especial care to give impetus to the party organs in an "off year," because of the conviction that it strengthens the party to use its agencies whenever opportunity offers. It is considered a good party habit to marshal all the voters and bring them to the polls at every election. The moral effect also of a party vic- tory at such a time is accounted important in its re- lations to the great contest of the presidential year. . The year midway between two presidential elec- tions, an even-numbered year, is of especial impor- tance, because then an entire new House of Represen- tatives is chosen by direct vote of the people, and the same year one third of the membership of the national Senate is renewed by the action of state legislatures. The elections of this second year of the quadrennial 5 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY cycle have the same effect upon the composition of the Federal legislature as do those of the presidential year. Since they bear so directly upon national politics these elections are watched and guided with the greatest care by the managers of the party organizations. The administration has now shown its spirit and policy and the country is given an opportunity to indorse or disavow its course. It is, par excellence, the period of criticism of the administration, and effects of the general discussion appear in the autumn elections. As a rule, the House of Representatives elected in presidential years has a majority, more or less strong, of the party which has elected the President; but by the elections of this mid-period that majority may be entirely reversed. Since 1874 this has happened fre- quently. Examples readily recalled are those of 1890, during Harrison's administration, and 1894, in Cleve- land's second term. The second odd-numbered year of the cycle, as that immediately preceding the presidential election, shows most clearly the influence of that approaching event. Although only state and local officers are to be chosen and the only bearing of the elections of this year upon Federal politics is through the fact that some of the state legislatures chosen will elect United States senators, yet interest is sustained by the injection into the campaign of an unusual amount of attention to national issues and there is marked party activity throughout all sections of all the States. Every step of the procedure is ordered and controlled by respon- sible party agents under the influence of the national party committees. Candidates are nominated, regis- 6 THE POLITICAL CYCLE tration lists scrutinized, hundreds of thousands of party workers put into service in order to bring out a full vote, all with a view to the ultimate effect upon party fortunes in the coming year. The occasion fur- nishes a test for the party machinery. Every wheel and cog and shaft is thoroughly polished, every belt and lever is carefully examined, weak points are strengthened, and the whole is judiciously oiled, that all may be in readiness for the critical operations for which the great engine primarily exists. For the fourth and closing year of the political cycle all party activities are intensified and popular interest greatly quickened. Pai ty committees are multiplied and the labors of party leaders become in- creasingly exacting. Every State, in addition to state and local officials, chooses members of the lower House of Congress and the required number of presidential electors, while the members of the state legislatures are selected with a view to their action in the election of United States senators. Over all the national com- mittees exercise the keenest and closest supervision. The comprehensive and all-pervading nature of party organization in America enforces the need for a general understanding and appreciation of the place and mission of the party in the national life. Party issues and the doctrines which form the basis of party divisions, all pertain to the legislative and executive policies of the general government. Only the Presi- dent and members of Congress represent distinctive party principles. But party organizations neverthe- less control the filling of nearly all offices in the gift of the people. The governors of States and the mem- 7 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY bers of state legislatures are chosen with as strict ref- erence to party lines as are the corresponding Federal officers. In all the States, also, the local offices in counties, cities, and townships are filled through the agencies of the one all-embracing national organ. An exception to this general fact is commonly seen in the elections of local school-boards. There is a wide- spread sentiment in favor of conducting the work of education without regard to party divisions. School elections are usually held in the spring, at the time farthest removed from poFitieal excitement, and the nominations and elections take place without the use of party machinery. But in general few voters par- ticipate in such elections, and if, from any cause, a widespread and sustained interest is aroused in a series of school elections the party engine is likely to be brought into use. A similar view has prevailed in respect to the gov- ernment of cities, and city elections have also been separated from the general state elections. Yet, in most eases the political parties have continued to domi- nate city government, and municipal elections, fixed though they are in many States in the spring, only fur- nish an additional occasion for bringing into play the ordinary party machinery and another opportunity to test the party spirit after the frosts of winter. The difficulty of removing an office from partizan control is successfully dealt with in one effective way by the use for the purpose of the regular party or- ganizations. Party leaders have in some localities reached the conclusion that the State would be better served by placing the judiciary outside the reach of 8 THE POLITICAL CYCLE party contests. It has then been found possible for the leaders of the opposing organizations to agree upon a method of nomination and election mutually satis- factory, and as long as such an agreement holds par- tizanship is effectually removed. Party organs them- selves can make and keep an election non-partizan. It is next to impossible for any other power to do so. With one exception all the political institutions which Americans have created, have abounded in checks and balances and limitations of jurisdiction. The party alone is an institution without checks or balances or limitations of power, except such as arise from the dual nature of the institution itself. The two parties do constantly condition and modify each other. One may be overpowered by the other. But, apart from the restraint which each party exercises upon the conduct of its opponent, our party organiza- tions, in their present phase of development, are the most thoroughly centralized of American institutions. One might suppose that through its own hierarchy of permanent oflBcials each party might provide within itself a series of restraining influences which would constitute effective checks and balances. The party organization corresponds to the various governmental areas in our complex Federal system. Each has its national committee, its state central committee in every State; its county, township, ward, and district committees. Why not assume that the state and local committees would exercise independent powers corre- sponding to their governments ? In a limited way they do. Yet thus far party names have stood almost wholly for Federal policies. Local issues and policies 9 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY have been ignored. State and local committees have thus been made to feel that their sole reason for ex- istence as party officials was the fulfilment of the be- hests of those near the source of authority. From the very nature of its professed object the party has been controlled by the President, the members of Congress, and the national committees. It is by no means to be inferred that this extreme centralization within the party itself is necessary or desirable, or that the wide variation in local condi- tions and local needs is not even now matter for con- sideration and regard by the national party organs. It is even essential to the strength of the party that its machinery should be flexible enough to adapt itself, in some degree at least, to local requirements in the different States. The state central committee in each State, with its chairman and secretary, who receive and execute orders from above, exercises much leeway as to its course in respect to matters purely local. Since state politics is so separate and distinct from Federal politics, it is possible for the state committee to interest itself in many concerns of state policy quite independently of the instructions of the na- tional committee. This is often done. Leaders of the party within the State project and carry out purely state party policies. In theory at least it strengthens the position of the national organization for its local branches in the State to satisfy local needs, and each of the great parties permits a wide range of adapta- tion in the party organism for the purpose. The party seeks to build its own achievements into the unique and peculiar life of each individual 10 THE POLITICAL CYCLE State. Party usefulness along this line has been hitherto restricted by lack of understanding of the beneficent possibilities. As the highly cen- tralized party organization has actually been worked, it has often interfered with local well-being or has sacrificed it to the supposed national in- terest. With a better and more general knowledge of the place and the M^ork of the political party its local efficiency and beneficence may be vastly enhanced. Public attention has been concentrated too much upon the purely Federal aspect of party conduct; in fact, by far the larger proportion of the labor of the machine is expended in the management of party affairs within the States and the lesser political areas. Of all the hundreds of thousands of party workers throughout the land, only a small minority are di- rectly engaged in the business connected with choosing the few Federal officers— the President, Vice-Presi- dent, and members of Congress. In the minor gov- ernmental divisions of the States the innumerable party agents every year, and year after year, operate the party appliances for filling the thousands of local offices and carrying on local party business which has only a remote bearing upon national party objects. One example of serious maladjustment between the constitution of the political party and that of the United States demands attention. The rise of a cen- tralized, autocratic organization to control the entire process of nomination and election to office was not contemplated by the framers of the national Constitu- tion, As soon as the party appeared it was found that the constitutional method of electing the Presi- 11 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY dent had become impossible. The Constitution as- sumed that presidential electors would be chosen who would act upon their own judgment. The party in- stitution has reduced those electors to subordinate ministerial agents, and the people, in effect, elect their President as if voting directly for him. Harmony be- tween party and Constitution has been attained by changing the Constitution. l| A similar difficulty not yet overcome arises from the indirect method of electing United States senators. It is not so easy here to harmonize the Constitution and party necessities. By but one approach the voter has access both to his state and his national government. The one party nominates candidates for the state legislature and for the two Houses of Congress. It often happens that a voter finds himself in accord with one of the parties in respect to state policy and with the opposing party in respect to Federal policy. In choosing members of the lower House of Congress, such a voter is entirely free to act upon his prefer- ences. He may vote for the Democratic candidate for Congress and vote at the same time for the Republi- can candidate for his state legislature. But a voter has no such liberty in respect to choosing mem- bers of the upper House of Congress. If he approves the policy of one party in state politics and of the opposite party in Federal polities, he is compelled to sacrifice his convictions upon one side or the other. If he votes for such men for the state legislature as represent his views on state affairs, he will be forced to participate in choosing a United States senator whom he disapproves. ; 12 THE POLITICAL CYCLE This important defect in the adjustment of our po- litical machinery is sure to grow more apparent as the burdens of state increase. A fundamental principle of a purely Federal system of government is the par- titioning of powers, one portion being assigned to the general government and exercised by its own separate agencies, while the powers not thus assigned are re- served to the States to be exercised by state and local agencies. Stats and Federal governments are made as distinct as possible, both in respect to the sorts of business appertaining to them and in respect to the agencies through which each transacts its part of the governmental business. Now, for the Constitution to compel the voter to vote by one and the same act for a member of his state legislature and express a pref- erence for a member of the United States Senate is to do violence to this most fundamental principle of our Constitution. j It was not the intention of the makers of the Consti- tution that the common voter should be permitted to exercise any choice at all in the election of either the President or the members of the Senate. Those fea- tures of the Constitution which embody the distrust of the fathers in democratic government exhibit, as Mr. Bryce has said, an excessive belief in total depravity and original sin. They were convinced that the people were not to be trusted. If the choice of senators had been placed in the hands of specially chosen electors with no other functions, as in the case of the President, the party system would have made short work with the device of the Constitution-makers in this particular also. But by fixing the election in 13 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY the state legislatures they established an illogical and contradictory principle in the government. Evi- dently they did not anticipate our party system. Were this maladjustment out of the way the local party organs in the various States might have almost limitless powers of adjustment to local needs. Re- taining the same party names and utilizing the same party machinery, the voters would still be wholly free to express their convictions on every question in- volved in an election. They would not be compelled to sacrifice their wishes respecting a proposed reform in the school system of their own States because of their belief in the superior importance of the cur- rency policy of the Federal government,^ J 1 The recurring nominations and elections in the various local- ities are matters of common observation and experience. One who is capable of reading political literature with profit has in himself a fund of accumulated political knowledge. He holds opinions and convictions which are subject to modification by passing political events ; he also has memories of past experi- ences, and is in the habit of comparing them with those of the present ; he enlarges his own vision by contact with other observ- ers. He who makes the most of such original sources of in- formation is in a way to become his own guide to the selection of literature suited to his own needs. Those who neglect these primary sources are likely to become victims of political humbug. The daily and weekly press is by far the most important pur- veyor of political information, and its supplies are adapted to the demands of both sorts of readers— those who study politics seriously, by direct observation, and those who prefer to be hum- bugged. Some of the great dailies accommodate busy people by issuing an annual political almanac. Mr. Stanwood's volume on "Presidential Elections" gives a convenient summary of the oc- currences in the final year of the successive quadrennial periods. 14 CHAPTER II THE AMERICAN PARTY AS A UNIFYING AGENCY Parties, as we have seen, are the agencies for formu- lating and controlling both executive and legislative policies. In the cabinet system as it appears in England or in Canada is seen the simplest illustra- tion of the relation of the party organization to po- litical control. This system involves the complete fusion of legislative and executive powers. The small body of men who constitute the cabinet are at the same time responsible for the control of both legisla- tion and administration. The members of the cabinet are the heads of the chief departments of the govern- ment, and the cabinet as a whole, with the prime minister as its leader, is held responsible for the ex- ecutive branch of the government business. At the same time the majority in the national legislature is also controlled by the cabinet. That body is, in effect, the party in power. It centralizes, personates, and represents the political party which has succeeded in gaining the ascendency in the legislature. The English cabinet system cannot work un- less the voting constituency consents to divide into two parties — the party in power represented by the cabinet and its supporters in the legisla- ture, and the party of the opposition, whose 15 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY leaders are also members of the legislature and the chief party spokesmen. Whenever the oppo- sition can win the support of a majority in the House of Commons the parties change places, and a new cabinet is appointed, unless the party in power by dissolving the House and "appealing to the coun- try" may succeed in electing a new House having a majority of its own supporters. In such a government there can be no national party apart from these two. The cabinet is the self-constituted national com- mittee of its party, while the group of statesmen com- posing the opposition, who expect to form the next cabinet, may be called the national committee of the other party. These leaders also perform the duties assigned to the national conventions in America. They formulate platforms, give directions to local party officers, and conduct, in person, political cam- paigns. The statesmen who do the governing are also the responsible party managers. In a government of divided and distributed powers, such as that of the United States, it is not possible to secure that simplicity of party leadership which is involved in the cabinet system. The President of the United States and the two Houses of Congress sep- arately do the work which, in England, is in the hands of the cabinet alone. Party leadership in America is, therefore, generated out of the separate agencies of the executive and legislative departments of govern- ment. It would be impossible in Great Britain for a party committee acting independently of the cabinet to gain control or influence in party management. From the very necessities of the governing business 16 THE AMERICAN PARTY AS A UNIFYING AGENCY which they have in hand, the statesmen themselves must maintain direct authority over the machinery for the election of members of the House of Commons. The cabinet— the simple, centralized party machine —must dominate, so long as it remains in power, the business of legislation, and at the same time carry on the administration of the government. Another marked difference between the institutions of England and the United States should be remem- bered in this connection. The Old Country has neither the States nor the local governments familiar to the citizens of America. The English Parliament may abolish at its will any local government in the king- dom. The controlling, centralized party machine is also the responsible law-making and governing ma- chine for all purposes, local as well as general. To this the United States furnishes a striking contrast. While in England the only local governments of any importance which the people possess are those which have been recently bestowed upon them by the all- powerful Parliament, in the United States the people have created for themselves a series of local govern- ments, — towns, townships, counties, and cities, — many of them far older than the States or the Federal Gov- ernment, and with a varied and most interesting his- tory. As a matter of law, the general government of the State has power to establish, to change, or to abolish these local institutions; yet in fact, such a proceeding would be unthinkable. American local organizations are, in many cases, as permanent in their leading characteristics as anything in the Amer- ican State. 2 17 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY Moreover, the governments of the separate States, including, as they do, the firmly established local in- stitutions, are made legally independent and exempt from the control of the Federal power in respect to a wide range of interests. To state and local gov- ernments pertain the exercise of the numerous powers which most directly concern the daily well-being of the citizen, such as police, sanitation, and education, the maintenance of highways, and the care of the defec- tive and unf oi'tunate. Finally, a limited number of powers and duties assumed to be of general consequence to all the people has been conferred upon the general government, which exercises its functions by means of its own sep- arate officials. The national Congress does not legis- late for States nor for local governments within the States. With these it is not allowed in any way to interfere. It can act only within the scope of the few powers conferred. Neither can Congress call upon States or local organizations to execute its laws. The execution of Federal law belongs to the general gov- ernment. At the same time, the President of the United States, as the chief executive officer of the National Government, has nothing whatever to do with the ordinary execution of state laws. The two gov- ernments are made and kept separate both in respect to the business undertaken and the agencies for its accomplishment. As they cannot execute each other's functions, so neither can interfere with the other in the execution of its distinctive functions. Yet, notwithstanding this gradation of political in- stitutions, notwithstanding the minute partitioning of 18 THE AMERICAN PARTY AS A UNIFYING AGENCY powers and their assignment to numerous and diverse political areas, notwithstanding the separation of legis- lative from executive business both in States and in Federal Government, the American people have, after all, created for themselves a system of party govern- I ment which is, in its way, almost as strictly centralized as is the party government of the English cabinet ' system. It is as if the people themselves, feeling the isolation into which they had been retired by our pe- culiarly guarded and scattered system, had determined to form a supplemental institution for the promotion of neighborliness in the State, Certain it is that, through the great national party, the millions have been enabled to feel, and aspire, and act together in the filling of offices and in the exercise of powers which law and custom had otherwise kept far apart. The great unifying party machine which has been made the effective intermediary between the American voter and his diverse and otherwise isolated political institutions has itself separate organs corresponding to every considerable governmental institution, to each of which it holds peculiar relations. The varied sys- tems of local government in the several States have made a distinct contribution to party organization, as . has also the general government of the State. The ' same is true of the political elements of the Federal Government, the President, the two Houses of Con- i , gress jointly, and each House separately. The political party can be understood only as it is seen in its rela- 1 tions to these various sources. In England, the unity which compact and effective party government seems to demand grows out of the 19 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY character of the British Government itself, in which the cabinet constitutes, in effect, the national party committee and at the same time, in all matters politi- cal, the government as well. In America, on the con- trary, great pains was taken to prevent the cen- tralization of power in any one office or any one governmental area. No office of State or Nation is permitted to express the unity of political authority. Yet, in some undefined way through the party system, we have acquired, not only a sense of national unity, but likewise a high degree of practical harmony in the filling of offices and in the control of official conduct. Since we lack a national officer to embody, or per- sonate, the oneness which the party demands, a vast array of distinct, extra-legal machinery has been de- vised, and the party which unifies presents the anom- aly of shaping itself in the mold of the separate gov- ernmental organs which divide. The cabinet system illustrates a principle found in every form of biparty government. There machinery is reduced to a minimum ; the party is seen to govern because the members of the cabinet are both party of- ficers and officers of state. An essential characteristic of any sort of biparty government is the fusion of po- litical and party office. The President of the United States is an officer in his party by virtue of the execu- tive office to which he has been elected. In accepting the nomination, he consents to become the leader and, to a considerable extent, the chief spokesman of his party. Having secured the election, he not only does not lay down his party office, but he bears increased party responsibility. 20 THE AMERICAN PARTY AS A UNIFYING AGENCY But the Chief Magistrate is the servant of the whole people! Yes. But in a democracy under a dual party system, the President can serve the entire state only by faithfulness in the fulfilment of all reasonable party pledges; by diligence in the dis- covery of the policies which his party ought to adopt ; and, most of all, by his skill and effectiveness in persuading his party to assume and advance the en- lightened views which his position as leader has en- abled him to form. Probably no public man was ever more opposed to party government than was George Washington, yet Washington's sense of duty to the whole country led him to consent to hold the position of leadership in the Federal party. As with the President, so with the members of Congress. They are all party leaders. . In accepting a party nomination, they assume leadership in district or State; and, what is more important still, every congressman who accepts a party nomination becomes responsible to the entire country for the fulfilment of certain party pledges. So well is this principle understood in the more simple party system of Great Britain that, when a member of the House of Commons finds that he cannot continue to work in harmony with his party, it has been customary for him to resign his seat, and either retire from office or appeal to his con- stituents for reelection, after making clear the points at issue. While the principle of identity, or fusion of office in party and government, is more apparent in respect to the elective positions in the general government than in respect to those of the States and minor areas, 21 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY the principle, nevertheless, holds wherever there is party responsibility. The governor of a State is not responsible to the national party in whose name he is elected, to the same extent as is the President of the United States. His position does not involve leader- ship in that party in the same sense. The office itself does not represent national policies which give sig- nificance to party names. Still, the governor is, by virtue of his office, a leader of his party in his own State. That party has become identified with certain lines of state policy, and its managers make definite promises to the people. For the fulfilment of these pledges, so far as they come within the range of his official power or influence, the governor is peculiarly responsible. The members of the state legislature are under like obligations. A political party may, as such, make itself respon- sible for the government of a city by assuming definite pledges, making party nominations, and then carrying the election. In such a case, the membei's of the city government are party agents, to be held to the ful- filment of party obligations. When a non-partizan ticket has been placed in the field and elected, there is then distinctly no fusion of the city office with a party office; the city officials so chosen are not re- sponsible to any party. The members of such a non- partizan city government may be active members of a party, but they have no right to seek to strengthen a party by the use of office which had been made by agreement non-partizan. The candidate of a party for an office is a party of- 22 THE AMERICAN PARTY AS A UNIFYING AGENCY ficer pure and simple ; he has been officially designated to fulfil a special party function. If he is defeated, his office is at an end, and he has no longer any official rank of any sort.^ But, if he is elected, he has accom- plished the party object, and carried the organization into a place of governmental power. The elected can- didate becomes the agent of his party for the service of the state, and this is true of every office where the party assumes responsibility, from that of the mayor of a city to the Chief Magistracy of the nation. The candidates elected to the numerous positions, high and low, which connect the party with the exercise of the powers of government, though they may not be techni- cally party officers, are in a sense such. This is not saying that it is desirable that party domination should prevail upon such a wide scale. It is simply the statement of a fact or a condition which party govern- ment entails. To understand the technical, independent party ma- chine which is outside of governmental office, one must first have a clear view of that part which is in the responsible exercise of power. It is, after all, the machine in office that counts. To a large extent, party committees are influenced by the holders of political ^Mr. Bryan states (1904) that by the nomination of Judge Parker he has himself been relieved from party trammels which he has felt to be binding upon him for the last eight years as the nominee of his party for its chief office. Candidates for the Presidency hold, in this respect, a peculiar relation to their party, a relation wholly different from that of other candidates. 23 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY office, and derive their significance and their power to a great degree from their direct connection with official position.^ ' Bagehot's " English Constitution " presents the identity of the cabinet with the party as the harmonizing principle in the English government. The files of the English journals, Tlie Spectator and Tlie Speaker, are perhaps the best sources of in- formation setting forth the phases of party development in recent years. With the complex American system it would scarcely be possible as yet for any statement to be prepared concerning fundamental party functions which would be accepted with the same unanimity as Bagehot's work on the English system. Ultimate agreement may, however, be hoped for as a result of the concurrent observing and reporting of many students. Beferences : "England in the Eighteenth Century," by W. E. H. Lecky. Vol. Ill, pp. 110-120. "Government of England," by A. Lawrence Lowell, 1908. Vol. I, chaps, xxiv and xxv. ' ' Political Parties and Party Problems, " by J. A. Woodburn, 1909. "American Government and Politics," by C. A. Beard, 1910. ' ' Readings on Parties and Elections in the United States, ' ' by Chester Lloyd Jones, 1912. ' ' Constitutional Government in the United States, ' ' by Wood- row Wilson, 1908, pp. 204-213. "Party Government," by Goldwin Smith. North American Review, November, 1908. "Criticism of Two-Party Politics," by J, N. Lamed. The Atlantic Monthly, March, 1911. "Party Vitality." The Nation, December 15, 1910. "Significance of Political Parties," by A. C. McLaughlin. The Atlantic Monthly, February, 1908, 24 CHAPTER III PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP The President of the United States is, like the prime minister of England, the most conspicuous leader of his party. Though not a member of either House of Congress, he yet shares with the party members of the legislature the duty of fulfilling party pledges. He has power to recommend measures of legislation in such a way as to command attention, and he may prevent legislation by the use of the veto. To an even greater degree than the prime minister, the President is responsible for the executive policy of the govern- ment and its administrative efficiency. But in respect to legislation, Congress has separate and independent powers. This division of the forces of government at the very center of authority has laid the foundation for confusion in political leadership, and has furnished the occasion for the creation of a unifying agency unknown to the Constitution and out- side the scope of law. In English political discussion, the question has often arisen whether cabinet responsibility should pertain chiefly to its executive or to its legislative duties, or whether the two lines of duty should be accounted of equal political importance. The question has received no conclusive answer. The cabinet may PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY be driven out of office by a direct vote of censure for administrative misconduct; it may be driven out by a direct vote of censure because of failure in its legislative program ; or its members may be forced or induced to resign on account of failure in the House of Commons to support its legislative policy. Har- mony in the entire range of political power is thus made complete and simple. In the United States this unity is secured through a specially organized political party having close con- nection with the two political branches of the govern- ment, each of which has contributed important fea- tures to the machinery of the party. In respect to party leadership, the Executive has enjoyed great ad- vantages over the legislative branch, in that it is rep- resented by a person instead of an assembly, and also because the President has legislative as well as execu- tive duties. Various incidents in the history of the Presidency illustrate this fact. The administration of Andrew Jackson marks an im- portant stage in the development of presidential party leadership. At that time, the process of nomination through congressional and state legislative caucuses had broken down, and there was in course of formation new nominating machinery connecting the office di- rectly with the people by means of a series of nomina- ting conventions. This gave the President indepen- dent access to the primary source of power. Jackson was a man of strong individuality, and possessed of personal qualities which commanded popular admira- tion. The same voters who chose presidential electors chose also members of Congress and members of the 26 PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP state legislatures. By winning and holding the sup- port of the people, the President was able to carry his own measures against an unwilling Congress. He treated the orders of the Supreme Court with con- tempt. He exercised what were regarded as danger- ous dictatorial powers. His course drove a consid- erable section of his own party into opposition so decided that they formed a coalition with the rival party. A change of party name followed the high- handed acts of President Jackson. The National Re- publicans took the name of Whig, from an assumed analogy of their resistance to the executive encroach- ments upon Congress to the resistance of the English "Whigs to the encroachments of King George III upon Parliamentary rights and privileges. But, in spite of powerful opposition, being secure in the popular fa- vor and strong in his gift of personal leadership, Jackson was able to dominate his party and to secure, in the end, a subservient Congress. His administra- tion marks, in a way, the highest attainment in indi- vidual, personal party leadership. One other feature of Jackson's administration is of especial consequence in connection with the growth of party machinery. The President made many removals from office in the various departments, and gave the places to his own political supporters. The policy was then extremely popular, and was undoubtedly an im- portant factor in insuring Jackson's triumph, and for long after, the executive patronage, or ''the spoils of office," remained a special asset of the President in the exercise of political power. In the later develop- ments of the policy, a large share of the public patron- 27 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY age came into the possession of members of Con- gress. Quite a different phase of the position of the Pres- ident as party leader is illustrated by the administra- tion of John Tyler. As stated above, the party dicta- torship of Jackson divided the Democratic party, and the Nullifiers of the South joined the Whigs. To rep- resent this element in the coalition, the Whig National Convention of 1840 nominated Tyler, of Virginia, for the Vice-Presidency. The Whigs carried the election ; but on the death of President Harrison at the begin- ning of his administration, Tyler succeeded to the Presidency. He had not professed to be a Whig; he had only represented on the ticket a faction that had united with the Whigs on the now defunct issue of opposition to executive usurpation. As to the other distinctly partizan issues, such as the tariff policy and resistance to the annexation of Texas, he was in accord with the Democrats. In this exigency, there resulted first a contest between the President and the Whigs. Then, the President elected by Whig votes became an avowed Democrat and candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency at the next national convention. These two instances show, in their diverse ways, the essential importance and the independent powers of the office of Chief Magistrate in its relation to the leadership of a party. Still another distinct phase of the same subject is seen in the events of the administration of Taylor and Fillmore. General Taylor, a Southern planter and slaveholder, received the Whig nomination to the Pres- idency. There were doubts as to the genuineness of 28 PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP his Whig convictions ; but the party trusted him as a man of honor, and they believed that, as a military hero, he would attract votes. When President Taylor came to assume the duties of his office he took counsel of the Whigs in the Northern States, who seemed to him to represent the prevailing sentiment of the party upon the leading question at issue. That question was the extension of slavery into the new territory acquired from Mexico. The President took strong ground against any sort of compromise with the de- mands of the South. He adopted an aggressive policy for the admission of California with its free-state constitution, for the prevention of the extension of slavery through the enlargement of the boundaries of Texas, and for maintaining the legal status of freedom in the Territory of New Mexico. The threats of Whig Nullifiers in the South that they would break up the Union, or offer forcible resistance to his declared pol- icy, were met with a Jacksonian determination to pre- serve the Union, and to visit summary punishment upon any who should forcibly attack it. The Com- promise Bill, introduced into Congress by Henry Clay, was defeated by the aid of the President's firm attitude. Then, just at the moment of the apparent triumph of the wing of the Whig party opposed to the compromise, the President suddenly died, and Vice- President Fillmore succeeded to the office. The new President was in sympathy with the compromisei's, and, through the changed executive influence, the bill was revived and became a law. The difference between the Whig party as led by President Taylor, and the same party as led by Fill- 29 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY more, is the difference between a national party organ capable of taking and holding a national position on a real issue of primary consequence, and no party at all. The attitude of President Taylor was in harmony with the real demands of party government. Whigs had opposed the Mexican War chiefly because of their opposition to the extension of slavery. The President merely held to the logical Whig position. By main- taining that position, the party would have become the national organ for the support of one side of a great controversy. That is what parties are for. The Whig party had always contained discordant elements. Such were the Southern Nullifiers, or Disunionists. But the attitude of President Taylor in 1850 was fitted to give to the party that unity which it re- quired. By adherence to his position it would have driven out some of the Disunionists; but their places would have been filled by the accession of Southern Unionists. When, however, under a new executive leader, the party refused to take a stand on the chief subject of national controversy, it ceased to be of use. The events which occurred during the administra- tion of Andrew Johnson furnish the most conspicuous instance in our history of the testing of the rivalry of leadership between Congress and the Executive. The war had then served to efface, in a measure, the usual party lines. In the national convention which nomi- nated Lincoln and Johnson in 1864 the name Union was substituted for Republican. Andrew Johnson, a Southern man, had always been a Democrat, but, along with many other Democrats, he was a strong Unionist, and had been devoted to the support of the first Lin- 30 PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP coin administration. In recognition of this branch of the Union party, the name of Johnson was placed upon the ticket, and, by the death of Lincoln, a man who had never borne the Republican party name became President. It is unnecessary to give the details of the famous conflict that followed. Out of that conflict came a number of changes in party organization and party leadership. Since the Re- publican party was left without a presidential leader, an efficient substitute was extemporized in the two Houses of Congress. These, banding to- gether against the President, assumed the conduct of the government, and forced their own execu- tive policy in the matter of reconstruction upon an unwilling and stubbornly resisting President. For a few years the country was ruled by a dicta- torial Congress having majorities large enough to carry their own measures over the President's veto. Congress has not yet entirely lost the vantage ground in political leadership gained in this memo- rable contest with the Executive. At the onset of the struggle, the President, being in the place of a Repub- lican Chief Magistrate, had more or less control or influence over the national party committee. That the party might not suffer from this condition of af- fairs in the congressional elections of 1866, the two Houses appointed a national congressional committee to take charge of the elections in the various States. This committee has ever since remained in service, and has become a permanent part of the extra-legal party machinery. The introduction of this committee has been referred to as a revival of the old congres- 31 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY sional caucus, which, in the early part of the nine- teenth century, assumed the function of making pres- idential nominations. It is, however, the creation of a new party agent, the necessity for which grew directly out of a conflict with a President whose relation to the regular national committee was such as to render that agency for the time unsatisfactory to the party mem- bers of Congress as a political organ. This second national committee has persisted after the passing away of the special exigency which gave it birth, and has become an accepted organ of both the parties, be- cause of the conviction that, since Congress has its distinct place in party leadership, and since its mem- berhip is renewed by electioiis occurring every year, it has need of its own special party agency. Another sequence to the events of Johnson's term of office, though one that could not be so readily proved to have grown out of the contest between the two de- partments of the government, is that since that time members of Congress have had a larger proportionate share in the distribution of party patronage. Congress did then pass laws restraining the President in the matter of appointments. Though these laws were afterward repealed, the members of the two Houses have nevertheless retained a considerable part of the patronage which law and earlier usage had given to the President. The citation of facts illustrating the importance of the Presidency in relation to party leadership might be indefinitely extended. It is almost an unwritten party law that the President shall be during his first term a candidate for reelection. Since the Civil War, 32 PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP the only exception to the rule is President Hayes, and in his ease there was a preelection promise which for- bade a second candidacy, not to mention the doubtful title to the office, which removed all temptation. But the fact that in so many instances such a candi- dacy has not resulted in reelection is conclusive evi- dence that, important as is the President as a party leader, the preponderating political forces lie outside of that office. True as it is that a conspicuous person- ality confers upon the Executive peculiar advantages in political leadership, it is also true that the legis- lature has an advantage in that it is the natural forum for the discussion of political issues. It was during the Grant administration, following the period of distinctive congressional party leader- ship in Johnson's administration, that congressional participation in the distribution of patronage reached its most conspicuous development. The President was devoid of experience in party politics, and in matters of party leadership he followed implicitly the advice of a small group of senators representing States, such as New York and Pennsylvania, where there was a maximum of patronage for distribution. To the Senate belongs the constitutional right to confirm appointments made by the Executive. This right, supplemented by custom, by agreement among themselves, and by an understanding that came to be designated as ''Senatorial courtesy," gave to the sen- ators a very large share in the control of appointments in their own States. The power to confirm was inter- preted as a right to be consulted before the appoint- ment is made. If an appointment were sent in with- 3 33 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY out the recognition of this right, senatorial courtesy required all the party members of the Senate to unite with the aggrieved senator in a refusal to confirm the appointment. In this way a large proportion of the power formerly exercised by the President passed to the Senate. Senators not only maintained the right to be consulted, in practice they exercised the right to nominate and, in a way, to control appointments. - While the members of the lower House have no legal duties in the making of appointments, yet, for party reasons, it became customary to consult the representatives with reference to post-office and other positions in their own districts. Thus the members of both Houses of Congress gained much control over the patronage in the various States. The senators, having already a legal hold upon the business through their right of confirmation, shared with the representatives the acquired powers of nomination and recommenda- tion. During Grant's first term, a system of distributing the patronage through a harmonious mutual under- standing between the President and the members of his party in Congress was perfected. Under this system, a very high degree of party harmony and effi- ciency was attained. The extra-legal party organiza- tion was, to a large extent, composed of office-holders. There was at least a postmaster to represent the party in almost every voting precinct. Thus the party in power had everywhere official agents in control of or in places of influence in the local party organization. So long as the President, senators, and representa- tives are at one in support of this system, while the 34 PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP voting constituency acquiesces or approves, the very difficult problem of party union and harmony is solved. Because of its simplicity, this method of party rule has acquired and retained a strong hold over the minds of many. It still has the support of honest conviction, largely because every other means pro- posed for securing party unity and efficiency proves much more difficult to understand. When the time approached for the nomination of candidates for the election of 1872, the Republican organization was set in motion, and the result was the registering of a logically predetermined conclusion. There was harmony between the President and the party caucuses in the two Houses of Congress in the making of appointments. Those who had received its favors naturally supported the administration, and such was their distribution and their relation to the local nominating machinery that they were without difficulty able to send to the national convention delegates who nominated for a second term the chief dispenser of patronage. Already, however, there had grown up in the party a wide-spread dissatisfac- tion. Members of the party who were out of office felt that they were losing their proper influence in the party management. Among those who went to Phil- adelphia pledged to renominate General Grant were some whose judgment was not in accord with their act. They believed that they were being used to carry out a decree dictated by office-holders who were them- selves not free to form an independent judgment. During the second terra of Grant's administration, there occurred a great popular uprising against the 35 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY party in power. The organization had become united and compact under the control of office-holders, and there were revelations of serious official corruption in high places. In consequence, the elections of 1874 made the lower House Democratic by a large majority, and, by the end of the presidential term, the demand for reform had become so loud that reform was made the leading issue in the campaign of 1876, Contesting the election upon that issue, the Democrats almost gained control of the government. The Grant method of securing unity in party lead- ership, therefore, proved a failure. It harmonized the office-holders, but drove the voters into opposition. So decided was the demand in the Republican party for a reform in the civil service that, in the convention which nominated Mr. Hayes, a very explicit declara- tion was made in favor of restoring to the President the sole responsibility of making appointments. It was proposed that congressmen should be relieved from the newly assumed function of sharing with the Executive that privilege and responsibility. In Mr, Hayes's letter of acceptance, he cordially indorsed the proposed reform and definitely pledged to it the execu- tive support. By persistent efforts to redeem the party promises for a reform in the civil service, Presi- dent Hayes made considerable progress toward regain- ing for the Executive the control of appointments. He continually bestowed the patronage of the govern- ment in violation of the rules prevailing under the Grant regime. This change of policy was keenly felt by those who had become accustomed to harmonious cooperation with the President in dispensing official favors. An insistent demand arose for a third term 36 PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP for General Grant, which led to one of the most mem- orable factional contests in the history of the country. In this contest there was much that was purely per- sonal and therefore of no special significance. But the principle for which the Stalwarts stood is of great significance. They contended for the Grant method of party leadership, and this involved the right of the members of Congress to be consulted in respect to appointments to office. The conflict did not end in the convention, but after its tragic termination in the assassination of President Garfield, the understanding was reached, in ways not easily defined, that the people will hold the President, rather than members of the Senate, responsible for filling the chief offices in the executive. Out of this important contest also came the first effective law for diminishing the amount of party patronage by providing for entrance to the lower po- sitions in the government service through competitive examination, open to members of all parties. So far as the rules are made effective, the places filled under the Civil Service Commission are taken out of politics. The President, as representing the party in power, is held responsible for the execution of this as of any other law affecting party relations. Hence the move- ment which resulted in civil service reform tended to strengthen the President in his rivalry for party lead- ership with the members of his party in the two Houses of Congress. The position taken by President Hayes has been strengthened by the two administrations of Grover Cleveland, and was surely not weakened by the inter- vening one of Benjamin Harrison. 37 \J> 9 8313 Party organization and machinery It does not follow from this that members of Con- gress can no longer secure offices for their friends and supporters. The President is in need of information as to the fitness of appointees in all parts of the coun- try, and the members of Congress are the best in- formed and most capable advisers available. He must almost of necessity rely upon them for knowledge of applicants in the great majority of cases. As a mere matter of convenience, he will usually be guided by the senators and representatives in respect to the local appointments in their own States and districts. What, then, is the difference between the policy of the Grant administration and that of Hayes or Cleveland 1 By the first, party harmony and party unity were se- cured by virtually surrendering to Congress the control of appointments. A distinct power in political leadership thus passed from the Executive to the leg- islature, and by so much as the latter was strengthened, by so much was the Presidency weakened. The party became dangerously harmonious by passing under the sway of the office-holders. Hayes reintroduced the spirit of conflict within party ranks along the lines of the constitutional division of powers. He asserted executive independence in the purely administrative matter of making appointments. This assumption of independence greatly increased the President's power and influence. He may still, for his own convenience, ask advice from congressmen, while at the same time retaining his full right of in- dependent action. Members of Congress are thus made dependent upon the Executive, who, in controlling appointments, holds in his hands a weapon whereby 38 PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP lie may wrest legislation from a hesitating or an unwilling Congress. When President McKinley called an extra session of Congress, in 1897, to revise the tariff legislation ac- cording to party promises, there was great uncertainty as to the possibility of reaching an agreement in Con- gress. But the President made it clear to that body that there would be no new appointments made, except the few essential ones, until the new tariff bill was passed. Thus the Executive utilized the army of office- seekers besieging the members of Congress as a quasi lobby for a legislative measure which he had deter- mined to force through. The final outcome, therefore, of the apparent increase of political power which came to the members of Congress from the Johnson and Grant administrations has tended, also, to give to the President additional influence over the legislators. And, last, it is, after all, that political element which commands the strongest popular support that is the true party leader. In respect to the patronage, that is the President. Appointments dictated by sen- ators or representatives often give rise to much pop- ular disapproval, while those of the President's own choice are generally acceptable to the people. The President, then, easily holds the first place in party leadership. He is personally accountable to the country for the administration of the government. His responsibility for carrying out the promises of the party in matters of legislation is more clearly defined and more widely appreciated than is that of the two Houses of Congress. His control of the patronage, if not complete, is, nevertheless, politically effective. 39 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY Being in his person and in his official rank continually before the people, he is constantly in their thought as preeminently a political leader. The office which he holds is the one prize in their gift to which every other is distinctly subservient, and the filling of that office has led directly to the creation of the vast system of national party organization which dominates all political life. If it is asked what distinct and specific part of the permanent party machinery has been contributed by the office of the Chief Magistrate of the nation, the answer is, the national nominating convention and the national central committee of the party. But it will be seen that these are the parts that summarize and express the unity and the comprehensiveness of the party. If a political party machine is used for electing a road-master in a minute district in a remote part of the country, the organization thus employed has no meaning except from its relation to the na- tional nominating convention, which meets once in four years. The permanent national committee is the one extra-legal institution capable of being called into action at any time for the solution of party ques- tions. That committee represents every part of the organization. The congressional committee, which is also national and of independent origin and devel- opment, is yet, from the standpoint of general author- ity, distinctly subordinate. It is the national com- mittee that embodies the party unity. As the agent of the national convention, the committee calls that convention, which meets for the purpose of nominat- ing a President. 