Insurance
Another sphere of private finance over which government restriction and regulation has been greatly extended during the last few years, is insurance. The entire subject of insurance is, moreover, of interest not merely to the citizen as a member of the body politic but to the individual as the head of a family and as an investor for his own protection in old age. To every one, therefore, the articleInsurance(Vol. 14, p. 656) will be of the utmost value, by reason of its rare combination of interest and authority. For a full analysis of this article and of related topics see the chapter in this GuideFor the Insurance Man.
Legislation and Courts
Much of the earlier part of the present chapter has been devoted to the rapid extension of governmental control, regulation and supervision through legislation. Interesting and novel though this is, it is far less important for an intelligent comprehension of government than is a careful study of the foundations and principles of legislation. Only the specialist will wish to pursue a complete course in political science, but every well-informed citizen of the United States should study the general powers and functions of national and state legislatures and courts. This material is given briefly, lucidly and critically by the Hon. James Bryce, late British Ambassador to the United States, former President of the British Board of Trade, and author ofThe American Commonwealth, in the sectionConstitution and Government, articleUnited States(Vol. 27, pp. 646–658). Part of this section deals with the governments of the states, as to which there is also special information in the section on government of the article on each state. Regarding city governments similar sections will be found in the articles on the larger cities. For a full analysis and a list of articles see the chapterFor Lawyersin this Guide. Constitutional restrictions of all delegated powers must be continually kept in mind in the study of the action of legislatures and courts, and of the questions that arise in regard to legislation or to court decisions. Although the legislature represents the people more or less directly—thelower house being commonly called the House of Representatives—and so has delegated to it from the people the power of making laws, still, in the Federal and state constitutions (except those of a very recent date) there is a system of checks on every delegated power. The result is that an act passed by Congress does not become law without the approval of the president, nor, in most states, a local statute without that of the governor, and—more important—is not a valid law if the highest Federal Court (or, if it be a state enactment, the highest state court) holds it contrary to the terms of the constitution.|The System of Checks|For a summary of the historical arguments for this system of checks see the section on the Constitution (Vol. 27, p. 686), in the articleUnited Statesand such biographical articles asJames Madison(Vol. 17, p. 284);Alexander Hamilton(Vol. 12, p. 880), andGouverneur Morris(Vol. 18, p. 869). The working of this system in nation and state has been greatly affected by the distinction between the legislators’ mandate and that of the judge. Legislators have shorter terms of service than judges, and especially judges of the higher courts, and so may be said to be in much closer and more constant contact with the people; and the legislator is bound by what he thinks the people need and want,—something that is continually changing. On the other hand, the judge is bound by the written law, unchanged and unchangeable except by constitutional amendments or slightly varying interpretation of the constitution. The result has been dissatisfaction with the courts and with legislatures. The definite expression of this dissatisfaction is in constitutional amendments or in new constitutions, adopted in order that future action of the courts may more nearly accord with the present sentiment of the people. The story of the constitution of each state in the Union is told, with a summary of important constitutional changes, in the section on government of each article on a separate state. In his analysis of the state constitutions, Mr. Bryce says (Vol. 27, p. 647):
Initiative, Referendum and Recall
Comparing the old constitutions with the new ones, it may be said that the note of those enacted in the first thirty or forty years of the republic was their jealousy of executive power and their careful safeguarding of the rights of the citizen; that of the second period, from 1820 to the Civil War (1861–65), the democratization of the suffrage of institutions generally; that of the third period (since the war to the present day), a disposition to limit the powers and check the action of the legislature, and to commit power to the hands of the whole people voting at the polls.
And at the close of his treatment of local government in the United States, the same authority writes (Vol. 27, p. 651):
Several state constitutions now contain provisions enabling a prescribed number (or proportion) of the voters in a state or city to submit a proposition to all the registered voters of the state (or city) for their approval. If carried, it takes effect as a law. This is the Initiative. These constitutions also allow a prescribed number of voters to demand that a law passed by the state legislature, or an ordinance passed by the municipal authority, be submitted to all the voters for their approval. If rejected by them, it falls to the ground. This is the Referendum. Some cities also provide in their charters that an official, including the mayor or a member of the council, may be displaced from office if, at a special election held on the demand of a prescribed number of the city voters, he does not receive the largest number of votes cast. This is the Recall. All these three institutions are in operation in some Western states and are spreading to some of the Eastern cities. Their working is observed with lively interest, for they carry the principle of direct popular sovereignty to lengths unprecedented except in Switzerland. But it is not merely to the faith of the Western Americans in the people that their introduction is due. Quite as much must be ascribed to the want of faith in the legislature of states and cities, which are deemed too liable to be influenced by selfish corporations.
