STATE GOVERNMENT IN OUTLINE
_The purpose of this chapter is to explain the relation of the
states to the nation, to show how the state governments are
organized, and what services they render the people._
[Sidenote: Place of the states in the nation.]
=The Sovereign States.=—It is customary to speak of the American
Republic as made up of “sovereign states”, but unless this expression is
clearly explained it is apt to be misleading. On July 4th, 1776, the
thirteen colonies became free and independent states, each entitled to
frame its own plan of government. These new states were subject to no
restrictions except the very mild ones which, by adopting the Articles
of Confederation, they had agreed to place upon themselves. They were
very jealous of their independence and disinclined to surrender any of
their powers, even to create a unified nation. For this reason, when the
national constitution was framed in 1787, the states reserved to
themselves all powers not conveyed to the new federal government by the
provisions of that document. It was intended that the preponderance of
power should rest with the states, that most of the work of government
should be performed by them, and that the first interest of the citizen
should be in the affairs of his own state.
[Sidenote: Relative strength of the national and the state governments.]
But scarcely had the new federal government become established when it
began to gather strength. By a series of decisions the Supreme Court
gave a liberal interpretation to the powers of Congress as set forth in
the constitution, each decision widening the authority of the central
government. The state governments did not look with favor upon this
development; but on the whole the people of the country approved it.
Little by little the nation forged ahead of the states in its hold upon
the interest and loyalty of the people. The Civil War was an important
factor in all this, for the real issue in that conflict concerned the
respective rights of the federal and the state governments. The union
came out of the war much stronger than before and for the last sixty
years it has kept gaining. Today people think of themselves as citizens
of the United States, rather than as citizens of a particular state;
their first interest is in matters of national government; they look to
the nation for the solution of all the great problems and are disposed
to give the national government even broader powers, as recent
amendments to the constitution have shown.[91] In theory the place of
the states in the nation is almost exactly what it was a hundred and
thirty years ago; they still remain sovereign in name; but in actual
fact their relative authority has been greatly diminished.
[Sidenote: Present importance of state government.]
Nevertheless the forty-eight states are even yet very from being mere
administrative divisions as are the counties of England or the
departments in France. In these two countries the government is highly
centralized; all power emanates from London or from Paris. In America
the forty-eight state capitals are still the location of important
governmental powers and in all probability will continue to be. This
decentralization in government sometimes leads to friction and
controversy; but it has the advantage of keeping the people in more
direct control of their local affairs.
[Sidenote: Territories made into states.]
=How States are Admitted.=—In addition to the thirteen original states
there was territory enough in 1787 for the creation of many more. All
the land east of the Mississippi had been surrendered by Great Britain
and although much of this was claimed by the states along the Atlantic
seaboard they finally agreed to turn it all over to Congress. The
national government thereupon made provision for governing this
territory and expressly stipulated that it should be given rights of
statehood whenever the growth of population might warrant that step. A
little later the Louisiana territory was purchased; then Florida, and
from time to time during the next fifty years additional areas were
obtained in the Southwest, Northwest, and West. In every case these
areas were administered by territorial governments under the authority
of Congress, but always with the stipulation that the territories would
become states as soon as they had obtained a sufficient population.
We do not commonly think of the United States as a colonizing power, in
the sense that Great Britain has been such, nevertheless the whole
history of the American people has been a chronicle of colonization.
From the Alleghenies to the Pacific ocean the march of settlement went
steadily on for nearly a hundred years; lands were thrown open to
settlers; territories were formed; and in the end each territory became
a state.
[Sidenote: Steps in admission to statehood.]
The makers of the federal constitution had no idea, of course, that the
union would ever become so large, but they did foresee that some day
there would be more than thirteen states. Hence, they made provision in
the constitution that new states might be admitted from time to time at
the discretion of Congress. In keeping with this provision the usual
first step is the sending of a petition to Congress from the people of
the territory which seeks to be admitted. If Congress regards this
petition with favor it passes an Enabling Act, which authorizes the
people of the territory to draw up a tentative state constitution. This
document, having been framed and ratified at the polls by the people of
the territory, is then submitted to Congress. If Congress finds the
constitution satisfactory, it may then, by resolution, declare the
territory to be a state. Congress has been generous in granting full
statehood to the home territories, in some cases even before they had
acquired large populations, and this attitude has been wise. It has
welded the country together as no other policy could have unified it.