40 PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP The President represents the party in power. It may chance that the opposing party has a majority in the Senate, in the lower House, and in the Supreme Court; yet the party which has elected the President is the party in power. The American system finally expresses the party unity, which is essential to party efficiency, in a person, differing radically at that point from the English sys- tem, in which final party unity is reached, not in a person, but in a cabinet and a legislative assembly, of which the cabinet is an integral part. The party in power in England is the one whose national party committee, so to speak, is the cabinet backed by a majority in the House of Commons. When the Eng- lishman thinks politics, he thinks of a legislative body led by a party committee. Even in English municipal government, the same general principle is applied. It is in accordance with the political training of the people that the mayor of an English city should be an ornament, a decorative figure-head, while the actual government is by means of a council jointly responsible for both execu- tive and legislative business. The cabinet system does not fix responsibility upon a person, but upon a body. Americans have had a different political train- ing from the English. In national affairs they have ac- quired habits of dependence upon a chief person, to whom they looked for the fulfilment of party pledges. The past eight years have not altered in any essen- tial respect the principles discussed in this chapter, but they have added much illustrative material. Per- sonal executive leadership in matters of legislation 41 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY has, if anything, increased. President Roosevelt as- sumed the charge of numerous bills which he carried through Congress. President Taft was criticized first for failing to control tariff legislation, and later for going farther than any previous President in assum- ing control over the details of legislation. The patron- age as a means of executive influence continues to decline in importance. This difference was strikingly shown in President Taft's confession that he believed the attempt to influence insurgents in Congress by withholding patronage had weakened instead of strengthening his position. Patronage, though declin- ing, is still an important force. Recent experience adds evidence- of the President's influence over the na- tional convention. President Roosevelt was unani- mously nominated in 1904. Executive influence secured the nomination of Mr, Taft in 1908. liefer ences : "The Growing Powers of the President," by H. L. West. The Forum, March, 1901. "Three Months of President Eoosevelt," by Henry Loomis Nelson. The Atlantic Monthly, February, 1902. ' ' Cleveland and the Senate, ' ' by James Sehouler. The Forum, March, 1897. ' ' The Presidency, ' ' Chapter XV in ' ' The Rise and Growth of American Politics, ' ' by Henry Jones Ford, 1898. "The Presidential Office," by J. F. Rhodes. Scribner's Monthly, February, 1903. "The Independence of the Executive," by Grover Cleveland. ' ' Presidential Problems, ' ' The Century Co., 1904. For additional references see Chapter XVII. 42 CHAPTER IV CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP It has been shown that, in the more simple form of party government presented by the English cabinet system, there is no sharp line of distinction between legislation and administration. It is the cabinet which controls both alike and is subject to continuous criticism for delinquency in either. The American system, on the contrary, with its divided powers of government, gives rise to a marked difference in re- spect to the localization of party responsibility for the two sorts of business. The party in power— the party whose chief is the President— is in control of the ad- ministration of the government, and the national party leaders— the President and his cabinet— are, like the English cabinet, the target for unceasing criticism upon all matters of executive efficiency. To detect and expose all serious failure or short-coming on the part of the government is the duty of the op- posing party — the party out of office. This attitude of keen watchfulness, of critical sur- veillance, is an essential characteristic of the dual or- ganization which carries on government by means of political parties. This rivalry of claim to superior ad- ministrative ability is the one party issue which never 43 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY changes. It is the perpetual mission of the leaders of either opposing party to seek to convince the voters that they excel their rivals in executive efficiency. The members of the President's party in either House are expected to answer any unjust charges or reflections made before the Houses upon the administration, and to defend it against unfair attack. At the same time, it is not the policy of the party to shield the Executive from just charges. All this is without reference to party majorities. The policy of the government is sub- ject to question by the opposition, whether or not that opposition is in superior force in Congress, and it must be defended by the party of the administration, whether or not it commands majorities in the Houses. The American system holds the dominant party to a strict accountability in matters of adminis- tration, and this applies to all the many national, state, and local divisions of the government. The sep- aration of the powers of government tends in itself to concentrate party responsibility upon administration rather than upon legislation. Wherever a party gains control of an office, it is given and it accepts the re- sponsibility for the conduct of that office. But in re- spect to legislation, party liability cannot, in the Fed- eral Government, be so centralized as in the English cabinet government. Here the distribution of powers and the wide diffusion of legislative agencies among coordinate Houses and innumerable committees make it impossible for the public to follow the process of lawmaking or to fix responsibility to anything like the same extent as in Great Britain. No party committee, no officer, no single body of men can be made answer- 44 CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP able in the same sense for the details of legislation. Some share of this responsibility falls, as has been shown, upon the President. Other portions pertain to the national legislature as a whole, and others to each House, taken separately. The same tendency to diffusion that characterizes our general system of government, the same habit of apportioning out business to many agents appears also in the methods of the national assembly. The complicated committee system is an extreme illustra- tion of this characteristic. Most of the actual work of legislation, the drawing of bills, their minute con- sideration, and their conduct through the required course of procedure, is assigned to some half a hun- dred different committees in each House. But it is, nevertheless, a distinguishing feature of the system that the party controlling a House makes itself answer- able for the conduct of its committees. That is what the organization of a House means. Here, as else- where in our peculiarly scattered form of government, the party is the organ that unifies. Such unity as is secured in each House is through the fact that one political party is, in a way, accountable for the leg- islative conduct of the House. Though both parties are represented upon each committee, the chairman- ship of each and the majority of its members belong, as a rule, to the party that organizes the House, and this helps to fix the responsibility. It should be remembered, however, that only in respect to a few subjects which have entered into spe- cial public debate, is attention particularly directed to the question of party responsibility. Nearly all 45 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY legislation is the result of cooperation on the part of the members of the different parties ; for good citizens agree more frequently than they differ. Only rarely does a legislative measure divide the Houses along strict party lines. The Houses of Congress nevertheless hold an impor- tant place in both party organization and party leader- ship. The contribution to national party machinery made by the executive branch of the government is the national committee and the national convention : what has the legislative branch contributed? Repre- senting the share of the legislature as a whole in the development of party organization, we have the con- gressional party committee, composed of members of both Houses. Though nominally an organ of Congress in its comprehensive aspect, this committee is, in fact, under control of the lower House, and nearly the whole of its distinctive work pertains to that body, so that it is not, in any important sense, an organ of Congress as a whole. In the relations of the two Houses of Congress, taken separately, to the extra-legal machinery of the political party, a marked difference will be observed. This is due chiefly, if not wholly, to the different methods employed for choosing senators and repre- sentatives. These radically diverse processes involve radically different connection between the party and its legislators in the two Houses, and those divergen- cies are inevitably reflected in the forms of party organization. It is preeminently the senatorial office that connects the State with national politics. No other position in- 46 CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP the gift of the State is so highly prized. Many a state governor has been eager to lay down his gubernatorial honors to don the senator's toga. Indeed, as an object of ordinary political ambition, the senatorship stands next to the Presidency itself. It is accounted more to be desired than a cabinet post and is scarcely less coveted than a seat upon the bench of the Su- preme Court. Thus it has come about that state politics revolves, to a very large extent, about the choice of senators. It is the national policy for which the senatorial office stands that gives their special sig- nificance to the party names, since only incidentally and in a subordinate way do the state offices represent national policies. Each State elects two senators, who each serve six years. Four years is the longest period that can inter- vene between senatorial elections, and after that long time of four years the next senator will be chosen in two years. In many state legislatures, members of the upper house hold office for four years. Hence, it happens that in those States, at every state election, members of the legislature will be chosen who will be called upon to vote for a United States senator, and thus the senatorial prize becomes a constant factor in state elections. These facts necessitate a peculiar connection with the politics of his State on the part of a senator. He may, and usually does, exercise much control over the ordinary local party machinery through- out the State. The same organization used for nom- inating and electing the governor and other state officials is used also for nominating and electing the 47 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY members of the two houses of the state legislature who will choose the senators. The aspirant to that post of dignity must, therefore, take an interest in the vo- ters of every state legislative and senatorial district throughout his State, and he may manipulate the party forces in his own behalf. In spite of these conditions, it is nevertheless true that there have always been in the United States Sen- ate men who have been sent there by their States, and kept in office because of distinguished fitness for the place, although they have paid scant attention to the management of local political agencies. Under pres- ent conditions such instances are exceptional, and senatorial place is regularly won and held through the power to control the party organization of the State. As to just what is implied in this control, the differ- ent States give widely different answers. In some cases a senator is so plainly and so fully the popular choice, that his repeated reelection takes place as an expression of public opinion without the need of any official guidance of the party machinery. But in some way the man who secures and retains the senatorship must dominate the politics of his State. If he lacks that popular favor which creates an insistent and ef- fective demand for his election, he is forced to see to it that the local nominating bodies in all parts of the State are so directed that men will be sent to both branches of the state assembly who will stand for him in the joint balloting for senator, or in some other way he must command the needful votes. The Senate cannot be shown to have contributed to the party organization any distinct and definite 48 CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP agency, but, more than the Presidency or the House of Representatives, it has modified and directed the official activities of party organs created for other purposes than the choice of senators. The Constitu- tion made the senator dependent for his office upon the action of the state agencies for filling the chief offices in the State; but no constitution-maker could foresee the kind and amount of the modification in the working of the party machinery that would re- sult from the unique relation of the senator to the Federal and the state governments. In this particular no two States have had identical experience. In a few of them political development is taking a course which may ultimately result in the cre- ation of a new senatorial organ of party machinery. South Carolina is a conspicuous example among the States virtually electing senators by popular vote of the dominant party. Nomination is there made by di- rect vote of the members of the party, and the members of the legislature, like the presidential electors, simply register a predetermined conclusion. If this method should become firmly established, it would furnish an- other instance of radical change in the Federal Con- stitution brought about by an extra-legal party or- ganization. Then it would be no longer true that the Senate had originated no distinct party organ. Nom- ination and election by direct vote call for the use of party machinery designed for the express purpose, and if senators were thus chosen, the especial necessity for senatorial control over the ordinary state and local nominating agencies, which is required by the present indirect method, would be removed. * 49 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY Members of the lower House have always been cho- sen by direct vote in congressional districts, and a distinct section of the party machinery has that busi- ness in charge. Each district is provided with its local congressional committee, whose powers and duties vary widely in the different States and in the different districts of the same State. In some cases there is the mere formal act of providing for a convention to nominate the candidate. In others, the congressional district committee has full charge of the campaign, and the special organization may ramify throughout the counties and smaller voting precincts of the dis- tricts. More commonly, however, the usual local com- mittees are used in the minor election areas of the district. In considering the contributions made by the legis- lative department of the government to party leader- ship, it is necessary again to direct attention to the two Houses taken separately, for the reason that it often happens that House and Senate are dominated by opposite parties, and also because the elements of leadership differ in the two Houses. For the party in office, leadership centers in the Executive, but for the party out of office, if it organizes and controls either House of Congress, that House assumes the definite role of leadership in respect to the divisive questions of the day. Lacking a presidential head, the party looks for leadership to its national legislature. Congress constitutes the chief forum for the formu- lation and discussion of national party issues, and there the party leaders are made known. Even the President, the popular head of his party, does not 50 CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP appeal directly to the country on a matter of party controversy. Such appeal is made through the me- dium of a message to Congress to be analyzed and debated before the great electorate by the prominent party spokesmen of the legislature. One will readily recall, as an instance in point, the famous message of President Cleveland on the tariff question, promul- gated near the close of his first term of office. Though couched in the terms of a state paper recommending legislation, it was manifestly intended as a guide to the President's party in the approaching election in which he was himself the chief candidate. It is manifest that the hold upon the party in gen- eral is maintained by the Senate and the House of Representatives in somewhat different ways. When the party of the opposition controls the Senate alone, leadership in the party then rests in the upper House, and there its functions are exercised against certain disadvantages. Americans, as has been mentioned, lack the training which enables men readily to receive guidance from a corporate body as such. There is nothing in the Senate that strongly appeals to the pop- ular fancy. Its presiding officer is not a party leader, and the power of the House is not concentrated in any single striking personality. Its business is directed, so far as party questions are involved, by committees whose operations are unknown to the public. The Senate also suffers in popular favor because of the indirect manner of its election ; because much of its business is conducted in secret ; because of its form of organization, and because of an alleged disposition to encroach upon the prerogatives of the Executive. 51 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY Over and above these drawbacks, the Senate neverthe- less exercises effective leadership through the influence of its able and distinguished statesmen of national re- pute ; through its control over state and local politics ; and through the occasional presentation of distinct political measures when the House represents an ad- verse view. The House of Representatives is distinctly the pop- ular branch of the government. Its members are di- rectly chosen and all are chosen at one time. The voter is entirely free : he may vote for a Democratic representative to Congress, and vote at the same time for Republican state and local officers. The election of congressmen midway between presidential elections furnishes a means of testing the attitude of the public toward the policy of the administration. As an insti- tution, the House of Representatives has never been subjected to serious criticism. Its form of organiza- tion is in harmony with the American inclination to demand personal rather than corporate political lead- ership, and it exemplifies in a striking manner the growing force of that tendency. The letter of the Constitution would have been ful- filled if the House had adopted a rule that no one of its members should be chosen to the speakership, but that the place should be filled by one not a member. The House chose, however, to make one of its own number its presiding officer. By a gradual process, the speaker has become the agent of the House for the control of its own business, and, out of this power within the House which the office involves, has come the possession, by one of the elected representatives, 52 CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP of an unforeseen measure of political leadership and control before the country. When the speaker is of the same party as the President, he is indeed overshadowed by that supreme official; but, as repre- senting a House dominated by a party adverse to the executive, the speaker has become the responsi- ble leader of his party in Congress. So far as his own House is concerned, he personates his party. In popular fancy he controls the legislation of the half of Congress over which he presides, and he is held to a high degree of accountability for its acts. All this gives to the House of Representatives special qualifications for the leadership of the party opposed to the President, and the speaker may have distin- guished success in the guidance of his party while in opposition. It sometimes happens that both Houses of Congress are organized and controlled by the party in opposi- tion. Then extreme partizan legislation is of course impossible, unless the majorities in Congress are large enough to prevail over the executive veto. Under such circumstances, there is a likelihood of conflict over questions of legislative encroachments. These varying relations between the Houses and the parties might be illustrated by many references to incidents in our political history, but a few well-known examples may suffice. During President Cleveland 's first term, a tariff bill approved by the Republican Senate was accepted as embodying the policy of the Republican party, while a different bill favored by the Democratic House was understood to represent the policy of the administra- 53 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY tion. Over the relative merits of the two bills, the electoral battles of the mid-term period were waged. When thus pitted against each other, the two Houses stand before the country in a very definite manner as leaders of the party forces in matters of legislation. They give shape to party issues and guide party conduct. In the days of Andrew Johnson, the two Houses united in a course of legislation inimical to the President, and Congress was able to force the ex- ecutive hand. President Hayes once refused to sign an appropriation bill with a "rider" attached, and thus defended his office against one means of legisla- tive coercion. He threw upon Congress the responsi- bility of leaving the government without the needed supplies, alleging that the legislative branch has no right to use its control of the public purse to force legislation. President Cleveland successfully resisted the efforts of a hostile Senate, when the House was Democratic^ to limit his alleged constitutional power to remove from office in the civil service. By his appeal to the country in defense of his office. Congress was induced to remove the last vestige of the tenure- of-office law passed over the veto of President Johnson. It appears, from a survey of party history, that questions of encroachment between the different branches of the government are more satisfactorily settled by appeal to the fairraindedness of men in all parties, than by making them distinct party issues. The "Whig party surely gained no permanent strength out of the special partizan issue of resistance to the executive encroachments of Andrew Jackson. No 54 CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP party has indeed won lasting advantage over its rival by attacks upon the executive, the Senate, or the House of Eepresentatives.^ ^ The Senate as a political factor has been much discussed in current literature. The following are a few of the references to such material : " The President and the Senate," by Dorman B. Eaton. North v^ American Revieic, June, 1886. " The Degeneracy of the Senate," by E. P. Clark. T)ie Nation, \^ July 15, 1886. " The Reform of the Senate," by W. P. Garrison. Tfie Atlantic Monthly, August, 1891. "Has the Senate Degenerated ?" by G. F. Hoar. Tlie Forum, April, 1897. "Has the Senate Degenerated ? " by C. R. Miller. TJie Forvm, May, 1897. " Ought the United States Senate to be Abolished f " by H. Von Hoist. The Monist, October, 1894. " The Courtesy of the Senate." American Law Review, March- April, 1894. "The American House of Lords." Tlie Spectator, London, October 14, 1893. "American Legislatures and Legislative Methods," by P. S. Eeinsch, 1907. "Forward Movement in the Republican Party," by J. P. Dolliver. The OutlooJc, September 24, 1910. ' ' The Liberation of the House, " by E. H. Abbott. The Out- - loolc, April 2, 1910. "The Speaker and the House," by A. C. Hinds. McClure's - Magazine, June, 1910. "The Speaker or the People," by W. B. Hale. World's ^ Work, April, 1910. * ' Syndication of the Speakership, " by C. R. Atkinson and C. A. Beard. Political Science Quarterly, September, 1911. 55 CHAPTER V PARTY TERMINOLOGY Having briefly discussed the relations of the holders of high official positions to their parties in connection with national administration and legislation and as contributors to party organization and as party lead- ers, we turn now to consider party organization from the opposite point of view, as it were— that is, from the standpoint of the people themselves. Between the people and their representatives in Federal office are cei'tain intermediary organs known as primaries, cau- cuses, conventions, and committees. The primary in the various uses of the term serves as an agency for nominating local officers; for selecting delegates to party conventions ; for instructing voters ; for giving information to party representatives in of- fice as to the views of their supporters ; and, in general, for expressing the attitude of the great body of party electors toward the policy of party leaders. The pri- mary is a name given to the original formal act of the voters in setting in motion the machinery of govern- ment. In its several uses the word always has refer- ence to the point of immediate contact of the whole body of electors with their government. All voters belong or may belong to a political party, and all may 56 PARTY TERMINOLOGY affect the conduct of their party by the direct exercise of their personal influence at a party primary. The distinctive, characteristic act of a primary is to agree upon persons to be voted for; but it may be called solely for the appointment of delegates to a political convention, or it may perform both these functions and may also attend to any party business brought before it by the members of the party in attendance. Political duties of citizens are in some instances per- formed without the use of the elementary party ma- chinery. Elections are sometimes held without any previous formal nominating procedure. In such a case the election itself may be called the primary ; or, more strictly, the primary and the election are fused into one act. But candidates for offices commanding a general interest are usually nominated in some regular and formal manner. Citizens of a town or a precinct occasionally come together in mass meeting and, without regard to party affiliations, discuss policies and designate candidates for office. Such a gathering holds the rank of a pri- mary and may be spoken of under that name, but it does not belong to party organization. Since the in- troduction of the Australian ballot into the United States the law has in some cases prescribed the method of nomination by petition. A certain number of voters present to the election officers a request signed by their names that the names of persons mentioned therein shall be placed upon the ballot as candidates for designated offices. This method substitutes nomi- nation by petition for the use of the primary. Specifically, the term primary applies to a meeting 57 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY of the supporters of a certain party called by the local leaders of an organized party for the purpose of mak- ing nominations and attending to other party affairs. Two separate forms are in use : 1, All the members of the party within the local area are called together and organized as a delibera- tive body. They choose a chairman from their own number and proceed to nominate candidates for local offices, elect delegates to nominating conventions, and transact whatever party business the members pres- ent may desire. As a party organ it may confine itself to a single function or it may exercise a variety of powers. It may choose officers or delegates by viva voce vote, by ballot, or in such manner as the mem- bers of the assembly may decide. To illustrate : the committeeman for the precinct or the town calls a meeting of the party members within the area ; as a precinct or a town primary they may nominate can- didates for the local offices and, at the same meeting, choose delegates to a county convention for nominat- ing county officers and selecting delegates to a con- vention representing a larger area. This is a common but not the invariable method. The county committee may call all the voters of an entire county to assemble for the nomination of county officers, and the same body may choose delegates to conventions of higher rank. Such a gathering would conform to our definition of a primary. For obvious reasons this form of the primary is limited to the smaller areas. Voters cannot meet for deliberation from an area larger than a county, and in most coun-- ties such a meeting is so large as to be inconvenient. 58 PARTY TERMINOLOGY 2. The business of the primary may take the form of a true election. In place of the assembly of a delib- erative body, there may be the holding of an election for choosing candidates for office or delegates to con- ventions. A place is designated where members of the party may cast their votes, as at a regular election of public officials, for candidates or delegates or both. This is called a primary election, and it is not re- stricted to the small local area. It admits of almost indefinite expansion, and may be applied to a con- gressional district, to a State, for nominating state officers, or, as in South Carolina and a few other states, to the nomination of Federal senators. Some of the States have by law required that nomi- nations to certain offices shall be made in this direct way, and a considerable body of Primary Election Laws has already been enacted for the regulation of primary elections. A mass convention for making nominations may be called, in which all members of the party have an equal right to participate. This, too, may be consid- ered a form of the primary. In actual usage it is not likely to be termed a convention, unless the call is made by the proper officials for a large area. In thinly settled rural counties the mass convention is a common medium for transacting party business. The word caucus has likewise a variety of applica- tions. It is often used as a synonym for primary and may be applied to either of the forms of the primary described above. In States where the regular nomi- nations are made by direct primary election, a much larger field is left for preliminary conference within 59 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY the party with reference to the selection of candidates for nomination. To such a conference the name caucus is given. Strictly speaking, indeed, the cau- cus is a secret meeting of a few party members to discuss questions of political policy, to determine in what manner the more open and public assembly of the primary shall be guided in its action, and to select the candidates to be brought before it. This was an original use of the term in colonial days, and there was early associated with the caucus the idea of un- derhand political intrigue and secret machination for securing political control. For the sake of clearness it is well to distinguish by name the free, open course of action by party voters for setting the forces of government in motion and nominating candidates for office, from the secret con- clave of a few party organizers who meet to lay plans for manipulating the party agencies in order to ac- complish personal ends. The first is more properly called the primary, the second the caucus. The pri- mary is never secret. If it is ever made so, it is no longer in any true sense a primary, but becomes a caucus in the evil sense of that term. There is, however, another use of the word caucus which is applied to a perfectly legitimate assembly of the party members of a legislative body. It is cus- tomary for the members of a party in each house of a state legislature to meet **in caucus" to determine the course of party action in the house, to choose can- didates for the offices to be filled by the house, or to agree upon the attitude which the party shall hold toward specific measures before the legislature. The 60 PARTY TERMINOLOGY state assembly has also its joint caucus of each party for the two houses taken together, and its most impor- tant business is perhaps the nomination of United States senators when party exigencies seem to demand it. In like manner, the party members in the House of the Federal legislature meet in caucus for similar purposes. Certain historical applications of the term caucus should also be mentioned. In the somewhat chaotic condition of political organization in early party his- tory the legislative caucus, which was made up of the party members of the two houses of a state as- sembly, sometimes assumed the right to nominate can- didates for state and even for Federal offices. The congressional caucus composed of the party members of the two Houses of Congress exercised for almost the whole of the first quarter of the last cen- tury the function of choosing presidential candidates. These secret gatherings, arrogating to themselves the guidance of party conduct, were never acceptable to the people, and in course of time gave place to the more popular party agent, the nominating con- vention. A convention, as a definite part of the machinery of the party, is the agency for gathering together a num- ber of primaries by means of delegates. The primary, or the caucus, or the mass convention, sends its repre- sentatives to act for it in the convention. The ratio of representation is determined by some rule which the party authorities have adopted. In the States the number of delegates assigned to the different areas is 61 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY usually based upon the party vote for the leading can- didate in the last preceding election. In the national conventions of the two principal parties the number of delegates from each State is fixed at twice that of its presidential electors. These rules have been made by the conventions themselves. The national convention which nominates candi- dates for President and Vice-President is connected through a series of intermediate conventions with the primaries. First, the primaries of a county send delegates to a county convention. All the counties in the State send delegates to a state convention, and delegates from the States and Territories make up the national convention. Party authorities may decide that only the four delegates-at-largc shall be chosen by the state convention, and that the two delegates from each congressional district in the State shall be chosen by a district convention. The great nominating conventions of the two chief parties thus represent the mass of the voters in the various States and Territories. Delegates come to them directly from the people, commissioned to act on their behalf in the high duty of expressing a choice for a man to fill the Chief Magistracy of the nation. Meetings of delegates to frame constitutions, or to adopt or reject a proposed constitution, are also called conventions. In these different connections the term is associated with the exercise of the highest political powers. The convention, the primary, and the caucus (when the word is used as a synonym for primary) represent the direct authority of the people. 62 PARTY TERMINOLOGY The party committee belongs to a different class, being one step removed from immediate popular con- trol. It is an agency of the convention or the primary. It corresponds to each recurring convention, and is commissioned to act on its behalf. Each important primary has its local committee. These several com- mittees constitute the permanent part of the party organization. Party committees are as numerous as are the impor- tant governmental areas to be supplied with elected officers. This implies an enormous number of party officials. In the two great organizations of our chief parties are more persons holding responsible official positions than there are in all the elective civil offices above those of the ward or the township in the whole country. The members of the committees of the party are its constantly active official agents. They guard and foster party interests not only during the cam- paign periods but also throughout the intervals be- tween conventions and elections ; they collect infor- mation which is of value to party leaders, and give currency to party opinion. These services are given without pay, though in a few of the most important committees, such as the national committee or a state central committee, there are paid secretaries and clerks. While a very large proportion of the com- mitteemen receives no compensation, it is true that those who consent to bear the burden and heat of the day in party service are accounted worthy of con- sideration when the party is casting about for re- cipients of party honors. Many members of the party, however, who render faithful and effective aid in 63 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY humble and obscure ways, never seek or receive re- ward or recognition of any sort.^ 1 All that is said on the use of terms as applied to party organs is subject. to correction from the direct observation of actual usage. The things named are subject to change, and technical definition is difficult or impossible. F. H. Dallinger's "Nominations to Elective Office" and E. C. Meyer's "Nominating Systems" are convenient sources of infor- mation upon the whole subject of the working of party machinery. The convention system is fully treated in chaps, x, xi, and xii of J. A. Woodburn's "Political Parties and Party Problems." The new Primary Election laws of the various States define the recently added party terms. See also digests of recent legis- lation by S. G. Lowrie in American Political Science Review, May and August, 1911, and "Primary Elections," by C. E. Merriam, 1908. 64 CHAPTER VI THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE Standing in intimate relations to the President as the head of his party and holding a position of the high- est importance and responsibility in the party, is the national committee. It is the one perpetual and per- manent party institution which stands for the unity of the entire party, since in its composition every part of the nation is represented, and its chairman is both the nominal and the actual head of the formal organi- zation—the director and governor of the machine. Historically speaking, the committee has grown in consequence and power with the growth of the party. As the party has become the regular and accepted organ of political expression, the national committee, chosen in orderly manner and surrounded by all the sanctions of an established institution intrenched in the habits and affection of a great people, has sup- planted the irregular and self-appointed agencies of the early days and assumed prestige and authority. When the Whig party went out, in the years imme- diately following its defeat in 1852, and the peo- ple who had become accustomed to the biparty sys- tem of government were left with only half the machinery needed for the working of such a system, 5 65 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY new parties sprang up and began to assume national proportions. "With marvelous rapidity, organized as the work of unauthorized, self-appointed committees, the Know- nothing, or American party spread through every part of the land. It arose in response to a need which was generally felt, but before it had secured possession of the political organs surrendered by the Whigs another party took the field. Before this young and eager body of men conjuring with the old and glorious name Republican and presenting issues more in consonance with the trend of the political thought of the time, the Knownothings went down. The Republicans created an organization which en- dures, and we think we know how this was done. It may never be certainly known where or by whom the party name was first suggested, or which point of the widespread movement is entitled to the credit of pri- ority. More important and significant is the fact of the spontaneity of the movement and the large num- ber of its independent points of contact with the people. The Republican party was locally organized before national agencies were brought into use, and an ac- credited national committee appeared before a con- vention was called to place in nomination a candidate for the Presidency. Among the many local organiza- tions, one under the name of ''The Republican As- sociation of Washington, District of Columbia," was formed June 19, 1855. On January 17, 1856, this body issued a circular urging Republicans to or- ganize clubs or associations in all cities, towns, and G6 THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE villages, and giving minute directions as to methods of insuring successful cooperation. On this circular appeared the following passage: ''We have therefore to request that, should you organize a Republican Association, or should there be one already in ex- istence in your place, you will urge upon its members the importance of at once collecting funds for the purpose of procuring and disseminating the proper kind of documents among the masses, either by your Association or by our National Committee." This is probably the earliest reference made to a Republican national committee, and the title designates here merely a committee of a local association at the capi- tal, which assumed the name. But it happened that on the same day, January 17, 1856, there went out from Washington a call signed by the chairmen of the State Republican committees of nine States, inviting the Republicans of the United States to meet in informal convention at Pittsburg, February 22, "for the purpose of perfecting the Na- tional Organization, and providing for a National Delegate Convention of the Republican Party, at some subsequent day, to nominate candidates for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency." The self-appointed body which issued this call did not name itself a na- tional committee, though it might have done so with much more appropriateness than did the local Wash- ington committee which assumed the name. The informal Pittsburg convention called by the nine state committeemen met and appointed an ex- ecutive committee consisting of one from each State represented in the convention; and that committee, 67 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY having met in Washington on March 29, 1856, issued a formal call for the first National Republican Nom- inating Convention, to be held in Philadelphia on June 17, of the same year. This convention was opened by the Hon. Edwin D. Morgan of New York, chairman of the national committee, with the fol- lowing words: "Delegates of the Convention, Repre- sentatives of the Heart and Hope of the Nation: The day and the hour appointed for this gathering have arrived ; and in behalf of my associates of the National Committee, I now call this assemblage to order. ' ' Thus the body to which pertains the supreme authority in a great political organization was called into being by the action of a self-constituted national committee. It at once entered upon its duties and as- sumed all the powers and privileges belonging to such a body. A resolution was adopted providing for the appointment of a national committee, consisting of one member from each State and Territory, to serve during the ensuing four years. All our information goes to show that this was in the minds of the people the accepted form of organization. In the Demo- cratic party the permanent national committee dates from 1848. While much is known concerning the work of the national committee during the presidential campaign, information as to its functions throughout the three ^, intervening years is not abundant or satisfactory. \ There is reason to believe, however, that the duties of i! that period are more numerous and more important than they have been generally regarded. "To pro- mote the Democratic Cause," is one of the labors as- 68 THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE signed to its committee by the Democratic convention of 1848, and this may be taken as a comprehensive statement of the work of a national committee. A common cause of party weakness and failure is the rise of misunderstandings, division, and local faction within the party. The committee, representing in the- ory the whole party constituency of the country, is in a position to resist the development of faction and to exercise powerful influence in correcting misunder- standings and healing dissensions. Along such lines its practical usefulness may be almost unlimited, and much of its time during the years of comparative in- action may well be devoted to the labor of harmoniz- ing elements possibly discordant. Members of the national committee are, moreover, exceptionally acute observers of political phenomena. They are selected in the first place in view of their known or assumed interest in the party objects, and high official obliga- tion works naturally to increase that interest. They are in a position to render many services to the Presi- dent, the cabinet, and members of Congress, more es- pecially in promoting mutual understanding and sym- pathy between these high officers and the rank and file of the party in the States. They may, also, actively assist both in discovering and in determining the will of the party and of the country. The fact that the national committee does not au- thoritatively interfere with elections held during the three years intervening between the presidential struggles, enables it all the more effectively to observe the movements of men and events, to watch the devel- opment of national issues, and to be prepared to sum 69 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY up the results for the benefit of the party in the con- fiict at the end of the period. Certain it is that those members of national committees who have served through a presidential campaign, followed by three years of experience as official watchmen, have been ready to assume and exercise high responsibilities when the time for decisive action has come again, and this with a good degree of satisfaction to their con- stituents. A few illustrations will make this plain. On De- cember 22, 1859, the Republican national com- mittee which had conducted the campaign of 1856 issued a call for the next ensuing national con- vention. To this convention the committee invited "the Republican electors of the several States, the members of the people's party of Pennsylvania, and the opposition party of New Jersey, and all others who are willing to cooperate with them in support of the candidates who shall there be nominated. ' ' The point of interest in this extract is that it was the national committee that decided whom to invite to the conven- tion, and whose members took upon themselves the re- sponsibility of designating "the people's party of Pennsylvania and the opposition party of New Jersey" as suitable component parts of that conven- tion. The same committee took the liberty, in calling the convention, to formulate in much detail what they regarded as the precise issues of the hour; such as, the right of Congress to prohibit the extension of slavery in the Territories, and the immediate admis- sion of Kansas as a free State. Four years later the 70 THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE committee sent out its call in the midst of civil war; but neither in that document nor in any official re- port of the proceedings of the convention which fol- lowed does the name Republican anywhere appear. It seems that the committee took upon themselves the responsibility of suppressing the party name. They describe themselves as "The undersigned who, by original appointment or by subsequent designation to fill vacancies, constitute the Executive Committee created by the National Convention held at Chicago on May 16, 1860." With one exception their call is the briefest paper of its kind ever promulgated by a Republican national committee. Not a single reference is made to any opposing party. All quali- fied voters ' ' who desire the unconditional maintenance of the Union, the supremacy of the Constitution, and the complete suppression of the existing rebellion v/ith the cause thereof, by vigorous war and all apt and efficient means," are invited to send delegates to the convention. It was many years after the war was over before the discovery was made that it had been carried to a suc- cessful conclusion by a "grand old party" which bore the name Republican. Had that discovery been made at any time previous to the calling of the national conventions of 1864, it is not likely that the rebellion would have been put down by force. The position of the Republican national committee was a peculiarly delicate and responsible one. As soon as the war had become serious the obnoxious partizan name was dropped, as if by common consent. All citizens, re- gardless of party, were called upon to support the 71 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY government, and there was a prompt and hearty re- sponse. A Breckenridge Democrat went into Lin- coln's cabinet. Stephen A. Douglas, the leading Democratic candidate for the Presidency in 1860, spent his last breath in persuading his followers to support the Lincoln administration. Democrats en- tered the Union army by hundreds of thousands. When the time was approaching, in 1864, for the meeting of the Republican convention, the national committee waited for two months after the usual date for issuing the call, and then they provided for the holding of a non-partizan "Union Convention," assuming the responsibility of giving an entirely new name to their party. The national committee ap- pointed by the Union Convention took the liberty of restoring the Republican name in issuing the call for the convention of 1868, adding the word Republi- can to the previous title ; the official designation of the Convention of 1868 was, therefore, the "National Union Republican Convention." Later, it was simply the "Union Republican Convention" that was called, and in the year 1880 the word Union was dropped and the original name restored. The official designa- tion has since been simply the "National Republican Convention" or the "Republican National Conven- tion." Somewhat different has been the experience of the national Democratic committee. Among the most formidable of the assets of the party are its claim to an unbroken historical continuity from the first dec- ade of the national existence, and its assertion of the broadest nationality from the beginning, utterly re- 72 THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE pudiating every semblance of sectionalism. These pro- clivities are reflected in the course of party history, and in the records of its proceedings. The change of name from Republican to Demo- crat took place so gradually that no suggestion of re- organization was made. Indeed, the official title of the party remains to this day the Democratic-Repub- lican, though long since abbreviated in popular par- lance and in most of the party literature to Demo- cratic party. That was the generally accepted name before the meeting of the first national convention in 1832. The call for a national convention issued by the committee appointed by the convention of 1848, after stating that the committee had conferred with members of Congress, recommended "that a Conven- tion of the Democratic party throughout the Union, by delegates duly appointed by the Democrats of the several States, be held in the city of Baltimore." No further description of the party constituency was needed. After the Greeley campaign of 1872 a slight change may be noted in the form of sound words used to call together the national convention. "Democratic, con- servative and other citizens of the United States," so it reads, "irrespective of past political association, desiring to cooperate with the Democratic party in its present efforts and objects, are cordially invited to send delegates to the National convention." Four years later, in 1876, the call ran: "All Democratic conservative citizens of the United States, irrespective of past political associations and differences, who can unite with us in the effort for pure, economical, and 73 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY constitutional government, are cordially invited to join in sending delegates to the Convention." This form is repeated without change until after the Chi- cago convention of 1896. The call for the convention of 1900 injects the word "reform" into the first phrase, making it read, "All Democratic conservative reform citizens," and at the end of the sentence this qualifying clause is added, "and who favor a Repub- lic and who are opposed to Empire." To the national committees are assigned many practical matters of business. They arrange for a place of meeting for the national convention and su- pervise the details of plans for its suitable entertain- ment. The disbursing of the vast sums of money col- lected for party purposes pertains to them, and calls for unlimited judgment, discretion, and political sagacity. More delicate and important is the commit- tee's task of providing for the organization of the convention by selecting the temporary chairman. Or- dinarily the chairman so named is accepted by unani- mous consent; but this rule has been subject to two notable exceptions, one in each party. The Repub- lican convention of 1884, which nominated Mr. Blaine, refused to accept the committee nominee for chairman, as did also the Democratic convention of 1896. In both instances the issue led to a protracted debate. The fact that the conduct of the committee has so seldom been brought into public notice and has been so very rarely questioned, is proof of a high degree of skill and of success in harmonizing and directing the party forces. Men go to the national convention 74 THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE with a profound interest in the questions to be settled. They realize that much depends upon the course of the temporary chairman. He is the first to address the convention; either he or the national committee may appoint the committees on organization. That only once in the history of each of the two great parties has the performance of the duties of the committee been seriously objected to, argues much for its uni- form good judgment and fairmindedness. But there are times when the national party itself becomes so rent into opposing sections whose opinions are held with unyielding conviction, that for the time being the conflict within the party is of more conse- quence than that with its legitimate enemy. Over such a condition a national committee has no power; a contest is unavoidable. For the eight years previous to 1884 serious divi- sions had existed in the Republican party, but no single, clear-cut national problem furnished the ground of strife. The reform of the civil service was, however, one of the issues involved, and just at the time when the convention met in 1884 the one sharp line of separation which the whole country clearly understood was on the simple question, Shall James G. Blaine be the presidential candidate? The com- mittee nominated for temporary chairman one who was known as a supporter of Mr. Blaine, and the opposing section of the party made an alternate nomi- nation. In the debate which ensued not one word was said about the real matters involved. The nominee of the committee was Powell Clayton of Arkansas. The convention nominated John R, Lynch, a colored dele- 75 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY gate from Mississippi. Both sides agreed that the South should be honored with the position, and the supporters of Mr. Lynch maintained that their candi- date was more fairly a representative of the party in that section than Mr. Clayton. There was no direct criticism of the action of the committee farther than was implied in the mere intimation that a more typi- cal Southern representative could have been selected. The supporters of the committee were ardent in de- fense of its candidate. The first speaker urged the convention not to depart from the unbroken precedent of forty years, and closed with these words : "Now let us sustain the National committee in this matter, which, I tell you, gentlemen, is for the success and harmony of the Republican party of this country." In the vote which followed the discussion the commit- tee's candidate was defeated, yet the convention after all nominated Mr. Blaine. The corresponding incident in the Democratic con- vention is much more important. In this case the division was upon a deiEinite national question which had for twenty years been matter for internal dissen- sion in both political parties. In their national plat- forms both parties had professed to hold a friendly attitude toward the free coinage of silver. Both had incurred about equal blame for the policy which had resulted in the discontinuance of the coinage of silver. The time had now come for some sort of decisive set- tlement of the question. The Republican convention of 1896 had already met and put forth an unmistakable declaration in favor of the maintenance of the gold standard. This 76 THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE had divided the convention ; a portion of the delegates had seceded and multitudes were driven out of the party. There was no doubt that a clear majority in the Democratic party was in favor of the free coinage of silver, and they let it be known that they intended to use their regular party machinery to give effect to their opinions. In the debate over the preliminary organization of the Republican con- vention of 1884 it was intimated by one of the speakers that the national committee would have been willing to name as chairman of the convention the candidate who was the choice of the convention, had they been warned in advance that their own nomi- nee would not be acceptable. Now, the Democratic committee had been warned in advance, in 1896. It is matter of record that Senators Jones of Arkansas, Turpie of Indiana, and Daniel of Virginia, and Governors Stone of Missouri and Altgeld of Illinois appeared before the committee and requested them to appoint as chairman of the convention a well-known representative of the majority section of the party. Twenty-three members of the committee endeavored to comply with this request and named Senator Daniel of Virginia for the position. Twenty-seven other members refused to regard the wish of the majority, and presented to the convention the name of David B. Hill of New York. The committee by its majority and minority reports reflected in itself the irrepar- able breach in the party over the question at issue. In the debate which followed, the supporters of Mr. Hill rested their case almost entirely upon the impor- tance of continuing unbroken the time-honored cus- 77 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY torn of accepting the nominee of the committee. It was conceded that a majority of the convention dif- fered from Mr. Hill on the silver question. Other instances were given in which the temporary chair- man was known in advance to represent a minority of the party on some public issue, and both sides in the debate made use of the Republican example of 1884. The remarks of supporters of Mr. Daniel re- vealed the fact that their minds had been influenced by newspaper reports of a plan to organize and con- trol the convention so as to thwart the will of the majority. The minority nominee was elected, and the convention was organized and controlled by the free- silver section of the party. When the national convention has been organized the authority of the national committee is at an end, though the chairman retains his office until the new national committee has been organized. During the brief space of its existence the convention embodies the full scope of party power. It is supposed to come directly from the people and to speak for all the primaries. Before its adjournment it provides for the transfer of a portion of its authority and functions to a new national committee chosen for the ensuing four years. The work of the convention which fixes public at- tention is not, however, the appointment of committees but the nomination of candidates. Whatever may have been the divisions and contests within the party before the meeting of the convention and during its sessions, after the nominations have been made and the convention has adjourned, it is expected that all 78 THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE dissension will disappear, all conflict cease, and the party ranks close up for a vigorous campaign on behalf of the chosen candidates. It is in the midst of such an atmosphere and under the influence of such a spirit that the new committee comes into existence and has its first experience. The members of the com- mittee are nominated before the convention by the delegates from the different States and Territories, each being entitled to one representative on the com- mittee. Though the several sets of delegates may have differed widely in respect to the various matters brought before the convention, it is imperative that they should unite in the selection of such a committee as will work effectively for the success of the party ticket. It would be an exhibition of unusual bad faith for any delegation to nominate for committee- man one who would not heartily cooperate with the others for attaining the immediate object of the party endeavor— winning the election. The conditions naturally bring about a close asso- ciation between the committee and the chief candidate. This does not imply that the committee membership should be drawn from the section of the party origi- nally favorable to the successful candidate. On the contrary, that would be the last thing that the candi- date would desire. Rather, the committee should rep- resent all sections and factions that will consent to co- operate cordially for the election of the candidates of the party. It is characteristic of the convention sys- tem of nomination that the wishes of the party candi- date shall be consulted in respect to the appointment of committees whose first duties are the carrying of the 79 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY election, and conditions sometimes arise in which it is difficult or impossible to secure the representation on the national committee of all party sections. After the deep-rooted and stubborn divisions which pre- vailed in the Republican party in 1880 and 1884, and even more disastrously in the Democratic party in 1896, this was found to be the case. Such a state of affairs, however, is indicative of party readjustment and change of membership to such an extent as to interfere with the normal working of party organs. The committee of the convention is, and must be, in an important sense, the committee of the candidate, who is either directly consulted as to its choice or has his known preferences carefully regarded. In some of the States it is the rule of the party that the can- didates or the principal one shall name the committee. In all party committees much power rests with the chairman. A large part of the committee's work is of such a nature that it can be done only by one man acting on individual initiative. In the case of the national committee, whether or not the presidential candidate is consulted as to its general composition, he is sure to have a voice in the selection of its chair- man. Besides the national committee, whose membership is too large for acting effectively as a body, a special campaign committee may be appointed to have charge of the immediate labor of marshaling the forces and conducting the campaign. Even more than the na- tional committee this is peculiarly the committee of the candidate. It may be formed by the chairman of the national committee calling to his aid a corps of assis- 80 THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE tants, or it may be a separate body with a chairman of its own. In any case the presidential candidate is consulted as to its make-up. The few months which intervene between the convention and the election are a period of exacting cares and wearing activity for the newly appointed national committee, and it is then that its members acquire the experience and wisdom which prepare them for the performance of the deli- cate and responsible labors of the remainder of their term of office. All the party machinery, local, state, and Federal, must be in the fullest and best working order for the great campaign. Not alone is a President to be elected : the party has candidates also for the lower House of Congress, for the state legislatures in nearly all the States who will be called upon to vote for a United States senator; candidates for governor and other state officers; candidates for county offices, for city, town, ward, and village offices. Many of the local offices which in the three other years are filled with little reference to party ties, are in presidential years taken in hand by the regular party organizations. The vast activities set in motion in States, districts, counties, towns, and villages, are all subject to the guidance of the national committee. It is the policy of this committee to utilize to the full state and local machinery. The state central committee found in every State is organically independent of the national committee; for it is rare indeed for a member of the latter to be also a member of the former. Yet during the campaign each state committee makes itself an effective part of the working force of the centralized 6 81 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY organization engaged in striving to elect a President. The independence of the state organs really renders national control all the more easy and effective. Par- ties are governed Ijy influence rather than by author- ity. Internal dissensions may rage for three years of the quadrennial period, but during the presidential campaign the discordant factions, as a rule, gain an experience of harmonious cooperation. At least there is the profession of harmony accompanied by many public acts in accord with the profession. Here lies the great value of the national committee. The commit- tee does not order the state quarrels to cease, but it exerts an influence in favor of harmony. The state member of the national committee is a pacifying, har- monizing agent. One of his duties is to observe the working of state and local party organs and to inform his associates in charge of the campaign with reference to all sources of party weakness and all means for the increase of party strength. The ordinary committee member, like other influential members of the party, takes an active part in the campaign as speaker, writer, counsellor; but his especial service is in observing the conduct of others, in giving information to the leaders, and in healing local dissensions. Thus he gains the peculiar training which he needs to fit him to share in the difficult task of keeping the party together dur- ing the less exciting but not less important period be- tween campaigns, and of preparing for and organizing the next national convention. The national party organs and their functions are in most respects identical in the two great parties. 