Transcriber’s Notes:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Additional Transcriber’s Notes are at the end.
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LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. 1415 Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius
How the United States Government Works
Harry Hibschman
HALDEMAN-JULIUS PUBLICATIONS
GIRARD, KANSAS
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Copyright, 1929,
Haldeman-Julius Company
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. What the United States Government Is 5
II. Who Makes the Laws 9
III. Who Executes the Laws 11
IV. Who Renders Justice 16
V. What the President Does 18
VI. How Congress Works 25
VII. How the Executive Departments Work 37
VIII. How the Courts Work 42
IX. The Government and the States 44
X. The Government and the Individual 47
XI. The Government and the Business Man 49
XII. The Government and the Farmer 53
XIII. The Government and the Working Man 58
XIV. Summary 61
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HOW THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT WORKS
CHAPTER I WHAT THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT IS
Government is something from which no man, woman, or child can escape.
It greets us at birth, and it parts company with us not even at death
but only after our estate, if we are fortunate enough to leave any, is
settled. Therefore, while it is not a thrilling subject, how it works
is a vital one.
The word “government” comes to us through the Latin language from a
Greek word borrowed by the Romans and meaning “to steer the ship.”
“Govern,” therefore, does not mean to “command” in the sense that
it applies to a master issuing orders to a slave. It implies rather
guidance and direction.
From one angle, then, government means the directing or managing of
the affairs of a people. From another angle government means the
group of persons set apart to carry on, direct and manage the affairs
of a people. Thus, when we speak of “the Hoover government” we mean
President Hoover, the members of his cabinet, and the Republican
majorities in the Senate and House and the subordinates who help
to carry out their policies; and when we speak of “the Mussolini
government” we mean Signor Mussolini and his “yes” men.
I have several times used the word “people” above in a rather awkward
fashion. This was necessary in order to avoid the use of several
other words referring to things that we assume to exist whenever we
speak of government. One is a state, and the other is sovereignty.
By the former we mean a body of people living within a specified
territory and permanently organized as a political entity. As one of
the chief purposes of the state is to provide civil government within
its territorial limits, the absolute power of exercising governmental
control or of providing for its exercise must be vested somewhere. This
power is called “sovereignty.” Sovereignty has frequently been regarded
as vested in a single ruler by divine right. But in the principal
modern states it is recognized to be in the people as a whole.
The United States is a federal state, being composed of organized
territorial and political units called “states,” each of which
retains control over and is supreme as to its own local affairs, but
is subordinate to the general government, which is supreme as to the
matters delegated to it.
The government of the federal state was provided for in an instrument
called the United States Constitution, which set up the machinery of
federal government and specified the matters over which that government
might exercise authority. But the federal government has only such
powers as have been granted to it by the states and the people, in whom
the final sovereignty rests.
In the modern world there are two main types of government. One
carries the idea of fusion; the other, the idea of separation. The
latter prevails in the United States with its principal of “checks
and balances.” The former is preferred in Europe, where England has
always been the best example. The new governments, including that of
Germany, have followed that model rather than ours. Our insistence
on keeping the different branches of the government separate and not
answerable to one another does not seem most practicable and conducive
to good government in the minds of European political thinkers. They
are inclined to make the cabinet or ministry the actual government
but responsive to the will of the legislative body. Thus in England
the ministers must be members of Parliament; while with us they
cannot even appear on the floor of either House. We keep a strict
line drawn between the legislative branch of the government and the
executive branch. In England or France or Germany the ministry, or
the executive part, cannot function without the approval of the
legislative branch. A vote of lack of confidence means the end of that
particular government--that cabinet or ministry. With us the President
is absolutely independent of Congress except with reference to treaties
and appointments. In France or Germany the President acts only through
his ministers. And as to the judiciary, it is subordinate in the
European countries. With us, the Supreme Court is supreme.
It is no part of my purpose to discuss the respective merits of these
two systems. In fact criticism is not included at all in the plan of
this Little Blue Book. Here we shall be interested only in what is
implied in our title, “How the United States Government Works.” We
shall be concerned merely with descriptions and explanations of how the
government under which we live operates.