VINATIONAL GOVERNMENT
The sovereign power of the United States is vested in the National government, the federal union of all the States, each self-governing, but all uniting for certain purposes. The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land.
The National government, like that of the State and municipality, has three distinct divisions: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. The legislative power rests with Congress, which is composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The House of Representativesis elected every two years by the voters of the States. After the census, which is taken every ten years, Congress determines what the total number of Representatives shall be. These are then apportioned among the States according to population. After the census of 1910 the House of Representatives was increasedto 435 members, which gave one member for every 211,877 inhabitants. New York has 43 Representatives, the largest number from any State in the Union. Every State is entitled to at least one Representative, although it may not have the requisite population.The Congressional Districtfrom which a member is elected is determined by the State Legislature. Greater New York has 23 Congressmen.
Qualifications for Representatives to Congress: A man must be twenty-five years old and have been a citizen of the United States for at least seven years, and be a resident of the State from which he is chosen. The salary is $7,500 a year, with an allowance for a clerk, for stationery, and for traveling expenses.
The Senateis composed of ninety-six members, two members from every State in the Union, elected for a term of six years. In order that there shall always be experienced men in the Senate, only one-third of that body is elected at a time. The Senate is divided into three classes, and the men belonging to one of the three classes are elected every two years.
A Senator may be re-elected as many times as a State chooses, and many Senators haveserved twenty years or more. This makes the Upper House of Congress a very conservative, stable body of men. Senators, as well as Representatives, receive a salary of $7,500 a year. TheVice-Presidentof the United States is the presiding officer of the Senate.
The election of Senators was formerly a prerogative of the State Legislature. The Seventeenth Amendment to the National Constitution, passed in 1913, provides that they shall be elected by direct voice of the voters of the States.
Qualifications of Senators: A candidate for the Senate must be thirty years old and have been a citizen for at least nine years.
Sessions of Congress: A new Congress comes into existence on the fourth day of March every odd year, although it does not meet in regular session until the following winter. The long session begins the first Monday in December in the odd-numbered year, and usually lasts until spring or summer. The short session begins the same time in the even-numbered year and lasts until the following March 4th, when the new Congress, elected the previous November, comes into existence, although it does not meet until the following December, unless the President calls an extraordinary session. A Congressman,therefore, is elected more than a year before he takes his seat. The Sixty-fifth Congress will end March 4, 1919. The members of the Lower House of the Sixty-sixth Congress will be elected in November, 1918.
Congressional Committees: The work of Congress is largely done through committees. The House of Representatives, as constituted to-day, is an unwieldy body. It is obvious that four hundred and thirty-five men is too large a number to work effectively as a whole. Every bill, even a recommendation from the President, is referred to an appropriate committee. It is only because of these many committees that it is possible to transact the very large amount of business that comes before Congress every year.
How a Bill Is Passed: The procedure in Congress is similar to that in the State Legislature. A bill may be introduced by any member in either house, and must pass through both houses.
Powers of Congress: Congress has absolute power to levy and collect taxes. Revenue bills must originate in the House of Representatives. Congress has the exclusive power to declare war, to raise and support an army and navy, and to regulate commerce. It controls naturalization laws and immigration;it establishes post-offices; grants patents and copyrights. It has the power to coin and to borrow money. It also governs the District of Columbia and the Territories.
An Amendment to the Constitution of the United Statesmust be passed by a majority of two-thirds of the votes cast in both houses of Congress. It is then submitted to the States for ratification by the State Legislatures. When the Legislatures of three-fourths of the forty-eight States have ratified such an amendment by a majority vote of their members it becomes law.
The Executive: The President of the United States has greater powers than have the heads of many other nations. He is the Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy; he conducts official business with foreign nations and makes treaties with them, subject to the approval of the Senate; he appoints, with the consent of the Senate, ambassadors, ministers, high officials of Army and Navy, justices of the Supreme Court, and a vast number of other officers. He may veto measures passed by Congress, but they can be passed over his veto by a two-thirds vote.
The President has power to initiate legislation by sending a message to Congress,giving them information about important affairs and recommending legislative measures for their consideration. The degree to which he can force legislation through Congress depends both on the strength of the party in Congress to which he belongs, and on the personal power and prestige of the President himself. President Wilson is the first President, for more than a century, to appear in person before a joint session of Congress and read his message.
Election of the President: The President is chosen by presidential electors, elected by the voters of the various States, the number of electors for each State being the same as the total number of Representatives and Senators in Congress from that State. The electors of a State meet at the State Capitol on the second Monday of January following the election, to cast their votes for President. The electors are merely machines to register the vote of the State, and usually the entire electoral vote of a State goes to one candidate, although the majority of the popular vote for him may have been small. This system makes the presidential election virtually an election by States. A State “goes” Republican or Democratic. The struggle is concentrated in a few doubtful States. Towin or lose them may mean to win or lose the election. It has happened that one candidate has actually received a larger popular vote than his opponent, and yet has not been elected, because the number of votes in the electoral college from the States that gave him a majority was smaller than the number of electoral votes from the other States. There is a movement toward the abolition of the electoral college and direct nomination and direct election of the President by the voters.
The Vice-Presidentmust be eligible to the office of President. He is elected for the same term, and his salary is $12,000 a year. His only duty is to preside over the Senate and to succeed the President in case of need.
The Cabinetconsists of ten officials appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate to conduct for him certain departments of public business. The salary of a Cabinet member is $12,000.
Cabinet members have no vote in either House of Congress, and are not responsible to it in any way. Like the President himself, they may belong to the party which is in the minority in Congress. The Cabinet is an advisory body to the President, but its members have no legal standing in that way,and he may ignore them if he chooses. Each Cabinet officer is the administrative head of his department.
The Secretary of State heads the Department of State, and is responsible for all official negotiations and relations with foreign governments. He is the medium of communication between the President and the Governors of the States.
The Secretary of the Treasury manages national finances, administers revenue, currency, and national banking laws.
The Secretary of War has charge of all matters of national defense, river and harbor improvements, and is responsible for the maintenance of the Army.
The Attorney-General is the legal adviser of the President and the National government.
The Postmaster-General conducts the affairs of the United States Post-Office Department and the transportation of the mail.
The Secretary of the Navy has charge of the Navy and its equipment, yards, and docks.
The Secretary of the Interior and his department have charge of public lands and Indian affairs. He has the granting of pensions and patents.
The Secretary of Agriculture has for his business the improvement of agriculture in the United States. He also has charge of the Weather Bureau, animal and plant industry, and the forest service.
The Secretary of Commerce must aid and develop the commercial interests of the country, including mining and transportation. He takes the census every ten years.
The Secretary of Labor and the Department of Labor are designed to protect the welfare of the wage earners. To this department belong the Bureau of Immigration and the Children’s Bureau.
The tendency of the past few years has been to enlarge the powers of the National government. With the rapid increase of means of transportation distant parts of the country have been brought close together. Sectionalism is diminishing. To “States’ rights” is being added a national pride. In the administration of the business of the nation, State boundaries can often no longer be considered without a distinct loss of economy and efficiency. To give one example: the State control of railroads resulted in obstructive and entirely different requirements being made by neighboring States, on the same railroad passing through several ofthem. The power of separate States to control, independent of each other, such things as marriage and divorce laws, has resulted in the deplorable situation that a couple may be legally married in one State and the marriage may not be recognized in another.
It is evident that with the growth in influence and importance of the United States, the National government is gradually assuming many functions which formerly were left to the separate States.