82 THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE There are, however, a few slight functional diversities growing out of the differences in the rules adopted for the guidance of the national convention. The Democratic national convention has always adhered to what is known as the unit rule. That is, the convention has limited its own authority in deter- mining its own composition to the mere act of notify- ing the various States and Territories of the number of delegates which they are entitled to send, leaving to the States the manner of choosing those delegates and leaving also to the delegation from each State the manner of casting their votes in the convention. Thus, if a state delegation decides that they will vote to- gether as a body, the convention will not interfere. It also permits a majority of the members of a state delegation to cast the entire vote of the State against the protest of a minority of the delegation. When this issue was raised in the Republican con- vention the decision was in favor of the right of the minority in a state delegation to have their votes counted. And in the discussion which accompanied the decision especial emphasis was given to the right of the people in each congressional district to a voice in the proceedings of the convention. This has led the Republican party to formulate rules governing the manner of choosing delegates in the various States. Previous to 1884 the Republican committee in call- ing the convention gave no instructions as to the method of selecting delegates; but the call for that year specified that the four delegates-at-large should be chosen by state conventions, and gave to the Repub- 83 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY lieans in the congressional districts the option of elect- ing delegates by district convention fifteen days before the state convention, or by district delegates at the meeting of the state convention. The convention of 1888 adopted the rule that "each congressional dis- trict in the United States shall elect its delegates to the national convention in the same way as the nomi- nation for a member of Congress is made in said dis- trict." With slight modifications this rule has been embodied in each call for the convention since that date. The Republican rule gives increased impor- tance to the congressional district, and tends to make it a more significant factor in party organization. The Democratic rule makes the State the unit and tends to the retention of larger powers in the state convention. In respect to some of the duties of the members of the national committee certain differences may be noted between the party in power and the party in op- position. For example, in States which have no rep- resentative of the party in Congress, the party com- mitteeman of the State is often a potent agent in the distribution of patronage, assuming, in this particular at least, functions which in other States are exercised by senators and representatives. A Republican Pres- ident may consult the members of the national com- mittee from Southern States, which have no Republi- can members of Congress, in respect to appointments. The powers of the national committee have in re- cent years been brought more prominently into public notice than ever before. The increased importance of organization, so manifest in business enterprises and labor unions, has been reflected in the political par- 84 THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE ties. William McKinley was nominated in 1896 by means of a systematic, organized effort extending to the primaries. Since that date the chairman of the national committee has been constantly before the country as a distinct political force. The convention which nominated William Jennings Bryan in 1896 had not, at the time of assembling, reached a definite conclusion as to a candidate, but an entirely definite conclusion had been reached with ref- erence to the chief issue to be presented in the plat- form. By a prearranged, systematic movement the free-silver section of the party had come to a clear understanding. Through correspondence reaching to the primaries of all the States the sense of the con- vention had become known. It was known also that a majority of the national committee was not in har- mony with the majority in the convention. Hence a conflict arose in the committee itself over the nomina- tion of a temporary chairman. As soon as the con- vention, called together with a predetermined purpose, got control of the party forces, steps were taken to se- cure for the next committee persons sympathizing with the views of the party majority. Senator Jones of Ar- kansas was made chairman of the committee, because of the active part he had taken in the leadership of the party in the Chicago convention and, as stated above, he was given full power for harmonizing the committee. The continued struggle in the ranks of the Demo- cratic party over the questions raised in the Chicago convention has served as never before to keep the ma- chinery of the political party before the public eye. It has followed that the men who have stood at the 85 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY head of the two great party organizations have Joeen recognized as a constant force in the government of the country, and have been consulted upon matters of state, not as public officers, but as representatives of a national party. The proceedings of the national conventions of the two parties furnish the one source of official information upon the work of the national committee. This committee receives increasing at- tention in current literature. See article in Tlie Atlantic Monthly, Vol. LXXXIX, p. 76, by R. Ogden. "The Republican National Committee: How It Works for Votes." Eevieto of Reviews, Vol. XXII, p. 529. Becent Beferences : "Cortelyou and the Republican Campaign," by A. Halstead. Review of Eevieivs, September, 1904. "Geo. B. Cortelyou, " by L. A. Coolidge. Bevieiv of Be- views, December, 1904. "Taggart and the Democratic Campaign," by J. P. Horn- aday. Beview of Beviews, September, 1904. "Chairman Hitchcock," by S. Smith. Beview of Beviews, October, 1908. "Campaign Chauffeurs," by F. H. Hitchcock. Current Literature, October, 1908. 86 CHAPTER VII THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE The origin of the congressional committee, as was mentioned in a previous chapter, belongs to a time of sharp conflict between the executive and legislative branches of the government. The Union convention of 1864 was called by the national Republican com- mittee appointed by the Republican convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln in 1860. It included and rep- resented many supporters of the Lincoln administra- tion who were not Republicans, and it was on account of the Union Democrats in the convention that Mr. Johnson's name was placed upon the ticket. When, after the assassination of Lincoln, Johnson became President, the great body of the Republicans in Con- gress were driven into opposition, and the support of the Executive came mainly from the Democrats. This was the situation when the time approached for the election of a new Congress in 1866. The President, having control of the public patronage, was using it to strengthen his administration. The national com- mittee, closely identified as it was with the Executive, was an unsatisfactory agency for the use of the Re- publicans in Congress. In this emergency the Repub- lican members of the two Houses agreed upon the ap- 87 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY pointment of a national committee of their own, organized and conducted a campaign, and secured a strong enough representation in Congress to enable them to overcome the President's veto. In the beginning, then, the congressional committee was an emergency tool, adopted by one of the great parties only. But it was not long before it had so commended itself to the party leaders as to be accepted and made a permanent part of the organization, and was soon adopted by the Democratic party likewise. It meets a real party need. The national convention and the national committee, though nominally and truly representing the entire party, are, in respect to their peculiar duties, more specifically associated with the Executive. The committee is, indeed, in a way, the especial agent of the presidential candidate, appointed to secure his election and identified with his interests. Now, as has been already explained, mem- bers of Congress, even of the same political connection, have duties and interests quite distinct from those of the Executive, and the national congressional com- mittee is an institutional recognition of a patent and significant fact. It not infrequently happens that seri- ous differences arise between the President and his party in Congress, and it is highly important that these dissensions should not be allowed to mar the party unity in the voting constituencies. Conceding the President's prior claim upon the original national committee. Congress can place full confidence in a committee of its own members connecting it directly with the local organizations in each congressional dis- trict. 88 THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE Especially is the usefulness of the congressional committee demonstrated at the time of the important election occurring midway between presidential elec- tions, when an entire lower House is chosen and one third of the Senate is also subject to change. Mem- bers of the national committee also may, as individuals, take an active part in these elections, but the com- mittee does not organize and take charge of the cam- paign as in presidential years. This is now left to the congressional committee, which prepares and issues a campaign text-book and other literature, and assists doubtful districts by supplying speakers and funds for campaign purposes. The committee does not put forth a formal platform. It assumes that the declara- tion of principles adopted by the last preceding na- tional convention is in force so far as it is applicable to the conditions. But when new issues have arisen, as in the case of the war with Spain in 1898, the atti- tude of the two parties toward those questions will find expression in the campaign literature prepared by the congressional committees of the two parties. No fixed rules define the relations of the two na- tional party committees to each other. They are ex- pected, of course, to work in harmony for the triumph of the party. In presidential years the congressional committee holds a relatively subordinate place. It is- sues no text-book of its own, but may assist the na- tional committee in the preparation of such a work. While it may raise funds and aid doubtful districts, it must not, in the exercise of these functions, interfere with the plans of the national campaign committee. Some fluctuations appear in the comparative influ- 89 // PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY ence and importance of the Republican congressional committee at different periods during the nearly forty years of its existence. The committee was particularly active in the campaign of 1880, and there was at the same time a lack of harmony with the national com- mittee, which gave rise to the question of the utility of the double organization. During the twelve years fol- lowing, the Republican congressional committee was less conspicuous and less active ; but in 1894 it assumed new life and has ever since been the prominent and efficient agent of the party for the election of congress- men in the "off" years. Indeed, it is apparent that within the last decade the congressional committees of [both parties have taken a place of increasing impor- itance. During this same period the national commit- tees of both the parties have been shown to manifest a growing activity and influence, and it may now be ac- cepted as the settled policy of party organization to maintain the two committees permanently. The one is peculiarly the organ of the quadrennial national con- vention, and closely associated with executive leader- ship in national politics, while the other, emanating directly from Congress, becomes an organ for legisla- tive leadership, and is more particularly useful to the , House of Representatives. After a new House of Representatives has been elected the congressional committee is reorganized, the former committee having expired with the Con- gress which created it. The new committee is, in the Republican party, called into existence by a joint caucus of the members of the party in the two Houses, which is called in the ordinary way, that is, by petition 90 THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE of party members in each House. At this meeting of senators and representatives the representatives from each State and Territory designate one of their num- ber to serve on the committee. If there is but one party member in Congress from any State or Terri- tory, that one becomes a member of the committee. If the State or Territory has no Republican representa- tive in Congress, it has no representation on the Re- publican congressional committee. There is no rule as to whether any of the members of the committee shall be senators, though, as a matter of fact, some senators are always chosen. The great majority is, however, from the lower House. In the organization of the Democratic congressional committee several differences appear. In the first place, the members of the committee, instead of being chosen at a joint caucus of the two Houses, are ap- pointed at separate caucuses of the Houses. There is also a definite rule respecting the representation from each House. The Senate has nine members on the committee, appointed by the senatorial caucus; and in addition to these, each State and Territory which has representatives in the lower House has a member from that House on the committee. If it happens that any State or Territory has no party member of the House of Representatives, then some prominent Demo- crat in the State or Territory is chosen to serve on the committee. The Democratic method creates a much larger committee than does the Republican method. In 1903 the Democratic committee numbered fifty- nine ; the Republican, thirty-four. This difference in the organization of the congres- 91 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY sional committees of the two parties, reflects the differ- ences previously pointed out in their history and their position before the country. The one has had a hun- dred years of continuous organic life in every part of the land, interrupted only by the four years of the Confederacy. The other came into existence by means of a massed vote in one section only; and when the new organization was extended over the South it was under abnormal conditions and by the use of abnormal agencies such as cannot again be employed. It follows that in a considerable portion of the country the Republican party has never had a really normal organization. Though it calls itself a national party and its committee the national Repub- lican committee, it remains true that in that committee ten or twelve great States have no representation. There is likewise, corresponding to this diversity of organization, a difference in the spirit and methods of administration. The Democratic congressional committee keeps in close touch with the national com- mittee and seeks to add strength to the party in all sections alike. The Republican committee, on the contrary, makes it a fundamental principle of its party policy to exert its special efforts in the few doubtful districts in which there is reason to believe that in the pending election the party may be strengthened. As evidence of its value to the party the Republican congressional committee points proudly to the fact that for twenty years previous to its marked revival in the election of 1894 the majority in the lower House had, at each election occurring midway between the presidential elections, been shifted to the opposite 92 THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE party, whereas since that time the Republicans have maintained uninterrupted ascendancy. The power and efficiency of the committee are indeed undeniable. Its far-reaching designs, projected and executed, chal- lenge the admiration of any unprejudiced politician. While limiting its special expenditures to the few doubtful districts, the members of the committee hav- ing charge of the campaign cooperate with party agents in all districts where any organization is main- tained. An incident which occurred at the close of the campaign of 1902 illustrates the thoroughness of the work of the committee. The three men who had been chief managers of the campaign made independent estimates of the probable results the day before the election, and these three independent calculations gave to the party in the lower House a membership of 204, 206, and 208, respectively; while the actual number was found, when the returns came in, to be 209. This was the more remarkable since by the census of 1900 the areas of a majority of the districts had been changed, and the committeemen had executed the most difficult task of preparing tabulated lists of the partj^ vote in the new areas for the three preceding elections. The development of the enlarged powers and func- tions of the congressional committees in both parties has been attended by a corresponding modification of the organization in the various States. Though there is no uniform rule for the different States or even, in many cases, for the different districts in the same State, there has yet been manifested a general ten- dency to enlarge the sphere of the congressional dis- trict committees. The separate organization for con- 93 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY trolling the election of congressmen may reach to the counties, and even to the voting precincts. In such cases the voters are under guidance from two sep- arate machines of the same party, one directing their action in respect to the single duty of choosing a representative to Congress, the other furnishing guidance in the interest of the party as a whole in connection with the filling of local, state, and Federal offices. Even where the party organization does not ramify through the smaller political divisions, the local and county committees find themselves sub- ject to instructions from two independent authorities — the congressional district committee and the state committee. Special party organization in the congressional dis- tricts is greatly affected by the character of the aspirants for office therein, and particularly by that of the one who habitually carries the district. Since each district, therefore, is under the personal leadership of the candidate, it tends to assume a character of its own. The member usually elected from term to term either has an organization of his own or he has friends who further his plans. His personal ambition and his personal efforts contribute to the success of his party, while he may retain a sort of ownership in the agen- cies which he has created. A story is told of an aspi- rant for a seat in the House of Representatives in a doubtful district who hired a pseudo lightning-rod peddler to traverse the district and restore the party organization in places where it had fallen into disuse. The district was thus redeemed, and the revivified machine remained, in a sense, a personal asset of the 94 THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE candidate who had placed his party under obligations to him for its victory. The congressional committee has for the most part escaped public attention. The committee which con- ducts the presidential campaign is constantly before the public, and its chairman is a conspicuous national character. But the committee which holds a corre- sponding position in the mid-term election labors with- out public notice. Like the House of Representatives, whose organ it is, by escaping public controversy it has incurred neglect. Party text-books issued by the Congressional Committees and the President in "off years" furnish material on the work of these committees. 95 CHAPTER VIII STATE PARTY ORGANIZATION Each State of the Union is independent of every other and has a distinct and separate history. Citi- zenship in the United States is normally attained through citizenship in a particular State. The State is a definite object of loyalty and patriotic attachment. Multitudes of citizens in the Southern States were in 1861 warmly devoted to the Union and strongly op- posed to secession, yet they were comparatively few who did not with a superior loyalty to their State go with it into the final conflict. While the results of the war have developed and emphasized a sense of the higher national claim, they have not eradicated and it may well be questioned whether they have, in any de- gree, lessened the primitive and fundamental attach- ment of the American citizen to his State. American politics is characterized by association with distinct local areas. Should a foreign enemy destroy the government at Washington the effect would be the creation of fifty sovereign states with governments already organized. Each governor would become a dictator having full command of all the re- sources of the state. If destructive forces should assail the ordinary government of a State, then the 96 STATE PARTY ORGANIZATION people, utilizing the governmental fragments re- maining in county, town, city, and village, would speedily extemporize a substitute. Out of older counties and towns the States have been built up. The people know, or think they know, how counties and townships are made, because, in the not distant past they have themselves had a share in organ- izing them. They see how these have built the States and the States the Nation. The American will not ac- cept, as representative of his township, district, or other local area of whatever name or nature, one not a resident of it, because this would seem to violate a fun- damental principle in his established method of state- building. The State is formed out of preexisting or- ganic areas ; if these are not kept intact the structure is impaired. But should the governmental super- structure be destroyed, a new one may be supplied, provided only the foundations are preserved. That a strong attachment to geographically localized institutions is fraught with danger to the state is a truth familiar to the student of history. Had not some means been found, some agencies invented to bind together the people of the separated localities, wars between the sections would have become chronic. The instruments for affecting the national unification have been many, and among them as holding an important place must be counted our dual system of political parties. "Politics," we are told, ** makes strange bedfel- lows." True it is that individuals and peoples other- wise most discordant have been brought into the closest sympathy and cooperation through the agency of ' 97 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY party machinery. The great national party has cre- ated a new bond of union which defies even the old clan or tribal instincts, and brings together those who without it would have been hostile. At the same time, the elemental human instinct which craves the excitement of war is gratified in the recurring, hard- fought battles between the two well-matched political hosts. These furnish a maximum of interesting and spectacular incident with a minimum of bloodshed and lasting resentment. Not only have persons and peoples naturally di- verse been united and harmonized through party as- sociation; hostile sections and sections with opposing interests have likewise been thus kept in relations of tolerable harmony and submission to the general will. From the very beginning of the Union disruption was threatened, but no actual disruption occurred until a President had been elected who was the candidate of a party representing only one section of the country, and the breach which rent the national parties in twain preceded the attempt to destroy the Union. The framers of the Federal Constitution aimed at a definite partition of powers and duties between the States and the general government. The States, with their own separately chosen officers, were to attend to the duties reserved to them, while the Nation, through officers of its own, should exercise the powers conferred upon it by the Constitution, The two governments and their two fields were made as distinct as the nature of the business would admit. But the two governments dealing with the same subjects have many points of contact ; many cases arise where authorities conflict. 98 STATE PARTY ORGANIZATION Among the duties assigned to the States was that of choosing presidential electors. The Constitution says : "Each State shall appoint in such manner as the leg- islature thereof may direct, a number of electors equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress." Around this clause of the Constitution it is that the entire system of political parties in the United States has been built up. According to the Constitution, the state legislature takes the initiative in electing a Pres- ident. It may name the electors by its own direct act, as many of them did at first, or it may provide by law for choosing them in some other way. When the electors for a given State have been chosen, their sole duty is to meet at the capital of the State, as the law directs, and cast their votes for a President and a Vice-President, and make return of the result to the proper officers. From the beginning, the general popular interest in the question of choosing the Chief Magistrate was intense. With practical unanimity the people de- manded Washington for their first President, and electors were chosen in harmony with their will. When Washington refused to be a candidate for a third term, voters were divided in their preferences. Already party divisions and party names had ap- peared. John Adams, a Federalist, received a major- ity of the electoral votes and became President, while Thomas Jefferson, a Republican, having the next high- est number of votes, was elected Vice-President. Had party lines been closely drawn in 1796, this division of the chief offices between the parties could not have 99 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY occurred. They were so drawn in the next election, and the result was the defeat of the Federalist candi- dates, while the two Republican candidates each re- ceived the entire vote of his party. But in spite of a decisive Republican majority, no President had been elected, since the two candidates had each the same number of votes. The election, therefore, devolved upon the House of Representatives. This experience showed that the Constitution must be changed so as to enable the electors to specify in voting the office as well as the person for which the votes were cast. Be- fore the next election, the Twelfth Amendment had been added to the Constitution. To the alarm of the conservatives, it was then generally perceived that, under the amendment, what was practically direct popular election of President and Vice-President was established. This radical change in the Constitution was brought about through the formation of political parties with their party nominating machinery. The legislature of each State has still the power, according to the letter of the Constitution, to appoint the electors in any manner it may please ; and the electors, after they are chosen, have the legal right to cast their votes accord- ing to their own judgment for any candidate they please, as was the intention of the makers of the Con- stitution. But when the political party appeared and party nominations preceded the choosing of electors, the electors were pledged in advance to vote for the candidates of their party. It was clearly seen that the party nomination would result in giving to the candidate for the Presidency precisely the same num- 100 STATE PARTY ORGANIZATION ber of votes as to the candidate for the Vice-Presi- dency, and, under the original Constitution, the final choice would always be thrown upon the House of Representatives. This realization made it possible to carry the Twelfth Amendment. The people, by means of an organized party system, unsanctioned by law, have ordained that candidates for the Presidency shall be named by national party nominating conventions, and that the President shall be elected by direct vote of the people in all the States. According to law, no one has ever voted or can vote for a President at a so-called presidential election. Citizens cast their ballots merely for a list of electors who will meet at a later date and choose a President. No one doubts, however, that the President is virtually elected by popular vote at the November election. The letter of the law has, meantime, been strictly observed. The appointment of presidential electors remains in the hands of the States. This is a fact of great importance. The United States has no machin- ery of its own for electing Presidents ; to the States that business pertains, with but slight restriction from the Federal authority. Another clause of the Constitution reads: "The Congress may determine the time of choosing elec- tors and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States." In pursuance of this power, Con- gress has fixed the day for choosing electors and that for their meeting to cast their vote. This is the limit of its power. That event which we are ac- 101 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY customed to call the presidential election is, in fact, a state election, held according to state law. Federal power is exhausted in the mere fixing of the date. The counting of the vote for electors is a state function. The counting of the vote of the electors for President and Vice-President is a Federal function. That act is assigned by the Constitution to the President of the Senate, and it must be performed in the presence of the two Houses of Congress. The really significant thing connected with a presidential election is the choosing of the electors, in law and in fact, by the individual States. As the Federal Government has no machinery for electing the President, neither has it any for electing members of Congress. The Constitution prescribes that "The times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the legislature thereof ; but the Congress may, at any time, by law, make or alter such regula- tions, except as to the place of choosing senators." If this clause had ended with the word "thereof," then the choosing of members of Congress would have been closely analogous to the election of President ; it would have been a state function. But the added phrase gives to Congress power to interfere to almost any extent with the election of its own members, though the business has been chiefly left to the States. For over fifty years, members of Congress were chosen entirely according to state laws. In 1842, Congress prescribed that representatives should be elected by districts in the States, each member having a separate district ; but the formation of the districts 102 STATE PARTY ORGANIZATION was left to the States. In 1871, a law of Congress or- dained the use of written or printed ballots in voting for representatives throughout the Union. Until 1866, senatorial elections took place without any congres- sional regulation. In that year, however, an act was passed prescribing in considerable detail the procedure of the two houses of the state legislature in the elec- tion of senators. All these various acts have really effected little change in the methods of choosing members of Con- gress, They are mainly such as the state legislatures themselves had adopted or approved, or they pertain to minor details. The elections are still left to the control of state officers, acting under state authority. After the close of the Civil War, a series of acts and proposed measures appeared which belong to a differ- ent class. They provided for the active interference of Federal officers in the holding of elections of repre- sentatives, and their tendency was to transfer the control of elections to Federal authority. This con- trol extended also to the choosing of presidential elec- tors, because they, as well as other state and local officials, were chosen at the same time as the repre- sentatives. There was, therefore, no limitation to possible Federal interference. These acts have since been repealed or suffered to fall into disuse, and the individual States are still left in practically undis- turbed control of the whole subject of elections of Federal as well as state officers. To the States likewise pertains the regulation of the elective franchise. The only reference to this subject in the original Constitution is found in the statement 103 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY that those having a right to vote for the most numer- ous branch of the state legislature shall be qualified electors in the choice of members of the lower House of Congress. If a State chooses to extend to the newly arrived foreigner the privilege of voting for members of its own legislature, the immigrant by that act be- comes qualified to vote for a representative in Con- gress, and shares, as a matter of course, in the indirect process of electing senators. The States have also the sole power to determine the qualifications of voters for presidential electors. They cannot, indeed, change an alien into a citizen, but they can grant to the alien the citizen 's right to vote. The Fourteenth Constitutional Amendment, while it did not abridge the State's control of the elective franchise, did ordain that if a State, for other than certain specified reasons, should limit the right to vote for the chief officers of government, state and national, then the right of such a State to repre- sentation in the lower House of Congress should be diminished in like proportion. The Fifteenth Amendment removed from the State the power to deprive a citizen of the United States of the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. After all the laws and all the amendments, the States remain in control of elections and, with slight restrictions, of the qualifications for suffrage. It is evident that the Federal Government lacks the essen- tial organs of an independent state, since it is de- pendent for the election of its own officials upon the separate States which supply the electoral machinery. 104 STATE PARTY ORGANIZATION We have, then, this anomalous condition of affairs : The electoral machinery has come to be controlled by national party organizations formed and maintained chiefly in the interest of Federal issues, while the conduct of the election itself is a state function, and the great body of the officers nominated and elected by the political parties attend to state and local duties which have no direct connection with national issues. A State may fix a different day for choosing its own officers from the one selected by Congress for electing presidential electors and members of the lower House of Congress, and some of them have done so. Yet even then the same party organizations manage the business, make the nominations, and conduct the cam- paign, and the tendency is rather to economize time and effort by massing the elections of both state and Federal officers on a single day. This makes the so- called presidential election a general one for all pur- poses. It comes only once in four years, however, while many state and local officers serve for terms less than four years in length, and representatives to Congress must be elected every two years. An in- creasing number of the States, therefore, provide for biennial elections of state legislatures and of the im- portant state and local officers, and by making the date coincident with that for choosing congressional representatives, they have brought about the result that no general state election is held which does not also involve a vote for congressmen. An exception to this general rule is found in the filling of local school offices, those of the city, and the minor places in towns and villages. Elections to these X05 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY positions are very generally set for a special time, though party machinery may be brought into play, and is almost certain to be in a city election. Party organization presents much variety in the different States. It may be said in a general way that the machinery of the party conforms to the ma- chinery of local government within the State. In New England, for example, where the town is the most important unit of local government, the town also fills an important place in party organization. In the South, the county is the chief local unit in the or- ganization of party as well as the local government. In other States where local government is divided between county, township, and village, there are usu- ally corresponding party organs. This is, however, but a crude and imperfect statement of fact. Party organizations exhibit even greater variations than do the local governmental institutions. Party organizers are not restricted to municipal areas. For party reasons, the voting precinct usually fills an important place irrespective of its relation to local government. Congressional districts have no relation to anything governmental in the State, yet in most States they are of decided consequence in state party organization. The school district, as a local government unit, stands for a non-partizan function, and for that reason one would suppose that it would not appear as a unit in the organization of parties. But this is contrary to fact. The school district is often found a convenient area for reaching the people, and the * ' schoolhouse campaign" has filled a prominent place in many party conflicts. The diverse forms of organization in the different 106 STATE PARTY ORGANIZATION States bear testimony to their independent origin. It should be borne in mind that local party organs are older than national party committees. The interstate convention of the Republican party of 1856 was called by the chairmen of nine Republican state committees. Party organization has proceeded from the voting pre- cinct to the nation at large, and not from the Federal center to the voting precinct. Members of the na- tional committees have discussed plans for enrolling and organizing all the party supporters in the country according to a uniform scheme; but uniformity has never yet been attained. The committees have, indeed, created organs for their own purposes in all the States; but these are quite distinct from the regular permanent state and local organization. While no description can be accurate and ample, and at the same time applicable to more than one State, there are two or three important characteristics of party organization which are of general application. Each of the two parties has in each State its state committee, called, variously, the state central commit- tee, or the state executive committee, which may be composed of representatives from congressional dis- tricts, or representatives from counties or represen- tatives from state senatorial districts, or a number of persons named by the chief candidate nominated at the state convention. The fact to be emphasized here is merely that in each State a state party com- mittee exists and fills a cardinal place in the general organization of the party. Outside of New England, where the town overshadows the county in local or- ganization, an almost identical statement may be made 107 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY as to the county committee. Though constituted in different ways, it fills a uniformly important place. One other general fact is worth noticing. The two political parties in a given State are likely to have practically the same sort of organization. This is by no means universal, but it is general. The two parties in a State learn much more from each other respecting the outlines of effective organization than they learn from their party associates in other States. The details of organization in the several States are affected by the relative strength of the two parties. The States are classed as doubtful, or close, Repub- lican or Democratic. The conditions in a doubtful State, such as New York or Indiana, tend to keep the machinery of both parties alike at a maximum of effi- ciency. Politics here fills a relatively larger place in the experience of a citizen than in other States. States classified as Democratic are those south of the Mason and Dixon line, having a large negro population. Here the relations of parties have been affected by the race problem and by conditions and events growing out of the War. The States uniformly Republican are less numerous than the Democratic States. Especially are there few States which can be counted upon as certainly Republi- can at state and local elections. In all of the so-called Republican States, the Democratic party fulfils its proper function by threatening to defeat its rival through the advocacy of a policy more acceptable to the voters. While it is true that not many States in which the parties maintain their normal relations can be de- pended upon to vote uniformly with one party or the 108 STATE PARTY ORGANIZATION other, it is also true that the voting constituencies nev- ertheless usually develop a preponderating preference for one party or the other. This is a fact of great in- terest to the student of politics. The peculiar political preference extends even to counties, cities, wards, townships and voting precincts. Counties and town- ships come to be known as Democratic or Republican, and remain such without any apparently decisive rea- son for year after year. Sometimes a rural township with a changing population and in a county strongly Republican will establish and long maintain a reputa- tion as safely Democratic. The party itself becomes in- stitutional. Republicans who for forty years fight a losing battle gain among their fellows honored rec- ognition which they would not willingly surrender. This tendency to an institutional persistence of party in a given locality is taken account of by skilful party leaders. They deem it wise economy to hold the dis- tricts already secured rather than to gain new ones. A district held gives to the party the advantage of the conservative force of habit. A district won over by extraordinary effort is likely to revert to its former habit, or is kept in line by continuous effort. Another condition affecting the organization of the parties in the different States is the presence or the absence of great cities. Cities have their distinct and peculiar function in government, and they require correspondingly distinct characteristics in party ma- chinery. In a later chapter, party organization in cities receives special treatment. The point of remark in this immediate connection is that the general party organization of the State is affected by the city. In States having no cities with a population of more than 109 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY a hundred thousand, the modifying influence exerted upon the general party system is likely to be slight. But there are a few States, such as New York, Penn- sylvania, and Illinois, containing cities of such enor- mous proportions as to effect a marked change in the ordinary working of the state party machinery. Apart from the city, the State of New York is Repub- lican by a large majority. The city of New York is Democratic in national politics by a corresponding majority, so that the State as a whole is doubtful, and party conflicts assume the characteristics of a duel between city and country. This exact situation is peculiar to a single State ; yet in every State in which a considerable proportion of the population resides in one city, the politics of that city has a decided modify- ing effect upon the politics of the State. In "The American Commonwealth" Mr. Bryce criticizes the American practice of choosing representatives solely from the residents of the districts represented. He fails to appreciate the grounds of the American citizen's attachment to local areas and the strength of the sentiment. The controversy over the control of elections in the South throws much light on the political sig- nificance of the separate States. The following are a few of the many references which might be given : "The Force Bill," by E. L. Godkin. Tlie Nation, Vol. XII, pp. 268, 284. " Election Laws," by G. W. McCrary. North American Beview, Vol. XXVIII, p. 450. "Federal Control of Elections," by T. B. Reed. North Amer- ican Review, Vol. CL, p. 671. J. T. Morgan, Tlie Forum, Vol. X, p. 23. W. E. Chandler, Tlie Forum, Vol. IX, p. 705. T. V. Powderly, North American Revieiv, Vol. CLI, p. 266. H. C. Lodge, North American Review, Vol. CLI, p. 257. Many speeches on the subject in Congressional Records. 110 CHAPTER IX PARTY ORGANIZATION IN A REPUBLICAN STATE- PENNSYLVANIA Among the States classified as safely Republican at national elections, political conditions differ widely, as does also the development and efficiency of the ma- chinery of the parties. A special study is here given of the State of Pennsylvania as that in which the organization of the Republican party is perhaps the most perfect and complete. Pennsylvania is a State in which party organization is profoundly affected by the presence of large cities ; it is a State in w'hich the county holds an important place both in local government, and, in respect to party machinery, it is a state which, more than any other, has given strong and unchanging support to the policy of protection. At a time when the Democratic party was understood to stand for free trade, or at least for a more liberal tariff policy, the Democrats of Pennsyl- vania sent men to Congress who refused to support the position of their party. This has tended to weaken the party of the minority in the State, and it has come about as a result of this and of many other potent influences that Pennsylvania has become subject to the control of one party, thoroughly organized, fully 111 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY equipped, and irresistibly effective in every county, city, and borough. In the Republican party of that State is seen an organization the strongest, the most enduring, the most efficient of any similar organiza- tions for an entire State in the whole Union, This state organization has been in successful op- eration long enough to have established an authorita- tive body of rules and precedents for the guidance of the party. Definite printed regulations direct the course of action in the State and the numerous sub- ordinate divisions established by party authority. Some of these have been in force for many years. Take, for example, section ix of the Rules of the Repub- lican Party for Lancaster County, which reads: "At the nominating election in 1868 and annually there- after one person shall be elected by ballot from each district to serve on the county committee." Here is a bit of party legislation enacted thirty-six years ago and still in force. The rules for Franklin County were adopted in 1879 and have been amended as re- cently as 1902. Rules for the guidance of party conduct in the various counties are often very elaborate and detailed. In some eases they fill thirty or more closely printed pages. But those now controlling the organization for the State at large are a model of brevity. They were adopted by the state convention held at Harrisburg, August 24, 1899, and number only seven. Since they are so few we may examine them all here. Rule I. provides that the chairman of the Republi- can state committee shall be elected by the candidates nominated at the state convention and the permanent 112 REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION IN PENNSYLVANIA chairman thereof. In case of vacancy in the chair- manship before the election following the convention, the same rule requires that it shall be filled by the candidates and the chairman of the convention ; but should the vacancy occur after the election, it becomes the duty of the secretaries of the state committee to call a meeting to elect a chairman. Rule II. requires that the state committee shall be elected by the delegates from the senatorial districts in attendance at the state convention. Each senatorial district is entitled to at least two members of the com- mittee, and where a district consists of more than one county, each county is entitled to a member of the state committee. The chairman of the state commit- tee is also given power to name twelve members-at- large of the committee, who shall have equal voice with those chosen by senatorial districts in the manage- ment of party affairs. The effect of the second rule is to create a large committee of a hundred and twenty or more members. The committee rarely meets as a whole, and its chairman is the active manager of the affairs of the party. Rule III. makes it the duty of the state committee to call the state convention, and requires that at least sixty days' notice shall be given of the date of the meeting. Rule IV. merely provides that delegates to the state convention shall be chosen in the manner in which candidates for the general assembly are nominated, or in accordance with the party rules in force in the respective counties. Rule V. bases representation in the state convention 8 113 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY upon the vote cast at the preceding presidential election, allotting to each legislative district one dele- gate for each two thousand Republican votes, and an additional delegate for a fraction larger than one half of that number. Rule VI. empowers the state committee to fill vacan- cies on the state ticket caused by death or resignation, and also to place in nomination a candidate to fill any vacancy in a state office to be voted for at the next ensuing election, which may occur after the meeting of the state convention. Rule VII., and the last, provides that in case of the failure of the delegates to any congressional, senato- rial, or judicial district convention to agree upon the nomination of a candidate for the office to be filled fifty-five days before the general election, the chairman of the state committee shall appoint one representative Republican from each county in the district, who shall become a part of the original nominating body and shall have the same voice in the deliberations as the original members. If even then agreement is not reached within five days, it becomes the duty of the chairman of the state committee to select a represen- tative Republican in the district, who shall act as um- pire, or referee, in making a nomination. These rules make it clear that the county occupies an important place in the party organization of Penn- sylvania. The senatorial districts which choose the members of the state committee consist of single counties or a union of counties or of areas in large cities ; and the rule requires that each county shall have at least one member on the state committee. The 114 REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION IN PENNSYLVANIA legislative districts which furnish the basis for repre- sentation in the state convention are either counties or subdivisions of counties or areas in large cities. The procedure for the nomination of candidates for the general assembly is subject to the control of the coun- ties. Rule IV., therefore, which ordains that delegates to the state convention shall be chosen in the same manner, unless the party in the county prescribes a different course, places the whole matter in the hands of the county. Each county has its own independent party organi- zation, and the marks of similarity found in all do not prevent the appearance of many differences in matters of detail. There is no uniform style for the name of the county committee. In the printed rules for some counties the form is, ** Republican County Commit- tee," following that adopted by the state convention for the "Republican State Committee." Other coun- ties have a ''County Executive Committee," and others still a "Republican County Standing Com- mittee. ' ' The county committee is likewise variously consti- tuted. It may consist of representatives from town- ships and wards, or from precincts and wards, or from electoral districts, though these different terms gener- ally designate the same or similar areas in the different counties. In some counties, however, the rules pre- scribe for each district, of whatever name, equal repre- sentation on the county committee, while in others the number varies in the different districts. The Republi- can county committee for Blair County was composed, in 1902, of two, three, or four members from each 115 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY precinct— one hundred and forty-eight in all. Some county rules designate a definite number of members, but the number varies in the different counties. Some require one from each subordinate area ; others, two. There is also variety in the methods of selecting the members of the county committee. The rule for Lan- caster County, already quoted, requires the election by ballot of one committeeman in each district. Other counties provide in elaborate detail for the choosing of their committeemen at a primary election.^ In others still, the rules as explicitly require that the members of the county committee shall be chosen at the annual county nominating convention by the delegates in at- tendance from the several precincts and wards. The term of office for a committeeman is in some cases fixed at one year, and in others at two years. All these facts show not only the prominence of the county in party organization, but also the independent origin of that organization in the different counties. In all of the counties the committee is large. Whe- ther there be one member or four from each voting precinct, the committee is too large and too widely distributed to be relied upon to attend as a body to the details of party management. The same thing is true of the state committee, with its more than one hundred members from the sixty-seven counties of the State. In some cases, the county committee is as large as the state committee, and, so far as the conduct of the ordinary party business is concerned, it is the chair- man of either committee who is the active and effec- tive party agent. As has been mentioned, the chair- * Lehigh County Eulea, 1901. 116 REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION IN PENNSYLVANIA man of the state committee is selected by the perma- nent chairman of the state convention, acting with the candidates nominated at the state convention. He is, therefore, frankly the appointee of the candidates for office who have just succeeded in winning the approval of a majority in the state convention. In some of the counties, a similar rule dictates the manner of selecting the chairman of the county committee (Perry County). Generally, however, the county chairman is named by the county convention. In certain eases, the choice of this officer is guarded by special and stringent regula- tions. In a few counties, he is elected by vote at a pri- mary election, which elects delegates to the county convention. But, however chosen, the chairman is the important party agent for the county. Individual members of the committee may, indeed, be active and energetic local party officers in their own precincts ; but the committee, as a whole, if it may be said to act at all, acts through its chairman. When called to- gether, it is usually to give legal effect to conclusions already reached by the chairman. So far as the authoritative, formal organization of the party is involved, it is comprehended almost wholly in the county and state conventions and the county and state committees. The county convention legis- lates for the party in the county, and a large amount of activity is represented by the abundant and varied constitutions, rules, and by-laws, enacted for the gov- ernment of the party. These evince an apparent desire on the part of the legislators to insure popular control of the party. There are stringent rules against brib- ery; the laws of the State for the punishment of 117 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY fraud at elections are printed in official party leaflets; party rules prescribe an oath to be taken by the offi- cials in charge of primary elections. Increased power is given to the rank and file of the party at primary elections. In some cases, the delegates to the state convention are chosen by general vote at such an elec- tion. Legislation by the state convention in no way in- terferes with the rules adopted by the county. By a single act (Rule VII. given above), the state com- mittee is empowered in case of a deadlock in the nomi- nating machinery of a congressional, a judicial, or a senatorial district, to first render aid and then to assert authority; but there is nowhere any suggestion of meddling with the party organization of a county. Congressional and judicial districts have practically no party organization. Provision is made for making nominations either by primary election or by delegate convention ; but there are no committees or permanent officers who have any voice in the management of the party. The state and county committees, therefore, have full charge of party affairs. They raise the money for all expenses and conduct the campaigns for the election of all candidates, local, state, and Federal, One exception appears in a single congressional district where a district committee participates in the election of representatives to Congress. In all other districts the state and county committees have sole charge. To understand a party organization, it is not suffi- cient simply to take account of the conventions which enact party rules, and the permanent committees hav- ing charge of the execution of those rules. More sig- 118 REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION IN PENNSYLVANIA nificant than the details of the laws laid down for the government of the party are the habits and acts of those who do the party work. The active, authorized agents of the Republican party in Pennsylvania are, as has been shown, the chairmen of state and county committees. It is they and those whom they appoint or employ who do the important party work. The second rule of the state convention makes it the duty of the chairman of the state committee to appoint twelve members of that committee. The rules do not assign to the twelve members thus selected any duties distinguished from those of the other members of the great committee ; yet it is reasonable to assume that these men would be notable for their efficiency in cooperating with the chairman who has chosen them. The effective centralization of power in the hands of the chairman of the state committee is one of the most striking features of the present phase of party development in the United States, and this is nowhere better illustrated than in the State of Pennsylvania. The twelve members of the state committee chosen by the chairman may be assumed to be men in full sympathy with the views and aims of their chairman. The hundreds and thousands of members of state and county committees, in so far as they do party work at all, do it in cooperation with the forces directed by the state and county chairmen. But the chairman of the state committee is by no means limited to this army of party assistants selected in such diverse ways. He has also vigilance committees and aids innumerable, appointed by state or county chairmen. 119 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY The action of the responsible party officers is based upon exact and definite knowledge. In the office of the secretaries of the state committee is a carefully pre- pared list of more than eight hundred thousand names of Republican voters in the State. These names are classified as, habitual and reliable supporters of the party ticket, doubtful or wavering supporters, and those accustomed to "fumble in the booth," Persons who may be relied upon to do effective party work are also known. Special attention is given to first voters and those expecting soon to vote. Party supporters from families allied with the opposite party are pointed out. The entire body of party voters, and probable or potential party supporters, is subject to the informal but effective organization created and directed by the secretary of the state committee. Before the public it is the chairman of the state committee who is credited with the organizing and directing of the great party machine. But the chair- man is a United States senator, with many other ab- sorbing and distracting duties. The man who creates the intricate and delicate enginery, and controls its operation, can do nothing else. He must give himself to his exacting task to the almost utter exclusion of other interests. The present secretary (1904) has for nine years had this business in his hand. He is, in the first place, a man of unlimited capacity for work. To the service of his party he sacrifices all amuse- ment, all social diversion, and gives his undivided at- tention, year in and year out, to the labors of his responsible position. Much has been said and written concerning the 120 REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION IN PENNSYLVANIA important work of the campaign committees during an excited presidential election. But the Republican managers in Pennsylvania place more reliance upon the continued and constant use of the party organs and agencies at all times, in "off" years as well as during the quadrennial contests. When no election is pending, the machine is still kept in running order. Only thus, it is believed, can results be made sure when important exigencies arise. It is customary for repeated canvasses of the voters of a State to be made during a presidential campaign, under the direction of party managers, in order to as- certain with accuracy the party prospects and the trend of changes in political opinion. An organization capable of carrying out an enterprise of that sort among more than a million voters is not the creation of a day. It is not an easy matter to find out defi- nitely how a million men will vote at a free election some distance in the future. The undertaking involves minute and careful subdivision of labor among trained and skilled agents. When the party machine is placed at its highest level of efficiency, as it is during a heated campaign, every tenth or even every fifth man in the party is given an official position. He becomes a party watcher, whose especial duty it is to learn the exact political opinions and intentions of the few voters assigned to his observation. He notes their conduct, listens to their conversation, discovers among them any who are disaffected, takes account of the particular sorts of influence and sources of influence to which these individuals are especially susceptible, and brings them to bear upon doubtful or opposing voters. 