In connection with the above reference to the referendum and initiative inSwitzerland, see the description of the Swiss system of continuous control by the electors (Vol. 26, p. 243).
On previous experience, outside the United States, with the referendum and the initiative, see the articleReferendum(Vol. 23, p. 1), by the Rev. Dr. W. A. B. Coolidge, an American whose life has been chiefly spent in, and devoted to the study of, Switzerland, where the system was evolved. In the United States the system was first tried in Oregon, and the student should read the description in the articleOregonof the legislative department (Vol. 20, p. 246), which also deals with the recall of officers. See also underOklahoma(Vol. 20, p. 59), and the articles onSouth DakotaandLos Angeles.
Suffrage
On suffrage in the United States see p. 647 of Vol. 27, describing the requirements in different states and pointing out that “by the Federal Constitution state suffrage is also the suffrage for Federal elections, viz. elections of representatives in Congress and of presidential electors.” On representation see the passage on p. 653 of Vol. 27, a portion of which has been quoted above; and on representation in state legislatures see p. 647 of Vol. 27 and consult the articles on the separate states, where in the sections headedGovernmentthere is also supplementary information about election and ballot laws. It is interesting to note, in the articles on Mississippi, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Oklahoma, that these states have practically disfranchised the negro. For a concrete instance of the awkward working of the electoral college, in the choice of the president in 1876, see the articleElectoral Commission(Vol. 9, p. 172). On the position of aliens see the articlesAllegiance(Vol. 1, p. 689) andNaturalization(Vol. 19, p. 275); and articles on various states. In the articleOregon, for instance (Vol. 20, p. 245), the reader will find that “the constitution provides that no Chinaman, not a resident of the state at the time of the adoption of the constitution, shall ever hold any real estate or mining claim, or work any mining claim in the state.”
See also, on the whole subject, the articlesBallot(Vol. 3, p. 279);Vote(Vol. 28, p. 216);Voting Machines(Vol. 28, p. 217);Election(Vol. 9, p. 169);Representation(Vol. 23, especially pp. 112–116, for proportional voting, second choice voting, etc.), andWomen(Vol. 28, p. 782) for the history of the woman’s suffrage movement. In that connection it is curious to note in this article (p. 787) that, owing to an oversight in the wording of the first constitution of New Jersey, women could vote in that state from 1776 to 1807. For any thorough knowledge of practical, as contrasted with theoretical representative government in the United States, the student should read what Mr. Bryce has to say aboutParty Government(Vol. 27, p. 658–660); a large part of the article on the history of the United States after the adoption of the Constitution (Vol. 27, pp. 688–735); articles on the great parties,Federalist(Vol. 10, p. 235),Democratic(Vol. 8, p. 2), andRepublican(Vol. 23, p. 177); and the lives of the great party leaders from Hamilton and Jefferson to McKinley, Roosevelt, Bryan and Woodrow Wilson. A fuller outline for the study of United States history will be found in another chapter of this Guide, onHistory of the United States.
Municipal Government
But the Federal government and even the state governments do not touch any one of us so closely as does the local government of our city and township; and Mr. Bryce gives (Vol. 27, p. 650) a valuable criticism of the American system of local government,—which, in some cities, indeed, seems a lack of system in the business sense of that word, and a control of the government by political parties prone to corruption, bribery and the granting ofspecial privilege. Mr. Bryce dwells on the over-developed power of the state in legislating for the cities or other minor governmental units, and the consequent activity of local city interests in state and national politics, but he also points to the growing tendency of the states to permit cities to enact their own charters. The movement to take the city government out of politics has reached its greatest force—and its greatest success—in government by commission.
In 1902 the city of Galveston, in Texas, adopted a new form of municipal government by vesting all powers in a commission of five persons, elected by the citizens on a “general ticket,” one of whom is mayor and head of the commission, while each of the others has charge of a department of municipal administration. A similar plan, differing in some details, was subsequently introduced in the city of Des Moines, in Iowa; and the success which has attended this new departure in both cities has led to its adoption in many others, especially, but not exclusively, in the Western states.
For a fuller account see the articles onGalvestonandDes Moines, where, as in other articles on towns and cities, there is a summary of their government and particularly of the distinctive features of local administration.