=The Newer Territories.=—Down to 1867, therefore, the problem of
territorial government was not difficult and it was always handled
satisfactorily. [Sidenote: How the territories were governed.] Each
territory was administered by a governor, who was appointed by the
President, and by a territorial legislature which was elected by the
people. Laws passed by the territorial legislature were subject to
disapproval by Congress, but this right was seldom exercised. The people
of the territories quickly showed their capacity to govern themselves
and Congress let them alone. But after the Civil War and particularly
after the Spanish War, territorial problems of a new sort arose.
[Sidenote: The new insular territories.] In 1867 the United States
purchased Alaska from Russia; in 1898 Porto Rico and the Philippines
were acquired from Spain; in the same year Hawaii was annexed, and
during the past quarter of a century other distant possessions (Samoa,
the Panama Canal Zone, and the Virgin Islands) have been added.
[Sidenote: Can they be admitted as states?]
These acquisitions differ from the old territories in two respects; they
are outside the regular national boundaries (in some cases far outside),
and they contain for the most part populations which have not had much
experience in self-government.[92] All have been given some form of
territorial government; but the question is: Can they be ultimately
admitted as states of the union? If they should be so admitted, they
must be given exactly the same rights as all the other states. There is
no such thing as partial or qualified admission. If Porto Rico or Hawaii
should be admitted to statehood they will have exactly the same status
as New York or Pennsylvania.
[Sidenote: Future of these islands.]
Three courses are open. First, these territories may be admitted in due
course to full rights of statehood. In the case of Alaska, Hawaii, and
Porto Rico this policy may be the one adopted if their populations are
deemed to be large enough. Second, the existing form of territorial
government may be continued indefinitely. This means that they would
have a large measure of control over their own local affairs but not
full control in the sense that the states have it. Third, they might be
given their independence with a guarantee of American protection from
outside enemies. In the case of the Philippines this is virtually what
has been promised; but independence is not to be given until the islands
prove entirely capable of governing themselves.[93] Apart from the
Philippines none of these territories is asking for independence.[94]
=The State Constitutions.=—It has been pointed out that before any
territory is admitted as a state it must frame a constitution.
[Sidenote: State constitutional conventions.] This constitution is
drawn, as a rule, by a constitutional convention composed of delegates
elected by the people. Such a convention is called when a state enters
the union and again whenever a general revision of the original document
seems to be desirable. As a rule there is an interval of ten years or
more between such conventions and sometimes an interval of thirty or
forty years.[95] Due to differences in the growth and progress of the
state a constitution may become out-of-date in one more rapidly than in
another. If only slight alterations in the constitution are needed, it
is not necessary or usual to call a convention. Individual amendments,
as will be shown presently, can be made more easily.
=What these Constitutions Contain.=—These state constitutions are rather
long documents, much longer than the constitution of the United States.
In early days they were much shorter, but the state governments perform
far more numerous functions today than they did fifty years ago. It has
become the tendency, moreover, in recent years to cover many things in
constitutions which formerly were left to be dealt with by acts of the
legislature. This has meant a great lengthening of constitutional
provisions.
In general a state constitution sets forth the form of government,
prescribes the powers and duties of state officers, prohibits the
legislature from doing certain things (such as changing the state
capitol, for example), and guarantees certain fundamental rights to the
citizens. But this is not all. Some of them contain long provisions
relating to the powers of local governments, the pay of officials, the
borrowing of money, and the regulation of banks. Putting such details
into the state constitution is an unwise policy because constitutional
provisions are difficult to change, whereas these various matters need
to be dealt with somewhat differently from time to time.
[Sidenote: The two methods of amendment.]