121 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY All the various facts of party interest the watcher reports to his superior officers, and such measures are taken, in view of this information, as their wisdom and experience dictate. A certain college professor, who was known to be disaffected toward the head of a party ticket in a presidential campaign, received a letter from a minister of the Gospel, a friend of his family, living in a remote part of the country, giving reasons why, on this particular occasion, it would be better to vote for the party candidate. It is believed that this letter was due to the report of the party captain of ten, or captain of five, who had been set to watch over the professor for the good of the party through the trying ordeal of the campaign. The question inevitably arises, why does Pennsyl- vania, better than any other State in the Union, fur- nish an illustration of complete and effective party organization ? It is a question more easily asked than answered. Probably no full or satisfying answer can yet 15e given, and only a few suggestions for thought and study will be attempted here. The enormous mining and manufacturing interests of the State have tended to build up a decided pro- tective sentiment, with a natural leaning toward the party championing a protective policy. The failure of the Pennsylvania Democrats, at a critical time in the history of tariff discussion, to give support to the declared Democratic policy in Congress, had the effect to weaken and discredit that party in the State and, at the same time, to clear the field for its political opponent. The State is old and rich, and being of a conservative temperament, has been subject to eom- 122 REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION IN PENNSYLVANIA paratively few changes. All this is favorable to the growth of a uniformly strong state organization. Because the State is opulent, and because so much of its wealth is so plainly dependent upon congressional legislation for its existence or for its continuance in the hands of its present owners, it is easy for the party devoted to the maintenance of the policy of protection to secure an abounding campaign fund. There are, besides, large metropolitan areas within the State having immense franchise-values dependent upon legislation, and the same party has succeeded in controlling both city and country. Here again is a basis for a liberal support to the party treasury. In all the States, Federal patronage is a considerable factor in determining the particular type of organiza- tion of the party in power, and the Federal patronage of Pennsylvania is second only to that of New York. The patronage of the great port of Philadelphia has long been a Republican asset of much importance. The popular method of accounting for the remark- able Republican organization of Pennsylvania is by naming a succession of senatorial leaders in Congress, whose dominance covers the space of three generations of men, and attributing the peculiar party conditions to their personal characters and conduct. But history is not so made. It would be much nearer the truth to say that the unique political, industrial, and social conditions in the State called into prominence the succession of peculiarly talented senatorial leaders, than to attribute to them the creation, out of hand, of the political conditions. The Republican party of Pennsylvania does indeed furnish a striking example 123 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY of the effective senatorial leadership discussed in a previous chapter ; but it is not to the senators that are to be ascribed the unusual circumstances which have stamped, in such a peculiar manner, the results achieved. A few facts connected with the problem stand out so prominently as to obscure all others. A large fund from protected interests; another large fund from franchise values in cities; a large addition to party means from rich or well-to-do candidates, who are will- ing to contribute liberally for the honor of high office in State or Nation; perhaps a still larger sum col- lected from the great multitude of candidates for the minor offices in county, city, and village; then, the disposal of the Federal positions, adding both money and influence for the use of party managers. All these are matters easily grasped and understood. There is likewise general agreement that both in city and coun- try there are purchasable votes, and votes which are usually purchased. What more is required to account for the whole situation? But these conceded facts do not, after all, throw any light upon that which really needs explanation. They may help to account for the conduct of the few who are classed as bribe-givers and bribe-takers, and for that of the great corporations whose contributions fill the party treasury. Men having large financial interests at stake in business which may be ruined by an act of the Government will naturally discover convincing rea- sons for making liberal contributions to a political party whose success at the polls will insure their safety. And in the disbursing of party funds from such sources, all the world knows that money is paid 124 REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION IN PENNSYLVANIA for the purchase of votes at the polling booths. De- plorable as this undeniably is, there is no obscurity about it ; all is simple and clear ; no elaborate explana- tion is required. There are, however, relatively few men in the State of Pennsylvania who, conscious of danger to their business and with a definite intention of insuring their own financial security, make dona- tions to party funds. However large the number may be in the aggregate, in proportion to the great body of business men who act from no such motives, it is small. So, in proportion to the whole number of voters, they are but few whose votes are purchasable or are pur- chased. Though sinister motives of one sort or another w^ere conceded to influence the conduct of, say, one tenth of the citizens of the State, they do not explain the conduct of the nine tenths. Among the things really demanding explanation is the fact that, notwithstanding all that has been said concerning party abuses and party corruption, the great body of moral, upright, and intelligent members of the party have given and continue to give to it their faithful and loyal support. They have not been bribed ; in no ordinary sense of the term have they in any way been corrupted. While the Republican party of Pennsylvania is exceptional in respect to the large amount of money it has received which admits of being attributed to interested motives, the same party has always been the recipient of money and, much more, of the time and pains and personal service of its members, none of which admits of such explanation. Without the persistent and faithful support of this large body of worthy, intelligent, and patriotic cit- izens, who, without hope of office or of private gain, 125 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY have been willing to make unstinted sacrifice of time and effort and money in the service of the party, no such mighty organization as now exists would have grown up. This condition it is, or rather the coexist- ence of two sets of conditions which appear to be con- tradictory and mutually exclusive, that calls for expla- nation. Study of the party system and the party organiza- tion more thoroughgoing and comprehensive than has yet been undertaken, and by a large number of careful students and observers, must precede any adequate solution of the questions here suggested. The psychol- ogy of the political party, a psychology peculiar to itself, has not yet been fathomed. The remarkable action and interaction of the minds of the individual members upon the organic institution, and of the or- ganic institution back upon the mind of the individual, call for investigation. Until the institutional charac- teristics of the party are clearly recognized, and at least until there shall have been a serious wide-spread, and sustained effort at investigation, the inherent properties of the political party and its essential phe- nomena must remain a mystery. The following are among the chief sources of information on state party organization : 1. Direct information from party managers. 2. Printed rules of party committees. 3. Laws regulating the process of nomination ; primary elec- tion laws. 4. Published proceedings of party conventions. 5. In some of the States there are outlines of party history with texts of state platforms of the different parties. In Pennsylvania the rules adopted by state and county con- ventions and printed by the party committees are unusually full. 126 CHAPTER X DEMOCRATIC PARTY ORGANIZATION IN PENNSYLVANIA Against the powerful and successful Republican party of Pennsylvania is pitted the Democratic party, which has had a continuous, organized existence much longer than its great rival. Indeed, it was al- ready venerable when the Republican party was formed, and its independent development under quite different circumstances and conditions makes the study of its present organization instructive and val- uable. A mere comparison of the printed rules of the two parties is fitted to convey the impression that the Democratic organization is more centralized, more rigid, and more thorough than the Republican. A booklet of something over thirty pages is required to contain the regulations adopted by the state Demo- cratic convention of 1893, with the amendments added since. There are thirteen rules, some of which are divided into seven or eight sections. The first of these gives the component parts of the organization. It consists of the following bodies : Democratic county committees ; Democratic division committees ; the Dem- ocratic state executive committee ; the Democratic state 127 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY central committee ; the Democratic state convention. These are the parts of the state party organization. The county committees are mentioned as belong- ing to the state organism. The choice of members of county committees is left to the Democratic electors of the several counties, but in many ways the county committees are subject to state rules. The term of of- fice of committeemen begins on the first Monday in April of each year ; the state executive committee is re- quired to examine the rules adopted by the county committees, and may either approve them or "direct such changes as may appear necessary or expedient," and no county is allowed representation in the state convention or on the state committee until the direc- tions of the state executive committee have been com- plied with. In case of a dispute over the election of a county chairman, the executive committee of the State is made a court for its settlement. The same committee is also a court of appeal in disputes arising as to the elections of other members of local committees. For purposes of party organization, the State is par- titioned into nine divisions, and in each of these divi- sions the chairmen of the county committees, with ad- ditional members from the more populous counties, constitute a division committee. This committee is required by state rules to meet in April of each year and organize by electing a chairman and two secre- taries. The chairmen of the nine division committees, together with the chairman and secretaries of the state central committee, constitute the state executive com- mittee ; and the chairman and secretaries of the central committee are made chairman and secretaries of the 128 DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN PENNSYLVANIA executive committee. It appears, then, that the state executive committee is composd entirely of ex officio members taken from other committees. The state central committee is composed of the chairmen of the county committees in the State, to- gether with additional members from counties which, at the preceding presidential election, had cast more than ten thousand Democratic votes. It is required to meet on the Wednesday following the third Monday in April and elect a chairman for the ensuing year. It is the duty of the chairman thus elected, with the advice and consent of the state executive committee, to conduct the state campaigns, subject to the ap- proval of the state central committee. All commit- tees are therefore "subordinate to and under the con- trol of the Democratic state central committee." The fifth element of party organization mentioned in the rules is the state convention, for whose annual calling and holding elaborate provision is made, with special rules for the presidential year. It is the seat of supreme authority in the state organization. Stated in reverse order, there is, first, the state con- vention, the highest source of party authority, which enacts rules for the control of all the committees. When the convention is not in session the state central committee holds the place of chief authority. The state executive committee, according to the rules, has merely advisory powers ; yet it is assigned very definite authority over the county committees. No specific duties are assigned to the division committees. They are merely sections of the state central committee, which meet and elect a chairman, and the chairman 9 129 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY thus elected serves as a member of the state executive committee. The county committees are directly con- nected with the state organization, since the state cen- tral committee is composed mainly of the chairmen of the county committees. The striking thing about this organization is that there are so many different committees made up of the same persons. The Democrats of each county elect a county committee. The chairman of this com- mittee is ex officio a member of the state central committee. This committee is enlarged by the ad- dition of members chosen from the most populous counties in such manner as the county committees in those counties may determine. This gives the per- sonnel of the state central committee. In each of the nine divisions of the State the same persons who be- long to the central committee are made members of the division committee. When the division commit- tees meet, however, to elect a chairman, they may go outside their own number, and the chairman thus chosen becomes a member of the state executive committee. The chairman of the state central com- mittee may, in like manner, be chosen from outside the membership of the committee. Various resemblances and many differences also may be noted in the two party organizations. It will be observed that in both the county is prominent, each county being insured representation upon the state committees. Each party has a large state com- mittee, too large to meet often, or to act as a body, except upon special occasions. Members of the Re- publican state central committee are appointed at 130 DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN PENNSYLVANIA the time of the meeting of the state convention; the delegates to the convention from each senatorial dis- trict select a man from their district to serve upon the central committee. The membership of that com- mittee, therefore, has no necessary connection with the membership of the local county committees. This is in contrast with the Democratic rule requiring the local committeemen to be members of the state com- mittee also. The chairman of the state committee is chosen by different methods in the two parties. The Demo- crats fix a date when the state central committee shall meet for that specific purpose, and their rule makes any Democratic voter of the State eligible to the office. On the other hand, the Republicans place the election of their state chairman in the hands of the candidates for office nominated at the state con- vention, acting in conjunction with the permanent chairman of the convention. Both parties leave the conduct of the campaign largely to the ordering of the state chairman. In the Republican party this official has the right to name twelve of the members of the state committee, the ob- ject evidently being to secure for the chairman more effective support from a small body of men of his own selection than would be possible from the whole mem- bership of the great committee. The Democratic party provides for this smaller body through the subdivision of the state into nine sections, and by requiring from each division a man, named by the members of the state central committee from the division, to serve as committeeman, 131 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY The rules of the Republican party appear to leave a much wider range of power and authority to the separate counties. Without any suggestion of author- ity, or even supervision from superior state party officials, the counties legislate upon a great variety of the details of organization. In the Democratic party, on the contrary, every rule adopted by the counties is subject to the authoritative revision of the state executive committee; and a county which refuses to follow the directions of the state committee is de- prived of its right to participate in the state con- vention. Nevertheless, the Democratic rules secure to the separate counties a much more direct and effec- tive share in the appointment of the state party of- ficers. The state central committee is made up en- tirely of persons selected in the several counties, in contrast to the corresponding Republican committee, which is appointed by the delegates from the counties in attendance upon the state convention. The Demo- cratic chairman of the state committee is chosen by an annual meeting of the state central committee, called for that purpose, while the Republican chair- man is named by candidates for office nominated by the state convention. There is, however, nothing in the details of organization to adequately account for the marked differences in the reputation of the two parties for strength and effectiveness. 132 CHAPTER XI PARTY ORGANIZATION IN A NEW ENGLAND STATE- MASSACHUSETTS The State of Pennsylvania has been taken to illus- trate a condition where one party has long held the ascendancy, and has developed an elaborate and thorough form of organization. In Massachusetts, though the same party has dominated state poli- tics for many years, party organization has had a less strongly marked development. It is one of the States holding annual elections, state officers and members of both houses of the legislature being chosen each year; and the law specifies that the important party committees shall also be chosen annually. Each political party is required to elect at least one member of the state central committee of the party at the annual convention for the nomination of a candi- date for state senator. This law applies to all parts of the State, except Suffolk County, in which the city of Boston is situated. In that county both the can- didate for state senator and the member of the cen- tral committee are chosen at a party caucus, or pri- mary election, by the use of the Australian ballot. Since there are forty senatorial districts, the state party committees consist of at least forty members, 133 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY The terra of office of a state committeeman is, by statute, one year, dating from January 1. Though the conventions which elect the members of the state committee occur one or more months before the No- vember election, that committee does not organize until the following January, when the law prescribes that it shall meet and choose a chairman, a secretary, a treasurer, and such other officers as they may decide to elect. And within ten days of the date of organi- zation the secretary of the committee is required to send to the secretary of the Commonwealth, and to the party committee in each city and town, a list of the members of the state committee. Another section of the law reads : Each political party shall in every ward and town, annu- ally elect a committee, to be called a ward or town committee, to consist of not less than three persons, who shall hold office for one year from the first day of January next following their election and until their successors shall have organized. (Chapter XI, Sec. 81. Revised Laws, 1903.) The ward committee is required by law to organize by electing chairman, secretary, treasurer, and such other officers as they may choose, within thirty days of January 1; and the town committee must do like- wise before the first of March. The secretaries of these local committees are required, within ten days of the date of organization, to file a list of members and offi- cers with the state secretary, with the secretary of the state party committee, and with the town clerk. All these laws of the State affecting party ma- 134 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN MASSACHUSETTS ehinery are of recent enactment, and they leave no room for doubt or obscurity as to its main features. Organization in the two parties is made practically identical by statute. "The two leading parties" are recognized in various ways. They are secured equal representation on the different boards and commis- sions concerned with elections. The names Democrat and Republican nowhere appear, but the phrase, "two leading parties" is made by law to apply to "the political parties which cast the highest and the next highest number of votes for governor at the preced- ing annual election." Any party, however, which at the last annual election polled for governor at least three per cent, of the entire vote may organize under the law and receive recognition on the ballots pre- pared by the State. The only party committees legally recognized or required are the state central committee, the local town and ward committees, and the city committee, which, according to the law, is composed of the ward committees of the city. Other party committees, though of little importance in comparison with those having a legal standing, are, nevertheless, numerous. The State is divided into eight districts for the election of members of the executive council, and in each of these districts is a party committee composed of one member from each of the tovnis and cities or wards in the district. In each of the senatorial districts is a corresponding com- mittee made up in the same way. There is a con- gressional committee for each congressional district, and a county committee for each county. But one who would understand the peculiar party organization 135 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY of the State must bear in mind that these committees, one and all, perform the mere formal functions of pro- viding for the holding of the district and county con- ventions. They are not working party committees such as are familiar to citizens of other States. None of them serves as an intermediary between the state central committee and the town committees. No such intermediary is provided ; the state committee trans- acts business directly with the town and city commit- tees. If a vacancy should occur in the list of party candidates, or some other unusual exigency should arise, a district committee might be called together to meet it ; but the regular work of the parties is con- ducted by those committees, and those only which act under the sanction of the law. Party conventions fill a place of much importance in the political machinery of the State. Direct, or caucus, nomination has been limited in the past, with few exceptions, to offices to be voted for in the single town or ward, while other nominations in city, county, district, and State have been by party conventions. The Joint-Caucus or Primary Election Act of 1903 encroaches somewhat upon the party convention by extending the field of direct nomination. Though this law was mandatory only for the city of Boston and its vicinity, its provisions have been and may be by local option adopted in other cities and towns. It remains true, however, that all candidates for state offices and most candidates for district and county offices are nominated by party conventions, and for the most part these are a law unto themselves. Yet even the conventions are in a measure hedged 136 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN MASSACHUSETTS about by statute. The law ordains that four days shall intervene between the caucus for choosing dele- gates and the meeting of the convention ; and also that the convention shall meet at least forty-eight hours before the date fixed by law for filing nominations with the state secretary. The state convention is left entirely free to conduct its business in its own way; but in a district convention the law gives to one fourth of the delegates the right to demand a roll-call for the nomination of a candidate, and detailed instructions are given respecting the procedure in the case. With these few limitations party conventions are subject to party rules alone. A large body of statute law pertains to the regula- tion and control of the party caucus. This term is defined in the statutes as applicable to ''any public meeting of the voters of the ward of a city or of a town, or of a representative district, held under the provisions of this chapter for the nomination of a candidate for election, for the election of a political committee or of delegates to a political convention." Here are mentioned three distinct functions of the cau- cus: 1, the nomination of candidates to be voted for at the ensuing election ; 2, the election of party com- mitteemen ; 3, the election of delegates to attend polit- ical conventions. The phrase "public meeting of voters" needs to be further defined, or explained. As used in the laws, the term applies not alone to a public assembly, but also to a gathering at the polls during certain pre- scribed hours to vote, by the use of the Australian bal- lot, for candidates for public office, for committeemen, 137 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY and for delegates to conventions. The word caucus thus defined is a synonym for primary election. The law makes it the duty of the state party com- mittee to fix a certain day for the holding of the party caucus in all the cities and towns in the State, except as otherwise provided in the Joint-Caucus Act of 1903. At the caucuses thus appointed direct nominations are made for certain offices, and delegates are chosen to the different conventions. A corresponding act pro- vides for city caucuses. A law passed several years ago forbids the two leading parties or any two parties to hold the general caucus on the same day. If two state committees should by chance designate the same day, then the party which first filed the no- tice with the state secretary would hold the day, and the other party would be obliged to select a different date. But the Joint-Caucus Act of 1903, the latest leg- islation on the subject, introduced a radical change in this regard, by requiring all parties to hold their caucus, or primary election, at the same time and place, and under the same officers. The date of the meeting is fixed by law for all parties ; those in charge are the election officers appointed to serve at elections, and the ballots used are furnished by the city or town. At the November election of 1903, twenty-one of the thirty-three cities of Massachusetts and one hundred and twenty-seven of the three hundred and seven towns voted to accept the Joint-Caucus Act. An amendment modifies the act in its application to towns. It will be remembered that in the State of Pennsyl- vania the two parties act quite independently, each adopting its own rules, constitutions, and by-laws, with 138 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN MASSACHUSETTS the result of striking differences in the two party organizations. The Democratic state convention, for example, has legislated with much detail for the guid- ance of party action in counties ; while the Republican party leaves the details of organization to the separate counties. Republican county conventions have there- fore legislated for forty years, and the results appear in a great variety of printed rules for controlling party action. In Massachusetts, on the contrary, a very large part of the rules regulating the conduct of politi- cal parties is to be found in the revised statutes of the State. No other State has gone so far in the legal recognition of party organization, and in the legal con- trol of party action. Political conventions and party committees determine in Pennsylvania who shall be accounted members of the organization and entitled to participate in its acts. In Massachusetts those matters are mainly under legal regulation. The laws regard the fact of participation in a party caucus prima facie evidence of party membership; they or- dain that having voted at a political party caucus a man is disqualified from participation in the caucus of any other political party during the ensuing twelve months; "but no political committee shall prevent any voter from participating in a caucus of its party for the reason that the voter has supported an indepen- dent candidate for political office. ' ' The Joint-Caucus law prescribes that at the caucus the party connection of each voter shall be checked on the polling list. Party membership thus becomes a matter of public record, and if one wishes to change his party ties he must notify the keeper of the record 139 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY ninety days in advance of the date of the caucus in which he wishes to take part. In Massachusetts, as compared with Pennsylvania, the organization of the dominant party is much less effective and counts for much less in the government of the State and the Nation. The Republican party has controlled Massachusetts politics during the same period that it has been predominant in Pennsylvania, but its organization has never been particularly strong. Legislation has been unfavorable. The great body of the laws affecting party organization enacted dur- ing the last twenty years has, in almost every particu- lar, had, as a leading motive, the stripping of power from party officers, party committees, and conventions, and handing it over to the people. In no case has there been any purpose to give increase of power to the party machine. It is inevitable that one should seek to account for the notable differences between the organizations of the same party in the two States under conditions in some respects so similar. Perhaps no one fact goes further in explanation of the anomaly than the radi- cal dissimilarity in local government. The New Eng- land town-meeting is always made to count for much in any attempt to explain the social, moral, or political peculiarities of that section, and it may well be true that its overmastering influence has modified or molded the form of party organization. The citizen of the government of Massachusetts yields conscious allegiance to two authorities only which are of distinct corporate importance, the State or Commonwealth, and the local city or town. He is 140 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN MASSACHUSETTS surpassingly ignorant of the government of the county. Between the State and the town nothing stands, in the mind of the citizen, as embodying the corporate life of the people. He knows of a variety of districts and areas for administrative, judicial, or electoral purposes, and he knows that to fourteen of these areas the name county is given; but he knows nothing of the county as a corporate municipality. "Not one man in a thousand in Massachusetts," said a member of the state legislature, "can give the names of the officers of his own county." County offices there are with fair salaries attached, and they are filled by party nomination and election ; but there is no county politics such as excites and divides the people of the Middle and Western States. Repeated reelection is common. Candidates for county office elude public attention. If there is a county "ring," the term is applied to a combination of interested persons who seek to maintain continued tenure of office without attracting general notice. County politics habitually goes by default. Interest in local politics is centered and absorbed in that of the towns and cities. Political training in New England has resulted in the exaltation of the office-holder and the candidate for office, rather than that of the party machine which puts him into his place. The unit of the town-meeting is the individual citizen, and town politics is intensely personal. In spite of extreme and lasting partizan- ship, in spite of factional divisions of long duration, the parties in the town remain simply two sets of men, £ind no party machinery can efliectively intervene be- 141 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY tween the individual voter and the candidate or the holder of local office. The influential person may al- ways appeal to the voters against the dictation of party officials. This sort of training in local affairs creates a disposition to carry over to the larger political areas the independence of the town-meeting, and it becomes natural and easy for politicians seeking positions in the larger areas to appeal in a similar way to the in- dividual citizens in the towns composing the several districts. Such conditions are unfavorable to the growth of strong party organizations. All this is incredible to those who reside in States where the county is the chief unit in local and party government. That there should be a county "ring," whose object is to keep out of politics, passes belief. Political training, in a highly organized county, re- sults, relatively speaking, in the subordination of the individual and the exaltation of the agencies through which he acts. It creates conditions favorable to strong and effective party organization. The county is not, like the town, looked upon as composed of indi- vidual citizens; it is rather composed of townships; it is a corporation made up of minor corporate muni- cipalities, and the element of personality is overlaid and obscured by successive organizations. At no point does the great mass of citizens come into direct and obvious control of a wide range of local government, and the intense personal feeling of the town-meeting may give place to an absorbing loyalty and devotion to party. The citizen is compelled to rely upon a multi- tude of diverse agencies, and the complex organiza- tion which results counts for more, while the 142 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN MASSACHUSETTS individual counts for less than in the town. The influential person who makes direct appeal to the in- dividual voter in the county does not meet the response which he commands in the New England town. His criticism of party machinery often has the appear- ance of an attack upon the agencies essential to good government. In general, it may be said that the prom- inence of the county in local government creates con- ditions favorable to the indefinite increase of the power of party committees — that is, to the develop- ment of strong party organization. It does not follow that party organization in a New England State, where the town-meeting system pre- vails, will necessarily be characterized by weakness and inefficiency, or that in a Middle or Western State, with highly organized county government, it will inevitably be vigorous and effective. A multitude of other fac- tors enter into the final result. All that is here main- tained is that, of the two chief forms of American local government, the one is favorable, while the other is adverse to the highest development of the party ma- chine. As an apparent exception to the general prin- ciple advanced above, the state of party development in the Southern States will occur to all. There the county has always been the principal unit of local government, and the town-meeting has never gained foothold; but it is also true that the county in the South is not highly organized, and training in the con- duet of local government counts for less in the educa- tion of the citizen there than in other parts of the United States. There is a general tendency for per- sonal politics to prevail over machine politics. Can- 143 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY didates stronji' in position and in personal charactor- isties are accustomed to make successful appeals to the voters against the designs of those who control the party organization. Three sorts of local conditions are thus seen to have a bearing upon the success of party organizers : 1, that created by the dominance of the New England town- meeting; 2, that of the highly organized county; 3, that which results from the lack of well-developed local government of either kind. In the place of rules adopted by party conventions, party com- mittees in Massachusetts issue handbooks containing the laws for the control of party conduct. The parties, however, are per- mitted to adopt additional rules not in conflict with the state laws, and committees have done this for the organization in Boston. State conventions rely upon the daily press for the publication of their proceedings. The Advertiser published a Republican Year Book for Massachusetts, in 1895, containing the platform and a brief party history. The Massachusetts method of politi- cal leadership is illustrated by the multitude of addresses from individuals, candidates and committees, to the electors, and from individuals to the legislature. Late additions to the party literature of Massachusetts are: ' ' Natural History of a State, " by R. L. Bridgman, New England Magazine, September, 1900. "Who Runs Massachusetts?" by R. L. Bridgman. New Eng- land Magazine, November, 1906. "Defeat of Public-Opinion Bill." The Arena, July, 1905. For tendencies to machine rule and the opposition of leading citizens, see The Arena, June, 1907. 144 CHAPTER XII PARTIES IN MASSACHUSETTS AND PENNSYLVANIA COMPARED A COMPARISON of the senatorial leadership of the Re- publican party in Massachusetts with that of the same party in Pennsylvania throws additional light upon the two types of party organization in those States. In both States the senatorial office has overshadowed all others. The senators have been the acknowledged leaders of their party. Since both are "safe" Repub- lican States, their state politics has been little af- fected by the choice of presidential candidates. Few political leaders in either State have seriously con- templated the attainment of a higher office than that of United States senator. In both States there has been a marked tendency to give to the office of senator a life tenure; repeated reelection has followed the first choice. In both, the senators chosen have been con- spicuous in national party leadership, being excelled in that respect by those of the State of New York alone. In the year 1847, having vainly endeavored to per- suade the Whig convention of Massachusetts to take a decided stand in opposition to the extension of slav- ery, Charles Sumner united with Charles Francis Adams and a few others in the formation of the Free ^0 145 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY Soil party. As chairman of the state committee of the new party, Mr. Sumner conducted the campaign of 1848 in the interest of Van Buren and Adams, and was himself at the same time one of the candidates of his party for the lower House of Congress. Henry Wilson succeeded Mr. Sumner as chairman of the state com- mittee, serving from 1849 to 1852. In 1850 and 1851 Mr. Wilson was a member of the state senate, and its presiding officer. As the official head of his party he managed the contest which resulted, in April, 1851, in the election of Mr. Sumner to the national Senate. This was accomplished by a combination of Free Soil- ers, Democrats, and disaffected Whigs. A deadlock in the lower house of the state legislature, which lasted for more than three months, was at last overcome and a bare majority secured for Mr. Sumner by an agree- ment on the part of the chairman of the state commit- tee of the Free Soil party to use the organization in the interest of the candidacy of Mr. Boutwell, a Democrat, for governor of the State. Thus began the great career of Charles Sumner in the Senate of the United States. He was then, as he remained, the logical candidate of his party, because he was the most effective expounder of its doctrines. Upon the decline of the Free Soil organization, Henry Wilson joined the American, or Know-nothing party, and by its aid was elected to the national Senate in 1855. The cardinal doctrines of the Republican party, just then coming into being, were practically identical with those of the Free Soil party of which Sumner and Wilson were original founders and lead- ers. By means of the fragments of parties destroyed 146 MASSACHUSETTS AND PENNSYLVANIA and those created by the new issue, both these men be- came Republican senators before there was a national organization of that name, and may therefore be re- garded as the original Republican senators. The two Massachusetts senators were strikingly dif- ferent in social position, and in their preparation for their high calling. Mr. Sumner was from a distin- guished family, and he represented the culture and learning of Boston and Cambridge, and had enjoyed to the full all the advantages of university education. Mr. Wilson was without family; his very name was given him by an act of the legislature. When he attained his majority he had been for eleven years ap- prenticed to a farmer. Then he became a shoemaker, a student, again a shoemaker, an editor, a member of the state legislature, a party manager, a state campaigner, then senator of the United States. The two men, therefore, stood for two measurably dis- tinct political elements in the State, the city, and the country; but respecting the one overshadowing question of the time they were at one, and the State was practically a unit in their support. Mr. Sumner remained in the Senate to the day of his death, in March, 1874. Mr. Wilson passed from the floor of the Senate to the chair of its presiding officer when he became Vice-President of the United States, in 1873. Both had made themselves leaders of their party and maintained themselves as such chiefly by excelling in the effective advocacy of the principles of the party. Indeed, the party itself took organic form around the persons of these conspicuous exponents of the doc- trines which demanded political embodiment. To 147 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY give effect to the convictions of these leaders and the principles which they had espoused, the party came into being. Sumner and Wilson were successively re- elected because their party trusted them, and because the whole State was proud of their gifts and of their faithful devotion to the public service. In this first period of Republican ascendancy in Mas- sachusetts we have presented a type of party organiza- tion and of party leadership which is comparatively simple and easily understood. Men with well-known characters, and acting from motives which cannot be mistaken, furnish full and adequate explanation. It is not difficult to comprehend why men possessing the convictions and the personal endowments of Charles Sumner and Henry "Wilson should aspire to positions of political leadership, and should avail themselves of the earliest opportunities to secure seats in the Senate of the United States. Equally clear is it that a State which fortune had already made the most conspicuous in the cause of union, and which was becoming united in resistance to the extension of slavery, would naturally seek to retain at the head of affairs leaders of such commanding ability and influ- ence. No intricate party machinery was required. The men were known, their motives were obvious, and they guided and controlled the party. Simon Cameron, the first Republican senator from Pennsylvania, was born in 1799. At the age of nine he began to work in a printing-office, and at twenty- one he had become an editor. Later he was known as a banker and a builder of railroads. In 1845 he was a Democratic member of the national Senate, but ten 148 MASSACHUSETTS AND PENNSYLVANIA years later he became the organizer and leader of the People's party of his State, which he represented in the Senate in 1857. The call for the Republican con- vention which nominated Lincoln in 1860 invited the "People's party of Pennsylvania" to send delegates. In that convention Mr. Cameron received votes both for the Presidency and the Vice-Presidency. He en- tered Lincoln's cabinet as Secretary of War in 1861, and the following year was sent as minister to Russia. Reentering the Senate in 1866 he followed Mr. Sumner in the chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign Af- fairs in 1872. For the fourth time he was chosen senator in 1874, and three years later resigned his place in favor of his son. James Donald Cameron was graduated from Prince- ton College in 1852, at the age of nineteen. Having served as cashier in a bank, as president of a bank, and as vice-president of a railway company, he was from 1863 to 1874 president of the Northern Central Rail- way Company of Pennsylvania, besides being con- nected with many mining and manufacturing busi- ness enterprises. In 1877, as United States senator, he succeeded to the party leadership vacated by his father. During the early years of the history of the Repub- lican party Pennsylvania was as emphatically the most advanced of the States in respect to the devel- opment of modern industries as was Massachusetts in voicing the sentiment of the North in favor of the Union and against the extension of slavery. It was as natural that business men should go to the United States Senate from Pennsylvania as that anti-slavery 149 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY men should go from Massachusetts. The men who were creating railway systems and forming combina- tions of mining, manufacturing, and transportation companies would naturally employ different methods in organizing and directing a political party from those whose chief aim was to give expression to a clearly defined moral sentiment. There is here sug- gested a radical diversity in principles controlling po- litical leadership which must be better understood before much real progress can be made toward the solution of the problem of free government. The political questions in which the people of Mas- sachusetts took the deepest interest, in the years when events were preparing the way for the Civil War, were such as directly appealed to the deepest feelings. Daniel Webster advanced Massachusetts to a position of leadership in the cause of the Union more by his appeal to sentiment than by the superiority of his logic. In like manner the eloquent utterances of other public leaders raised to a passion the inherent sense of right and justice already excited against the institu- tion of slavery. To rouse and move great bodies of men in the direc- tion of a common sentiment of right, a common feeling or rivalry, of antipathy, or of prejudice, has ever been an easier task than to secure united and etfective action in the rational choice of a merely preferable policy. In the race, as in the child, the dominance of feeling precedes that of reason. For thousands of years leadership of the multitude turned upon the power to direct the course of common sentiment, be- fore the slow growth of the intellectual faculties had 150 MASSACHUSETTS AND PENNSYLVANIA prepared mankind for the exercise of conscious choice, under the guidance of calm reason, between competing lines of public policy. Progress was made in the earlier stages of the growth of liberty, when all leaders played upon feeling without a thought of addressing the intellect and the judgment, by the substitution of the more noble for the less noble sentiment. So long as the choice rests between different forms or degrees of despotism nothing better can be done. A different condition is reached, however, when an effort is made to induce the mass deliberately and consciously to decide between two or more possible courses of public policy. Then judgment and reason are often brought into conflict with sentiment, and the excitement of feeling may itself be a hindrance to the exercise of reason. The real difficulty in the conduct of the demo- cratic state lies in the devising of means whereby the mass of the people may be enabled to form correct judgments. The appeal to common moral sentiment must, nevertheless, ever remain a cardinal factor in political leadership. Feeling may be trained and regu- lated; it can never be abolished. Its importance among the forces of which the science of government takes account will not diminish; but as the difficulty attending the formation of correct judgments becomes more generally appreciated, the sentimental appeal will hold a relatively less prominent place. The first Republican senators from Massachusetts were fortunate in that their names were linked with great moral issues in a mighty conflict upon which the attention of mankind was focused. They furnish an almost ideal example of a certain definite type of 151 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY political leadership. Through a series of accidents, if accidents there be in the realm of human action, the moral leaders of the people of a great State were led to form a new political party and to secure and hold for their lifetime the guidance of that party's course. The sentiments for which they contended gained a signal triumph, and, happily, those sentiments were in themselves such as to command the lasting approval of mankind. There are, however, certain particulars in which this instance of high moral leader- ship in a political party does not admit of repetition in a democratic state. The issues raised at the organi- zation of the new party were not settled in the demo- cratic way. Appeal was made to force, and because of the war that followed, the ascendancy of passion and the habit of addressing an audience with fervid oratory, a prevailing sentiment was prolonged for a term of years. If the abolition of slavery had not come as an incident of war, it is extremely probable that the Massachusetts senators would not have remained so conspicuously prominent as examples of successful po- litical leadership upon a high moral plane. This view does not in the least detract from the credit and honor which are their due ; but it should be remembered that such leadership as theirs is exceptional, and arises from exceptional conditions. Has any political issue been raised since the war which admits of a similar appeal to a clearly de- fined moral sense ? Organized capital has entered into dispute with organized labor, and there have been those on both sides who have been disposed to reduce the quarrel to a simple question of right and wrong. 152 MASSACHUSETTS AND PENNSYLVANIA Capitalists there have been who saw "nothing to ar- bitrate," and, with the support of unshaken conviction, they have felt it to be their duty to abide by their personal opinions at whatever sacrifice or loss; while working-men not a few have accounted their wrongs and sufferings analogous to those of the slave. But progress toward more tolerable and more just re- lations has been made through mutual advance in in- telligent apprehension and appreciation of the difficul- ties inseparable from changing industrial and social conditions by which both parties to the struggle are hampered. This by no means implies a slighter de- mand upon the moral qualities ; on the contrary, it involves the exercise of higher and more discriminat- ing moral judgments. The various problems that have grown out of the national debt and questions of money and banking have each and all been obscured by the injection of false appeals to moral sentiment. After the analogy of those who waged the moral war against slavery, there have been some upon both sides of these contro- versies who have assumed that they themselves stood for the obviously correct and right policy, while their opponents were moral delinquents. This has led to the impugning of motives, to vituperation and abuse, to habitual appeal to prejudice, to giving assent to teachings known to be erroneous. Progress in the solution of such questions can be assured only as men attain unto a state of candor, open-mindedness and intellectual honesty in their study of the industrial and political phenomena involved. It is a higher type of morality which is manifested by the citizen who 153 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY gives time and hard mental labor to the understanding of the intricate phenomena of modern life that he may use for the common good his powers and his opportunities, than is that which leads a man to face the cannon's mouth under the stimulus of an un- thinking, though worthy, sentiment of patriotism. The hero of war is conscious of the moral support and admiration of the mass of his fellows. The man who with strenuous effort taxes his energies for the formation of correct opinions, and sacrifices private advantage in acting upon them for the promotion of the commonweal, has no such support. Our country has suffered enormous loss of moral energy because the general public has been so captivated and enthralled by the type of leadership evolved by the dramatic issues of the Civil War. Practical matters of political economy and finance, upon whose wise settlement the comfort and well-being of millions have depended, have seemed in comparison trivial and uninteresting. A wide-spread hankering has prevailed after some great, spectacular moral issue. Not a few have fondly be- lieved themselves to have found such an issue in the liquor traffic; others have seen it in still other de- sirable reforms. All such hopes are futile. The moral war against slavery stands alone, and the at- tempt to apply its spirit and methods to the political problems of this later and widely different era is either useless or positively immoral and harmful. Partly because it cannot be repeated, much should be made of the single example in our history of successful political leadership based upon moral and sentimental ideas, which was developed in the anti- 154 MASSACHUSETTS AND PEiNNSYLVANIA slavery struggle. Its value lies in the undoubted fact of the dominance of the noblest motives and the en- tire absence of any thought or possibility of personal gain. Massachusetts, as the most conspicuous of the States which were so led for a series of years, furnishes an object-lesson whose teachings can never lose their force. The problems confronting the democracy of the present and the future must be dealt with after other manners, but their solution requires ideals as exalted and motives as pure as those of Sumner or Wilson, though the circumstances will debar the lead- ers of the after time from the opportunities enjoyed by the elder statesmen for easy display and spectacular demonstration. As a State, Pennsylvania has at no time stood con- spicuously either for the support of the Union or for resistance to the extension of slavery. It swung into the Republican ranks and strongly sustained the Union cause along with the other Northern States ; but it was as a follower of more radical States rather than as a leader. The People's party which Simon Cameron had organized, and which had sent him to the Senate, was merged in the new Republican party, whose founders and leaders were among the most prominent men in the State. They were men whose signal busi- ness sagacity and talents were contributing to the re- markable industrial and financial development which the State was just then experiencing. Pennsylvania was the principal seat of the iron and coal industries of the country, and to them was added a little later the wonderful oil product. Huge business corporations were being formed on every hand for the exploitation 155 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY of these various sources of wealth. The men of politi- cal prominence and influence were also captains of industry and chiefs of finance. The younger Cam- eron, whose early career has been briefly sketched, was, during the war, president of the principal railway system of the State, and rendered valuable service to the government in the matter of trans- portation of troops and supplies. His interests were large in connection with mining and manufacturing as well. He was but one among many of the success- ful men of action Avho gave to the organization and de- velopment of the Republican party in Pennsylvania the benefit of their unusual business training and ex- perience, and helped to fix upon the political machine many of the qualities of the business corporation. A business corporation is found to be most efficient and economical when the resources of the many are placed unreservedly at the disposal of one organizing and directing mind. The adoption of this principle has rendered the American corporation a model in these re- spects. The property of the stockholders has been either actually transferred to the managers or has been placed at their command with a minimum of lim- itation. Thus the directness and economy of indi- vidual control has been combined with the advantages of a multiple ownership. Had the laws for the pro- tection of stockholders been rigidly enforced, had the joint owners of corporate property maintained their right to a voice in the management of the business, bad the superior rights of the general public been con- served with reasonable care, those great enterprises could never have attained to the marvelous efficiency 156 MASSACHUSETTS AND PENNSYLVANIA and economy of management which is now character- istic of them, and there would have been no such mass- ing of property in the hands of individuals as we now observe. The absorption of public attention by the war and the resulting issues was a circumstance which was at least favorable to the creation of these enor- mous corporations and their growth to the present menacing proportions. Their development called for the strongest organizing ability which the country afforded, and the returns have been sufficient to at- tract the most ambitious and the most gifted of men. The Republican party of Massachusetts was founded to promulgate a doctrine. Its creators and leaders were men of profound convictions who were also skilled in the use of argument. They were able to convince their hearers and to move the multitude to action by their powers of speech. Of another sort were the party leaders in Pennsylvania. They were men accustomed to do rather than to talk; they adapted means to ends and looked for direct and tangible re- sults. To the keen-sighted business man the obvious use and purpose of a party organization is to get the right sort of men put into office, and the right sort of man for the office is one who can be relied upon to do the right things. At first, in Pennsylvania as in other States, the particular right thing for the new organization to accomplish was to displace the men in office who approved the attitude of the Buchanan administration upon the Kansas question, by substi- tuting those of the contrary opinion. A little later it became apparent that the right thing for the new party to do was to fill every office, high and low, with 157 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY men who would support Lincoln's administration in the prosecution of the war. The Pennsylvania party leaders, and especially the elder Cameron, were thor- ough-going believers in the use of the patronage of the government for the accomplishment of the objects of the party. In the critical time of war to place disloyal men in positions of trust and responsibility seemed to him akin to treason. In the exigencies of the great national struggle the party took on the sem- blance of an army, and what could be more unreason- able than to choose the officers of your army from the ranks of the enemy? Simon Cameron held consis- tently to his original position, and one of the last public acts of his life was bitterly to oppose the move- ment for the reform of the civil service during the Hayes administration. Massachusetts Republicans followed two senatorial leaders of equal and coordinate rank, the one repre- senting Boston and Harvard College, the other stand- ing in closer touch with the towns and smaller cities. On the main issues of the day the two were fully agreed. But an American business enterprise attains the maximum of efficiency under the direction of a single master mind. A railway company does not have two presidents at a time, it has one. Consistently, then, Pennsylvania has had but one senatorial leader at a time. It were an easy matter, however, to carry too far the analogy between the party organization of Penn- sylvania and the modern business corporation. Strik- ing and important as it is, it is not all-embracing. In the modem world of business the organs of operation 158 MASSACHUSETTS AND PENNSYLVANIA and management are effectively concealed from the public view. Great enterprises are projected and car- ried into effect as if by a single man, and the business is regarded as personal rather than corporate. In the political party, on the other hand, the corporate idea receives special emphasis. Millions of men are thought of and spoken of as being moved by a com- mon impulse to a common end. The party is itself exalted while individual consequence is minimized. In the State of Pennsylvania something less than a mil- lion of voters are enrolled by a party committee as members of the organization, and on special occasions as many as one fifth of the entire number are made to regard themselves as important party officials and bound to minister to its welfare. Especial effort is directed to the one end of impressing upon the mind of every one of its supporters the tremendous value of the party organization and the absolute necessity for its maintenance and the increase of its power. Thus, from the nature of the case, the political party becomes an effective teacher of the multitude in the line of united, organized, corporate action. It is interesting to observe that the State which has held the foremost place in the evolution of the modern corporation, the State which was first to originate a wide-spread fusion of railway and mining interests, the State in which conflicts between labor and capital first assumed proportions suggestive of civil war, is also the field for the strongest and most enduring state-wide party organization that has yet appeared in America. The Republican party of Pennsylvania is strong enough to meet the business corporations of the 159 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY State upon at least equal terms. And while the or- ganization has been used in many ways to favor cor- porate interests at the expense of the Commonwealth, it is capable of being used to restrain and control cor- porate power. The most serious of the problems of the present day is that which grows out of the massing of wealth, whereby the control of the means of subsistence centers in the hands of the few. This condition is a fact to be taken into account quite independently of forms of government or the existence of political parties. Whether the rights of the people are safer with a stron;^- party organization, such as has grown up in Pennsyl- vania, than without such an agency, is a question for argument rather than for dogmatic assertion. Whether such party organization and such political training as has prevailed in Massachusetts furnishes a more hope- ful prospect for successfully coping with threatening dangers than does the stronger party-machine, is also matter for discussion and study rather than for de- cision out of hand. While it is doubtless true, as has been said, that the town-meeting does not supply a good model for the government of an army, it does furnish opportunity for a sort of training which is indispensable to the success of democratic government, and those qualities of the town-meeting which have gone into the party organizations of the New England States are valuable assets to be treasured and utilized for the common good. Peculiar advantages are also de- rived from the experience of the citizen under the more highly organized and less democratic local government of the county. Massachusetts and Pennsylvania are IGO MASSACHUSETTS AND PENNSYLVANIA but two of fifty States and Territories, in every one of which party organs have been freely developed and adapted to the varying local conditions. Each one is in a position to make an independent contribution to the solution of the multiplex political problems con- fronting the nation. As industrial organization has become more com- plete, increased attention has been directed in every State to the organization of the political parties. This common tendency is illustrated in what has already been said of the experience of Massachusetts. Party organization there has been seen to have been at first weak and informal, such as was fitted to give expres- sion to a prevailing sentiment ; while, as the common sentiment gave place to the perplexing questions of later days, party machinery became more prominent. The large body of legislation of recent years bears testimony to this fact. Opposition to the grow- ing power of the party organs is expressed in the laws. The statutes guard in various ways the rights of the independent voter. Party committees are for- bidden to debar a citizen from participation in a party caucus on the ground of refusal to support the party nominee at a previous election. At the same time, as has been shown, the lawmakers have been led to recog- nize more and more explicitly the regular party or- ganizations as integral parts of the government. Con- fronted with the alternative of submitting to the rule of an organization uncontrolled by law, or of incor- porating that organ among the institutions of the State, they have chosen to incorporate. The result is that in a State ni which there is a maximum of iu- 11 161 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY telligent conviction unfavorable to the increasing power of party organs, in which independent voters are numerous and influential, the party system has secured the most complete legal recognition. A clearer demonstration of the increasing vitality of the party system it would be difficult to find. There are certain States in which the owners of valuable franchises or leaders in some form of capi- talistic organization hold the place of supreme power. These organizations are stronger than the legislature, the executive, and the state judiciary; stronger than any state party organization. In other States, of which Pennsylvania is an example, the dominant political party shows a marked tendency toward gaining and holding supreme power. Still others, like Massachu- setts, are pervaded by a sentiment in favor of main- taining the several departments of the regular state government in the position of supremacy, and in pur- suance of that policy are gradually incorporating party machinery into the general system of state and local governmental organs. The diverse conditions attending the development of the Republican party in the two States which have been compared in this chapter have necessarily af- fected more or less the history of the party of oppo- sition in those States. Nearly all that has been said of party organization in Massachusetts applies alike to both the principal parties. Their machinery is practically identical. In respect to the national issues connected with slavery and the maintenance of the Union, the State became substantially unanimous, so that for a time the Democratic organization was almost 162 MASSACHUSETTS AND PENNSYLVANIA extinct. Upon the original questions which called the Republican party into existence, the two parties do not differ. The Democrats have, however, fur- nished strenuous and sometimes effective opposition to the Republican position upon the various issues which have arisen since the war. The large inde- pendent vote of the State has been favorable to the minority party. While the normal Republican ma- jority has been large, local and state elections have by no means been secure. Much of the time the city of Boston has gone Democratic, and twice the Demo- crats have elected the governor. Like Pennsylvania, Massachusetts is a manufacturing State, and a ma- jority of the population have favored the policy of protection, though free-traders of prominence and in- fluence have not been wanting, while a larger class has advocated more liberal tariff legislation. The Demo- cratic party of the State has been in harmony with the national party in respect to tariff questions, and it has in numerous ways fulfilled the proper functions of a party in opposition. It has kept the party in power upon its good behavior ; it has furnished to the independent voter a convenient means of making an impression upon the government; it has promoted in- telligent debate and has provided an alternate agency in readiness for assuming the responsibilities of gov- ernment. In many ways the attitude of the Democratic party in INIassachusetts is more commendable than it is in Pennsylvania. At a critical juncture the Pennsyl- vania Democrats offered serious obstruction to the na- tional party in respect to the tariff. They have not fur- nished that serious, independent, fighting opposition 163 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY which the Republicans have encountered in Massachu- setts, and there is much more evidence of collusion between the office-holding or office-seeking members of the two parties in Pennsylvania than in Massa- chusetts. Each state has its peculiar history in respect to senatorial leadership. The two here presented represent extreme types. In Massachusetts leadership is personal and is open, in all its parts, to the public observation. The Autobiography of Senator Hoar illustrates in every detail Massachusetts methods and prin- ciples. But to understand the Pennsylvania type of political leadership involves knowledge, not of a person, but of an organi- zation. To attempt to explain the phenomena by the life of a senator is to insure failure. Recent developments in Pennsylvania are suggested by the following articles: ' ' Masters and Rulers of the Freemen of Pennsylvania, ' ' by R. Blankenburg. The Arena, January to August, 1905. ' ' Fall of the House of Quay : State Treasurership, " by I. F. Marcosson. World's Worlc, January, 1906. "Great Victory for Honest Politics" and "Great Reforms Secured in Pennsylvania," by W. MacVeagh. North American Beview, January and October, 1906. Same topic discussed in The Independent, February 22, 1906; and The Outlook, March 3, 1906. 