International Relations
What we have said, up to this point, has all dealt with our country as a self-contained unit—except that we have touched on tariffs and on immigration and on the treatment of aliens. In the articleAlien(Vol. 1, p. 662) the reader will find the sentence: “In the United States the separate state laws largely determine the status of an alien, but subject to Federal treaties.” And Mr. Bryce (Vol. 27, p. 652) characterizes some of the powers allotted to the national government “which relate to its action in the international sphere.” See particularly Mr. Bryce’s remarks (Vol. 27, p. 656) on the powers of the president:
In time of war or of public disturbance, however, the domestic authority of the president expands rapidly. This was markedly the case during the Civil War. As commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and as ‘charged with the faithful execution of all laws,’ he is likely to assume, and would indeed be expected to assume, all the powers which the emergency requires. In ordinary times the president may be almost compared to the managing clerk in a large business establishment, whose chief function is to select his subordinates, the policy of the concern being in the hands of the board of directors. But when foreign affairs reach a critical stage, or when disorders within the Union require Federal intervention, immense responsibility is then thrown on one who is both commander-in-chief of the army and the head of the civil executive. In no European country is there any personage to whom the president can be said to correspond. He may have to exert more authority, even if he enjoys less dignity, than a European king. He has powers which are in ordinary times narrower than those of a European prime minister; but these powers are more secure, for instead of depending on the pleasure of a parliamentary majority, they run on to the end of his term.
In this connection you should read the articlesInternational LawandInternational Law (Private),Treaties,Peace,Peace Conferences,Pan-American ConferencesandArbitration, International; the last showing plainly how large a part the United States has played in promoting better international feeling throughout the world.
Such articles as these tell how peace has changed from a purely negative condition to a positive subject of international regulation and an object of active political effort. They answer the following concrete questions on the subject:
What was the earliest plan of peace known to history? What were the Pax Romana, the “Truce of God,” the “Grand Design” of Henry IV, and other schemes for the preservation of peace?
What was the greatest deliberate effort ever made to secure the peace of the world?
What has been done by the two Hague Conferences, and when will the next one be held?
How far can disarmament be carried out?
What standing-peace agreements have been executed?
What is the history of popular effort for international peace, and what peace societies exist to-day?
What are the present recognized limitations of international arbitration?
What are the first steps toward an era of universal peace?
What has been accomplished by the Pan-American Conferences?
International Affairs
On international affairs of to-day in which the United States has a special interest there is a wealth of information in the Britannica. The first topic that will naturally present itself to the mind of the reader is the Panama canal. On this see the articlePanama Canal(Vol. 20, p. 666), with a large-scale map, a history of the project and a description of the engineering features; and on the politics, national and international, of the question of building the canal, the articlesColombia,Panama,Roosevelt,United States,History(Vol. 27, pp. 730 and 732),John Hay, andPauncefote.
Our relations with Colombia in connection with the canal will naturally lead the student to a general consideration of the relation of the United States with the Latin-American countries. Here the most interesting factor is the Monroe Doctrine, which has been characterized “as one of the things that every one knows about but that few can explain.” Read the articleMonroe Doctrine(Vol. 18, p. 738), by Dr. T. S. Woolsey, Professor of international law, Yale University; the articleJames Monroe(Vol. 18, p. 736), and, in the articleUnited States,History§ 156 (Vol. 27, p. 695).
A second topic in the story of Latin-America and the United States is Cuba; and this part of the story has probably never been told as accurately and interestingly as in the articlesCuba(Vol. 7, p. 594), andHavana(Vol. 13, p. 76) in the Britannica, both by Dr. F. S. Philbrick.
American relations with the Orient is a third subject of importance in the foreign affairs of the United States; and in this subject the most interesting topic is Chinese and Japanese exclusion. On this see the articlesCalifornia,San Francisco,Coolie, andUnited States,History§ 339 (Vol. 27, p. 723). At the end of the articleJapan(Vol. 15, p. 156) there is a section onThe Claims of Japan, by Baron Dairoku Kikuchi, which is of great interest in this connection.
Sea-Power
The place of the United States as a world power, we are proud to say, depends little on its army or navy—because of its enormous latent strength, its commanding geographical position, etc. But the comparatively greater importance of navy over army is now admitted by nearly every serious thinker—it was the concrete lesson of the Spanish-American War of 1898 as it was the point of the valuable historical essays on sea-power written before and since that war by the American naval officer, Rear-Admiral A. T. Mahan. The American navy and the navies of the world are matters of interest to every one—and like all matters of importance they are to be found treated in the Britannica.
In general see the elaborate articlesNavy(Vol. 19, p. 299);Sea-Power(Vol. 25, p. 548); andSea, Command of the(Vol. 24, p. 529); and for a detailed course of reading on naval history and theory see the chapter in this GuideFor Naval Officers.
The Greater United States
The topics just discussed will serve as an introduction to the study of the Imperial United States, which may be pursued in the articlesAlaska,Hawaii,Philippine Islands,Porto Rico,GuamandCuba, and the articles on the towns and cities in the outlying possessions.
The result of reading these articles will be a determination to knowmoreabout your country, to master its history, its industries and its commerce as well as its political conditions.