=How State Constitutions are Amended.=—There are two common ways of
amending a state constitution. The first, which exists in nearly all the
states, is by concurrent action of the legislature and the people. The
legislature takes the first step by proposing the amendment; then the
people at the polls accept or reject the proposal.[96] The other way is
by action of the people alone. By means of the initiative, as already
described, the people may propose an amendment, have it put on the
ballot, and accept or reject it as they desire. This method of amending
the constitution is used in less than half the states and even there it
is not employed with great frequency. The great majority of the
amendments to state constitutions (scores of them are made every year in
the country as a whole) are made by the first-named plan.
[Sidenote: The states have the residuum of powers.]
=The Powers of the States.=—Some years ago a foreign student of
government, desiring to find out what powers belonged to the legislature
of Massachusetts, took a copy of the state constitution and began
reading it carefully. Much to his surprise he found that it contained no
list of the powers which the legislature might exercise but merely
stated some things which the legislature must not do. The reason for
this, of course, is simple enough. The states retain all the powers
which they have not given to the national government. The way to find
out whether a state possesses a certain power is to look in the
constitution of the United States. If the power is there given
exclusively to Congress or prohibited to the states, then the state
legislature cannot exercise it. But if the power is not mentioned in the
national constitution, either expressly or by implication, then the
state legislatures have it.
On this basis a certain division of powers is made between the nation
and the states. The general principles on which the division is made are
easy enough to understand, but the exact distribution of powers is
something that can only be mastered by studying it. Even lawyers do not
always get hold of it accurately and newspapers are constantly making
mistakes because they fail to realize just where the boundaries of the
various governmental powers begin and end. So let us try to condense the
matter into a nutshell, or, to be more accurate, into four nutshells as
follows:
1. _Some powers belong exclusively to the nation._ These include the
power to declare war, to regulate foreign and interstate commerce, to
coin money, to establish post offices, and so on. No share in the
management of these things belongs to the state governments.
2. _Some powers belong concurrently both to the nation and the states._
Both the nation and the states, each within its own sphere, have the
power to tax, to borrow money, to charter banks, to promote education,
and to do many other things. These are called concurrent powers because
the national and state authorities may both exercise them at the same
time.
3. _Some powers are prohibited to the nation and some are prohibited to
the states._ The national and state governments, for example, are
forbidden to pass any bill of attainder, to grant titles of nobility, or
to take private property for public use without compensation. The
states, in addition, are forbidden to make treaties, coin money, or levy
tariff duties. There are various other prohibitions upon both the nation
or the states, as will be seen by reading carefully the provisions of
the national constitution.[97]
4. _All other governmental powers are reserved to the states._ Every
power which does not fall within the foregoing three classes belongs to
the several states exclusively. This is not only in accordance with the
theory of the national constitution as a grant of powers but it is
expressly stated in the Tenth Amendment.[98]
[Sidenote: Features which are similar in all the states.]
=The General Similarity of State Governments.=—No two states, among the
forty-eight, are governed alike. A description of state government in
Massachusetts would not fit Illinois, much less Idaho or Nevada. On the
other hand no two states are governed very differently; in all the
essential features they conform to a single type. They all have
constitutions; every state has an elective legislature of two chambers;
each has an elective governor; and they all have state courts. In all
the states there is universal suffrage (save for the exclusion of
negroes in the South); the secret ballot is used throughout the country;
the same political parties are in existence everywhere from the Atlantic
to the Pacific; and the principal laws are essentially the same. The
citizen who moves from one state to another finds the difference so
slight that it is hardly noticeable. It is not worth while, therefore,
to spend any time in studying the points of difference between the
government of one state and that of another. State government everywhere
has now been reduced to a type which is uniform for all practical
purposes.
[Sidenote: Organization of the state legislature.]
=The State Legislature.=—Every state has a legislature which is the
paramount branch of the state government. It makes the laws, levies the
state taxes, appropriates money for the management of state
administration, and decides all questions of public policy. This
legislature is composed of two chambers, which have substantially
concurrent lawmaking powers. The upper chamber, commonly called the
Senate, is the smaller of the two; its members are elected by counties
or senatorial districts, usually for a term of two or four years. The
lower chamber, which is variously known as the Assembly, or House of
Representatives, or House of Delegates, is much the larger body; its
members are also elected from counties or parts of counties. Nominations
are made either by conventions or by a primary; the latter is now the
more common method except in the Southern states. Sessions of the
legislature are held every alternate year except in a few states where
they are held annually.