164 CHAPTER XIII PAETY ORGANIZATION IN A TYPICAL DOUBTFUL STATE — INDIANA INDLA.NA is a typical "doubtful" State. There the two parties have for fifty years maintained an even balance, neither having ever become dominant. Both organizations have, therefore, been kept in thoroughly effective fighting condition, and each recurring elec- tion is a real contest for the control of the government. New York is a doubtful State because a Democratic metropolis is balanced by a Republican rural popu- lation ; but Indiana is doubtful because the voting constituency of the two parties is distributed evenly between city and country in all sections of the State. Certain marked characteristics are presented by the doubtful States in respect to both party organization and party leadership. They are the natural home of the aspirant for the Presidency, and are more likely than other States to furnish the candidates for the quadrennial struggle. This is because, in the unstable equilibrium which normally holds between the two chief national parties, it is practically the doubtful States which determine the choice of a President. All the local forces and influences in such a State must therefore be utilized. By taking the party candidate 165 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY from a regiou of uncertain preferences, state and local pride, personal friendship, family connection, as well as less worthy sentiments, are all made to pay tribute to the momentous result and may, in a close contest, determine that result. Hence it has become customary to select the presidential candidates from the States in which the parties are most nearly equal in strength. In a State dominated by one party, the highest honor which is the object of a reasonable political am- bition is election to the United States Senate, since presidential candidates are seldom chosen from a "safe" State, and there is only a remote possibility that any citizen may ever achieve a higher place. Even the office of governor, politically speaking, counts for less than that of senator, and the governor would will- ingly become a senator. Senatorial leadership in such a State is more effective than in one that is doubtful. Since the office remains term after term in the same party, and frequently in the same person, its patron- age (if the State is controlled by the party which main- tains national supremacy) becomes a valuable party asset, and the element of fluctuation from one side to the other, which modifies the same leadership in doubt- ful States, is eliminated. In a State constantly con- trolled by the party out of power senatorial leadership is of the same essential nature, though it lacks the advantage of the Federal patronage. Senators from a doubtful State command a rela- tively less complete party ascendancy. Against them there is always the fact that the State contains presi- dential aspirants who are also party leaders, and there is the additional fact never lost sight of that a man 166 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN INDIANA from the State may actually become President of the United States and the supreme head of his party both in State and Nation. The special field for the ex- ercise of senatorial leadership is in the party organiza- tion of the safe State. In the States which furnish the candidates in a presidential campaign the influence of the national committee of the party is much stronger than in others, since, as has been shown, that body is guided rather by executive than senatorial leaders. In States whose governors aspire to the Presidency, and which therefore receive special assistance from the national committee, the control of the local state organization is liable, under certain circumstances, to be transferred from senator to governor. New York senators, for example, who have successfully guided the politics of their State and controlled the Federal patronage, have repeatedly been forced to yield pre- cedence to a governor who has become a presidential candidate. The States command national political attention in proportion to their importance in a presidential elec- tion. New York, having the largest number of presi- dential electors, is first considered. Ohio has stood next, but if it should pass, as is deemed possible, from the doubtful to the safe class of States, then it may be expected to furnish fewer candidates for the Chief Magistracy and to receive a smaller share of public notice, while the senatorial leadership of the State will doubtless become more conspicuous. Indiana, which has hitherto ranked third among the doubtful States, would then be advanced to the second place. 167 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY The peculiar eouditions prevailing in a doubtful State serve to render its polities more intense and to give to party strife a larger place in the life of the people, than in other States. A much larger propor- tion of the voters habitually devote time and strength to the working of the party machine. Two complete party organizations are constantly maintained in an attitude of responsibility, actual or anticipated, for the conduct of the government. In many of the States the minority party does not expect or intend to really assume any such responsibility respecting the affairs of state. Its mission is that of discussion and criticism rather than of action. But in a State where the question of party ascendancy is an uncertain one, and the burdens of government may be shifted at short in- tervals from one to the other, both the contending hosts must be kept continually upon a war footing. Party organization in Indiana resembles that of Pennsylvania in that the county holds a leading place. It is the chief organ for local government and around it the party organs have been formed. In party mat- ters the different counties legislate for themselves, and, as in the older State, there is much variety in local detail. As in Massachusetts, the organizations of the two parties are practically identical. Party committees, one and all, serve for terms of two years. Reorganization is effected on the even- numbered years when congressmen are elected, and once in four years the organization has special ref- erence to the presidential election. The laws require a separate precinct for every two hundred and fifty voters, and the more populous townships are therefore 168 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN INDIANA subdivided into precincts. A mass meeting of the party called by the existing precinct committee selects a precinct committee. This takes place in January or February of the campaign year. The chairman of the precinct committee is ex officio a member of the township committee. The township committee, com- posed of the precinct chairmen, meets and organizes by choosing a chairman and other officers. It has charge of the local party interests of the township. The county central committee, whose number varies in the different counties, consists of representatives chosen by the precinct delegates at a county conven- tion or, in some counties, by the separate precincts. The method of constituting party committees out of representatives from minor areas should be carefully noted, since one of its effects is to increase the power of the committee at the expense of the party conven- tions. The county committee, composed of representa- tives chosen in the precincts, or by delegates at the county convention, calls all county conventions for making nominations and for choosing delegates to at- tend district or state conventions. The committee it- self determines whether the county convention shall be a mass convention or an assembly of delegates, or whether a primary election shall be held. If a delegate convention is decided upon, the committee, in the ab- sence of previously adopted party rules, prescribes the basis of representation. Composed as it is of repre- sentatives from the precincts, the county committee is disposed to assume and exercise authority in place of the convention. It is stated that many of the delegates to the Democratic state convention of 1904, which was 169 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY called to choose delegates to the national convention at St. Louis, were selected by the county committees without the formality of a county convention. This is regarded as illegal, as against unwritten party law, but the process was not contested. The county committee is always large ; in some counties it numbers more than a hundred. As in all cases where an official body is made up of many and widely distributed individuals, the real power of the committee is centralized in the chairman or a small group of managers. The first committee from an area larger than the county is that of the congressional district. It is com- posed of the chairmen of the central committees of the various counties of the district, who, as leaders of party organization in their own counties, have im- portant duties; but the district committee as such has little to do. It does not even elect its own chairman. A district convention is called once in two years for the purpose of electing a member of the state central committee ; and the same convention may also nomi- nate a candidate for representative to Congress. Usu- ally, however, the convention for choosing the district member of the state committee is called to meet in January or February of the campaign year, while the district nominating convention meets later, in May or June, and nominates the candidate for Congress. The member of the state committee chosen in each of the thirteen districts by the district convention is by vir- tue of that position chairman of the committee of his district. The entire membership of the district com- mittee is thus ex officio, being made up of county 170 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN INDIANA chairmen and presided over by one who is not a county chairman, but is elected from outside as the district member of the state central committee. The district committee's few duties are confined to mere formal matters connected wath the calling of conven- tions and the meeting of emergencies. Party interests in the district are in the hands of the chairman of the district committee ; but his duties to the district are due chiefly to the fact that he is a member of the state central committee. The member of the state committee in each district cooperates with the candidate for Congress and acts as his committeeman — at least the candidate has no other party agency except his private secretary, who is an active political agent of the congressman, in cor- respondence, in distributing literature, and, as occa- sion offers, in personal work. By its construction, therefore, the state committee is prepared to serve the double purpose of conducting a general, state-wide campaign, and at the same time a special campaign in each congressional district. There appears no need of the double organization found in some States for ac- complishing these two objects. M^hether the local committeeman in the county receives orders respecting the particular interests of the candidate for Congress, or is instructed concerning the general interests of the party, the communication comes with the authority of the one state committee. The state central committee is composed of thirteen members, one from each congressional district. It comes into existence through separate and special acts of the district conventions, and the machinery for 171 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY its evolution is set in motion early in the year in the precincts, townships, and counties. All the state committeemen have been named before the date for the opening of the campaign, which is inaugurated by calling the committee together for organization. The thirteen members choose a chairman, vice-chair- man, secretary, treasurer, and such other officers as they may wish. Usually the chairman selected is not al- ready a member of the committee, and most frequently the secretary and some of the other officers are paid employees of the committee. Of its four chief officers and perhaps one or two of its own number, the com- mittee constitutes an executive committee to have im- mediate charge of the routine work of the campaign. The executive committee, however, in no sense dis- places the central committee, which remains in full command, the subordinate committee serving as one of its working agencies. In theory the party conventions of the various areas hold the place of supreme authority, with the committees as subsidiary instrumentalities. This is the party theory in Indiana as in other States; but there the committees are made up in such a way as to obscure this relation. Indiana committees are not usu- ally appointed by conventions representing the same areas. They come into existence, as do the conventions themselves, by independent acts of the people of the minor areas. Separate acts of thirteen district con- ventions designate the members of the state com- mittee; county committees are in some cases named by the separate precincts or by precinct delegates. A district convention does indeed elect a committeeman 172 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN INDIANA who is the chairman of the district committee, but the convention has no share in choosing the district committee. This being the case, it is not strange that the permanent working committees should exhibit a tendency to exalt their position and seek to dominate the party conventions. Much complaint has arisen on account of the alleged usurpations of the party com- mittees. The effective working committees of the State are two, the county committees and the state central com- mittee, and the latter deals directly with the former. The party machine is not centralized, as in Pennsyl- vania, in the sense of being subject to the direction of a single mind; but it is centralized to the extent that a single committee controls and directs the party campaigns. The machinery of both parties is adjusted with special reference to economy of force in the cam- paign. The one state organ, having full command, is able to utilize every interest represented by the gen- eral ticket, and at the same to bring to bear all the local forces in the congressional districts. Candidates for Congress in safe districts are called upon to assist the party at large, while special aid is rendered to the hard-pressed candidate in a doubtful district. Lo- cal organization in the counties is also compact and thorough and local party officials are not confused by any double source of superior authority. Senatorial leadership is in evidence in Indiana as in other States, one of the members of the national Sen- ate being traditionally accounted the party leader. His leadership may be, however, much restricted and conditioned by an influential and aspiring governor, 173 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY and likewise by the able congressional leadership in the thirteen districts, where the candidates for posi- tions in the lower House of Congress constitute an independent factor which profoundly affects and com- plicates the question of state party leadership. Above all, however, senatorial leadership is conditioned by the ever prominent fact that the place in the upper House may pass to the opposite party. Especially does this fact modify and restrain tendencies to party faction. In its very nature senatorial leadership as- sumes and depends upon the dominance of one party in the State, and since the Republicans have in recent years been most successful in carrying elections, this discussion of the topic is limited in application to that party. The principle referred to is well illustrated in the case of the State of Ohio, whose condition of doubtfulness appears to be passing into that of safety, and the senatorial control of the state party machine to be therefore becoming more effective. Indiana has acquired a reputation for the habitual and long-continued use of money in the purchase of votes. Careful observers express the opinion that one tenth of the electors are accustomed to cast their ballots for a money consideration. Something of this evil rep- utation, whether well or ill founded, is doubtless to be credited to the peculiar political history of the State. When the Republican party was first organized in Indiana political struggles were intense and often bitter. The impression was general that the Demo- crats were assisted in elections by colonized voters from Kentucky, and it was argued that party duty re- quired such illegal voting to be offset hy voting cor- 174 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN INDIANA respondingly illegal. To vote ''early and often" was accounted honorable. Strenuous partizanship was soon merged in civil war. There were in the State many sincere and ardent sympathizers with the South, and it was thought necessary to establish a rigid mili- tary rule. The State was won and kept to a nominal support of the Republican administration during the war by force of arms, and upon the withdrawal of mili- tary power it was found that the two parties were, as before, of nearly equal strength. A free vote and a fair count have never been made to coincide with government by force, and military control of elections directly fosters the use of unlawful means for gain- ing legitimate political ends. When the war closed the people had become habituated to illegal acts in the choosing of political officers. The transfer of a few votes from one party to the other makes all the dif- ference between success and failure. In a presidential year a mere handful of ballots may determine the suc- cess or defeat of the national party. The actual finan- cial interests at stake are in themselves enormous, while the imaginary interests are often much larger. If for any reason a limited class of voters in a doubtful State has become accustomed to the use of illicit influences, the probabilities are strong that the evil will be perpet- uated. 175 CHAPTER XIV PARTY ORGANIZATION IN MISSOURI No State north of Mason and Dixon's line can be classified as subject to continuous Democratic control since the Civil War. All the Northern States are either Republican or doubtful. In the Southern States, the injection into politics of the race problem and other questions growing out of the war has pre- vented the development of normal party life. Of all the States of the Union, none comes so near to fulfilling the conditions of normal party division, while maintaining continuous Democratic ascendancy, as does Missouri. As in no other slave State, there was in Missouri, from the founding of the Republican party, a strong and active Republican organization. General Fremont, its first presidential candidate, com- manded a considerable part of the vote of the State. In 1860 it was the only State which chose a full set of Douglas electors. St. Louis, the state metropolis, has much of the time been a Republican city. In the midst of the Civil War, Missouri, by its own act, abol- ished slavery and even took such radical measures for the punishment of those who aided or sympathized with the Confederacy as to meet the disapproval of President Lincoln. 176 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN MISSOURI The Democratic platform adopted at the state convention held in July, 1902, contains the words: "The Republicans were in full control of the State from 1865 to 1871, and of the city of St. Louis, which represents nearly one fifth of the population and one third of the wealth of the State, from 1893 to 1901. These periods of Republican administration in the State and city were marked by a degree of intol- erance and corruption which have few examples in American history. In the State they enacted election laws which denied to Democrats all over the State any representation whatever in the registration of voters or at the polls on election day, and under which thousands of citizens of high repute were disfranchised solely because they were Democrats— a law denounced by the Supreme Court of the United States as being without any precedent for partizan brutality. ' ' The document goes on to devote large space to a scathing denuncia- tion of the Republican party for its misdeeds in State and city. In another place it says: "Under Demo- cratic rule Missouri affords the people impartial and honest election laws. ... In Missouri the mi- nority party is granted the same rights and privileges enjoyed by the majority. The minority has equal representation at the polls in judges, clerks, challen- gers, and watchers." And for the city of St. Louis the framers of the platform take credit in that it has provided an election law almost identical with the one framed by the Civic Federation, which has been ap- proved by a Republican House and a Democratic Sen- ate, and signed by a Democratic governor. The Republican platform of the same year presents 12 177 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY a much less favorable view of the past and present conduct of the Democratic party of the State, It fails to mention a single commendable act, while pages are devoted to explicit charges of political misbehavior. Individual Democrats are indeed commended, but only when they have borne testimony to the misdeeds of their own party. One reprehensible act is set forth in the words: "The sworn testimony of Democratic officials is on record that Democrats holding respon- sible positions of official trust have become gatherers of campaign funds for the Democratic party from cor- porations whose property values were subject to as- sessment at their hands." So deeply affected are the platform-makers by the iniquities of a body which they have described as consisting "exclusively and altogether of Democrats," that they are driven to a high resolve on their own behalf which is thus ex- pressed : "We hereby solemnly declare our fixed and determined purpose to oppose the election of any Republican who may be a candidate for office who is in any way under the control or influence of the lobby," There is here an implied admission that, at some time in the indefinite future, even the Republi- cans themselves might become subject to lobby influ- ences. Each party has, moreover, much to say as to the mismanagement of the school-fund by its opponent, while the Democrats manifest pride in their achieve- ments respecting the creation of a public-school sys- tem. These extracts from the latest published state plat- forms furnish adequate proof of the existence of two vigorous and effective parties in Missouri, and indicate 178 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN MISSOURI that they are performing their legitimate functions of watching over each other for evil, to the intent that citizens may have greater facilities for improvement on the policies and practices of state and city gov- ernments. In the passage quoted above from the Democratic platform, the dates given as designating the period of full Republican control in State and city — 1865 to 1871 — also indicate, as will be remembered, the time of radical Republican rule in the South. So far as Missouri was concerned, this radicalism had its origin in the State itself. It was by a state law that Demo- crats were disfranchised. Then, in the State as in the Nation, came a strong reaction against the extreme policy of the Republicans, and at the same time there was manifested a wide-spread disposition in the Demo- cratic party to accept the results of the war, includ- ing negro suffrage. In view of the attitude of the Democrats, liberal Republicans maintained that uni- versal suffrage should be accompanied by universal amnesty and the removal of political disabilities from those who had supported the Confederacy. It was the prevalence of such sentiments in the two parties that gave rise to the movement which resulted in the nomi- nation of Horace Greeley for the Presidency by the Democratic convention in 1872, and to a considerable defection in the ranks of the Republicans. Greeley's candidacy was supported by Charles Sumner and many other anti-slavery leaders of national repute. This important political movement first crystallized in Missouri. In 1871, a coalition of liberal Republi- cans and Democrats secured control of the state gov- 179 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY ermuent. The first Democratic senator from the State after the war was Frank P. Blair, who had hitherto figured as a prominent Republican leader. The call for the Cincinnati convention, which nominated Gree- ley, and whose candidates and platform were after- ward both adopted by the regular national Demo- cratic convention, was issued from Missouri. The unique experience of this border State during and after the war may be said to epitomize in a re- markable manner the experience of the nation as a whole in its dealing with secession, slavery, and re- construction. There was a time when Missouri was very near to casting in her lot with the Confederacy. Large numbers of her citizens entered the Confederate army, and strong pressure was brought to bear to induce decisive action in favor of secession. But the prevailing sentiment was after all a loyal one and the State remained upon the Union side. The movement for the abolition of slavery received the support of many planters and slave-owners. Even the high- handed measures for punishing the adherents of the Confederacy originated within the State, and the re- action which restored the Democracy to power was likewise local, Missouri is the one slave State in which the Repub- lican party has from the beginning held a prominent place, either as the minority party or as assuming full control of the government. Every other border slave State was Democratic throughout the reconstruction period, and the section was dominated by an intense antipathy toward the party which, as was alleged and believed, was seeking to establish its power at the point 180 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN MISSOURI of the bayonet with the aid of votes of former slaves, over the disfranchised slave-owners. When parties are divided by an issue of such sort thus baldly presented, there can never result anything resembling normal party government. In the other slave States, the Republican party was regarded as an alien intruder. But during the six years following the close of the war, the Mis- souri Democrat had scant opportunity for the overt expression of his natural lively antipathy to the national Republican party, since he was subject to the rule of a party of that name organized in his own State by his own fellow-citizens, and a party, too, which was not a whit behind the national party in the harshness and severity of its treatment of Confederate sympathizers. It was by securing the favor and support of their political antagonists that these Missouri Democrats were delivered from their dilemma. But the Repub- lican party remained in the field as the recognized organ of political menace and criticism. It has much of the time controlled the principal city, and has part of the time dominated one house in the state legislature. During the thirty years of their con- tinuous triumph, the Missouri Democrats have enjoyed the indisputable advantage of being confronted by an efficiently organized and vigilant opposition which they were bound to respect. The relative importance attached by the dominant party to their opponents, as organized in the Nation and in the State, is indicated by the fact that in a late state party platform little reference is made to the policy of the national Republi- 181 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY can party, while whole pages are devoted to explicit discussion of the Republican policy within the State. In spite of her unique position in political history, Missouri may nevertheless serve as typical of Demo- cratic States in which there has grown up a local Republican organization able to command respect and seriously to threaten to displace the party in power. In formal party organization, the State more nearly resembles Indiana than any other State thus far considered. The two parties have substantially identi- cal organizations. As in Indiana, there are five ranks in the committee system, and the committees have similar names, except that in Missouri the lowest is that of the school district instead of the precinct. Members of the party in the school district meet and elect one of their number as school-district committee- man, and the committeemen thus chosen are, by virtue of their office, members of the township committee and constitute that committee. The membership of the township committee varies in number from three to eight or nine. It organizes by electing a chairman and other officers. The chairmen of township com- mittees constitute the county committee, which meets and organizes in a similar manner. This completes the county machinery. Next in order stands the congressional district com- mittee, which is made up of one member from each county ; but, on account of differences of procedure in the different counties and districts in the nomination of candidates for Congress, the members are chosen in different ways. 1. In counties whose delegates to the district convention are selected by the county 182 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN MISSOURI convention, the district committeeman is also chosen at the county convention. 2. But some counties vote at a primary election for a candidate for Congress. In that case the winning candidate names the list of delegates to represent the county in the district con- vention, and these county delegates appoint, at the district convention, the county district committeeman. 3. In some other districts all the counties vote directly for the candidate for Congress, and there is therefore no congressional district convention. There is, how- ever, always a county convention to nominate county candidates, and this body names the district commit- teeman. The state central committee is composed of two members from each of the sixteen congressional dis- tricts and two from the State at large. These are all chosen by the delegates to the state convention. That convention, as a body, names the chairman of the state committee, while the delegates in attendance from each district name the representatives from their several districts to serve upon the state committee. This method makes the state central committee of Missouri, unlike that of Indiana, a direct creation of the state convention. More striking, however, is the difference in the constitution of the congressional district committee in the two States. In Indiana, the chairmen of the county committees compose the dis- trict committee, and a member of the state committee is its chairman, while the committee as a whole has few duties. The Missouri district committee has an independent membership, and its members are not members of the county committees. It elects its own 183 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY chairman, and its importance among the working forces of the party is accounted scarcely less than that of the state committee. During the years in which members of Congress are elected, the party business is partitioned between the two committees, the con- gressional committee having charge of the congres- sional campaign, while the state committee looks after the success of the other candidates. The county com- mittee serves as an organ of the state committee, while the congressional committee works through the local committeemen in the townships and school dis- tricts. These local committees are, therefore, under di- rection from two sources, the one having in view the one purpose of sending a representative of the party to Congress, the other seeking to secure the filling of all the other offices in the State with members of the party. The system extends the dual organiza- tion of the party, seen in its two coordinate national committees, through the congressional district to the township. In Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Indi- ana, there are found only two party committees of prime importance ; in Missouri, there are four ful- filling distinct and essential party functions, viz., the state and county committees laboring for the success of the general ticket, and the district and township committees supporting the congressional ticket. Much has been said as to the relation of government patronage to senatorial leadership in state politics. Missouri furnishes an example of such leadership long remaining in the same hands and receiving little aid from the spoils of Federal office. Soon after the State 184 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN MISSOURI became Democratic, Senators Cockrell and Vest came forward as permanent party leaders. Their position has been maintained as successfully and as effectively as in those States which have enjoyed Federal as- sistance. In Missouri all party platforms and some of the proceedings of state conventions are printed by the Secretary of State among public documents. An excellent summary of the position of the State in its rela- tion to the Civil War and reconstruction is found in an article by S. B. Harding entitled "Missouri Party Struggles in the Civil War," American Historical Association, 1900, Vol. I, pp. 85-103. For recent development under the leadership of Governors Folk and Hadley see the following: "Eeform in Missouri," by C. M. Harvey. World To-day, June, 1905. "Folk," by W. A. White. McClure's Magazine, December, 1905. "Direct Legislation in Missouri," by E. E. Bisbee. The Arena, February, 1909. "Governor Hadley of Missouri," by F. C. Lockwood. The Independent, April 8, 1909. The Outlook, March 28, 1908. "Reign of Boodle and Eape of the Ballot in St. Louis," by L. Meriwether. The Arena, January, 1905. 185 CHAPTER XV PARTY ORGANIZATION IN THE SOUTH Ten of the eleven States formerly composing the Southern Confederacy are in a condition which, from the standpoint of party organization, is abnormal. Tennessee, though a member of the Confederacy, was restored to its place in the Union without having been subjected to protracted military rule, and has, there- fore, passed through a different course of experience. In respect to party conditions, it may be classed with the border States, and in Tennessee, as in Kentucky or Maryland, the Republican party performs more nearly the normal functions of a minority party. The ten Confederate States present a great variety of political conditions, yet they are substantially alike in the prominence given to one controlling purpose. All are dominated by the Democratic party, which has become, both ostensibly and for the most part actually, the white man's party. In each State the feeble Re- publican opposition receives its chief numerical sup- port from the negroes. In States whose negro pop- ulation outnumbers the white, the more intelligent, powerful, and skilful race has found it possible, by one means or another, to overcome the majority, and maintain political control. The essential con- 186 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN THE SOUTH ditions of successful government by party are want- ing. There are no fairly balanced party forces, and this because there is no free voting constituency to which the two parties have access upon equal terms, and to which each may appeal by argument in fair debate for political support. Instead, are two sharply distinguished constituencies, one of which belongs, as it were of right, to the Democratic party, and the other to the Republican. The former party, having the com- mand of the sources of political power, is, in effect, the actual government of the States, and, under the guise of party, has supplanted both the former state govern- ments and true party government also. In neither party is found a true party life with a controlling, conscious, corporate responsibility ; and the anomalous situation persists in spite of honest endeavors upon both sides to correct obvious abuses and bring about more wholesome relations. The Southern people have, by nature and training, a peculiar fondness and facility for political contro- versy. In the more isolated life of that section, politics fills, and has always filled, a relatively larger place than in the North, where interests are more diversified. Nat- ural inclination would lead the South to take keen de- light in recurring political contests with foemen worthy of their steel, and the lack of those opportuni- ties for fair and manly combat, such as normal party relations afford, has diverted into less benificent chan- nels the exercise of tireless energies and noble gifts. Historical reasons are obvious for the unhappy con- ditions. Party government by force of arms is a contradic- 187 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY tion in terms. So long even as a considerable body of citizens seriously consider the possibility of an appeal to arms in the settlement of political disputes, there is no such thing as normal party government. Govern- ment by means of an army and government by organ- ized, responsible political parties can never coexist in the same state. In Spanish America, where armed forces frequently confront each other after an election, there is no true party government. Before the out- break of our own Civil War, national parties had been displaced by sectional factions, and in ten of the States, even the lapse of nearly half a century has not restored normal party relations. In those ten States, the first government set up after the war was military in char- acter, and parties were, of course, in abeyance. If no other question had been involved in the settlement of Southern affairs than the prolongation of military rule for a few years after the close of a war attended with exceptionally intense personal feeling, probably no lasting political animosities would have resulted. But unhappily, the name of a political party became asso- ciated, not only with protracted military control, but also with an attempt to create out of the newly eman- cipated negro race a partizan voting constituency. No effort is here made to state the actual intentions of the Eepublican leaders of the time. Party condi- tions in the South are to be accounted for by Southern, not by Northern, opinion. Southern leaders always saw in the coexistence of races their most trying prob- lem, and to solve this was the chief reason for forming the Confederacy. Their gloomiest predictions seemed justified when they saw themselves disfranchised, and 188 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN THE SOUTH their state governments given over to their enfran- chised slaves, who were, in some cases, led by Northern Republicans. To this connection of the party name with the at- tempt to govern the white race by means of the votes of the previously subject colored race is to be as- cribed the long continuance of the unnatural state of the party system in the South. Race descent is a matter of fact : a political party is an organ of opinion : party lines and race lines, there- fore, do not naturally coincide. It is not always easy to recognize the essential distinction between race and party. In the days of the Know-nothing movement, in the middle of the last century, an Irishman was presumably a Democrat, largely because the Demo- cratic party favored a more liberal policy in the treat- ment of immigrants than did the Whigs. This reason, reinforced by others, gave the Democrats practical control of the Irish vote ; but it was altogether a differ- ent thing from seeking to form a party upon the bare fact of race distinction. Party division was based upon a disputed policy, which, at the time, affected in a peculiar way one race or one class. The alliance of race with party was only temporary and incidental. Germans, Bohemians, or Italians living together in large numbers in an American State are apt to vote together with one or the other of the political parties ; but, under normal conditions, this massing of a race vote is determined in view of definite political ques- tions not usually permanent in character. The present relation of the Irish people to the Brit- ish government may be used to illustrate this distinc- 189 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY tion. The so-called Home Rule party in Ireland is not a political party in the sense in which the term is applied to Liberals and Tories, or Conservatives. For many centuries the English have treated the Irish as a subject people, but a few years ago the Irish were enfranchised. Of this change in relations the Home Rule party is one of the results. Though it is called a political party, the Irish leaders are themselves sub- ject to no delusions as to the facts. They have never intended that their organization should exercise the functions of a political party. It is a substitute for civil war. Its purpose and mission is to obstruct, to intimidate, to make party government for England difficult or impossible until the Irish shall have gained control of their own local affairs. Irish leaders frankly confess that, when the end has been secured, the Irish party will disappear and their people will then divide along true party lines as do the English and the Scotch. The intense political antagonisms existing between English and Irish are an artificial product, not due to elemental race differences— Teu- tons and Celts were not so very long ago severed from the common parent stock, and English and Scotch or English and Welsh are no longer affected by race antipathy. The centuries of special and exasperating treatment have set the Irish apart from their rulers, and it is history rather than blood that separates them. In the case of Ireland the so-called race conflict is of political origin. But there is, in the Southern States, a conflict of races based upon more permanent causes— -upon wide diversity in blood, in physical and mental characteristics, in history and traditions, 190 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN THE SOUTH and, as many Southerners firmly believe, in capacity for improvement. For many generations one race has been looked upon by the other as essentially inferior and, by the fiat of nature, forever subordinate. Violent attempts to overthrow time-honored rela- tions and to substitute suddenly a political equality revolting to the haughty slave-holding class could not but arouse resistance and bitterly intensify race feeling. Northern men who favored the ballot for emanci- pated negroes anticipated the restoration of natural party relations. They expected that after a time the parties would both appeal for the negro vote, and that a normal division of that vote between the parties would result. There was no deliberate intention to mass the colored voters against the white and subject the superior race to the political domination of the in- ferior. The movement which grew up among liberal Republicans and commanded sufficiently vsdde appro- val to lead, later on, to the nomination of Greeley and the acceptance of his candidacy by the Democrats on a platform of universal suffrage, coupled with universal amnesty, is evidence of this. The white voters of the South were, in fact, divided between the parties, and the negroes were also divided, to a limited extent, and there was much apparent progress toward the restora- tion of normal party lines. But adverse tendencies finally prevailed, and the Republican rule, which had begun by the use of force, ended in the use of force and other revolutionary agencies. At no time was that rule, in any proper sense, a party government, because there was always involved either the actual or the con- 191 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY templated employment of an army to uphold the Republican state governments. In some of the States of the former Confederacy the negro vote outnumbered that of the whites, and in all of them it was so large that, in any true party division, it would determine the election. A negro vote, then, massed in one party, meant continued party rule dependent upon race support, and the rise of the Democrats to power involved the suppression or elimi- nation of the negro vote in most of the States. The organizations set up on the ruins of Republican do- minion in the South resembled rather the Irish Home Rule league than a political party, though they bore the name of one of the great national organizations. There was still hope that the use of revolutionary methods in political affairs would be but temporary, and the country looked for the speedy return of hap- pier conditions. No two States passed by the same transition steps from Republican to Democratic rule. In South Caro- lina, men who had been Confederate leaders appealed, with a large measure of success, to the negro voter to assist in ridding the State of the abuses that had grown and flourished under Republican supremacy. Similar efforts were made in other States. The legiti- mate instrumentality of public discussion was brought into play for the purpose of restoring to power the good old Democratic party of former days, and the new colored electorate was instructed as to the superior claims of that venerable political organ. There was even a fair prospect that the party would succeed in winning and holding a reasonable share of the negro 192 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN THE SOUTH vote. The printed rules of the Democratic State Ex- ecutive Committee of South Carolina, adopted March 21, 1902, for the control of primary elections, furnish evidence that, ever since 1876, there have been Demo- cratic negroes receiving official recognition. The first rule defining qualifications for membership in a Demo- cratic club declares that the applicant shall be a white Democrat or a negro who had voted for General Hampton in 1876, and has voted the Democratic ticket continuously since. Rule II reads : ' ' Every negro ap- plying for membership in a Democratic club, or offer- ing to vote in a Democratic primary election, must produce a written statement of ten reputable white men who shall swear that they know of their own knowledge that the applicant, or voter, voted for Gen- eral Hampton in 1876 and has voted the Democratic ticket continuously since." This form of words ap- pears in many places in the printed rules, and stands as a landmark for the second important attempt to solve the race problem upon liberal principles. Unfortunately this effort failed, as did the first, and the Democrats relapsed into revolutionary methods for overcoming the hostile negro vote. The result has been that throughout the more than a quarter of a century of the continuous ascendancy of that party in the South, the tendency to associate the name with race prejudice and race distinctions has constantly in- creased. In most of the States the Democratic party is a white man's party, and a negro is presumed to be a Republican. As a matter of fact, it has never been true that the negroes are the only Republicans in these States. There has always been a considerable class of 13 193 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY white men who have adhered to the minority party, and at times they have taken the field in earnest struggle with the Democrats for the control of their States. Then hope has momentarily revived, only to be again cast down by the menace of the massed race- vote ever in the background, and, except for a few brief intervals, the white man's party has preserved undisputed control. The Democratic party in the ten Southern States has thus come to be an aggregation of white citizens organized to maintain continued ascendancy in state and local government. It lacks an essential charac- teristic of political parties in a free democracy, in that it does not rest its claim to such dominion upon the unrestrained choice of a free voting constituency. It is organized, not to debate, but to govern. As a political party, it makes and enforces party rules which have the force of law, and the power of the State is thus made to contribute to the strengthening of the party's hold upon the State. In the State of Mississippi, a law was passed in 1903, which provides for the nomination of all the important candidates for whom the people of the State are empowered to vote, and also of candidates for the Senate of the United States, at a party primary election. According to this statute, candidates whose names are printed on the official ballot, which the State provides, must be nominated at a party primary. In terms, the law is made applicable to all political parties alike; but only one party in the State has the machinery or can afford the expense of holding such an election. So it happens that the primary election, which, in legal 194 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN THE SOUTH form merely nominates Democratic candidates for of- fice, is, from the standpoint of the voter, the real elec- tion whereby local, state, and congressional officers are placed in positions of responsibility and power. It is, in fact, the one election of importance in the State, and the law leaves entirely to the decision of party officers the question who shall be considered qualified to cast a vote. In Massachusetts the law compels party officers to admit to party privileges rejected persons ; in other States, all questions of membership are left to party authorities. It is the policy of Mississippi and other States of the same class to encourage all white voters to participate in the party primary, while excluding, for the most part, all those of color, thus making the voting privilege wholly a party matter. Party officials have entire charge of registration, the preparation of ballots, and the re- ceiving and counting of votes. In Mississippi, the party action which results in the election of the chief officers of government is pre- scribed by a state law. In other States, the same object is attained by the application of party rules, the prac- tical outcome as to negro suffrage being the same. Party rules provide for the nomination of candidates at a primary election with as much detail as in the Mississippi statute ; and this legislation by party con- vention or committee proves as effective in the govern- ment of the State as the acts of the legislature. The party organ itself assumes and exercises the preroga- tives of a state government. A Democratic convention held in Columbia, South Carolina, in May, 1902, adopted a party constitution 195 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY consisting of fifteen articles. That constitution re- quires the organization of one or more Democratic clubs in each township and ward of the State for the holding, at specified dates, of club meetings to elect delegates to county conventions. It designates the time of holding county and state conventions, and provides for electing county and state executive com- mittees. For the nomination of candidates for office, this party constitution makes provisions almost iden- tical with those of the Mississippi primary election laws. Party conventions are not called to make nom- inations, but to elect party officers and adopt rules for party government. The convention is a quasi- legislative assembly. The committees for which the constitution provides adopt the minor rules ; and alto- gether, a complete system of county, state, and con- gressional elections is set forth under the name and style of party nomination. The state constitution and the state laws are made to harmonize with this party scheme of government. Other methods are in use for maintaining the as- cendancy of the one party in the other States once included in the Confederacy; but in all of them the party in power exercises the prerogatives of a state government and practically displaces the State. Mississippi and other Southern States which have adopted the primary election system of filling state offices have solved the problem of the popular election of United States senators. The candidates for the Senate are voted for along with those for other offices, and it becomes the duty of the members of the state legislature to cast their votes according to the mandate 196 PARTY ORGANIZATION IN THE SOUTH of the primary. In South Carolina, the candidates for the legislature are placed under oath to abide by the results of the primary, and the senatorial candidate who secures a majority at the primary election is apparently as sure of his position as is the candidate for the Presidency for whom a majority of the electors chosen at the November election are already pledged to vote. An organization under the Republican name has, nevertheless, been kept continuously alive in all these States, and in almost every one of them some localities have remained Republican. Indeed, a large aggregate number of white persons within the Confederate boun- daries have remained loyal to the national Republican party, and a much larger number who vote with the Democrats would like to see normal party conditions restored. The Republican party suffers much from its close association with the spoils of Federal office. It has been made to appear in the South as a party of office-holders without a voting constituency. On the other hand, the Democratic party is under serious disadvantages because it is not confronted by a strong competing organization. A narrow body of office- holders and candidates control the organization, and become selfishly interested in perpetuating the abnor- mal condition in state and local government. Thus Democrats are controlled by one limited office-holding class and Republicans by another, with even a sug- gestion of conspiracy between the office-holding groups in the two parties. Present conditions are satisfactory to neither party and to neither race. 197 CHAPTER XVI LEGALIZED PARTY ORGANIZATION — CALIFORNIA California has long been classed with Pennsylvania as a State ruled by the Republican machine. In both States the machine developed according to the highly efficient one-man type, the type originated by cor- poration business experience. In both the unit of local government is the county, and county party committees are prominent. But the California ma- chine was never a mere copy