[Sidenote: The legislature’s powers.]
The powers of the state legislature are in actual operation very broad.
They comprise the whole field of lawmaking except in so far as it has
been restricted by the national constitution or by the constitution of
the state itself. The state laws come closer to the life of the
individual than do those of the nation.[99] They make provision for the
registration of a child’s birth; they determine the age at which he must
go to school; they establish the schools and fix the qualifications of
the teachers. When the boy becomes a man he will find that the state
laws regulate his profession or business. The state laws enable him to
marry, to accumulate property, to vote, and to hold office. When he dies
the state laws regulate the transmission of his property to his heirs.
Thus from birth to death the citizen comes almost daily into contact
with the lawmaking authority of the state. These laws determine most of
the taxes that he pays; they safeguard his life, health, and property;
they punish him when he does wrong; and they provide for his maintenance
if he becomes poor or crippled or insane. Where the federal government
touches the citizen once, the state government touches him a dozen
times. The average citizen does not always appreciate this fact.
[Sidenote: The process of state legislation.]
The consent of both chambers of the state legislature is necessary to
the making of laws. The process of lawmaking is very much like that used
in Congress (see pp. 275-278). Bills are introduced, referred to
committees, reported back to the legislature, and voted on by each
chamber.[100] Disagreements between the two chambers are adjusted by a
conference committee. The rules of procedure are very complicated and
new members of a state legislature often have some difficulty in
understanding them. The purpose of the rules is threefold: To expedite
business, to ensure the careful consideration of each measure, and to
protect the rights of the minority party in the legislature. Despite the
rules, however, legislative business is often unduly delayed; at other
times measures are hustled through without proper consideration, and the
rights of the minority are frequently over-ridden.[101] This is done by
suspending the rules or by merely disregarding them.
[Sidenote: The governor.]
=The State Executive.=—The executive branch of the state government is
made up of the governor and the heads of the various state departments.
The governor is elected by the people for a term of two or four years.
His powers are extensive. He is charged with the general supervision
over the enforcement of the laws and the conduct of administrative
affairs. He makes most of the important appointments to state
administrative offices, the chief exceptions being the heads of state
departments and the judges of the state courts, both of whom are in most
cases elected by the people. The governor’s appointments, before they
become effective, usually require confirmation by the upper branch of
the state legislature or by an elective executive council. Where the
civil service system is in force, moreover, it places a limit on the
governor’s discretion in appointments. The governor also possesses the
veto power over acts of the state legislature, but this may be
over-ridden, as a rule, by a two-thirds vote of both chambers. In all
essential features the veto power of the governor is much like that of
the President. The power to pardon offenders convicted in the state
courts likewise belongs to the governor in most states; in some states,
however, he must obtain the concurrence of a pardoning-board or some
other authority, and in a few states the entire power of pardon is given
to a special board. The governor is commander-in-chief of the state
militia and may call it out for service in emergencies. Like the
President the governor is removable from office by impeachment.
[Sidenote: Officials and boards.]
For carrying on its administrative work the state has, in addition to
the governor, a considerable number of administrative officials and
boards. These include the secretary of state, who keeps the official
records; the treasurer; the auditor; the attorney-general, who conducts
the legal affairs of the state; the state superintendent or commissioner
of education; together with state boards of health, charity, public
works, public utilities, and so on. The titles and functions of these
various boards differ greatly from state to state. In Massachusetts
there are only twenty-one state departments; in New York there are more
than one hundred. Everywhere the number displays a tendency to increase,
for the functions of the state are everywhere broadening. The officials
and members of boards who perform all this administrative work are
sometimes elected but more often they are appointed by the governor.
=The State Courts: Their Organization.=—In each state there are three
gradations in the judiciary, and sometimes four. First, there are local
courts, presided over by justices of the peace, or police justices.
These courts try cases of minor importance. When persons charged with
serious offences are brought before them, the offenders are held for
trial by the next higher court. These next higher courts are known as
county or district or superior courts. They are empowered to conduct
jury trials; they have prosecuting attorneys at their service; they have
a wider range of jurisdiction to try important cases, and their
decisions are usually final so far as the _facts_ of the case are
concerned. Finally, there is in each state a supreme court (sometimes
called the Court of Errors) which hears appeals, chiefly on disputed
points of _law_, from the courts below. This court is composed of from
five to fifteen judges (the number is fixed by law in each state), and
it has the last word in all cases save where an appeal may be taken to
the Supreme Court of the United States.[102]
[Sidenote: The election _vs_. the appointment of judges.]
=The Selection and Removal of Judges.=—In more than three-fourths of the
states the judges of these various courts are elected by the people. In
the rest they are either appointed by the governor or chosen by the
state legislature. One plan cannot be said, in general terms, to be
better than the other. Good judges have been secured by all three
methods of selection, and poor ones too. It is worth noting, however,
that the judges of all the federal courts are appointed for life and
that they are men of fine quality.[103] It is everywhere conceded that
the courts ought to be kept out of party politics and this is much
easier if the judges are appointed for life or for long terms than if
they are chosen by the people for short terms. But whether appointed or
elected it is desirable that judges, so long as their work is
satisfactory, should be kept in office. If judges are denied
reappointment or re-election because their decisions do not prove
popular with those who are influential in politics, it will be very hard
to get men of ability and integrity to accept judicial positions.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIMPLIFIED STATE ADMINISTRATION
Several states have simplified their administrative
machinery during recent years by reducing the number
of state departments. Illinois is one of these. Its
plan of administrative organization, as shown on the
reverse of this page, is simple enough for any voter
to understand. This contrasts with the situation in
New York State, where there are more than a hundred
administrative departments.
(ILLINOIS)
VOTERS OF THE STATE
Attorney General TERM: 4 YRS. CONST.
Auditor of Public Accounts TERM: 4 YRS. CONST.
Secretary of State TERM: 4 YRS. CONST.
Governor TERM: 4 YRS. CONST.
Civil Service Commission 3 MEMBERS TERM: 6 YEARS STAT.
Dept. of Finance
Dept. of Agriculture
Dept. of Labor
Dept. of Mines and Minerals
Dept. of Public Works and Buildings
Dept. of Public Welfare
Dept. of Public Health
Dept. of Trade and Commerce
Dept. of Registration and Education
Lieutenant Governor
TERM: 4 YRS. CONST.
Treasurer
TERM: 2 YRS. CONST.
Supt. of Public Instruction
TERM: 4 YRS. CONST.
Trustees University of Illinois
9 ELEC. MEMBERS
TERM: 6 YRS. STAT.
GENERAL DRAFTING CO. INC. N.Y.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Sidenote: The present weakness.]
=The Need of Reform in State Administration.=—There are two distinct
weaknesses in state administration at the present day. One results from
the fact that the functions of the state have been enormously expanded
during the past fifty years while the administrative machinery has not
kept pace. The state has taken over new duties in the field of public
health, the regulation of industry, the administration of prisons, the
control of public utilities, and many other matters. In each case it has
merely set up one more department or bureau or board until the whole
organization has become top-heavy. State administration, in other words,
is now divided into too many compartments. The other weakness arises
from the fact that these various departments are not all responsible to
the governor or to any central head. Some officials and boards are
appointed; some are elected. Some hold office for long terms, some for
short. The governor bears the responsibility for the proper conduct of
state administration, yet the work is done by officials who are not
required to obey his instructions.[104] He is like a general who is
expected to win battles without having officers who will obey his
commands. The result is not only a good deal of friction but a waste of
time, money, and patience. Several states have felt the need of
reforming this condition and have proceeded to make changes in their
administrative organization. These changes involve a reduction in the
number of departments and the placing of them all under the general
control of the governor.[105] In the national administration all
departments are responsible to the President. The same principle ought
to be applied in state administration.
[Sidenote: Can the system of commission government be applied to the
states?]