of that in the older State. In Pennsylvania the Republican party, organized and managed like a business corporation, has made all other corporations and the general public subject to its dictations. In California the political machine was originally created as auxiliary to the one control- ling corporation, the Central, later the Southern Pacific Railroad. The railroad here has dominated political parties, other corporations and the general public. The machines of both parties in San Fran- cisco and the State have been ruled from the political office of the Southern Pacific and have been so oper- ated as first of all to guard its interests. Causes for this situation lie in the peculiar development of the State due to its early isolation from the rest of the nation, an isolation which the proposed transconti- 198 LEGALIZED PARTY ORGANIZATION nental railroad promised to remove. The railroad and the State grew together, dependent each upon the other, until the corporation threatened to absorb the entire life of the community which had shared in its progress. From California's admission to the Union in 1850, the State had dreamed of a transcontinental railroad. In 1861, when the nation was involved in civil war, the Central Pacific Railroad Company was incorporated with Leland Stanford as president and C. P. Huntington as vice-president. How the road was subsidized by the national government is a story which need not be repeated here. From the first the men who devoted themselves to the new project were also the leaders of the growing Republican party. Leland Stanford was elected governor of California at the very time when he was forming the Central Pacific Railroad Company. Inevitably the much needed road and the Republican party grew together. The Central Pacific, which finally became the South- ern Pacific, soon monopolized all transportation in the State by water as well as by rail, and also controlled agriculture through its vast holdings of wheat land along its right of way. Conflicts with the smaller landholders followed, and the people realized too late that they were completely at the mercy of the cor- poration. The constitution of 1879 records the effort of the Californians to regain power over their government by including reform legislation in their organic law. The railroad, however, controlled the legislature fol- lowing, and the supreme court of the State declared many legislative acts based on the constitution to be 199 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY invalid, so that little real relief was obtained. In al- most every contest the railroad came off victorious and the citizen was put down by its accumulated power. The Republican party came more and more to repre- sent the will of the corporation— less and less that of the voter. Corporation control of politics was per- fected here. The railroad has been looked upon as the party in power, as the actual political machine. It is the common belief that the railroad has domi- nated fully two thirds of the newspapers of the State ; that it has caused bankers everywhere to feel the danger of opposing the railroad program ; that it has nominated, elected and controlled city and county officers and State legislatures; that it has named the members of the railroad commission and dictated their action, and that it has made the bench and the bar of the State tributary to its interests. Whether all these charges are literally true or not, they certainly embody what was for many years the conviction of a large proportion of the inhabitants of the State. True it is that until recently the ordinary party member has felt himself powerless and has allowed the party to be di- rected from the Southern Pacific political office. No State in the Union has had a more perfect party organization radiating from one central office and ramifying in both parties to the smallest local areas. Gradually, as the hidden links in the chain have been revealed, the citizens have seen their actual relation to state and national business and to politics. Warned by the mistakes of California, the neigh- boring State of Oregon has pursued a different course. From the first entrance of railroads into the State, in 200 LEGALIZED PARTY ORGANIZATION 1871, the Columbia River and its tributaries have offered the competition of water transportation. Traf- fic by rail has also been in the hands of rival corpora- tions. Thus the Southern Pacific Railroad, while dominant in the State, has not been unrestrained by competing companies. The first transcontinental line was opened in Oregon in 1883, four years after the citizens of California had endeavored to curb the growing arrogance of the Southern Pacific. Oregon was thus prepared to profit by the railroad without allowing it completely to dominate state politics. In deference to the popular attitude, the policy of the railroad corporation in the State has been to avoid close associations with politics and to accede to reason- able demands on the part of the public. Political energy freed from stifling railroad influence has been turned in other directions, and politicians have been enabled to devote themselves to developing new and more democratic organs of government. Even as the experience of California thirty years ago reacted upon Oregon, so now the success that Oregon has attained in popularizing governmental forms has influenced California. The rule of the ma- chine has been maintained up to the last four or five years ; but recently the sporadic attempts at revolt and reform have been gathering strength and definiteness. The political experience of the entire country has ministered to the movement. A strong Lincoln-Roosevelt Republican League elected a majority to two successive legislatures, put a reform governor in office and enacted much important legislation. In the beginning the league organized 201 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY locally like any new political party, and finally suc- ceeded in capturing for reform the regular Repub- lican machine. The truly remarkable legislative record made in 1911 may be taken as an augury of returning popular power in California. The old ma- chine system, with its half-avowed railroad dictation and its secret control over men and measures, has now been broken. The league and other reformers have done the work. Even though the old corrupt influ- ences should persist, their manifestations must be different, for the convention system is being sup- planted by newer forms of party government. The political party has come under state control, and the forms of its organization are dictated by the state legislature. By the Primary Election Law of 1911 "any or- ganization of electors which at the last preceding gen- eral election polled at least three per cent, of the entire vote of the State — or of the election district" is called a political party. At present three parties are qualified in the State, namely. Republican, Demo- cratic and Socialist. The Prohibition party is also qualified in a number of districts. Party delegate conventions may be held, but the law prescribes how delegates shall be chosen and even fixes the date of, and prescribes some of the duties for, the state con- vention. Judicial and school officers are non-partizan, but all other candidates for state offices and the can- didates for state senate and assembly nominated by the party at the primary election, and hold-over state senators of the party, are required to meet at the capi- tol on the fourth Tuesday in September, There they 202 LEGALIZED PARTY ORGANIZATION shall formulate their state platform and announce it by the evening of Thursday, elect a state central committee and also (in presidential years) nominate presidential electors whose names must be placed on the ballots for the November election by the secretary of state. All the state party conventions are thus conducted at the same time and in the same building, and the state party platforms are drawn up by the men who, if elected, will be responsible for carrying out their provisions. The state central committee of each party is selected by this state convention and must "consist of not less than three members from each congressional district, who shall hold office until a new state central com- mittee shall have been selected. Each such committee may select an executive committee and shall choose its officers by ballot, and each committee and its officers shall have the powers usually exercised by such com- mittees and the officers thereof in so far as may be consistent with this act. ' ' County conventions, "to be held within two weeks after the primary election," are arranged for by the county central committee, who must notify the county clerk of the date, place and purpose of such conven- tion. The outgoing county committee apportions the delegates to the convention in such a manner that no voter shall vote for more than ten delegates. On the primary ballot the voter may paste or write the names of delegates to the county convention. The chief duty of this convention is to select a county central committee to control and manage the party campaign under the general direction of the state central com- mittee or of its executive committee. City and county 203 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY or municipal conventions are provided for in the same way as county conventions. Thuf the formal party organization in the State is provided for. Primary elections for the parties polling three per cent, of the total vote at the last general election are held at public expense in the same manner as general elections. In order to get his name on the primary ballot an aspirant for a partizan office must secure nomination papers signed by voters of his own party endorsing his candidacy. These papers must be se- cured by a notary public or by verification officers who certify the signature on each paper. The number of papers filed must be not less than one per cent, nor more than two per cent, of the party vote in the dis- trict at the last election. For non-partizan, i.e. judi- cial and school, offices no mention is made of party in the nomination papers, and from one half of one per cent, to two per cent, of the total vote cast by all par- ties at the last preceding election is required. A filing fee must be paid by the candidate when his nomination papers are filed. Ballots for each party are printed by the State, and each voter receives only the ballot of the party in which he is registered. The ballots of the different parties are printed on distinctly different colored paper, and the colors of the official ballots are not the same as those of the sample primary ballots that have been previously mailed to the voters. At the September primary the voter can express his choice of party candidates for United States senator and can practically enforce it by electing members of the state senate and assembly who have signed ''Statement Number 1," an agreement to abide by the choice of 204 LEGALIZED PARTY ORGANIZATION the people of the State in the election of senators. The state-wide advisory vote on United States senators at the general election amounts to a practical popular election. Delegates to county and other conventions receive their certificates of election from the public officers whose duty it is to canvass the returns of the primary. On the second Tuesday in May of presidential years a presidential primary is held in which the voters of each party separately express their prefer- ence for presidential nominee of their party and also elect delegates to their national nominating conven- tion. Groups of delegates endorsed by the candidates, individual delegates unendorsed or "no preference" delegates may be voted for. The delegates thus se- lected receive from the secretary of state certificates of their election. Before leaving the State to attend their national convention the delegates are required to meet and select their alternates — no more than one for each delegate, and in each case of the same congressional district. Campaign committees of presidential candi- dates may send brief biographies of their several can- didates to the secretary of state together with $200 to help defray the cost of publication. These sketches are assembled by parties, and are printed and sent out with the sample ballots mailed to the voters of each party. Other primaries are to be held on the Tuesday three weeks before the general election for which they are held. State law is expected to provide for all impor- tant party activities and to regulate party efforts. Not content with making party organization matter of public control, the legislature of 1911 also sub- 205 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY mitted amendments to the constitution providing for the initiative, the referendum and the recall and for woman 's suffrage. All of these innovations have been ratified by the voters, who have thus shown their will- ingness to undertake the actual government of their State and to relieve the Southern Pacific of those pub- lic responsibilities which it has heretofore carried. References : "Story of the California Legislature of 1909" and "of 1911," by Franklin Hichborn. The James H. Barry Co., San Francisco. "Primary Election Laws of California," February, 1912. "Greater Democracy of California." The Independent, Oc- tober 19, 1911. "A Governor Who has Made Good," by W. E. Smythe. Hampton's Magazine, July, 1911. "California Railroad Machine as it Works Now," by C. E. Russell, Hampton's Magazine, September, 1910; and "Scien- tific Corruption of Politics, ' ' June, 1910. "Johnson of California," by W. Kent. The Outlook, Feb- ruary 10, 1912. See Appendix for selections from The California Direct Pri- mary Law. ' * What the Direct Primary Did for California. ' ' McClure 's Magazine, February, 1912. "California Revolution." World's WorJc, December, 1911. ' ' Initiative, Referendum and Recall in California, " by S. G. Lowrie. American Political Science Review, May, 1911, August, 1911. "Significance of the Lincoln-Roosevelt Movement," by J. D. Works. The Arena, November, 1908. "Rudolph Spreckles, " by Lincoln Steffens. The American Magazine, June, 1908, and the rest of this series of articles. 206 CHAPTER XVII PARTY REORGANIZATION When this book was written, in 1904, the convention system of nomination still prevailed in nearly all of the States. Mississippi, ^ indeed, had even then sub- stituted the primary election for the party convention, and Massachusetts was in the act of making the same change, while Wisconsin and Oregon were just adopt- ing the new plan. These States were the first to enact state laws entirely replacing nominating conventions with 'a mandatory primary. Now, in 1912, a majority of the States have adopted such laws, and in many of the others measures are pending to the same end. Nomination by the delegate convention has become discredited. Party members prefer to vote directly for their candidates. Several States have made pro- vision for a poll of the party when presidential can- didates are to be selected, and a bill is pending in Congress to make the method general. By such a plan the national convention would be stripped of its nomi- nating function. Conditions which have led to this sweeping political revolution are described in the chapter on Pennsyl- 1 See p. 194. 207 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY vania, written eight years ago, and a new chapter on California gives in some detail an account of the sup- planting of the old methods by the new. Should it be said that Pennsylvania and California are exceptional States, I reply that they are exceptional only in that they present the working out to their legitimate re- sults of forces and tendencies manifest in every Amer- ican State. The omnipotent and omnipresent party boss was, after the Civil War, everywhere gaining con- trol of those agencies— the party caucus, the delegate convention and the party committee— which had be- fore the war served as a uniting force in the nation and an effective means for expressing the popular choice of candidates for office. The party organs, which had in their origin enlarged the field of popular control, had in their later development been so wrested from their first purpose as to tend directly to the shutting out of the people from their rightful share in their own government. Many things contributed to this change, three im- portant facts being especially significant. First should be noted that for a quarter of a century, beginning with 1850, public attention was monopolized, as it were, by the slavery dispute, the Civil War and the reconstruction of the seceded States. Secondly, dur- ing this same period a great and far-reaching change in business methods led to the passing of a large pro- portion of the wealth of the country into the hands of newly created business corporations ; and, thirdly, the same quarter century witnessed the enormous expan- sion in extent and influence of the press as repre- sented by the daily and weekly newspaper, by means 208 PARTY REORGANIZATION of which the people of the entire Union may be said to have been brought into a state of free and open town meeting. Still further, the people had become united through new means of communication. The caucus, the con- vention, the party committee, no longer needed to bring them together, were seized upon by the aspiring political bosses, avid of power and financed by the swelling corporations' boundless resources, and made to weld the chains of popular impotence. Pennsyl- vania and California show how this was done. Early in the seventies men began to awake to the conscious- ness that they were being robbed by the railway, the mining and other companies which exploited the necessities of life. Happily, perhaps, not all the States suffered as sorely as did Pennsylvania and California, else there would have been a sudden revolution in the party system of the country. In large sections of the nation there was yet reason for trust in the time-hon- ored party agencies. Thie parties were not obviously corrupt. Delegate conventions either represented or appeared to represent the real choice and will of the party members. By means of them reform policies were formulated and carried into effect. The con- vention system long continued to receive the moral support of the citizens. Its advantages were many and the discovery of a satisfactory substitute has been difficult. Advocacy of the primary election as a possible sub- stitute for the delegate convention arose soon after the war, and first in those States where boss rule was most oppressive. As early as 1866 California passed 14 209 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY a law to regulate voting at party primaries. In Craw- ford County, Pennsylvania, candidates were nominated by primary election in 1868 by voluntary party action without legal recognition. And in other parts of the country, where the people felt with uneasiness tliat power was passing from their hands through secret manipulations on the part of those in control of the party forces, there was voluntary, sporadic and mainly ineffectual effort to retain their hold on the party organization by some modification of forms or methods in county, city or ward. The early primaries were local, voluntary and without legal regulation, and were not intended to supplant the use of the convention in the larger dis- tricts or in State or nation. The manner of transition from the optional primary election to that which is legal and mandatory is well shown in Massachusetts. The act of 1903 was mandatory in its application to Boston and Suffolk County, while optional in other parts of the State. In Minnesota the law of 1901 pro- vided for a compulsory primary election for nominat- ing candidates for local offices, but retained the con- vention for nominating state officers. Mississippi in 1901, and Wisconsin and Oregon in 1904, completely discarded the convention and substituted the primary election under state authority. A majority of the States have, since 1904, followed this lead. Some of the more important changes introduced by the new system may be indicated. One of the most striking is the placing of the political party definitely and clearly under the supervision and control of the State. In the beginning parties were purely volun- 210 PARTY REORGANIZATION tary organizations that made their own rules and chose their own officers and were unknown to state law. Next, the State was asked to assist in the enforce- ment of party rules. Indeed, so far as the public at large was concerned, there was no deliberate intention to transfer party control to the State. Such a transfer has come about by a gradual evolutionary process in the search for better and purer political methods. The irresponsible party has become a servant of the gov- ernment. Party rules are enacted as state laws ; party committees are chosen at elections or conventions held under state authority ; the duties of party officers are prescribed by law, and in a sense they become state or municipal officers. The State has entered the field of party finance, forbidding certain persons or corpora- tions to make contributions to party funds ; forbidding the solicitation of funds from certain classes of citi- zens; limiting the amount of contributions and com- pelling the publication of the receipts and expenditures of party committees and candidates. In this latter direction Colorado has made the greatest advance. There, by an act of 1909, the chairman of the state central committee of each party receives from the state treasury twenty-five cents for each vote cast by the party at the last preceding election for governor, and is required to distribute pro rata to the county chairmen one half of the amount received. Candi- dates are permitted to add to the state fund a specified proportion of the salary of the office sought. All other persons are forbidden to contribute to partj'^ funds. The State thus takes over the burden of party sup- port, and the committeeman becomes a custodian of 211 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY public money and accountable to the State for its dis- tribution. Another unintended effect of the new plan is an in- crease of the difficulties of the independent voter and of the members of minor parties ; the introduction of citizens' tickets also is greatly impeded. The very essence of the purpose of the reformers has been to secure greater freedom to the voters in their choice of candidates ; and beyond doubt this has been the result in the boss-ridden States, but many incidental ob- stacles have arisen. A few of the States have provided for what is known as the open primary, which is an election held by the State for the nomination of public officers. To it all voters have free access, no account being taken of party membership or preference. The State prints an official ballot, and the managers of the various politi- cal parties arrange that the names of their preferred candidates shall be placed thereon. At the election a voter is at liberty to vote any ticket he chooses. The State will not prevent a Democrat from voting for Republican candidates, nor compel him to vote the straight Democratic ticket. The closed primary is, however, the system chosen by a majority of the States. This involves legal recog- nition of party membership. The State itself assumes the burden of classifying voters. A voter is registered as a member of a party and he has no right to vote for a candidate not of his own party. If he changes his party affiliation some States require him to give notice of the fact previous to the election ; or, if challenged, he may be obliged to declare under oath that he is a 212 PARTY REORGANIZATION member of the party; that he did vote with that party at the last election; or that he intends to vote for a majority of the party candidates at the ensuing election. In any case, the voter at a closed primary is supplied with but one ballot. There seems to be no place for a man without a party. The States have generally been liberal in the print- ing of ballots for the minor parties. Those casting a vote ranging, in the different States, from two to ten per cent, of the entire vote at a given election secure ofiScial recognition, although the new method tends to fix attention on the two leading parties and to increase resistance to extemporized independent parties. Un- der any system of state primaries difficulties are placed in the way of independent voting, and espe- cially in the way of citizens' movements and local fusion tickets. The primary election removes from the party con- vention the function of nomination; but in all of the States meetings of party representatives are held to discuss politics, to formulate platforms, to choose party committees and, in most eases, to serve as con- necting links with the national conventions. Many of the new laws make definite provision for a state con- vention or "council" or "party assembly." This is usually held after the primary, and the nominees of the primary constitute the convention or are ex officio members of it. The new laws show great variety as to the extent of state interference in the choosing of party committees. In some cases a minute system is prescribed reaching from the voting precinct to the state central committee. Colorado, for example, pro- 213 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY vides for a county committee composed of a man and a woman from each precinct, and representation of women is also required on the state committee. The political trend is in the direction of state control. Too little time has as yet elapsed to show clearly the probable effect of the new political order upon respon- sible party government. At present it would seem that the making of the party machinery into an active portion of the state government, financed and con- trolled by the State, must make party rule more per- manent. Still, this is far from certain. The taking over of the party has thus far been incident to a con- test of the people with special privilege, in which other agencies have also been employed. Most con- spicuous of these latter are the referendum, the popu- lar initiative and the commission form of government. In themselves considered, these other agencies would seem to lessen the demand for responsible government by party. As the struggle grows less strenuous the amount of machinery will be found to be in excess of the requirement. The commission form of city gov- ernment involves a reduction in the amount of govern- mental machinery. The newly awakened demand for the short ballot looks in the same direction. Fewer officers with more definite and direct responsibility is what the people wish. Eight years ago there was already a marked disposition to rely upon the execu- tive for leadership in respect to both legislative and administrative policies, and it is found that to an increasing extent state and city reforms are secured through executive leadership. More fully as time passes does the executive become the people's spokes- 214 PARTY REORGANIZATION man for needed legislation. Other indications are manifest of the popular desire for greater simplicity and more thorough efficiency in government ; but the final effect upon the party system does not yet ap- pear. Thus far the entrance of the State into control of the parties has made the machinery more complex. The wise man will refrain from prophecy and will wait for the future to declare itself. Eeferences : "American Political Science Eeview, " February, 1912, pp. 54-74. * * Primary Elections, " by C. E. Merriam. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1908. * ' Nominating Systems : Direct Primaries versus Conven- tions, " by E. C. Meyer, Madison, Wis., 1902. "National Conference on Practical Eeform of Primary Elec- tions." January, 1898. Wm. C. Hollister & Bros., PubUshers, Chicago. "Short Ballot Principles," by R. S. Childs, 1911. Literature of The Short Ballot Organization, 383 Fourth Ave- nue, New York City. 215 CHAPTER XVIII EFFECT OF THE CITY UPON THE PARTY SYSTEM A PAMPHLET of twenty-eight pages issued by Tam- many Hall in 1904 contains the "Rules and Regula- tions of the Democratic-Republican Organization of the County of New York." The name of the organi- zation carries us back to the days of Jefferson, when the title, Democratic, was tempered by the milder term. Republican. The central organ of the Tammany party consists of "A County General Committee to be known as the Democratic-Republican General Com- mittee of the County of New York. ' ' This committee is made up of delegates from the thirty-five assembly districts, one delegate being chosen for every twenty- five Democratic voters. It numbers between seven and eight thousand members. To this large body is intrusted the management of the affairs of the party. It holds regular monthly meetings, and a majority constitutes a quorum. An executive committee is composed of one member from each of the thirty-five assembly districts together with certain ex officio members. According to the rules, this committee is restricted by and subordinate to the general committee. "The action of the committee shall in no case be final, but it shall report its conclusions and recommenda- 216 EFFECT OF THE CITY UPON PARTY SYSTEM tions to the county committee from time to time." Besides the executive committee there are standing committees on law, printing, election of officers, public meetings and rules, six in all. The especially striking thing about this organization is the centralization of power in the hands of one com- mittee of nearly eight thousand members, each com- mitteeman representing twenty-five members of the party. So large a committee charged with the direct control of matters of such magnitude and variety of detail, furnishes a field for the operations of the per- sonal manager to give the necessary unity and effi- ciency. Tammany Hall has no hierarchy of commit- tees corresponding to local political institutions. So far as the organization is concerned the assembly dis- trict is a mere geographical area for registering and counting voters. Tammany is an organization of men, and the one governmental act which directly affects membership is the act of voting. The convention is remanded to an inferior position. It is not from the convention that the rules profess to emanate ; they are enacted by the committee and the committee prescribes rules for the conduct of the convention. The commit- tee is itself a sort of monthly delegate convention. A corresponding organization governs the city of Philadelphia under the title of ''The Republican Party in the City and County of Philadelphia." In form it is much more complex than that of Tammany Hall. The rules for its government emanate not from a com- mittee but from a city convention. Three grades ap- pear in the hierarchy of party officers. 1. The precinct, or division, officers consist of president, 217 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY secretary, and treasurer, elected at the party caucus, or primary, on the first Tuesday of April in each year, and two registering officials. Together they form a Board of Registration officers, and their prescribed duties pertain chiefly to registration of voters and matters connected with the primary elections. 2. The ward executive committee is composed of two repre- sentatives from each precinct, or division, chosen at the regular primary election held the third Tuesday in February in each year. 3. The ward committee, upon its organization on the Friday following its election, is required to elect a member of the Republi- can campaign committee. On the following Monday this committee meets and chooses its permanent offi- cers. Philadelphia is divided into forty-two wards and nearly eleven hundred districts. The smallest ward committee numbers eighteen, the largest, ninety-four. The city central committee, called the campaign com- mittee, has eighty-four members, and the entire num- ber of officers in all the committees is considerably smaller than that in the general committee of the Tammany organization. Party harmony is provided for in the Philadelphia rules by conferring upon the city campaign com- mittee complete authority for the settlement of party disputes in the wards, and upon the ward committees corresponding authority over the precincts. Opposi- tion by any precinct officer to any candidate of the party serves, according to Rule II., forthwith to vacate his office. By Rule VI., section 7, all candidates for nomination are required, twenty-four hours before the 218 EFFECT OF THE CITY UPON PARTY SYSTEM primary, to register a pledge with a party official to support the party nominees. The subject of this chapter does not include a de- scription of the special party methods peculiar to large cities. It is not a study in party pathology, but deals rather with normal party conduct. It has to do, there- fore, with city politics only so far as it affects or illus- trates the general party system. Our city population has increased far more rapidly than that of the rural portions of the country ; but it still remains true that the great majority of the people of the United States live on the farms and in the small towns and cities. It is the dwellers in the country, the villages, and boroughs, and small cities, who have hitherto shaped our political institutions. In most States, as has been shown, party organs have been run in the mold of the county, and the typical American county is chiefly rural. Its subdivisions are townships, and precincts, and school districts. If there is an urban population divided into Avards, the ward takes the place of the township in party machinery. If it happens that in a single county the representatives from the wards overshadow the rural delegates in county convention, the case is exceptional, and the state organization remains based upon the type of county which is not exceptional but common. When, however, the city population becomes so large as to outnumber in any State a large proportion of the counties, then, indeed, something distinct and definite in party machinery is presented which is of sufficient importance to affect decidedly the general system. Even the existence of small cities and boroughs has 219 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY necessitated modifications in the machinery of the parties. In a strictly rural township where all the people live apart upon farms, required registration of voters has the appearance of an absurdity. Each voter is known to every other, and the right to vote may be as surely determined at the time of the election as at any other time. But in a borough or small city electors will present themselves who are strangers to election officers and bystanders, and it is apparent that govern- mental and party machinery must be provided for determining the qualifications of electors and guard- ing the purity of elections. In any case the city, large or small, enormously increases the variety and amount of governmental business, and demands a correspond- ing multiplication of the political and party agencies. It should be remembered that the population of the ordinary county is neither chiefly urban nor wholly rural. City and country life go on side by side. The increased development of party machinery in what has been called the highly organized county is due to the combination of city and country agencies in the same organization. The urban population has fur- nished the organizing experience, while that of the more widely separated townships has placed an ef- fective check upon tendencies to centralization in the party which have appeared in the cities. The union of party agencies centering in the bor- oughs and small cities with those of the rural districts is, to a great extent, responsible for the sense of cor- porate unity prevailing in the county. This corporate consciousness reaches its highest development in the 220 EFFECT OF THE CITY UPON PARTY SYSTEM city of considerable size when it is also composed of a homogeneous population. Such a city emphasizes and strengthens the wholesome principles most effec- tive in county organization, — principles of association and mutual consideration for the sake of interests gen- eral rather than personal. Its inhabitants necessarily come to realize their common dependence upon a pub- lic supply of water, light, and facilities for transpor- tation; personal acquaintance is widely extended; practically the entire city feels a sort of acquaintance, at least with the mayor and the other officers of the city government; public opinion is active, and all public officials are constantly influenced by a regard for the personal judgments of their fellow-citizens. While the population remains homogeneous there are scarcely any assignable limits to which a city may not grow without giving rise to extraordinary problems. But the same industrial changes which have pro- moted the enormous increase of the city population have also tended to the formation of classes with con- flicting interests. This has affected political agencies of every sort, but its effects have been especially ap- parent in the large cities. Not only has conflict of in- terest divided the people, but the criminal classes have greatly increased in number; the dependent poor are more numerous; foreigners ignorant of American in- stitutions multiply ; all conditions contribute to make the daily business of governing most complicated and difficult. In such a city the great body of the people are personally unacquainted. Lack of acquaintance between the classes, with consequent lack of under- standing and sympathy, continually widens their 221 PARIY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY separation and renders the divergence of interests ever greater; they come to live in different worlds; their ideals of life and government differ as do their per- sonal needs; regard for public opinion ceases to act with its normal force upon the servants of the public as a motive to uprightness in official conduct; public opinion itself loses coherence and speaks with uncer- tain utterance, so that the very foundation of free government is threatened. While the institutions of the small city in combination with those of the coun- try foster the sense of corporate oneness in a way to invigorate the potency of public sentiment, the over- grown city severed from the country tends to forestall the development of an intelligent corporate experience with its concomitant, a lively and aggressive public opinion. In the title assumed by the ruling party of the city of New York the word county appears. New York city and county are merged into one, and in its relation to state government the city takes the place of the county. A county which is all city and which has a population equal to that of all the rest of the State, must inevitably affect profoundly the politics of the whole State. The one state legislative assembly makes laws for all of the counties. But the needs of the great city of New York, with its congested and hetero- geneous population, are altogether outside the experi- ence of the other counties. The country member of the legislature has neither the interest nor the know- ledge which would render him a wise lawgiver for the city. On the other hand, the member from the great city lacks, in a measure, the acquaintance with rural 222 EFFECT OF THE CITY UPON PARTY SYSTEM conditions and needs which would qualify him to leg- islate acceptably for the country. Thus an extreme case is made out for the partition of governmental powers, and impetus is given to a movement demand- ing home rule for cities. Because of their peculiar necessities cities have been endowed with many of the powers of an independent government with separate legislative, executive, and, to a limited extent, judicial departments; but they cannot, under our system, be wholly severed from the State. The city receives it constitution from the state legislature or from clauses in the state constitution. Within certain limits the legislature must make laws for the control of the cities, and the city has full rep- resentation in the legislature, where country and city members meet. In such a State as Iowa, which has many cities but no large city, conditions are favorable for securing the full advantage from the experience of both city and country. The harmonious assembly is well fitted to legislate for all parts of the State alike. Each city makes its distinct contribution to the one city problem of the State, while the rural legislators are sufficiently familiar with the requirements of the small cities to act intelligently in matters especially concerning them. A sense of corporate unity between city and country penetrates to every part of the State and permeates the whole party organization. Very different are the conditions in States like New York and Illinois. Their assemblies are not harmoni- ous, and can never be made so. Legislators from the metropolis are in a class apart. Their constituents 223 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY have, in a few matters, interests in common with those of the rest of the State ; but their concern is mainly for the interests of an independent municipality. Whether the great city is governed by laws made by the state legislature or by a legislative body of its own, it is separate and apart from the State in general. Its governmental business differs in kind and quality to such an extent that the two cannot be managed by the same agencies. The politics of the metropolis is not easily harmonized with the politics of the State and the Nation. It has been thus far the peculiar mission of the dual party system to harmonize discordant political ele- ments in the body politic. In England the rival forces in government — the crown, the lords, the commons, and the democracy, have been brought into harmoni- ous working relations by means of the party system of government. In America a vast and varied array of local institutions threatened to divide the people and preclude the formation of a united nation. It can hardly be alleged that here to the same extent as in England, the party system has been the one essential agent for overcoming the effect of the divisive forces ; but it has undoubtedly been among the most effective and the most obvious of the influences which have worked to that end. The use of the national party organs for the election of the President has clearly served to draw together the people of the whole coun- try and promote harmony of feeling and action, and like results have attended the application of party machinery to the governmental business of the States and the local political divisions. But serious failure 224 EFFECT OF THE CITY UPON PARTY SYSTEM in the working of the party system has been encoun- tered in the attempt to extend the use of party methods to the government of the great cities,— failure so serious as critically to menace the very existence of the system. The great metropolis is the product of industrial, not of political, causes. The peculiar agglomerations of discordant and discontented classes, and the unhar- monious relations between the governments of city and State, are independent facts. It is trifling with a serious subject or it is an exhibition of culpable stu- pidity to lay these conditions to the charge of the party system or to any system of government. Opinions, indeed, may well differ as to whether the political party has helped more than it has hindered in the effort to grapple with the portentous problems of the city. Exactly what instrumentalities would have been employed had party organs been wanting it is not easy to see, nor is it necessary to speculate upon the matter here. By means of the established party system, modi- fied, improved, adapted to the new and perplexing circumstances, to carry on clean, orderly, efficient, and progressive city government, or by opposing to end that system and substitute a better — that is the un- solved problem of the great city. The organs of the party which succeeds in con- trolling the city government tend to become so strong and so thoroughly intrenched in power as to over- throw the balance of the two parties and thus destroy the system. Many specific features of city life con- tribute to this tendency. The beneficent faculty which the party has been seen to exercise elsewhere for 16 225 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY uniting those whom their political institutions would otherwise separate, is operative here also; but its ap- peal is not to political sentiment, to corporate feeling, or to the institutional sense. It is rather, for what is known as the masses in the city, to personal, individual feeling or to race or class proclivities or prejudices. The great city has no institutions which keep men apart. The ward has been substituted for the town- ship; but the familiar acquaintance of the township, its corporate life and spirit have been left behind. A ward is simply a district in the city bounded by certain streets; it stands for no separate and individual pow- ers of government, as does the township ; there is never any such thing as ward spirit, save as a result of personal party organization. The population of a ward is merely an aggregation of individual men, un- acquainted and unrelated, or grouped into classes by race, or industrial, or social interests. While the city is on a par with the State in the quan- tity and variety of governmental service required, it is without the local institutions which train men in gov- ernmental relations. It displaces the local govern- ments of township and county but supplies no corre- sponding agencies for elementary instruction in good citizenship. The great mass of the voters in the large city are devoid of all training fitted to give them the institutional conception of government; — the idea of government as made up of a system of distinct but re- lated municipal institutions, such as are seen in the ordinary county ; of government as a thing above and apart from an organization composed of individual men. To them the organization which attends to the 226 EFFECT OF THE CITY UPON PARTY SYSTEM enrolment of voters, makes nominations, and carries elections, is the government; apart from their party they know no government. The inexperienced and un- taught city voter looks upon a rival party as only an opposing competitor for power; he fails to grasp the idea of two coordinate, independent, rival organiza- tions which yet act jointly as agents of the entire people in the interest of good government. Men everywhere, whether in city or in country, gain their fundamental ideas of government from the or- ganizations that are nearest to them ;— that touch them at the greatest number of points ; that affect them most obviously and personally. To the rural resident these are many; he is familiar with the school district, the highway district, the tow'n or township, the county, the State, and with the Federal government at least in connection with the postal service. It is not possi- ble for any mere organization of individuals, any party machinery whatsoever, to rob him of his con- sciousness of connection with a wide range of govern- mental instrumentalities which conditions his political thinking and is recognized as the ruling factor in his political life. To him party machinery must take a subordinate place. The uninstructed masses of the city, on the other hand, find government for them em- bodied in a policeman, a school teacher, a street com- missioner, or some other official person. To them it is possible for the party machine, whose individual ward manager they know, so to take the place of government as to render any clear distinction difficult or impossible. Upon the isolated human units and the politically unrelated groups of the city the trained 227 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY party manager of the ward brings to bear his peculiar powers,— his thorough knowledge of human nature, his keen analysis of motives, his experienced skill in gaining influence over men of widely different dispo- sitions and circumstances. Having secured a hold upon his constituents, the successful ward politician (and it is characteristic of him to succeed) is able to bring about effective unity and cooperation among the heterogeneous elements with which he deals. The Tammany organization of New York City was the first to master the art of political leadership under metropolitan conditions. By skilful measures the managers secured the faithful attachment of the voters to the party machinery and insured their interest in its support. Much light is thrown upon standard methods employed by ward politicians for securing and maintaining party ascendancy, by the study of Miss Jane Addams's description of the long-continued party leadership of a successful politician in a Chicago ward. His full understanding of the people whom he wished to control goes far to explain his success in con- trolling them. The Tammany organization is likewise thoroughly human if not humane. From the mere fact of its tremendous hold upon the city masses, we are justified in concluding that it cannot be altogether malign in spirit and method. Some one, writing ap- parently from' inside knowledge, has given as a reason for the return of Tammany to power in 1903 the fact that the leaders of the organization "live with the voters three hundred and sixty-five days in the year. ' ' They enter into the life of the people ; their presence lends distinction to the weddings and impressiveness 228 EFFECT OF THE CITY UPON PARTY SYSTEM to the funerals of the ward ; they take an interest in family concerns ; they secure employment for sons and daughters ; if a boy goes astray they look after him ; from their ample pockets comes help to meet the com- mon emergencies of the poor in winter. The grateful voter will scarcely cast a ballot against the wishes of the generous man who furnishes coal to his family in time of distress or saves them from being turned into the street for non-payment of rent. The cynic may be disposed to attribute all such neighborly helpfulness from political managers to selfish or corrupt motives. But sad, indeed, is the prospect for government by the people if human agen- cies altogether evil wield such power over the multi- tude. Direct personal rule is, moreover, in itself most economical and efficient, most adjustable to the needs of different localities and to the various exigencies of private business, and it is most prompt in action. Personal authority is likewise most quick and ready in attention to the numerous details of the regular city government, as well as most available in sudden pub- lic emergencies and unforeseen demands. Great ad- vantage accrues especially to Tammany Hall from its long experience in city government, and a reform government is subject to peculiar disadvantage because of the mere absence of a store of acquired experience. As city reform is in essence and purpose opposed to that personal rule so prominent in the Tammany form of administration, it suffers in the estimation of good citizens from the lack of those qualities of directness, convenience, and promptness displayed by govem- 229 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND IVIACHINERY iiK'iit under the management of the typical ward poli- tician. The reformer must necessarily introduce more machinery and employ more safeguards. Many reputable citizens prefer a government which they find to be pliable, considerate, accommodating, and able to grant legitimate favors without exasperating and costly delay, to one, however upright and honor- able, which can act only slowly, to the detriment of private business and oftentimes to that of the city itself, at least in appearance. Political control over the race or class vote as dis- tinct from that of the individual may be illustrated by a specific case. A member of Congress who has a distinguished reputation for uprightness and indepen- dence upon public questions is successively reelected to his position by a metropolitan constituency which in city and state politics votes for the opposite party. The fact is accounted for in this wise: Many years ago, when a practising attorney, this congressman had charge of the settlement of an estate, which business brought him into close contact for a considerable length of time with a certain class of poor tenants of foreign birth. By his strictly just treatment and his humane regard for their interests he won the confi- dence of the individuals directly concerned and of their whole class as well. Now, although the persons composing the class have changed, the entire class con- tinues to vote for a man in whom their trust is an inheritance or a tradition. More than others, the de- pendent poor are led by impulses generated in personal contact and by motives which are personal. More than others, they are grateful for kindness, and once 230 EFFECT OF THE CITY UPON PARTY SYSTEM their confidence is gained they manifest, and impart to their children, a constancy of regard not to be de- spised by the astute politician. A city organiziation which understands and can command forces such as these may maintain continuous control of the govern- ment. The experiences of the city of Philadelphia illus- trates in a somewhat different manner the present phase of city government. Here the Republican party holds a position corresponding to that of Tammany Hall in New York. There are, however, two very marked differences in the relations of the two city machines to the party system. Throughout almost the whole of the last half-century Tammany has been compelled to confront a hostile organization in control of the government at Washington and of the Federal patronage in New York City as well. Even during the few years of Democratic ascendancy in national politics the administration at Washington was not specially favorable to Tarn-many. No such adverse in- fluence has hampered the Republican machine in Philadelphia. Federal patronage and city patronage have been in the same hands and have helped to strengthen and solidify the organization. In respect to state politics also the two cities occupy different positions. The field of Tammany's opera- tions is situated within a close, or doubtful State, and, moreover, in that one of the doubtful States in which beyond all others the plant of presidential ambition buds and blooms. The metropolis has constantly been forced to face a preponderating Republican majority in the rest of the State equal to its own Democratic 231 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY majority. The inevitable result follows. New York politics is always national politics. The city is the continuous battle-ground of the national parties. Its domestic concerns focus the attention of the whole country, and Tammany has all along been exposed to the searching scrutiny, the sharp criticism, of the nation. It has been made the personification of the most flagrant delinquencies in city government and the scapegoat for all municipal crime. The Republi- can machine of Philadelphia is simply an integral part of the strongest state party organization that has yet appeared. It has attracted no such general observa- tion from without as Tammany, and no such avalanche of popular objurgation. In Philadelphia, therefore, a situation is presented which foreshadows the de- struction or the arrest of the party system. One sole organization is in complete command. While, because of tradition and habit and popular prejudice, the name of an opposing party is kept in the field, even that shadow of opposition is made an appendix to the all-powerful ruling body. The condition is analogous to that which prevails in some of the Southern States where one of the parties is the government, and the opposing party is found useful only in the perform- ance of formal minor functions. There have been times even in New York City when a semblance of conspiracy between the inner circles of managers of the two parties has appeared ; but the genuine and active strife always waging between the parties, as a whole, has prevented the continuance of such a re- lation. The glaring evils developed under present forms of 232 EFFECT OF THE CITY UPON PARTY SYSTEM city government have perforce concentrated public attention upon the party system, and the patent fail- ure of the party machine to insure for the ever-grow- ing urban masses satisfactory local government has tended to discredit and condemn the system in the minds of many thoughtful citizens. This strong cur- rent of unfavorable criticism tells upon the standing of the institutional party before the country; but in a way not wholly to its detriment. The interest awak- ened and the earnest study applied to the elucidation of the knotty questions of municipal government may be expected ultimately either to point the way, by re- form and improvement, to the increase of party effi- ciency, or to reveal a substitute for party which shall be devoid of its weaknesses and faults. Already the city has furnished much valuable ex- perience in political methods. It has kept the party system on trial before the reading and thinking pub- lic ; and, as the small city has led in the education and training of the people in local and state political man- agement, so the great metropolis has become a center of special instruction for the higher political educa- tion, since it deals with some of the most serious and intricate problems of the whole science of government. Under the spur of well-nigh intolerable conditions in city management, large numbers of citizens from those classes which would otherwise hold aloof from politics and wrap themselves in a mantle of contempt for the active politician, have been induced to go into politics themselves. Ministers of the gospel, teachers, mer- chants, manufacturers, bankers, wealthy gentlemen of intelligence and leisure, have participated in the 233 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY Struggle for the practical control of city affairs. Per- manent local associations have been formed for mu- nicipal improvement, and out of the local citizen's leagues has come the promising National Civic Fed- eration. Whether the efforts of the newly organized citizen's leagues have been attended by signal success or have resulted in apparent failure, they have sup- plied most instructive experience. Clearly, the city holds the leading place as a political training-school for the classes particularly in need of instruction, since they are those in which political leaders should natu- rally arise. Finally, while it is in the city that we find that excess of organization under the name of party which threatens to destroy the party system, it is in the city also that we find the chief training-school for that independent, intelligent, discriminating voting which tends to restore the balance of parties. The city elec- tion is entirely independent of Federal politics; it involves no national office ; it is even separated from all connection with the choosing of a United States senator, and is likewise severed from state elections, which are fixed at a different date ; it is for the choice of city officers alone. This is peculiarly favorable to the exercise of independence at the polls. The most ardent believer in the party system unites at city elec- tions with those devoid of all faith in party in the support of candidates nominated by the opposing party or by a non-partizan citizen's association. Con- ditions are favorable for the cultivation of a habit of discrimination in the exercise of the elective fran- chise. Forty or fifty thousand Democratic citizens in 234 EFFECT OP THE CITY UPON PARTY SYSTEM New York City have formed such a habit. They sup- port other than the regular party nominees at city elections. Chicago city elections are largely deter- mined by the conduct of a considerable class of public- spirited independent voters drawn from both parties. Such political independence freely exercised at the city polls helps to loosen the trammels of party at all elec- tions and thus to remove the most serious obstacle to the success of the party system. Beferences: "Political Parties and City Government," by F. J. Good- now. Proceedings National Municipal League, Vol. V, 1899. ' ' Municipal Government by National Parties, ' ' by Chas. Eichardson. Proceedings National Municipal League, Vol. I, 1895. "Exclusion of Partisan Politics from Municipal Affairs," by P. M. Loomis. Proceedings National Municipal League, Vol. Ill, 1897. "Municipal Political Parties," by M. E. Maltbie. Pro- ceedings National Municipal League, Vol. VI, 1900. "A Non-Partisan City Government" (Cambridge, Mass.), by Francis J. Douglas. The OuUoolc, Vol. LVIII. "Municipal Administration," by J. A. Fairlie, 1901. "Municipal Functions," by M. E. Maltbie, 1898. ' ' City Government in the United States, " by A. E. Conk- ling, 1897. "The Philadelphia Campaign against Machine Eule, " by C. E. Woodruff. "The Chicago Voters' League," by S. E. Sparling. The OutlooTc, Vol. LXXI. "Municipal Government in the United States," by J. Ford. North American Review, Vol. CLXXII. ' ' Democracy and Social Ethics, ' ' by Jane Addams. Chapter VII. 235 CHAPTER XIX PARTY FINANCE Some of the details respecting the income and ex- penditure of the political party are open to general observation ; other details are not matter of common knowledge, and information concerning them is ob- tained with difBculty. An adequate presentation of the subject of party finance would require a special trea- tise based upon elaborate and thorough study. All that can be attempted here is to call attention to a few of the more salient features of the general subject. A considerable part of the machinery of the party is devoted to the collection and disbursement of funds. A treasurer is provided for every committee, and care- ful arrangements are often made for the expert audit- ing of party accounts. In some of the printed rules governing party procedure in city or county, minute instructions are given for the examination of the ac- counts of the treasurer. The financial machinery of the party is largely a reflection of that of the govern- ment itself. Party funds are collected in precincts and townships ; the county has its special party bud- get; state committees conduct financial operations of no small magnitude ; each of the two national commit- tees has its separate agency for collecting and dis- 236 PARTY FINANCE bursing the money indispensable to the carrying on of the party business, and during the year of the quad- rennial national election, the sums amount to many millions of dollars. In the management of state finances it is observable that each political locality, each geographical area, is jealous of its right to receive a full share of the gov- ernment appropriations. Something of this may also appear in the attitude of party committees ; but there is a radical difference in the principles involved. The i distinguishing function of the