=The Proposed Reconstruction of State Government.=—The system of state
government, as it now stands, is not obtaining satisfactory results. The
state legislatures have declined in popular confidence during the past
generation; men of inferior quality are frequently elected to them; the
work of lawmaking is influenced too much by party considerations; the
administrative departments are too numerous in most of the states and
often fail to do their work efficiently. State taxes are everywhere
going up rapidly and state debts are increasing. Various plans for a
radical reconstruction in state government have been proposed in order
to remedy these defects. One proposal is that the two-chambered
legislature should be abolished and a single small body of
representatives put in its place. It is argued that if fewer legislators
were elected better men would be chosen and that the process of
lawmaking would thereby be improved. Some have even gone so far as to
urge that we should establish commission government for states as well
as for cities. State government, they argue, has become so complicated
that it now needs a smaller number of capable men giving their undivided
attention to it. A two-chambered legislature, which meets for a few
months every second year, cannot handle the business effectively.
Nevertheless the people have become thoroughly accustomed to
double-chambered legislatures, and where the proposal to establish a
single chamber has been submitted to them (as in Oregon) they have
rejected it.
[Sidenote: Should the governor’s powers be increased?]
Another plan proposes the vesting of larger powers in the hands of the
governor, giving him the initiative in financial matters and making all
the state administrative departments responsible to him. Today the drift
is very strongly in this direction. Already, in some states, the
governor is a more important factor than the legislature, and this is
strangely in contrast with the situation as it was a hundred years or
more ago. James Madison, in his time, spoke of the governors as “little
more than ciphers” and declared that the legislatures were omnipotent.
In our day this has entirely changed, or is changing. The balance of
power is steadily swinging from the legislative to the executive branch.
General References
C. A. BEARD, _American Government and Politics_, pp. 428-577; _Ibid._,
_Readings in American Government and Politics_, pp. 391-508;
EVERETT KIMBALL, _State and Municipal Government_, pp. 131-308;
W. B. MUNRO, _Government of the United States_, pp. 389-459;
A. N. HOLCOMBE, _State Government in the United States_, pp. 240-393;
J. T. YOUNG, _The New American Government and Its Work_, pp. 298-341;
WOODROW WILSON, _The State_, pp. 315-336;
P. S. REINSCH, _Readings in American Federal Government_, pp. 222-239;
J. M. MATHEWS, _Principles of American State Administration_, pp.
25-214;
W. W. WILLOUGHBY and LINDSAY ROGERS, _Introduction to the Problem of
Government_, pp. 407-429.
Group Problems
=1. A revision of your state constitution.= Make a tabulation of the
more important provisions in your state constitution, under the
following heads: 1. Organization of the legislature. 2. Powers of the
governor. 3. Relations between the governor and the legislature. 4.
Organization of the state departments. 5. Control of state finances.
Compare these in parallel columns with the corresponding provisions in
the model state constitution of the National Municipal League. Discuss
the relative merits of each provision. =References=: National Municipal
Review, Vol. IX, No. 11, pp. 711-715, November, 1920. Copies of the
state constitution may usually be had on application to the Secretary of
State at the State Capitol. The state constitution is also published in
the handbook or manual which is supplied to members of the legislature.
For general discussions of the subject, see C. G. HAINES and BERTHA H.
HAINES, _Principles and Problems of American Government_, pp. 321-338;
423-440; W. B. MUNRO, _Government of the United States_, pp. 522-534; J.
M. MATHEWS, _Principles of American State Administration_, pp. 499-516;
A. N. HOLCOMBE, _State Government in the United States_, pp. 106-142;
Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, 1917-1918, _Bulletins_, Nos. 2,
4, 10, 15, 29 and 35; New York State Constitutional Convention, 1915,
_Index Digest of State Constitutions_, _passim_.
=2. What we get for our state expenditures.= =References=: United States
Bureau of the Census, _Financial Statistics of States_ (issued annually
since 1918); W. B. MUNRO, _Government of the United States_, pp.
445-472; R. T. ELY, _Taxation in American States and Cities_, pp. 13-24;
J. M. MATHEWS, _Principles of American State Administration_, pp.
296-400.
=3. Can the procedure in state legislatures be simplified?=
=References=: P. S. REINSCH, _American Legislatures and Legislative
Methods_, pp. 126-158; H. W. DODDS, _The Procedure of State
Legislatures_, pp. 36-62; A. N. HOLCOMBE, _State Government in the
United States_, pp. 253-279; H. M. ROBERT, _Rules of Order_, _passim_.
Short Studies
1. =The place of the states in the nation.= W. B. MUNRO, _Government of
the United States_, pp. 389-403.
2. =The organization and procedure of constitutional conventions.=
Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, 1917-1918, _Bulletins_, No. 1
(The Procedure of Constitutional Conventions).
3. =Committees and committee work in state legislatures.= P. S. REINSCH,
_American Legislatures and Legislative Methods_, pp. 159-182.
4. =The growth of executive power in state government.= J. M. MATHEWS,
_Principles of American State Administration_, pp. 25-133.
5. =The drift of legislation in recent years.= F. J. STIMSON, _Popular
Lawmaking_, pp. 117-123.
6. =Reasons for the popular distrust of state legislatures.= JAMES T.
YOUNG, _The New American Government and Its Work_, pp. 643-651.
7. =How state administration has been simplified.= C. G. HAINES and
BERTHA M. HAINES, _Principles and Problems of Government_, pp. 323-338.
8. =The government of the Philippines.= DEAN C. WORCESTER, _The
Philippines, Past and Present_, Vol. I, pp. 325-407; Vol. II, pp.
768-791.
9. =The appointment and removal of judges.= S. E. BALDWIN, _The American
Judiciary_, pp. 311-343; A. M. KALES, _Unpopular Government in the
United States_, pp. 225-251.
10. =Plans for the reconstruction of state government.= W. B. MUNRO,
_Government of the United States_, pp. 522-534; A. M. KALES, _Unpopular
Government in the United States_, pp. 166-180.
Questions
1. The national constitution provides that the United States shall
guarantee to each state a _republican_ form of government. What does
that mean? Would a state government be un-republican if it (_a_) raised
the voting age to thirty years; (_b_) abolished the legislature and gave
all lawmaking powers to an appointive board of five; (_c_) gave up the
system of trial by jury in the state courts; (_d_) abolished private
property?
2. If you were redistributing the respective powers of the national and
state governments today where would you place (_a_) marriage and
divorce; (_b_) education; (_c_) the regulation of child labor; (_d_) the
chartering of banks; (_e_) the punishment of counterfeiting; (_f_) the
protection of foreigners in the United States; (_g_) the punishment of
persons for lynching; (_h_) the control of the national guard?
3. Go through your state constitution and check off four or five
provisions which you think might better be left to be dealt with by the
laws.
4. How may your state constitution be amended? What amendments have been
made within the last ten years and by which method? Are amendments, in
your opinion, too easy or too difficult to make?
5. If every state is entirely free to determine its own form of
government why are they all so much alike?
6. Make a list of all the steps in the passage of a law from its
introduction in the legislature to its final enactment. Does the
governor give any reason when he vetoes a bill? Should he be required to
do so?
7. Put each of the following offices at the head of a column and insert
under each a list of matters with which the officials have to do: Board
of Public Works; Commissioner of Corrections; Public Utilities
Commission; Fish and Game Bureau; Board of Labor and Industries;
Industrial Accident Board; Department of Social Welfare; Board of
Agriculture; Attorney-General; Civil Service Commission.
8. Make a list of all the activities in which your state government is
engaged where it acts in the capacity of (_a_) a business man or
corporation; (_b_) an arbiter between parties; (_c_) a benevolent
agency. In which of these does it meet competition from private
individuals?
9. Make a chart showing the organization of the courts in your state,
the number of judges in each, and the general jurisdiction of each
court.
Topics for Debate
1. The commission plan of government, as it now exists in many cities,
should be applied to the states.
2. The United States should not acquire any territory which cannot
ultimately be admitted as a state.
3. Which is the better plan of choosing Supreme Court judges: (_a_)
appointment for life by the governor (Massachusetts), or, (_b_) election
every six years by the people (Illinois)?