political party, that of promoting unity of feeling and action among those separated by their municipal institutions, is shown with especial clearness in its use of the party income. There is no pretense that the suras gathered in one ward or precinct will be expended within the same lo- cality. County committees solicit contributions from one township to be applied in another. The very basis of appeal is that the party needs are greatest in those regions where there is the most reluctance to give. So in the State and in the country at large, the char- acteristic party method is to raise money in one section to be used in another. Party committees and disburs- ing agents, being under no legal restraints, exercise the utmost freedom in the transfer of party supplies from section to section or from one committee to another. There are various sources of party income. Contri- ■^■ butions from the rank and file of party supporters make up an item of importance. In the financial re- ports of the state government, the personal services of citizens appear among the receipts of the government. An officer serves without pay, or he may pay a fine 237 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY upon refusal to serve; citizens give their labor upon the highway in lieu of money payment to the State. To the State this sort of income is of less importance than formerly ; but to the party the unpaid service of members must ever be of cardinal value. The very object and aim of the party, as rationally defined and approved, is to enable the great mass of citizens to render more effective support and assistance to the State. Membership in a party implies a desire to con- tribute to its support. A man who looks upon his party as a means of personal advantage or aggrandize- ment thereby ceases to be, in any true sense, a sup- porter and member, and becomes a drag or an enemy. A party, under whatever name, which was dominated by such a spirit would lose the essential characteristic of party. In connection with the unpaid labor of members a considerable amount of actual cash is ex- pended for party objects, though neither appears upon the treasurer's balance-sheet. What may be called benevolent contributions from individuals swell the party income. Men of wealth make large dona- tions with no reference whatever to business interests and no thought of personal gain ; property has been bequeathed to trustees for the benefit of a party. Gifts such as these are in spirit and motive like those of unremunerated service from disinterested members of the party. Candidates for nomination before a party caucus or primary are accustomed to contribute to party ex- penses. The same is true of those who have been nomi- nated for office, and these sources of income are of especial consequence to the treasury of the party which 238 PARTY FINANCE usually carries the election. Persons holding official place and those employed in administrative positions have been expected to furnish aid to the organization to which they owe their honors and their salaries. It became customary to make regular assessments upon the salaries of employees of the government, of all grades and ranks, for party uses, and the movement for the reform of the civil service had for one of its objects the removal of this abuse. Office-holders, how- ever, may and do make voluntary donations to the party treasury. A third class of contributors is composed of those who are influenced by a consciousness that the policy and conduct of the party are calculated to affect their business interests. Individual members of the class are, however, radically different in character and act from motives quite diverse. There are clear-sighted, conscientious men who have become convinced that the application of a certain policy advocated by one of the parties has favored, or is likely to favor, the earning of large profits by the business in which they are engaged, with great personal gain to themselves, while at the same time working injury to the state or the general public. Influenced by that belief, they have been led to give freely of the means which they consider to have been acquired unjustly, for the benefit of the opposite party, whose success would, in their opinion, promote the welfare of the public, though tending to their own business injury and personal loss. These contributions may be regarded as "conscience money" of an entirely honorable and praiseworthy sort. The donors honestly endeavor to return to the people the unjust gain 239 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY which thej^ have innocently appropriated and which is rightly a public possession. Instances of such truly patriotic conduct are probably more numerous than would be supposed. It will be remembered that Mr. Thomas G. Shearman, of Brooklyn, N. Y., spent liber- ally of his private fortune in aid of an extensive prop- agation of the principles of free trade, while admitting that his own wealth was derived from protected in- dustries. But probably most men feel a genuine and comfort- able assurance that the occupations whereby they make their living or accumulate riches are at the same time of distinct advantage to the community, and that damage to their private business would be a detriment to the state likewise. They feel that in helping to build up the party which safeguards their personal interests and promotes their business prosperity, they are also acting as patriotic citizens. While they may not assert that their motives are wholly disinterested, they fully believe that their private interests fortu- nately coincide with the larger interests of the general public. Others there are engaged in callings which, in them- selves or in the manner of their conduct, are harmful to the country and to the people. They are not blind to the fact ; but for the sake of selfish, pecuniary advantage, they pay, in the aggregate, very large sums into the treasury of that political party which appears to them to advocate, or to promise to advocate, the course of political conduct most likely to foster and develop the enterprises in which they trust for riches. In return for their benefactions, they may even secure 240 PARTY FINANCE a pledge, actual or implied, that the party will regard the welfare of the illegitimate business as paramount to that of the whole people. It was once reported that the Louisiana Lottery Company had offered a million dollars to the campaign fund of one of the parties, w^hich refused to accept the money because the offer was coupled with the condition that one of the offices in the Post Office Department should be filled by a nominee of the company. Whether true or not, the story illustrates a sort of evil influence which may be brought to bear upon party officers. The various sorts of contributors to party funds are not, of course, to be sharply distinguished one from another. They shade by insensible gradations into one another. Human motives are never quite unmixed. From the party treasury, by innumerable channels, go out again the large sums gathered in from many quarters. Party expenditures may be roughly grouped into two general divisions,— those which, by common consent, w^ould be adjudged legitimate or necessary, and those which would be regarded as doubtful or ille- gitimate, corrupt and immoral. Between the two no man can dogmatically draw the line. It cannot be reasonably denied that the political party may rightly use its funds for the ordinary and obvious needs of a great organization, for the mainte- nance of an honorable party business. Money must be paid for the use of rooms or buildings for public assemblies, for meetings of committees, clubs, etc., and for the routine work of the organization. Clerks, sten- ographers, and others whose labors are required con- tinuously or for long periods receive salaries. The 16 241 PAETY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY cost of printing and distributing the vast quantities of literature scattered over the land by the two chief parties is enormous, and must be met from the party treasury. Those party officers who give their time wholly or in large measure to party affairs may prop- erly be remunerated. All these, with a multitude of incidental demands besides, necessitate large pecuniary outlay for unobjectionable purposes. But money used to persuade a voter to cast any but a free and untrammeled vote is money illegitimately, corruptly used. Such misappropriation of party funds is condemned by all right-minded persons. It works directly to undermine the usefulness of the party as a political organ and tends to its destruction. Is it possible for the finances of political parties to be administered so as not to endanger the very objects for which the party has been evolved ? This is a ques- tion vitally concerning every citizen. There are certain points in party management touching the collecting and disbursing of money where serious and threat- ening danger is evident. The mere possession and con- trol of funds at discretion by party officers opens the way of temptation to doubtful or vicious use of a most powerful instrument. The mere fact of ability to fur- nish a voter with a financial motive for exercising his right of suffrage in a particular manner tests the integ- rity of party workers. While the direct buying of votes is a criminal act, defined and punishable by law, the end sought is often gained by means unregarded in the legal code but no less effective. The proper employ- ment of party resources in payment for services ren- dered may be skilfully made to appeal to unworthy 242 PARTY FINANCE motives, and, under the guise of due return for labor, the intention of the party agent, more or less evident, may render an apparently innocent transaction prac- tical bribery. An excessive amount may be offered for service required, with an understanding that it will secure votes for the party, or the mere pretense of service may disguise the acceptance of money for a vote. Leaders of labor organizations and others in position to exercise effective influence over large num- bers of voters are especially exposed to insidious ap- proach by unprincipled party managers and even to propositions openly dishonorable, for the sake of se- curing their cooperation or to forestall opposition. When money is tendered to party officers by agents of illicit enterprises, such as lotteries and other forms of gambling, the bare fact implies an improper motive on the part of the donor and the acceptance of such gifts stamps dishonor upon the party. The corruption of legislators, in city and State, by agents of the great corporations, by means of which the people have been robbed of valuable public fran- chises and enormous private fortunes have been heaped up, has long been a scandal and a shame to the nation. But direct bribery of government officials is a dangerous criminal proceeding, and in later years the same ends have been secured with greater safety through the control which these powerful combina- tions of capital have been able to exercise over party leaders who receive and appropriate the party funds. Immense sums come into party treasuries under pledges, explicit or implied, that such men shall be elected to office as will do the bidding of the corpora- 243 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY tions, or at least will not oppose their interests. "When the party organ is so centralized in a particular city or other locality that one party leader is in a position to command the action of the organization, then it becomes possible for a corrupt leader to enter into contract with representatives of business interests to guide the course of the government in accordance with the dictates of the agents of private concerns. So long as normal party relations are preserved, abuses within the party are subject to restraint more or less effective from the vigilance of the opposing party, which promptly exposes egregious wrong-doing. But the climax of abuse is reached when the condi- tions just described extend to both parties, and by collusion between both leaders, the two machines un- dertake, for a money consideration, to securely safe- guard private interests adverse to the public welfare. Party leaders thus corrupted and trained by successful experience in their evil courses are in a position to exact continuous and enlarging tribute from business enterprises of many sorts, by threatening to inaugu- rate or to permit courses of governmental policy likely to interfere with their operations. Government by corrupt collusion of the officers of antagonistic parties is no longer party government at all, but becomes gov- ernment by a dangerous conspiracy under party names. Happily, we may believe that a state of affairs so disgraceful is far from common, and that but a small class of party managers has ever been involved. But the evils undeniably associated, to a greater or less extent, with the present methods in party finance are 244 PARTY FINANCE sufficiently conspicuous to demand attention and to engage the most earnest efforts for reform. It has been pointed out that party development has been closely connected with the enormous expansion of modern capitalistic organizations, and has followed a somewhat similar course. The great growth of cor- porate enterprises has been attended with the rise of serious abuses, by which rightful owners of corporate property have been fraudulently deprived of their just dues. These have been, to a considerable extent, cheeked and restricted by the enforced introduction of the element of publicity, by light thrown upon dark places. The same influence would doubtless be found wholesome in the political party. Indeed, it seems clear that the one preliminary requisite to all effective reform of the party is full publicity in respect to the whole matter of party finance. True party interest, the preservation of a worthy party spirit, the use of the party as a real organ of public opinion,— these do not require the collection of vast sums given from motives questionable or corrupt, and accepted at the sacrifice of party integrity. Evi- dence of this may be seen in the experience of certain of the minor political parties. These parties carry no elections; they do not expect to assume the conduct of the government ; they are in no position to appeal to the great sources of corruption for financial aid. What they receive is likely to be contributed without reference to governmental policy, and may be regarded as given from disinterested motives. Nevertheless, they have been able to maintain extensive organiza- tions and carry on costly campaigns, getting their sup- 245 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY port mainly from the voluntary gifts of party mem- bers. General James B. Weaver was, in 1892, the candidate of the Populist party for the Presidency. He projected a wide campaign throughout the Rocky Mountain and Pacific States, which involved large expenses. The party treasury was empty, but the can- didate was an experienced campaigner. It had been his custom to collect directly from his audiences, or from those among his hearers especially interested in his cause, the funds needed for party expenses. In the present case he borrowed money enough to enable him to meet his first appointment, at Denver, Colorado. After he had delivered his address to a crowded au- dience, a woman supporter made a statement to the assembly concerning the necessity of securing financial means for the prosecution of the campaign. As no provision had been made for taking a collection the lady playfully suggested that any desiring to con- tribute might throw their silver dollars directly at her. Instantly there came a rain of dollars from every part of the hall in such numbers and force as to threaten injury to the occupants of the platform. The entire campaign which followed was financed by direct donations from party supporters in the audi- ences. Mr. Weaver returned to his home having secured the electors in several of the States and the largest popular vote ever given to a candidate of a minor party. When the rank and file of the supporters of a party both furnish the means for meeting the necessary ex- penses and also insist upon knowing how their contri- butions are expended, then the professed objects of the 246 PARTY FINANCE party are likely to be secured. So long as a party depends upon largesses from favored industries, the rights of the public will suffer. No people can be free who do not maintain the privilege of paying their own bills. Party finance has been so rapidly coming under public control that now (1912) political campaign funds are generally regarded as public money and rightly subject to legislative regulation. Publicity laws in nearly all the States make both party com- mittees and candidates responsible to the public for a just collection and disbursement of funds. In 1907 corporations were forbidden to make contributions to campaign funds in Federal elections. The Publicity Act of 1910, which was amended in 1911, now requires the national party committees and all candidates for either House of Congress to file financial statements of receipts and expenditures fifteen to ten days before an election, to add supplementary reports every six days thereafter during the campaign and to make complete financial statements after the election. Eeferences : "Progress of Campaign Fund Publicity," by P. Belmont. North American Beview, January, 1909. * ' Publicity of Election Contributions and Expenditures, ' ' Senate Documents II of 60th Congress, First Session 1907-1908, No. 337. "Democratic Platform 1908." ' ' Corrupt Practices at Elections, ' ' by Margaret A. Schaffer, 1906, and by S. G. Lowrie, 1911. Wisconsin Free Library Com- mission No. 3 and No. 23. American Political Science Beview, August, 1909; May, 1911. 247 CHAPTER XX THE PAKTY IN POWER AND THE PARTY IN OPPOSITION If the ideal of the dual party scheme were fulfilled in practice, the two organizations would, on the aver- age, win and hold about an equal number of support- ers. Then, as the one or the other was more successful in meeting the popular demands or in creating a gen- eral belief that it would do so, that one would be intrusted with the responsibilities of office. This ideal has, however, not often been achieved. The prevailing tendency has been for one party habitually to carry elections and become recognized as the majority party, while its rival confronts it as the party of the minority. After the Whigs had begun to rule in England, about the year 1690, they remained in power almost continuously until 1760, a period of seventy years. Then the Tories were in office, with a few brief inter- vals when the Whigs reestablished ascendancy, until 1830. During all this time the suffrage was restricted to the few, and elections were carried by means of bribery and the spoils of office. After the great en- franchisement of 1832, the two parties approached much nearer the condition of equality in respect to popular support, though the Conservatives have been in power a much larger proportion of the time than have the Liberals. 248 MAJORITY AND MINORITY PARTIES In the United States, Jefferson's party was clearly the party of the majority from the time of its triumph in 1800 until 1860. Since then, the Republicans have constituted the majority party. The same propensity may be observed in the various States and even in the local subdivisions. One or- ganization is traditionally the party of the majority, the other that of the minority. It is in theory only that the parties command equality of numbers in the great electorate. In actual practice, one party or the other, in the innumerable governmental areas, gains reputation for superiority in administration, and the other is utilized as an organ of criticism and as an alternate agency in case of serious default. Decided advantage pertains to the party of the majority in respect to harmony among its membership and in matters of discipline. Moreover, since it is compelled to actually do the work of governing, it demands a higher degree of managing ability than is required for merely pointing out how the business could be better done. The responsibilities of office compel a measure of unity and harmony of action not necessarily demanded in a party of criticism only. Members whom its policy offends are driven from its ranks, while those of other parties whom it attracts are drawn to its support. Party harmony is thus promoted and danger from internal faction lessened. On the other hand the party of the minority is likely to gather to itself the adherence of a variety of dissat- isfied classes. The mission of the critic is attractive to many, and mere opposition to the tenets and conduct of the successful organization, upon very diverse 219 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY grounds, may furnish a quasi basis for association, while no imperative reason exists for close agreement upon an aggressive political creed for the direction of a definite course of party action. But criticism, pure and simple, is never constructive, and the loose union of unharmonious elements does not naturally contribute to the development of an effective organ for positive political achievement. The party of opposition rarely finds that the lines have fallen unto it in pleasant places. Most frequently, misfortune waits upon its movements. The old Feder- alists, having lost their early prestige and fallen from power, survived in increasing feebleness as a party of criticism until they became too insignificant to be feared, and the very name, discredited by repeated failure, was rejected by the remnant who clung to the semblance of organization which remained. The ranks of the National Republicans and the Whigs were swelled by accessions from the Democrats of those who disapproved the course of the party leaders or had failed to secure the adoption of favorite dogmas- South Carolina Nullifiers, anti-slavery Southerners, and other dissatisfied political groups. But the Whig party was continually rent by faction. Its two Presi- dents died in office, to be succeeded by Vice-Presidents representing opposing factions, who were able to inflict greater injury upon the party than could have re- sulted from a defeat at the polls. Ill luck attended the whole career of the party, and, until 1860, it was with a convincing show of reason that the Democrats were able to proclaim themselves the only party capable of conducting the business of the government, and to 250 MAJORITY AND MINORITY PARTIES stigmatize all others as mere discordant factions of temporary duration. Since the Civil War a much nearer approach to equality of fortune has been maintained between the two parties. The Democrats outvoted their opponents in 1876 ; much of the time they have controlled the lower House of Congress and, for a brief period, the Senate. The two Democratic administrations have commanded respect as strong, able, and honest. The party enjoys the prestige of its inseparable connection with the history of our government throughout a long and important period. Its Jefferson clubs and Jack- son clubs span the century. Successive generations in many a family of historic name have voted the Democratic ticket. It has always been made the sym- bol of principles of essential value and of historic significance in the establishment and development of the Republic. Nevertheless, the great Democratic party has for more than forty years been the minority party and, as such, subject to many of the casualties, disabilities, and disasters which attended the course of minority parties before the war. It has been the refuge of the dissatisfied and factious elements thrown off, from time to time, by its opponent in the place of power. A disaffected Republican, Horace Greeley, was even made the Democratic standard-bearer in 1872. Greenbackers, Nationalists, Populists, advocates of the gold standard, and other incompatible elements have been gathered within its fold, and it has not always been found possible to fuse the various con- stituent parts into a compact working body. The very manner of holding to party doctrines or 251 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY policies differs according as the party commands a majority or only a minority of the national support. A party in office is likely to adopt a middle course in dealing with disputed questions, while the opposition will often contain men holding tenaciously to views representing the extremes of opposing positions ; as when, during Jackson's administration, radical State- Rights Democrats went into the Whig party. The Democrats who controlled the Chicago convention in 1896 and those who met in the Indianapolis conven- tion of the same year stood for the most widely diver- gent opinions respecting the currency, the Republicans meantime representing the moderate, conservative atti- tude toward the same question. Under such conditions party discipline in the minority organization is, as in 1896, excessively difficult or impossible. When a party long in the minority comes into office, it suffers from lack of experience in the actual conduct of public affairs. It finds difficulty in reaching posi- tive conclusions and its followers are not easily kept in line so as to carry its conclusions promptly into effective operation. Thus, from mere lack of experi- ence, it is liable to have but a brief tenure of power. Again, those who are free from responsibility in gov- ernment are in a position to make gain from providen- tial disasters, which, in the mind of the populace, reflect unfavorably upon their rulers. This opens the way for the partizan charge of a disposition to sympa- thize with the forces of misfortune, and to delight in calamity for the sake of party advantage. Though a charge of this sort does not profess to be sincere, but is confessedly mere campaign claptrap, it is, neverthe« 252 MAJORITY AND MINORITY PARTIES less, not without political effect. In a progressive democracy, the prevailing sentiment is optimistic, and any appearance of pessimism is certain in the long run to be unpopular. While the ruling party suffers on account of public calamities, it is yet likely to get more than its due share of credit for the happiness and good fortune which the country enjoys, from the mere accident of its association with the optimistic spirit. A Republican senator was once upon a time ringing the changes upon the party charge against the Democrats of having inflicted "hard times" upon the country, and assuming credit to his own party for the "good times" which had prevailed under Republican dominion, when he was called upon by a Democratic member to state to the House whether he himself really believed that the hard times were caused by the Demo- crats and the good times by the Republicans. The senator adroitly avoided a direct answer and reiterated in louder tones the popular conviction on the subject. It is a curious psychological fact that a political party may be able to maintain in its constituency a belief of this sort, while, as individuals, the members of the party believe very differently. Still another feature of the position of the minority party may be noticed, which arises from its distinctive function of criticism. The party out of office is bound to find fault, to point out an alternate and better line of policy and conduct than the one proposed by its rival. In the case of the few questions which gain the attention of the whole country because they are made subject to definite partizan debate, the successful party usually gets the reputation of having won its 253 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY own way, of having carried through its declared pol- icy. As a matter of fact, its plan may have been greatly modified and improved as a result of the criti- cism encountered ; yet -the opposition will get little credit therefor. From its very position as opponent and rival, the minority party must persist in criticiz- ing and condemning until the point in dispute is set- tled. Then, as a matter of necessity, the opposition accepts the situation and turns its partizan search- light upon other questions not settled. Its enemy makes use of this entirely natural course to develop another line of rather effective partizan animadver- sion. The opposition is represented as being devoid of genuine political convictions ; as having no mind of its own ; as opposing, for the mere sake of opposition, everything wise and good, until it has been soundly beaten, when it practically admits itself in the wrong and trains its guns upon other wise and good policies of the party in power. The party in power assumes credit for all initiative, all discovery, all progress. It represents the minority party as first offering all possible obstruction and then, after defeat, as giving approval to the measure so strenuously opposed. It holds the enemy up to ridi- cule as making progress only by moving forward tar- dily to occupy the deserted camps of the party which makes independent advancement. If the time should come that the Republicans are remanded to the place now filled by the Democrats, then they too will develop a disposition to continually criticize and obstruct. They too will accept the settlement by the stronger contestant of debated questions and move forward to 254 MAJORITY AND MINORITY PARTIES occupy the forsaken strongholds of their progressive foes. These are traits characteristic of any party in continued opposition. Differences of a more permanent and inherent na- ture between the two chief parties should be pointed out. Some of these have been referred to in previous chapters. Variations in the rules of the national con- ventions of the two parties have been thought signifi- cant of underlying differences in party principles. It is the Democrats only who uniformly apply the unit rule and the two-thirds rule to the conduct of the national convention. Far more important, however, is the disparity between the parties in respect to the prominence and the significance of the party machine. The Republican is preeminently the party of or- ganization. In its origin it was the outgrowth of conditions which led to war and to changes revolu- tionary in character, and the party was forced or induced to assume extraordinary responsibilities. The industrial world was learning to place enhanced con- fidence in comprehensive and thorough organization. Local institutions in the great majority of the States which organized the party were favorable to its vig- orous growth and to its extension into all the minute political subdivisions. The result has been an ex- traordinary predominance of machinery in the Repub- lican party. In our comparative study of party organization in the two Republican States of Massachusetts and Penn- sylvania, it was brought out that the machine element was of far more consequence in one State than in the other. That difference, however, may be explained 255 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY by reference to the peculiar historical development of the New England States and the unique political con- ditions which resulted from it. Circumstances have there been less favorable to the growth of a controlling party machine than in other sections of the country where the Republicans have gained ascendancy. The personal type of political leadership has been espe- cially effective with the people of New England, and a strong personality, more readily than in other north- ern portions of the country, overrides the power of the machine. Still, it is apparent that even in Massachu- setts the tendency has been, in recent years, for the organs of the Republican party to increase in sig- nificance and importance. When the Democratic party came into being, more than a hundred years ago, it was an organization of the people to resist centralization in the state. Its declared purpose was not the achievement of great deeds, but the prevention of great wrongs. It sought to limit the range of governmental powers, and not to extend them. Upon the people of the Southern Stated the party early secured, and has always retained, a peculiarly effective hold, and the distinctive disposi- tion and traits of the people of that section have doubtless affected somewhat decidedly the trend of party government. It has already been shown that the people of the South have lacked that training in local government which is so important an element in the political edu- cation of the people of the North. Personal influence is specially prominent in politics; political oratory is more effective than in the North ; the popular man is 256 MAJORITY AND MINORITY PARTIES a stronger force than is skilful management of the party organization ; the public meeting of rival can- didates in joint debate has never lost its place, and the campaign is a brilliant rhetorical struggle before the electorate. In the printed rules governing the Demo- cratic party of South Carolina to-day, the public cam- paign meeting is as explicitly provided for as is the primary election. It is by the various methods of an open appeal that the Southern people are most suc- cessfully reached, and not by the silent, hidden pro- cesses of the machine. The mass meeting, the barbe- cue, the political discussion, where the voter comes face to face with the men directly interested in his political action, — these are the agencies for most read- ily influencing the Southern voter. Organization, whether in government or in party, counts for less in the South than elsewhere, and the personality of the candidate or the officer for more. Even the stirring experiences incident to the war and the revolutions which followed, though they furnished the Southern people with much new practical knowledge of the de- tails of political organization, have left them still behind their brethren of the North in the effective use of party machinery. Democratic organizations in some of the States assume and exercise the full powers of government; but the machine element in that gov- ernment remains less significant than in Pennsylvania, where a similar situation is seen. The predominance of the man over the party machine is not lost. It appears, then, from the general situation of the present day, that the Republican party stands for gov- ernment by machinery. The party as an organism is of " 257 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY more consequence than the men who guide its course. Which of the available candidates shall be chosen to a given office is a matter of comparative indifference. In any event it is the party that will control, and it is the party that counts. There are effective ways in use of overriding individuals or of neutralizing their in- fluence. A rigid party discipline is exercised. Indi- viduals must remain subordinate to the wide interests of the great organization. The party attracts to itself the supporters of policies and principles rather than the followers of men. The mere suggestion that a particular leader is necessary to the success of the party condemns that leader. It is a standing party boast that no man is essential to its success. Unham- pered and unrestrained, the Republican party machine would overpower all others till, becoming merged in the state, it would itself become the state. Another spirit and other tendencies characterize the national Democratic party. It lays stress upon the value of personal leadership, and throws no discredit upon the individual who grows so great as to be thought to hold the fortunes of the party in his own hands. The typical Democrat thinks of his party in terms of the illustrious names which star the pages of its history ; the idea of an institutional organism with an acquired character independent of its membership displeases and repels him; he is more restive than his Republican antagonist under the trammels of organi- zation and more ready to resist machine control ; his party experiences greater difficulty in making and fulfilling promises ; for, while the Democratic leader may speak freely for himself, he cannot, with the as- 258 MAJORITY AND MINORITY PARTIES surance of the Republican politician, speak for his party. Not all the dissimilarities of the parties which have been noted are necessarily fixed and unchanging. Some, as we have seen, are due to long retention of official place or to long exclusion from it ; others to pe- culiar features of history or local training. The pow- erful Republican party remanded to continuous oppo- sition would doubtless lose at least a portion of its superiority in discipline, and the Democrats, if long in power, might come to rely more upon the skilful manipulation of elaborate machinery. Beferences : "Chances for a Third Party," by A. M. Low. Harper's Weekly, January 13, 1912. "Meaning of Insurgency," by R. S. Baker. The American Magazine, May, 1911. "Will There be a New Party?" Discussion by S. S. Meuken (Democrat) and J. A. Stewart (Republican). Review of Re- views, March, 1911. "Democratic Factions and Insurgent Republicans," by H. Croly. North American Review, May, 1910. 259 CHAPTER XXI PARTY ACCESSORIES The social side of party life is little appreciated bj the outside observer ; while to those who are within, those who constitute the inner circle of party man- agers, the social element seems to be so much a part of the common experience of men as to escape distinct recognition. Men enjoy working for their friends, and so natural is the experience that it furnishes no more occasion for remark than does the fact that men like to eat when they are hungry. A Philadelphian who had won high rank as a ward politician was asked whether he loiew of party workers who received no pay for party service, who expected no office, but who did the work because they liked it. After hesitating a moment he replied: ''I did that for ten years." As a captain over three hundred in one of the poorest districts of the city, he had gained the confidence of those under his supervision, and it appeared that he had enjoyed and improved opportunities of doing them kindnesses; for he incidentally dropped the re- mark that the poor were much more grateful than the well-to-do. After long refusal to take party office because he preferred to remain in his own business, he finally, at the end of ten years, was induced by the insistence of party friends, to accept a position. 260 PARTY ACCESSORIES As a member of a political association, a man is taken out of his little self and becomes, more or less consciously, linked to the mighty forces which rule the world. To the personal satisfaction of seeing friends advanced and honored through his efforts is added the pleasure of participation in affairs of real moment. Thus the social human instincts may contribute pow- erfully to the effectiveness of a party machine. But the absorbing technical business of the regular party organization tends, in many ways, to interrupt the even flow of social intercourse, and there has therefore grown up alongside a multitude of accessory or contributory organizations and associations— polit- ical clubs of infinite variety, leagues and societies of many names and objects, not all obviously social in character or purpose, but all tributary, more or less directly, to the party forces. Their scope is wider than that of party membership. Prospective voters in schools and colleges are gathered into leagues in the interest of party ; associations of women are formed— the Primrose League and the Women's Liberal League of Great Britain have become famous as means for en- abling women to aid in supplying effective support to the party of their choice, and similar organizations are not unknown in America. As in other things political, it is difficult to main- tain a sharp distinction between accessory party or- gans and those which are integral. Tammany Hall originated in an association of Democratic gentlemen whose object was to improve the policy of their party. Through the evolution of a superior organization, and by the assumption or absorption of the regular party 261 i'AlvTi ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY t'unetions, the society became an integral part of the party, though it still retains some of the original char- acteristics of a mere party accessory. The local party club is often so fused with the party management as to be scarcely distinguishable. With the advent of direct nomination under governmental control, a por- tion of the party machinery becomes governmental ; party committeemen are at the same time officers of state ; a nomination often becomes virtually an elec- tion. In such circumstances new party organs appear to select candidates for the primary election ; or, organs which were previously accessory become reg- ular party agents. The most important of the present organizations which supplement the work of the national parties are the Republican and the Democratic National Leagues. Their aim is to bring together under a com- pact national, state, district, and local association the chief supplemental agencies for the promotion of party interests, and the plan of organization follows closely that of the regular parties. The Republican National League was formed in December, 1887, at a meeting of delegates in New York City. It was based upon and grew out of previous ( rganizations in the different States. Its national ( rgans are a national convention, held annually, unless I he previous convention or the executive committee directs otherwise, and an executive committee, con- sisting of one member from each State and Territory, v.ith the president, secretary, and treasurer of the league as ex officio members. The convention follows the model of the National Nominating Convention in 262 PARTY ACCESSORIES its composition. Article III. of the constitution of the league declares its object to be: ''To encourage and as- sist in the formation of permanent Republican clubs and State leagues for effective and organized work, and generally to advance the principles of the Repub- lican party." The national convention of the league held in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1896, recommended the Iowa plan of state and local organization for adoption by the States and minor areas. This scheme pro- vides that the county league shall unite the clubs within the county; the congressional district league those of the counties composing the district; while the state league unites and presides over all. The league of each separate area attends especially to the party interests of that area. It is intended that the league shall be coextensive with the party ; that it shall work incessantly, so that when nominations are made there shall be already at hand an organized body of active and alert party sup- porters to render aid to and cooperate with the county, district, and state committees in the conduct of the campaign. The constitutions and rules, both national and local, give emphasis to the intention that the league shall take no part in making nominations. It is not to seek to influence national, state, county, or municipal conventions in any manner, "n6r shall it indicate, as a league, any preference for any candi- date." In other words, it is intended that the sup- plemental association shall omit from its labors all participation in matters which tend to faction, and confine itself to those lines of influence which promote harmony. It is described as "a school of political 263 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY science"; as related to the party "as schools and colleges are to the business world ; the preacher to the church ; the recruiting officer to the army. ' ' In the pamphlet containing the constitution in force in the year 1900, mention is made of the fact that the Republican College League had affiliated and been admitted to representation in the national convention ; that the Women's Republican League would be rep- resented at the next convention, and that the Repub- can Traveling Men were endeavoring to secure representation. The local political club may be called the primary of the party league. It is the chief working organ, and its duties are multifarious. If instructions are fol- lowed the club holds frequent meetings; engages in discussions; prepares papers on assigned topics; ar- ranges for social gatherings with musical and other programs and accompanying refreshments of a more material sort; circulates political speakers from club to club, etc., etc. Sociability is combined with earnest efforts to promote the party welfare. Such a club system accommodates itself to all the various classes of actual or possible party supporters. A single city of moderate size may furnish a long list of Irish, Scan- dinavian, Hebrew, negro, and many other political clubs. There are party accessories of other types, having no social objects and perhaps placing general party interests below the advancement of some particular principle or policy. Such is the Protectionist League, which, as the name implies, exists for the promotion of the policy of protection. In the main it has been 264 PARTY ACCESSORIES an adjunct to the Republican party, because that party has favored protection. For a similar reason, though less definitely and decidedly, the Free Trade League has been tributary to the Democratic party. These organizations are maintained for the purpose of con- ducting a continuous agitation in the interest of cer- tain economic theories and their practical application to national policies. Each of them serves as a propa- ganda for a specific doctrine whose application to national affairs may be made a party issue. Almost any effort of the sort may become an aid to one or the other of the parties. Party issues are to a large extent determined by such organized competing efforts for the propagation of specific views or principles. Or, the organization may take the field as an organ- ized political party. In that case it assumes the atti- tude of a rival to both the great parties. Yet it nearly always happens that the third party really strengthens one of the others by attracting votes from its chief rival. The Prohibition party, for example, draws to itself votes which would otherwise go to the Republi- cans; while the Populist party aids the Republicans by withdrawing support from the Democrats. It is characteristic of the third party to attract its following from that one of the leading parties which is more nearly in sympathy with its special contention. Some- times a third party is extemporized out of the member- ship of one of the chief parties with the deliberate intent of securing party favor for a desired reform or for a change in policy by threatening its defeat. This is the natural course of the independent party voter. 265 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY Still other organizations there are which in no proper sense admit of classification either as party ac- cessories or party substitutes, but which, nevertheless, condition and modify the working of the party system. Just after the close of the Civil War suddenly arose that remarkable enterprise in the line of organization known as the Grange and composed of the farmers of the country. The farmers of the United States con- stitute by far the largest and the most intelligent of our industrial classes, and so far-reaching a movement as that of the Grange could not but be both significant and, to a greater or less degree, effective. Its objects were industrial, political, and social. Entering the political arena in the early seventies, the Grange be- came in many States a power commanding recognition and consideration. It elected legislatures and enacted laws for the control of railways and other corpora- tions in the interest of the agricultural classes. In course of a few years the organization dropped out of politics. It was found that the Grange could not continue to hold a prominent place in politics and at the same time fulfil its distinctive social and industrial mission. Nevertheless, the existence of the farmers' associations which remain, comprehending as they do so large a proportion of a very numerous class, is a fact not without a possible political bearing. The organizations are, in effect, a training school furnish- ing instruction and experience in cooperative effort and preparing a large body of citizens for more intel- ligent and more effective political action. They also take the place of political clubs in providing desirable opportunities for social enjoyment. 266 PARTY ACCESSORIES Next to the farmers in number among the industrial classes are the w ** 5 earners, and the laborers are likewise in attendance upon schools of organization which train for associated effort. One of these, the Knights of Labor, put forward a political program which, if logically carried through, would supply a substitute for the entire party system. The Knights proposed to include in their organization all classes of the people, except a few to be eliminated by their re- forms ; and by means of the huge machine they would conduct the affairs of state. This ambitious aspiration, like that of the Grange, received a check ; but so acute are the disorders which labor organizations seek to alleviate, so pressing are the issues which they repre- sent, so constantly are they before the public,, so in- sistently do they demand attention from government authorities, that they cannot be shoved into the back- ground or be ever far removed from a place among foremost political questions. Whether or not any of the various devices of the workingmen ever becomes a practical substitute for the existing party system, it is certain that already the labor organizations com- mand a much larger share of the interest and the de- votion of the wage-earning class than does either of the political parties. To offer a substitute for party implies opposition to the system, or at least a belief in the possibility of something better. A party substitute, therefore, pre- sents a contrast to the party accessory. Despite the remarkable development of the party system and the wide-spread conviction that it is necessary and perma- nent, there have always been many to oppose it in 267 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY toto, and many more who believe that something better might be devised. Ma a^gc ^^ onents suggest no substitute other than an indefinite and transcendental individual righteousness, and of those which have been offered rarely has one gained a general hearing. The theory of the Socialistic state has attracted much attention, and its practical application has been seriously advocated. In practice it would eliminate party, but the other time-honored institutions which it would also eliminate are apparently of much more consequence. That it would substitute public for pri- vate ownership of the agencies of production has over- shadowed in general consideration its necessary effect upon political parties. Under the present system, the organized party is made an instrument of government. To it are in- trusted in a very real sense the legislative and execu- tive duties of the government. That is, the party, viewed as a corporate body, is regarded as responsible both for the making and the administering of the laws of city. State, and nation. This is true, although only a very small fraction of such business involves any party issue. Party government, however, carried to the extremest possible limit will still leave outside of its scope a far larger range of governmental business which is non-partizan. The great body of laws made and enforced affect the welfare of one party precisely as they do that of another. Democrats and Republi- cans alike desire the protection of property, the sup- pression of disorder, and the maintenance of sanitary conditions of life. By common consent, the great de- partment of the judiciary is held responsible, not to a 268 PARTY ACCESSORIES political party, but to the whole people. A party which should gain a reputation for seeking to control the judiciary in a partizan way would receive general condemnation. The proper limitation of party powers and responsi- bility is a point upon which opinions differ widely, but extreme views on either side tend alike to the destruction of democratic government by means of parties. Thus, if, by continued access of party power and the assumption of a wider range of responsibilty in the government, a party succeeds in actually taking charge of and conducting every sort of governmental business, that party becomes the government and the balanced party system is destroyed (as appears in certain of the Southern States to-day). The extreme advocate of government by party would in practice subvert party and substitute government by a limited class, which would be no longer democratic. So long, therefore, as the two parties hold their legitimate place in the dual system, the field of party government will remain restricted. Extremists on the other side, who would so narrow the function of party as to leave nothing of corporate party responsibility for the con- duct of the government, but would make public offi- cials, one and all, answerable to the state alone, would, with equal effectiveness, destroy the present system of party government. By the introduction of the popular initiative and the referendum, many believe that the evils of our party system would be obviated, while its advantages would be retained. The Republic of Switzerland carries on its government with signal success upon these princi- 269 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY pies. Political parties exist there for purposes of de- bate, to formulate public opinion, make nominations, and elect officers of state ; but when a party candidate becomes an officer of the government his responsibility to his party is at an end ; he is responsible only to the public as a whole. The government of the republic is not party government. In place of two great or- ganizations pitted against each other and struggling for the control of the state, are some half dozen politi- cal groups, each advocating more or less distinctive measures or policies, and each sending representatives to the legislature. Men are appointed to official po- sitions without regard to party connection, or, if party receives any recognition at all, the aim is to give proportionate representation to all. If the people are dissatisfied with any act of the legislature, they may, by petition, secure the submission of the measure to popular vote. If the members fail to introduce the bills which the people demand, the people may, by pe- tition, initiate legislation and gain for themselves a chance to vote upon a desired law. Political reform by means of direct legislation, or popular initiative and the referendum, is now clearly within the field of serious debate in the United States. It embodies the one definite proposition for a thorough- going substitute for party government. Some of its advocates definitely aim at the complete elimination of party government. They would retain the Democratic, the Republican, the Populist, and other parties merely to discuss public questions, make nominations, and carry elections, but would do away with all party authority over elected officers and make them answer- 270 PARTY ACCESSORIES able solely to the state for their official conduct. A member of a party having taken the oath of office, or having crossed the threshold of the legislative cham- ber, would be thereby separated, for the time, from his party and made the servant of the one corporate body which embraces all the people — that is, the state. No party would profess to actually conduct the govern- ment of the state, or could claim official loyalty to party from its representatives in public positions, though it might point with pride to the superior ex- cellence of the non-partizan service to the whole coun- try rendered by those elected from its own ranks. Neither Switzerland nor America has had experience in carrying on democratic government under both these party systems. A Swiss statesman has no more comprehension of the meaning of the term party gov- ernment, as it is used in the United States, than has an American politician of the term political party applied to an organization which, having secured a legislative majority, promptly divests itself of all party responsibility for official conduct. Great gain might accrue to the cause of popular government should a republic which had made a thorough test of one of these methods make afterward a fair trial of the other. AVhether the adoption of the Swiss system in the United States would, after all, have the expected effect of eliminating all idea of party responsibility in the conduct of the government, may well be doubted. Many of those who favor the change have no such in- tention. They would retain the two great, balanced organizations with their present functions. The 271 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY parties would formulate opinion, conduct campaigns, elect officers who should be bound by definite party pledges to do certain things, and would still be held, in a way, to a sort of corporate responsibility for the fulfilment of pledges,— that is, for a portion of the governmental business. The initiative and the ref- erendum would become additional agencies for secur- ing from the parties the fulfilment of popular demands. The movement for the reform of the civil service has been regarded by some as an attempt to introduce a substitute for party government. That is, however, a mistaken view. Civil service reform, in all its relations to city, state, and national government, has, indeed, as one of its objects, the increase of that sec- tion of official life from which the idea of responsibil- ity to a party organization is wholly removed and direct accountability to the general public substituted. But the movement is in no sense an attack upon party government. It offers no substitute for the system in vogue, but rather aims to make it more effective. The reformers place special emphasis upon the need of party responsibility. They seek to make it easier to enforce such responsibility by limiting the field of party control more nearly to those officials who have to do with those policies of state which are subjects of party controversy. They draw a line between those who exercise executive discretion and those who merely administer laws and executive rules, viewing one class as naturally and properly partizan, the other as strictly non-partizan. The President, the members of his cabinet, and a few others in high position may 272 PARTY ACCESSORIES best serve the whole people by the very fact of their firm loyalty to party pledges ; while the work of sub- ordinate public servants should be uninfluenced by any thought of party interest. In so far as the reform affects the legislative department of government, it works to the same end. It would take from the legis- lators the power of appointment and confine their activities to the narrower field of making laws and voting supplies, with the idea that where party issues are involved, party responsibility may thus be made more effective. For information upon the Republican and Democratic Na- tional Leagues, see the publications of the organizations. The National Federation for Majority Rule is a source of recent in- formation as to the movement in favor of the referendum. Its secretary is George H. Sibley, Washington, D. C. C. C. P. Clark, in a volume entitled " The Machine Abolished,'' proposes as a substitute for the party system an organization of the entire people. For the substitute suggested by M. Ostro- gorski, see his work, " Democracy and the Organization of Po- litical Parties," Vol. II, p. 658. 18 273 CHAPTER XXII THE PARTY AS A TEACHING AGENCY According to the democratic theory the people are in the position of supreme authority. They ordain and establish constitutions, create organs of govern- ment, and enact laws by direct vote or through chosen representatives. In their corporate or organic capacity the people constitute the state. In theory, those composing the entire citizenship are at the same time both rulers and subjects. Whether the organs through which they act are general or local, there is one sole source of authority,— that is, the people. In order to realize their position as a state, or a corporate body politic, the people must have organs for the expression of their will. We apply the term government to the entire body of state agencies or instrumentalities which the people use. In this gen- eral sense, government includes all public offices or institutions, from those of the school district to the highest Federal offices at Washington. Through the organs of government the state is made real. Each particular office, as the presidency or a governorship, is in a sense subordinate to the state : each is an agency of the sovereign people. The state alone is supreme ; government is, in theory, subordinate. But 274 THE PARTY AS A TEACHING AGENCY since the state can act only through an instrumen- tality which is classified as an organ of government, the authority of government is, in practice, made to coincide with the authority of the state, and the government transcends in authority every other or- ganization. We also apply the term government to the various activities of the state. Whatever the state does is an act of government. The building of highways and the maintenance of public schools and public libra- ries are acts of government. But a large share of public attention has been given to a limited class of the acts of government in which the services of the policeman and the soldier are made conspicuous. A sustained intellectual effort is required in order to comprehend the relation of the citizen to the demo- cratic state ; but no effort at all is needed for under- standing the generally accepted view of the relation of a master to a slave or that of a despot to a subject. The master wills, the slave renders services ; the des- pot commands, the subject obeys. Ideas of govern- ment have been formed by observing these relations and those of the helpless masses of the people to a government in which they are not represented. These relations appear comparatively simple; they involve the common element of command on the part of one person or class coupled with obedience on the part of another; one class is regarded as invariably subject to the will of another class. Government, as thus presented, means the compelling of men to act against their own wills. But in political discussion, terms which are easily 275 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY understood are likely to be inadequate or erroneous when applied to social relations. Thus it was never true in any large and important sense that slaves were entirely subject to the will of masters. Slaves have always possessed wills of their own, and masters have been guided and in many ways controlled by the will of the slaves. The apparently simple relation is actually complex, and the conduct of each party is a resultant of opposing forces generated in different minds, of activities set in motion by contradictory wills, of the play of a multitude of emotions and senti- ments. Slaves, as individuals and as a class, have influenced the conduct of masters, and even more is it true in a great state that the course of despots has been modified and their conduct restrained by the attitude of their subjects. No state was ever really governed by the will of one ruler or by that of a lim- ited, clearly defined class. The choices, the will, and the opinions of subjects are always a factor in the government of any state. In the history of states, it is clear that the share of subjects in the conduct of government has been the growing factor. States subject to tyrannical rule have been weakened and made a prey to others having a larger measure of the willing cooperation of subjects. The willing cooper- ation of subjects has ever been a conserving element, and it is this fact which has given rise to the idea of the democratic state. By observing the destructive tendencies of tyranny and the enduring and con- servative tendencies of the cooperation of citizens for the commonweal, a few philosophers finally grasped the idea that the state would be made safer 276 THE PARTY AS A TEACHING AGENCY by discarding the ruling class altogether, and resting simply upon the voluntary cooperation of the entire body of the citizens as the basis of authority. The model, then, for the democratic state is the voluntary organization. The state is the one organic body which has full power to make its will go. It may do what it wills to do. No such state, indeed, has yet been realized to the full. When the citizens of the state fail to achieve freedom in forming and executing their own will, they thereby become or re- main partially subject to the will of the few. Ex- perience seems to prove that rather than incur con- tinued anarchy, some form of despotism will be endured. Our system of dual party government seems to be well adapted to an age of transition from despotism to democracy. Each party is emphatically a volun- tary organization, coextensive with the government and having organs corresponding to those of the government. The two parties together actually or potentially include the entire citizenship. In respect to the great body of state policies, past and present, the two parties are at one. Together they represent and express the will of the whole people upon the wide range of public questions which are not con- troverted. It is comparatively easy to find an occasional phi- losopher who recognizes the possibilities of a demo- cratic state, but it is a tremendous task to get the masses of the people to perceive anything of the sort. The people feel that in matters of state they are victims of powers beyond their control. They always 277 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY have so felt, and without something approaching a miracle they always will. Even in America, after many generations of unrivaled opportunity for the unrestricted exercise of powers, this feeling is strong and persistent. One of the greatest services of the party system is its share in teaching the masses of the people to be- lieve in their own power of political achievement. Party leaders of every name and rank emphasize the will of the people as the one all-powerful factor in government. It may be answered that the will of the people has not been made supreme, that they are still subject to powers beyond their control. But that is another matter. That the masses have to so large an extent been taught to believe in their own possi- bilities is in itself an achievement of great im- portance. The hundred years of the preaching of democracy has had its effect. A new base line for political aspiration has thus been formed. Belief in democracy is a necessary prerequisite to its attain- ment. Another significant service rendered by the party system is found in the emphasis given to the impor- tance of government. Ages of tyranny and oppres- sion have given rise to a deep-rooted prejudice against government. The masses of the people are deluded by despotic notions of government. The term itself is defined in the language of tyranny. It is viewed as involving enforced submission to the will of another. The anarchist is one who has attained a dim vision of the democratic state while yet under duress from the despotic definition of government. 278 THE PARTY AS A TEACHING AGENCY This lack of harmony in definition between state and government has given rise to the demand that government should be confined to the narrowest pos- sible limits, leaving to the individual the widest possible field for free activity. Government is de- fined as despotism, therefore let us have as little of it as possible. The party of Jefferson was organized in part to give expression to the popular prejudice against gov- ernment. But so soon as this party came into power it entered upon a career of brilliant governmental achievement. It acquired territory ; it protected Spanish-American republics against European ag- gressions ; it extended the franchise, and did many things to which party leaders have ever after pointed with pride. It is difficult to see how a party could do more to undermine prejudice against government than did the party of Jefferson, which gained ascen- dancy by giving expression to that prejudice. In the nature of the case each political party must exalt its own deeds. No party can win and hold office by emphasizing a mere negative policy of preventing evil. Hence the party system, in its normal working, exalts the governmental function and tends to re- move prejudice by changing the definition of gov- ernment, so that government itself is coming to be viewed, not as something imposed upon the unwilling, but as an achievement of the free voluntary body. In the meantime, invention and industrial organiza- tion have immensely increased the necessity for or- ganized cooperative effort. This involves new duties and imposes new burdens upon the state. The indi- 279 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY vidual counts for less while organization counts for more than under earlier industrial conditions. The people are threatened with new forms of despotism by the appearance of organizations stronger and more effective than the government. That which is called the government is made simply a competitor for power with other organizations. In the end the strongest organization will be the government. The only means of escape from despotic rule for the entire body of citizens is by magnifying the functions of the one organization which includes them all, that is, the state itself, acting through its appropriate organs, the government. In so far as the political parties exalt the functions of government they tend to make the liberty of the individual more secure against the des- potic power of a competing organization. To say that our party system, in its normal work- ing, tends to destroy the partizan spirit and to unite the people in support of the government would seem a contradiction in terms. Yet there is much about the system which makes such a view worth consid- ering. In the first place it should be observed that the party system did not introduce the spirit of hostility and division in the state, which tends to its destruc- tion. Warring factions in the older despotic states were much more bitter and cruel. Their conflicts often took the form of civil war. Often the safety of the state seemed to require the victorious faction to mete out summary punishment to the enemy. It was a great gain when it was found possible to allow the leaders of the rival faction not only to live but 280 THE PARTY AS A TEACHING AGENCY to continue in official position as critics of the ruling faction. In its very beginning, then, the political party indicated the coming of a new spirit of modera- tion and self-control. A war of words is not as cruel as a warfare which involves the expectation of incur- ring or inflicting the death penalty. In its origin the party was less partizan than the faction which it displaced, and in its development it has tended to become more moderate and reasonable. The move- ment toward the realization of the democratic ideal is characterized by a decrease of partizan animosity. There is much in the ordinary working of the two parties which is fitted to diminish partizan enmity. The points of agreement between the two parties vastly outnumber the points of disagreement. The parties appeal to the same constituency, and, as to the great body of laws and customs and policies, they say the same things. For instance, both parties be- lieve in economy and efficiency in government. The principles of economy and efficiency can never be a partizan issue. Yet the degree of economy and effi- ciency which ought to be attained at a given time and place is always a leading subject of controversy between the two parties which appear as merely rival agencies for the accomplishment of ends universally recognized as desirable. There is here no ground for bitter or lasting resentment. Members of the two parties cooperate in the busi- ness of government. In nearly every legislative com- mittee both are represented. In some of the adminis- trative commissions the law requires representation of the two parties, and in very many more such 281 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY courtesy is voluntarily extended by the ruling party. Liberality in the treatment of the members of the minority is good policy on the part of the majority. The normal way to strengthen a party is by win- ning supporters from the opposition. This can be better done by persuasion and the fair presentation of real issues than by misrepresentation and abuse. The public speaker who excels in vituperation is likely to weaken rather than to strengthen the party he represents. The party leader who loses his temper is almost sure to suffer loss. Successful party leader- ship involves the ability to maintain at least the ap- pearance of good humor. AVhat is here called the partizan spirit is to be carefully distinguished from a hearty belief in and a loyal support of the party system. Belief in the system does not necessarily involve a partizan spirit. On the contrary, the prolongation of the system in a state which is intelligently and progressively demo- cratic is likely to depend upon the ability of its supporters to attain a non-partizan spirit. 282 CHAPTER XXIII PARTY LOYALTY Some of the stroagest indictments against the party- system are based upon the assumption that the party organization commands a devotion greater than does the state itself; that citizens are trained to go with their party, right or wrong, and that the state is endangered on account of a supreme devotion to party. In so far as this is true the system stands con- demned. If it were once conceded that the party system tends to detract from loyalty to the state, to command a higher degree of devotion to a partizan section of the government, it would lose practically all of its intelligent supporters. The advocates of the system maintain precisely the opposite assumption. The party, in their view, is an organization whose sole reason for existence is service to the state. There is no possibility of conflict be- tween loyalty to party and loyalty to the state. The party does not profess to be an institution which in itself commands the supreme devotion of any rational being. It asks support, always and only as an in- strument of service to the commonwealth. Any party which should assume or allow itself to be placed in 283 PAETY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY any other position would be instantly and universally condemned. The party member who should be ham- pered by conflicting emotions of fealty to country and to his party would thereby show that he had failed to understand their true relations ; and if in such an emergency he should follow his party to the detriment of his country, such a course would prove him to be not only a bad citizen but an enemy to his party. Nothing tends more directly to destroy the party than the reputation for exalting itself above the state. If a party supporter finds that his party is becoming committed to a policy which he believes will work serious injury to the state, fidelity to his party as well as to the state will require him to seek to change the course of his party. If this can best be done by voting against his party, faithfulness to true party interest may lead him so to act. If the party nominates a candidate whose election the voter believes will be a source of weakness or injury to the state, then duty to his party as well as duty to the state should impel him to seek to defeat such can- didate. This feature of party loyalty has found expression in the party platforms of some of the States, in which members of the party are pledged by resolution to the defeat of measures or candidates believed to threaten harm to the state.^ On no other principle can parties be maintained in states progressively ^ See in the Republican platform of Missouri for 1902, a clause binding the party to oppose any candidate who had been under the influence of the lobby. 284 PARTY LOYALTY democratic. Nothing so strengthens the better ele- ment in political leadership as the consciousness of a large body of intelligent, conscientious party sup- porters who may be depended upon to administer defeat when unworthy men or measures are put for- ward. On the other hand the party is weakened and demoralized in so far as it is made dependent upon a purchased vote or an unreasoning, prejudiced vote. Another principle, not so generally recognized, is essential to the highest usefulness of the party sys- tem. Members of one political party are likely to take pleasure in the mistakes, the blunders, and the misfortunes of the opposite party. Between con- tending factions in a despotic state where public safety may require the destruction of one of the factions, this feeling is inevitable. But the party system in a democratic state should bring into play a different sentiment and a different rule of action. It is an injury to a political party to be confronted only by a party that is weak, or inefficient, or im- moral. The well-being of the whole country requires that both political parties shall be as wise, as intelli- gent, as virtuous, and as efficient in the use of all right means of service to the state as is possible. The party member who rejoices at the blunders or the misfortunes of the opposing party exhibits thereby both defective patriotism and defective apprehension of true party interests. Virtue and efficiency in one's own party are promoted by virtue and efficiency in the opposition. The party man of the highest type, therefore, does not rejoice over the mistakes or the calamities of his opponents. 285 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY A distinction should be recognized between the rank and file of party supporters and the limited class of party leaders and officers. These classes are of course not sharply divided, but some of the differ- ent principles controlling their actions may be clearly distinguished. The party officer, or leader, has not the same free- dom in the matter of voting as has the ordinary member. The committeeman is, in a sense, a public character. He has ways of influencing his party not open to the common voter. He is in many ways iden- tified with the organization as other citizens are not. One who participates, as a member of a convention, in the making of a nomination, has thereby assumed special obligations in respect to that nomination. It may still be his duty to refuse to support the nominee, but such a course is justified only by extraordinary reasons. Any sort of organization which transacts important business requires of its officers the sur- render of a measure of private judgment or prefer- ence. The officers do not act for themselves alone, but as representing others also. It is highly impor- tant that this principle should be clearly understood, for it often becomes the duty of the party official to go with his party, when, if he were acting in his private capacity as an unofficial member and voter, loyalty to true party interests would impel him to an opposite course. A different attitude of mind pertains likewise to the party leader from that properly characteristic of the follower in view of the ill fortune of the opposi- 286 PARTY LOYALTY tion. It is the business of leaders to expose the de- linquencies of their opponents. One who excels in this form of public service is almost compelled at least to appear to be pleased by the failures of politi- cal enemies. The English Liberal statesman, Sir William Harcourt, after listening to the reading of a bill introduced by the Conservative Government, which he was convinced insured the defeat of the gov- ernment, remarked in a tone of satisfaction to an asso- ciate on the opposition bench: "The Lord hath delivered them into our hands!" Those who are contending in the arena hold a different relation to the fray from that of the spectators. It is the citizen voter rather than the party leader who should be expected to maintain the mental attitude which im- pels him to look with favor upon every indication of strength and virtue in each of the political parties, and to experience regret at every indication of weak- ness in either. If the party system should survive the attainment of a truly democratic state, the office and the func- tions of the ordinary party supporter would be more and more exalted and the function of the technical party officer and manager would become less promi- nent. The rank and file would more and more con- sciously gain control. The proportion of the unofficial to the official class cannot be fixed either in theory or in practice. In the actual party organizations in the different States the number twenty-five frequently occurs. This is the old grand jury number. One officer is attended 287 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY by twenty-fonr supporters.^ It is the business of the jury to voice the sentiment of the commonwealth. If the organization which is used to formulate and express the general will bears the name of a political party in the democratic state, this is a mere matter of convenience. The citizens divide and organize themselves for purposes of discussion and investiga- tion for the common good that they may the more surely determine their own minds and that every part of the citizenship may the more surely be regarded. The object of the two parties is to give emphasis to the substantial unity of the entire citizenship in re- spect to all matters of common agreement and to narrow the field of controversy to the few questions in doubt which need immediate settlement. But if the masses of the people are not sufficiently intelligent, virtuous, and public-spirited, and must therefore submit to some form of despotic rule, there are many positive arguments in favor of maintaining two competing organizations capable of assuming control. In this way despotic rulers may be removed without unnecessary violence. * See Article III., "Tammany Rules, New York", 288 APPENDIX DIRECT PRIMARY LAW OF CALIFORNIA CHAPTEE 398 1471 act to provide for and regulate primary elections, and pro- viding the method whereby electors of political parties may express their choice at such primary elections for United States senator, and to repeal an act entitled an act to pro- vide for and regulate primary elections, and providing the method whereiy electors of political parties may express their choice at such primary elections for United States senator, approved M-arch S4, 1909. [Approved April 7, 1911 ; amended December 24, 1911, as to sections 1, 8, 5, 7, 10, 12, 13, 22, 23, and 24; amendment constitutes Chapter 17 of Statutes of Special Session of 1911. (Amended sections here incorporated.)] The people of the State of California, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows: Definition of Words and Phrases Section 1. The words and phrases in this act shall, unless such construction be inconsistent with the context, be construed as follows: 1. The words "primary election," any and every primary nominating election provided for by this act. September and May Primary Elections 2. The words "September primary election," the primary election held in September to nominate candidates to be voted for at the ensuing November election. 3. The words ' ' May presidential primary election, ' ' any such 19 289 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY primary election, held in May of a bissextile or leap year, as shall provide for the expression of preference in the several political parties for party candidates for president and vice- president of the United States and for the election of delegates to national party conventions. 4. The vFord "election," a general or city or city and county election as distinguished from a primary election. 5. The words ' ' November election, ' ' the presidential elec- tion, the general state election, county, city or city and county election held in November. What Constitutes a "Political Party" in this Act 6. The word or words ' ' political party, " " party, " " polit- ical organization," or "organization," a political party or organization of electors which at the last general election before the holding of the primary election, polled at least three per cent, of the entire vote of the state, or of the county, city and county, district, or other political division for which nomina- tions are to be made. Judicial OflB.cer and Office 7. The words "judicial officer," any justice of the supreme court, justice of a district court of appeal, judge of the supe- rior court, justice of the peace, or justice of such inferior court as the legislature may establish in any county, township, incor- porated city or town, or city and county; and the words "judicial office," the office filled by any of the above judicial officers. School Officer and Office 8. The words "school officer," the superintendent of public instruction, any superintendent of schools of a county or city and county, or any school district officer or trustee; and the words ' ' school office, ' ' the office filled by any of the above school officers. This statute shall be liberally construed, so that the real will of the electors shall not be defeated by any informality or failure to comply with all the provisions of law in respect to 290 APPENDIX either the giving of any notice or the conducting of the primary election or certifying the results thereof. Duties of Begistrars In all counties and cities and counties in this state, having a registrar of voters or registrar of voters and a board of elec- tion commissioners, the powers conferred and the duties im- posed in this statute upon county clerks and their deputies, and other officers, in relation to matters of election and polling places, shall be exercised and performed by such registrar of voters or his deputies, or registrar of voters or his deputies and board of election commissioners; and all nominating papers, list of candidates, expenses, and oaths of office, re- quired by this statute to be made to county clerks, shall be filed with the registrar of voters. Sec. 5. 5. In the ease of an elector seeking nomination to the office of state senator or member of the assembly at any primary election next preceding the election of a United States senator in congress, he may include with his affidavit one of the two statements hereinafter set forth in this section and sub- division. But his failure to include either of such statements shall not be a valid ground on the part of the secretary of state for refusal to receive and file his nomination paper or papers. Such statements, if any be made, shall be in substantially the following form: Statement of Legislative Candidates Regarding Vote on United States Senator Statement No. 1 I further declare to the people of California and to the people of the (senatorial or assembly) district that during my term of office, without regard to my individual preference, I will always vote for that candidate for United States senator in congress who shall have received for that office the higheet number of the votes cast for that position 291 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY at the general election next preceding the election of a senator in congress. Signature of Candidate for Nomination. If the candidate be unwilling to sign the above statement, he may include with his affidavit the following statement: Statement No. 2 I further declare to the people of California and to the peo- ple of the (senatorial or assembly) district, that during my term of office I shall consider the vote of the people for United States senator in congress as nothing more than a recommendation, which I shall be at liberty wholly to disregard, if the reasons for so doing seem to me sufficient. Signature of Candidate for Nomination. Candidate's Statement to be Shown on Ballot On the ballot used at the primary election, after or vtnder the name of each candidate for state senator or assemblyman shall appear the words, "Signed Statement No. 1," or "Signed Statement No. 2," or "Signed neither statement," according as the candidate included with his affidavit, "Statement No. 1, " "Statement No. 2," or neither statement, respectively; and together with the sample primary ballot the county clerk or registrar of voters must include a card or slip of paper on which shall be printed all this subdivision, viz. : subdivision 5 of section 5 of this act. Delegates to County Conventions Sec. 12. 11. At the bottom of the last column on any offi- cial primary election ballot to be voted in September for the nomination of candidates to be voted for at the ensuing Novem- ber election, there shaU be left as many blank spaces defined by light lines or rules three eighths of an inch apart as there are delegates to be elected to the county convention of such party, 292 APPENDIX as shall have been previously apportioned by the county com- mittee of such party and which shall be preceded by the words "Delegates to County Convention," "Vote for One" or "Vote for Two," or more as the case may be, according to such apportionment, in which blank spaces the voter may write or paste the name or names of qualified electors of his party as delegates to the county convention of such party. Appor- tionment by the county central committee shall be such that not more than ten delegates shall be voted for by any one voter. Challenging of Voters Sec. 16. Any elector offering to vote at a primary election may be challenged by any elector of the city, city and county or county, upon either or all of the grounds specified in section 1230 of the Political Code, but his right to vote the primary election ticket of the political party designated in his affidavit of registration, as provided in section 1096 of the Political Code, shall not be challenged on any ground or subjected to any tests other than those provided by the constitution and section 1230 of the Political Code of this state. Who Entitled to Vote Sec. 17. Any elector who has, at least thirty days before the day of any primary election, qualified by registration and by declaration of the political party with which he intends to affiliate, as provided by section 1096 of the Political Code, shall be entitled to vote at such primary election, such right to vote being subject to challenge only as hereinbefore provided; and shall, on writing his name or having it written for him on the roster, as provided by law for general elections in this state, receive the official primary election ballot of the political party designated in his affidavit of registration, and no other; pro- vided, however, that no one shall be entitled to vote at any pri- mary election who has not been a resident of the state one year, and of the county ninety days, preceding the day upon which such primary election is held. He shall be instructed by a mem- ber of the board as to the proper method of marking and fold- 293 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY ing his ballot, and he shall then retire to an unoccupied booth and without undue delay stamp the same with the rubber stamp there found. If he shall spoil or deface the ballot he shall at once return the same to the ballot clerk and receive another. Who Become Nominees of Each Party Sec. 23. Except in the case of a candidate for nomination to a judicial office or a school office, the person receiving the highest number of votes at a primary election as the candidate for the nomination of a political party for an office shall be the candidate of the party for such office, and his name as such can- didate shall be placed on the official ballot voted at the ensuing election ; provided, he has paid the filing fee required by subdi- vision 8 of section 7 of this act. The name of the person in each political party who receives at a primary election the high- est number of votes for United States senator shall also be placed on the official ballot under the heading "United States Senator. ' ' Who Become Nominees for Judicial and School Offices— Dele- gates to Conventions— Certificates of Nomination to Candidates— Party Nominees Certified to County Clerks by Secretary of State In the case of a judicial office or a school office, the candi- dates equal in number to twice the number to be elected to such office, or less, if so there be, who receive the highest number of the votes cast on all the ballots of all the political parties par- ticipating in the primary election for nomination to such office, shall be the candidates for such office at the ensuing election, and their names as such candidates shall be placed on the offi- cial ballot voted at the ensuing election; provided, however, that in case there is but one person to be elected at the Novem- ber election to a judicial or a school office, any candidate who receives at the September primary election a majority of the total number of votes cast for all the candidates for such office shall be the only candidate for such office at the ensuing elec- tion; and provided, further, that nothing contained in this sec- 294 APPENDIX tion shall be so construed as to prevent any person who was not a candidate at the primary election from becoming a candidate for such office under the provisions of section 1188 of the Polit- ical Code. The elector receiving the highest number of votes of his party in his district, ward or precinct for delegate shall be a representative of his party from the political subdivision in which he was elected in all conventions of his party in such county or city in which such political subdivision is entitled to representation. When two or more delegates are to be elected from the same political subdivision, the elector receiving a plurality over the elector next in number of votes, shall be declared elected, until as many delegates have been chosen as have been apportioned to such district, ward or precinct. It shall be the duty of the officers charged with the canvass of the returns of any primary election in any county, city and county or municipality to cause to be issued official certificates of nom- ination to such party candidates as have received the highest number of votes as the candidates for the nomination of such party for any offices to be voted for wholly within such county, city and county, or municipality, and cause to be issued to such delegate a certificate of his election; and to cause to be issued official certificates of nomination to such candidates for judicial or school offices as may be entitled thereto under the provisions of this section. It shall be the duty of the secretary of state to issue official certificates of nomination to candidates nomi- nated under the provisions of this act for representatives in congress, members of the state senate and assembly and officers voted for in more than one county; and to issue certificates of election to all persons elected at the May presidential primary election as delegates to their respective national party conven- tions, and to notify each of said delegates of the total vote re- ceived by each of the persons voted for in his party at said election, under the heading ' ' For Presidential Nominee. ' ' Not less than thirty days before the November election the secretary of state shall certify to the county clerks or registrars of voters of each county and city and county within the state, the name of every person entitled to receive votes within such county or city and county at said November election who has received the nomination as a candidate for public office under 295 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY and pursuant to the provisions of this act, and whose nomina- tion is evidenced by the compilation and statement required to be made by said secretary of state and filed in his office, as provided in section 22 of this act. Such certificates shall in addition to the names of such nominees respectively, also show separately and respectively for each nominee the name of the political party or organization which has nominated such person if any and the designation of the public office for which he is so nominated. The secretary of state shall also certify to the county clerk or registrar of voters the names of those persons who have received in their respective parties the highest num- ber of votes for United States senator. Party Conventions Sec. 24. 1. Party conventions of delegates chosen as here- inafter provided may be held in this state, or any political sub- division thereof, for the purpose of promulgating platforms and transacting such other business of the party as is not incon- sistent with the provisions of this act. State Convention— how Composed, when Called, and what Duties 2. The candidate for state officers, if any, except judicial and school officers, and the candidates for senate and assembly nominated by each political party at the primary election, and state senators of such political party whose term of office ex- tends beyond the first Monday in January of the year next en- suing, shall meet at the state capitol at two o'clock in the afternoon of the fourth Tuesday of September after the date on which any primary election is held preliminary to the gen- eral November election. They shall forthwith formulate the state platforms of their party, which said state platform of each political party shall be framed at such time that it shall be made public not later than six o'clock in the afternoon of the following Thursday. They shall also proceed to elect a state central committee to consist of at least three (3) members from each congressional district, who shall hold office until a new state central committee shall have been selected. 296 APPENDIX Nomination of Presidential Electors In each bissextile or leap year they shall also nominate as the candidates of their party as many electors of president and vice-president of the United States as the state is then entitled to, and it shall be the duty of the secretary of state to issue cer- tificates of nomination to the electors so nominated, and to cause the names of such candidates for elector to be placed upon the ballots at the ensuing November election. County Convention and County Central Committee 3. A county convention shall be called in the manner fol- lowing: The county central committee of any political party shall at least thirty days prior to each September primary elec- tion, file a written petition signed by its chairman and secre- tary, with the county clerk, which petition shall contain the date and place of holding such convention, the number of dele- gates entitled to seats therein, also the number of delegates apportioned to each election subdivision in the territory which said convention will represent ; also a brief statement of the purposes for which such convention is called, and the chairman and secretary of such county central committee shall mail or cause to be mailed a notice containing the substance of such petition to each committeeman of such party in the county. Such convention notice shall provide for the selection of a county central committee, which shall have control and man- agement of the party campaign under the general directions of the state central committee or of an executive committee se- lected by such state central committee. In any county the countj committee shall be selected by the county convention. Municipal Convention 4. City and county or municipal conventions shall be called in like manner as state and county conventions, and delegates thereto shall be elected at primary elections held in such city and county or municipality to nominate candidates for office in such political subdivisions in like manner as herein provided for the election of delegates to county conventions. In any city 297 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY and county the petition calling such convention shall be filed with the registrar of voters, and in municipalities, with the sec- retary or clerk of the legislative body of such municipality, and the names of candidates for delegates to such conventions shall be written or pasted on the official primary ballot in like man- ner and form as herein provided for county conventions. In any city and county the county committee shall be selected by the county convention. 5. County, city and county, and municipal conventions shall be held not later than two weeks after the primary election at which delegates to such conventions are chosen. State Central Committee 6. State central committees shall be selected by the state con- ventions of each political party, to consist of not less than three members from each congressional district, who shall hold office until a new state central committee shall have been selected. Each such committee may select an executive committee and shall choose its officers by ballot and each committee and its officers shall have the powers usually exercised by such com- mittees and the officers thereof in so far as may be consistent with this act. The various officers and committees now in exist- ence shall exercise the powers and perform the duties herein prescribed until their successors are chosen in accordance with the provisions of this act. 298 RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE DEMO- CRATIC-REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY OF NEW YORK, 1904 The Democratic-Kepublican General Committee of the County of New York elected and established by the Democratic voters of the County of New York, do hereby adopt the Kidea and Eegulations following: ABTICLE I.— Organization There shall be an Assembly District Association in each Assembly District, composed of all the voters who are en- rolled as members of the Democratic Party in that District. There shall be the following representative bodies: 1. A County General Committee, to be known as the Demo- cratic-Republican General Committee of the County of New York. 2. Such Conventions as are prescribed by the Primary Elec- tion Law, or as may be called from time to time by the Demo- cratic-Republican County General Committee. ASTICLE n.— Representation The unit of representation to be observed in the election of delegates to the County General Committee, and to the several nominating Conventions, shall be the Assembly District and the Annexed District. Where a portion of an Assembly District is within the po- litical division for which the Committee or Convention is 299 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY elected, such portion shall be deemed to be an Assembly Dis- trict for the purpose of representation, and the rules and regulations applying to an Assembly District shall in all things apply to such portion of an Assembly District. ABTICLE m.— County Committee The Democratic County Committee shall be the central or- ganization and the General Committee of the Democratic Party in the County of New York, and shall have the care of the in- terests and be charged with the administration of the affairs of the party in the County, and with the promotion of mea- sures for the harmony, eflBciency and success of the party. The basis or ratio of apportionment to be observed in the election of delegates to the County General Committee, shall be one delegate for every twenty-five votes, or each major part thereof, cast in each Assembly District and the Annexed Dis- trict at the General Election in 1902 for the Democratic candi- date for Governor. Vacancies in the membership of the County Committee shall be filled for the unexpired term by the remaining members of the delegation in which the vacancy occurs at a meeting of the delegation to be called by the Corresponding Secretary of the County Committee, in the same manner as the meetings of the County Committee are called. At the first meeting of the County Committee in every year the Committee shall be called to order by the President of the preceding year, who shall act until a temporary chairman is chosen upon a call of the roll. In the absence of the President, the First or Second Vice-President, the Recording or Corre- sponding Secretary or Treasurer of the preceding year shalj act in the order named. In the event of a contest a Committee on Contested Seats shall be appointed by the President. Members whose names are on the official roll shall be deemed prima facie entitled to their seats and shall have the right to vote on all questions except that of their right to their own seats. All reports upon contested seats shall be in writing, and 300 APPENDIX shall state the facts as found by the Committee, together with the action recommended and the reasons therefor. The right to seats from each Assembly District shall, in case of contests, be decided separately from the right to seats from every other district. AETICLE IV.— Officers The ofBcers of the County Committee shall be a President, a First Vice-President, a Second Vice-President, a District Vice-President from each Assembly District and the Annexed District, a Kecording Secretary, a Corresponding Secretary, a District Secretary from each Assembly District and the An- nexed District, three General Secretaries, a Reading Secretary (to be appointed by the President), a Treasurer and a Ser- geant-at-Arms, all of whom shall hold oflSce until a new com- mittee is elected and organized. In case the Eeading Secre- tary appointed as herein provided is not a duly elected member of the General Committee he shall not be entitled to debate or vote on any question. The President shall be Chairman of the County Committee and it shall be his duty to preside at all meetings of that body, and he shall be ex-officio a member of the Executive Committee. He shall appoint all Standing and Special Committees unless other provision is made, and shall discharge all the duties imposed on him by the Primary Election Law. The Vice-Presidents shall in their order preside at meetings of the Committee in the absence of the President. The Recording Secretary shall keep full and accurate min- utes of all the proceedings of the General Committee, and shall prepare a roll of the members and their respective places of address. The Corresponding Secretary shall notify the mem- bers through the mails of the time and place of all meetings. The Treasurer shall receive and hold in trust all funds of the committee. He shall be ex-officio a member of the Executive Committee and report to the Committee when required by said ■Committee so to do. 301 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY ASTICLE V. — Committees There shall be the following Standing Committees of the County Committee. Executive Committee An Executive Committee to consist of one member, as here- inafter qualified, from each Assembly District and one from the Annexed District, with the exception of the Thirty-fourth District, in which District there shall be one member with one- half a vote for that portion of the District lying south of the Harlem Kiver, and one member with one-half a vote for that portion of the District lying north of the Harlem Eiver, with the Chairman and Treasurer of the General Committee, the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Printing, the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Resolu- tions and Correspondence, the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Public Meetings, and the Chairman and Vice- Chairman of the Committee on Law as ex-officio members. No ex-officio member of the Executive Committee other than the Chairman and Treasurer of the General Committee shall be entitled to a vote. The member from each Assembly District and from the An- nexed District and the members from the Thirty-fourth As- sembly District shall be chosen in the following manner: At the meeting of the members of the County Committee from each Assembly District and the Annexed District, held in each year for the purpose of organization, there shall be selected by a majority vote of those elected to such committee or division of such committee where authorized, a member of the Executive Committee, which selection shall be submitted at the last meeting of the existing Executive Committee held in such year, and from the list of such selections there shall be re- ported to the first meeting of the County Committee in each year the names on such list approved by such Executive Com- mittee, and upon approval thereof by the County Committee the 302 APPENDIX same shall, with the ex-officio members, constitute the Executive Committee for the ensuing year. In the event of the members from any District being unable to agree upon a member for Executive Committee or in the event of any name submitted being rejected, the Executive Committee, as approved by the County Committee, may appoint one of the members of the County Committee from such Dis- trict to act as member of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee shall meet for organization on the call of the President of the General Committee and elect from their number a Chairman, Vice-Chairman and two Secretaries. The Chairman shall appoint a Secretary to the Committee, who shall be subject to its direction but need not be a member thereof. Subsequent meetings of the Executive Committee shall be held as determined by the Committee or on call of its Chairman. The action of the Committee shall in no case be final, but it shall report its conclusions and recommendations to the County Committee from time to time. Committee on Law A Committee on Law to consist of 39 members, whose duty it shall be to advise the County Committee or any Committee or oflScer thereof, on any question of law arising upon the dis- charge of its or his duty, to consider and report in any matters of a legal nature that may be referred to it by the County or Executive Committee, and to investigate all reports of viola- tion of duty by election or other officers. Committee on Fiinting A Committee on Printing to consist of 7 members, whose duty it shall be to take charge of all printing ordered by the County or Executive Committee. Committee on Resolutions and Correspondence A Committee on Resolutions and Correspondence to consist of 17 members, whose duty it shall be to prepare such resolu- 303 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY tions as may be directed by the General or Executive Com- mittee as well as consider and report on such resolutions as may be referred to it by either of the said Committees. In addition thereto the Committee shall conduct such corre- spondence as may be directed by the General or Executive Committee. Committee on Election Officers A Committee on Election Officers to consist of 5 members, which shall under the law, with the President, prepare and present the official list of Democratic election officers. Committee on Fablic Ueetings A Committee on Public Meetings to consist of 7 members, whose duty it shall be to prepare a list of Speakers, from which shall be assigned such number as may be requested or may be necessary in the proper conduct of the mass and district meetings held under the auspices of the County General or an Assembly District Committee. Committee on Holes A Committee on Rules to consist of 7 members, whose duty it shall be to consider and report on all amendments proposed to existing rules, and to prepare, consider and report for sub- mission at the meeting of the County Committee called for organization a set of rules and regulations, which, if ap- proved by such County Committee and not thereafter changed, shall be and continue the rules of the organization for the year ensuing thereafter. The first and second as named by the President on any Committee shall be respectively the Chairman and Vice-Chair- man thereof. ARTICIE VI.— Meetings The regular meetings of the County Committee shall be held on the second Thursday of each month, excepting June, July 304 APPENDIX and August, unless otherwise ordered at the next preceding meeting of the Committee. Special meetings may be called by the President, stating the object of the meeting; at such special meetings no other busi- ness shall be transacted. A majority of all the members elected to the Committee shall be a quorum for the transaction of business. The meetings of the Committee shall be held in Executive Session on a request of a majority of the members present at any meeting. ARTICLE Vn.— Order of Business and Bnles of Order (a) The order of business shall be as follows: 1. Eoll Call. 2. Beading of Minutes. 3. Reports of Standing Committees. 4. Reports of Special Committees. 5. Communications. 6. Unfinished business. 7. Miscellaneous business. (6) Motion shall not be put or debated until seconded; and, when seconded, shall be stated by the presiding officer before debate. All resolutions shall be reduced to writing and signed by the member offering the same, on the request of the presiding oflScer or any member of the Committee. (c) No member shall speak more than once on the same question to the exclusion of any other member, and no member shall speak more than ten minutes at a time without the gen- eral consent of the Committee. (d) On any question the yeas and nays shall be taken, if requested by one-third of the members present, and entered in full on the minutes. (e) When the question has been stated, the following mo- tions and no other shall be entertained. To amend, to amend the amendment, to substitute, to lay on the table, to refer to the Committee, to take the previous question and adjourn. A motion to adjourn or lay on the table shall be in order at any 20 305 PARTY ORGANIZATION AND MACHINERY time, but such motions may not be renewed until there has been intervening business and shall be decided without debate. (f) A motion to reconsider business once disposed of shall not be entertained unless moved by a member voting with the majority, nor unless moved at the same or the next meeting of the Committee. (g) The County Committee shall not entertain any motion or resolution recommending any person for any office not to be filled by election by the people. (7i) In all cases not provided for in the foregoing the Committee shall be governed by the Eules as laid down in Cushing's Manual. ABTICIE Vni.— Expulsion The County Committee may for cause expel any member or declare vacant the seat of any member by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members present and voting, provided that the persons voting for such action shall constitute a ma- jority of all the members elected. AETICLE IX.— Seal This Committee shall have a seal with the words, "Demo- cratic-Eepublican General Committee of the County of New York Seal," thereon; such seal may be affixed by the President or by the Recording Secretary under the authority of the President to all certificates and other documents, where a seal is requisite or proper. ARTICLE X.— Conventions All candidates for elective office shall be nominated at con- ventions to be called for the political division in which the nominee shall be a candidate. The County Committee shall apportion the delegates to each convention among the several units of representation in ac- cordance with the Primary Election Law. All conventions and primaries shall be called by the General Committee. 306 APPENDIX Conventions to elect delegates to the Democratic State Con- vention shall be called in conformity with the instructions of the Democratic State Committee. Conventions to elect delegates to the Democratic City Con- ventions shall be called in conformity with the instructions of the Democratic City Committee. Delegates to all Conventions shall be elected as provided by law. 'ABTICLE XI.— Unofficial Primaries Unofficial Primary Elections of the Democratic Party in the County of New York may be authorized and directed to be held by resolution duly adopted by this Committee. This Com- mittee may designate the time and place within the unit of representation for which such unofficial primary election shall be held in accordance with the Primary Election Law. ABTICLE Xn.— Substitution Substitutes for delegates absent from Conventions may be chosen by a majority of the delegates from the unit of repre- sentation in which such vacancy occurs. ASTICLE Xni.— Amendments These Kules and Kegulations may be amended only by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to the General Committee present at a regular meeting of said Committee. 307 INDEX INDEX Accessory party organs, 260 Adams, Charles Francis, 145, 146 Adams, John, 99 Addams, Jane, 228 Anarchist, 278 Appointments to office, 27, 32, 34, 36, 38, 39 Auditing of party accounts, 236 Australian ballot, 57, 133, 137 Ballot, short, 214 Biparty system, xii, xiii, 15, 16, 20, 43 Blaine, James G., 75 Blair, Frank P., 180 Bolingbroke, xi, xvi Boss, party, 208, 209 Boston, 133, 136, 158, 210 Bryan, William Jennings, 85 Cabinet system, English, xii, 15, 19, 20, 25, 41, 43 California, 198-206, 208, 209 direct primary law, 289 Cameron, James Donald, 149, 156 Cameron, Simon, 148, 155 Campaign, presidential, 7, 81, 121 Campaign committee, 80 Candidates contribution of, to party ex- penses, 238 party officers, 23 presidential, usually from "doubtful" states, 166 Caucus congressional, 26, 32, 61 party, 59, 60, 136-139, 208, 209 Central Pacific Eailroad Com- pany, 199 Chairman national committee, 75, 80, 85 national convention, 74-78 state committee, Pennsyl- vania, 119, 131 Chicago, 228 Cities effect of, on parties, 109, 111, 216-235 elections in, 8, 105, 220, 234 Civil service reform, 26, 37, 75, 239, 272 Clay, Henry, 29 Clayton, Powell, 75 Cleveland, Grover, President, 37, 38, 51, 53, 54 College League, Republican, 264 Colorado, 211, 213 Commission form of govern- ment, 214 Committee campaign, 80 congressional, district activity, 93, 94 Indiana, 170 Missouri, 182 powers and duties, 50, 84 congressional, national organization methods, 90, 91 origin, 31, 40, 46, 87 power and efficiency, 93 relation to national com- mittee, 89 usefulness and importance, 89, 90 county California, 203 Indiana, 169, 170, 173 311 INDEX Committee county (Continued) Pennsylvania, 115, 116, 128, 130 national chairman, 75, 80, 85 duties and powers, 69, 70, 74, 84 influence over state ma- chinery, 81, 82 members, selection of, 69 no power over strife within a party, 75-77 organization, 78, 79 origin, 65, 67, 69 permanent character, 40, 65 relation to presidential can- didate, 79, 88 representation of all party sections, 79, 80 party, 63, 208, 213 state Massachusetts, 133, 135 Pennsylvania, 119 Committee system of Congress, 45 Congress in party organization and leadership, 31, 37, 38, 46 powers and duties, 18 Congp*essional leadership, 43-55 Conscience money, 239 Constitution, Federal amendments to, 100, 101, 104 partition of powers between states and general gov- ernment, 13, 18, 44, 98 relation to the political party, 11, 13, 25, 49 Convention county, California, 203 definition, 61, 62 interstate, 107 national called by congressional committee, 40 chairman, 74—78 connection with primarie8,6i2^ Convention national (Contiiiued) first Republican, 68 nomination by the delegate convention discredited, 207, 209 rules of the two parties differ, 83 scope of power, 78 work of, the nomination of candidates, 78 state Massachusetts, 136, 139 Pennsylvania, 118, 119, 129 Convention system of nomina- tion discredited, 207, 209 Corporation control of politics, 124, 159, 200, 209, 243 County influence of, on party organ- ization, 114-116, 141, 143, 219-225 unit of local government in California and Pennsyl- vania, 198 County committee, see Com- mittee County convention, see Conven- tion Daniels, Senator, 77 Delegates to national conven- tion, 83 Democracy service rendered by the party system, 278, 281 slow evolution of, ix, 274 Democratic party characteristics of, 258 comparison of parties in Mas- sachusetts and Pennsyl- vania, 163 minority party, 251 official title, 73 organized to resist centraliza- tion in the State, 256 Missouri, 177 Pennsylvania, 127 312 INDEX Democratic party (Continued) Southern States, 186-197 supports the Union, 72 Democratic-Eepublican Organ- ization of the County of New York, 1904, Kules and Kegulations, 299 Direct primary law of Califor- nia, 289 Douglas, Stephen A., 7 "2 Elections city, 8, 105, 220, 234 presidential, 4, 7, 12, 81, 99 representatives, 5, 36, 50, 52, 102 senators, 4, 5, 12, 47, 49, 103, 196 state function, 102, 103, 105 Elective franchise, 103, 104 Fillmore, President, 28, 29 Finance, party, 211, 236-247 Free Soil party, 145, 146 Free Trade League, 265 Fremont, General John C, 176 Garfield, James A., President, 37 Government, definition of, 274 Grange, 266 Grant, Ulysses S., President, 33-38 Greeley, Horace, 179, 191, 251 Hampton, General, 193 Harcourt, Sir William, 287 Hard times, 253 Harrison, Benjamin, President, 37 Harrison, William H., Presi- dent, 28 Hayes, Eutherford B., Presi- dent, 33, 36, 38, 54 HiU, David B., 77 HiUhouse, James, xvi Huntington, C. P., 199 Illtnois, 223 Income, party, sources of, 237- 241 Indiana, party organization in, 165-175 Initiative and referendum, 206, 214, 269-272 Iowa, 223 Ireland, Home Rule party in, 190 Jackson, Andrew, President, 26, 54 Jefferson, Thomas, President, xiv, 99 Johnson, Andrew, President, 30, 54, 87 Jones, Senator, of Arkansas, 77, 85 Knights of Labor, 267 Knownothing party, 66, 146, 189 Labor organizations, 152, 243, 267 Leaders, party, 286 Legalized party organization, 139, 198 Liberal Republican movement of 1872, 179, 191 Lincoln, Abraham, President, 30, 87, 176 Lincoln-Roosevelt Republican League of California, 201 Louisiana Lottery Company, 241 Loyalty to party and to state, 283-288 McKinley, William, President, 39, 85 Majority party, 248 Massachusetts comparison of parties in, with Pennsylvania, 145-164, 207 party organization, 133-144 Minnesota, 210 Minority party, 248 313 INDEX Mississippi, 194, 195, 196, 207, 210 Missouri, party organization in, 176-185 Morgan, Edwin D., 68 National Civic Federation, 234 National committee, see Com- mittee National convention, see Con- vention National Leagues, 262 Negro vote in Southern States, 186, 191-193 New York City, 216, 222, 228, 231, 232 New York County, Eules and Eegulations of the Dem- ocratic - Eepublican Or- ganization, 1904, 299 New York State, 223 Nomination by delegate conven- tion discredited, 207, 209 Nullifiers, 28, 30, 250 Oregon, 200, 201, 207, 210 Partitioning of governmental powers, 13, 18, 44, 98 Party accessories, 260 Party history and political his- tory, difficulty in distin- guishing, xvii Party leadership. Grant method of, 33-37 Party reorganization, 207-215 Party system of government attacks upon, xvii control of party transferred to the State, 211 difference between American and English, xiii, 17, 41, 43, 224 evolution of, xi from the standpoint of the people, 56 fusion of office in party and government, 21 Party system (Continued) loyalty to party, 283 officers, leaders and support- ers, 286 organizations most central- ized of American institu- tions, 9 place and mission of the party in national life, 7, 97 powers and responsibilities, 268-272 reorganization of parties, 207-215 responsibility of dominant party, 44 teaching agency, 274-282 uniqueness of American, xiv Patronage federal, in Philadelphia and New York, 123, 231 "the spoils of office," 27, 32, 34, 36, 38, 39 Pennsylvania comparison of parties in, with Massachusetts, 145-164 Democratic party organiza- tion, 127-132 People 's party, 70, 149, 155 Eepublican party organiza- tion, 111-126 People 's party in Pennsylvania, 70, 149, 155 Philadelphia, 123, 217, 231, 232 Pledges, 21, 22, 25 Political cycle, 3-14 Populist party, 246, 251, 265 Presidential campaign, 7, 81, 121 Presidential candidates usually from "doubtful" States, 166 Presidential elections, 4, 7, 12, 81, 99 Presidential electors, 12, 99, 101, 167, 203 Presidential leadership, 20, 21, 25-41 314 INDEX Primary elections, 56, 59, 136, 138, 194, 196, 202, 204, 205, 207, 209, 210, 212, 213 definition of, 56, 57 open, 212 presidential, 205 Primary law of California, 289 Prohibition party, 202, 265 Protectionist League, 264 Eace problem, 108, 176, 188, 189, 191, 193 Eeferendum and recall, 206, 214, 269-272 Eeorganization of parties, 207- 215 Eepresentatives consulted as to appointments, 34 election, 5, 36, 50, 52, 102 party leadership, 51, 52, 90 relations to congressional committee, 46 Eepublican party becomes the "Union" party, 30, 72 beginnings of, 146, 147, 152 comparison of parties in Mas- sachusetts and Pennsyl- vania, 145-164 majority party, 249 Missouri, 176 organization, 66 Pennsylvania, 111 prominence of machinery in, 255, 257 Southern States, 186-197 Schoolhouse campaign, 106 Senate, right to confirm ap- pointments, 33, 34 * ' Senatorial courtesy, ' ' 33 Senatorial leadership, 47, 49, 51, 52, 124, 145-151, 158, 166, 167, 173, 184 Senators election, 4, 5, 12, 47, 49, 103, 196 original Republican, 147 Shearman, T. G., 240 Slavery, 148, 152, 154, 155, 176, 180 Social side of party life, 260 Socialist party, 202 South Carolina, 49, 59, 192, 195, 197 Southern Pacific Eailroad, 198- 202 Southern States, party organ- ization in, 186-197, 232, 256 Speaker of House of Represen- tatives, 52, 53 Stanford, Leland, 199 State fundamental principle, 97 powers and duties, 98-106 transfer of party control to, 211 State party organization, 96- 110 characteristics, 107-109 corporation control of poli- tics, 159, 200 doubtful States, 165-175 legal recognition and control of, 139, 198 most complete and effective in Pennsylvania, 111, 122 reorganization, 207 variety in different States, 106 Sumner, Charles, 145-148, 179 Switzerland, 269-271 Tammany Hall, 216, 228, 229, 231, 261 Taylor, President, 28, 29, 30 Tennessee, 186 Terminology, party, 56-63 Third party, 265 Town-meeting of New England, 140-143 Tyler, John, President, 28 315 INDEX Union Convention of 1864, 72, 87 Unit rule of Democratic conven- tion, 83 Veto power of the President, 25, 31 Voluntary organization the model for the State, 277 Votes, buying of, 242 Walpole, xi Washington, George, 21, 99 Weaver, James B., 246 Webster, Daniel, 150 Wilson, Henry, 146, 147, 148 Wisconsin, 207, 210 Woman 's suffrage, 206 ^ Q 316