bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Political Platforms on Legislation in Indiana, 1901–1921
Authors: Berry Burton Y.
Published: May 2006

Numerically the political platform touches about six-tenths of one per cent of the legislation introduced in an average legislature. For instance, in the 1911 Indiana legislature, there were 1,111 bills introduced, while only six bills originated in the political platform of the controlling, in this case the Democratic, party. This revelation, although startling at first, is somewhat deceiving. In the first place, the political platform does not attempt, nor do the party leaders desire it, to touch upon all phases of legislation. There are various kinds of legislation, such as the relocation of county seats, weed laws and individual relief laws, which are too local or trivial to be included in the state platform, and there are other types, such as anti-liquor legislation, which the platform avoids because of their magnified importance.

Although the percentage given is correct, this six-tenths of one per cent is about twenty-five per cent of the important legislation considered. In this study of the twenty year period in Indiana, beginning with the inauguration of Governor Durbin in 1901 and through the successive administrations and ending with the first legislature under Governor McCray in 1921, we are interested in those platform planks alone which positively pledge the party to legislation.
New European Constitutions: In Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croates and Slovenes
Authors: Hayden Ralston
Published: May 2006

In this period during which all political institutions are being tested as never before by the searching criticism of an awakened world and by application to the well-nigh insoluble problems left by the World War, the constitutions which have been developed by the post-war states of Europe possess a peculiar interest to the student of public affairs. They are the results of the conscious effort of the statesmen of these new commonwealths to combine with the historic institutions of their own lands those features of the public law and the political practises of the older democracies which experience has proven to be workable, to be conducive of good government, and to make possible a more or less popular control over affairs of state. The product of a season when democracy is the fashion, all of these instruments are filled with rules and phrases which have a familiar ring in American ears, despite a more than occasional Gallic or native accent.
Notes on Congressional Procedure
Authors: Rogers Lindsay
Published: May 2006

Rules of procedure in legislative bodies, once a matter of convenience, have now become weapons of political and personal warfare. Nowhere is this more evident than in the American Congress. In the house of representatives individual members are ready to seize every opportunity afforded by the rules to make themselves prominent and embarrass those who have the pending measure in charge; and when action is to be taken by the house, guillotine is almost always used. The proposed program is reported by the committee on rules and the house proceeds to a cut and dried decision determined upon by the leaders.
American Influence on Political Thought in Czechoslovakia
Authors: Partl Vaclav
Published: May 2006

It would not be difficult to find in the political development of the Czechoslovak nation instances of the influence of American political principles, and a careful study of the subject would soon produce large results. This is quite natural in the case of a nation which is counted among those having the highest intellectual development in Europe, which has an old political tradition but at the same time has been badly oppressed by the Habsburg régime, and which is a nation sending every year a comparatively large number of emigrants and political refugees to America, a large proportion of whom continue to carry on a lively intercourse with their fatherland and even return in after years to their homes in the old country.
Electoral Reform in France
Authors: Garner James W.
Published: May 2006

Since the separation of church and state in 1905 the paramount question of French internal politics has been that of electoral reform. No other question has been so much discussed in parliament and in the country, or has been the subject of so many reports, books, brochures and magazine articles. It has occupied a leading place in the ministerial declarations of the last five cabinets and has caused the downfall of one. It was one of the paramount issues in the parliamentary elections of 1910 and an overwhelming majority of the deputies in the present chamber were chosen upon programs which pledged them to the support of electoral reform. Furthermore, the present chamber, elected in 1910, has on four different occasions by large majorities voted in favor of electoral reform and on July 10, 1912, it passed a bill by a vote of 339 to 217 embodying the more important reforms demanded by the country. But so far the senate has refused its concurrence.
Expert Administrators in Popular Government
Authors: Lowell A. Lawrence
Published: May 2006

Presidents, governors and mayors certainly cannot be experts in all the matters with which they are called upon to deal, nor, as a rule, are they thoroughly expert in any of them; and in fact this is generally true of officers elected to administer public affairs. We cannot, therefore, avoid the question whether they do, or do not, need expert assistance if the government is to be efficiently conducted. The problem is not new, for the world struggled with it two thousand years ago. The fate of institutions has sometimes turned upon it, and so may the great experiment we are trying today—that of the permanence of democracy on a large scale. Americans pay little heed to the lessons taught by the painful experience of other lands, and Charles Sumner expressed a common sentiment when he remarked sarcastically his thankfulness that they knew no history in Washington. Our people have an horizon so limited, a knowledge of the past so small, a self-confidence so sublime, a conviction that they are altogether better than their fathers so profound, that they hardly realize the difficulty of their task. We assume unconsciously, as a witty writer has put it, that human reason began about thirty years ago; and yet a candid study of history shows that the essential qualities of human nature have not changed radically; that men have little more capacity or force of character than at other favored epochs. Some improvement in standards has, no doubt, taken place, and certainly the bounds of human sympathy have widened vastly; but there has been no such transformation as to justify a confidence that the men of the present day can accomplish easily and without sacrifice what to earlier generations was unattainable.
Village Government in New England
Authors: Bates Frank G.
Published: May 2006

Throughout the United States there are provided special, though simple, forms of municipal government for villages under the various names of village, borough or town. Oddly enough the notable exceptions to this general practice are to be found in New England, the region which includes three of the most densely populated states in the Union. Moreover, it is in the two most densely populated of these that the least progress has been made toward the development of an orderly system of village government.

At one time the whole area of New England, except certain unorganized tracts in the north, was under town government and so continued until the growth of urban conditions led to city incorporation. In every case incorporation was by special act, and such is the method employed in every case to the present time. The readiness of the town government to assume the functions proper to an urban community not only retarded city incorporation, but prevented, in large measure, the growth of special forms of government for villages. It is not unusual to find towns which include within their limits many square miles of rural territory, providing all or part of its population with fire protection, water, sewers, lights, side-walks, parks and libraries. But there has grown up, sometimes under general laws though more commonly as a result of special legislation, a heterogeneous collection of municipal governments and taxing authorities variously denominated villages, fire, water, lighting, sewer, highway and improvement districts, producing a confusion comparable only to the conditions in England before the municipal reforms of recent date.
Governmental Reorganization in Illinois
Authors: Fairlie John A.
Published: May 2006

In its broad outlines the state government of Illinois resembles that of most of the American States—but with the most recent tendencies as yet only slightly developed. The present state constitution, adopted in 1870, illustrates the political ideas prevalent in the middle of the nineteenth century—the election of all classes of public officials, the disintegration of the executive branch of the government, and the distrust of the legislature, and the provisions of this constitution are stereotyped by an amending article under which alterations have proved almost impossible. There has, however, been an increasing development of administrative authorities, created by statute, and added one to another with almost no attempt at systematic organization. From 1909 to 1913, there were not less than 34 new state offices, boards and commissions established, and the total number of such executive agencies is now approximately 130.

Under the present arrangements, there is no correlation between related offices, and little or no effective supervision; there is no budget system and no adequate accounting system. As a result the public administration is inefficient and wasteful; it fails to furnish the general assembly with satisfactory advice on legislation; and there is no clearly defined responsibility for the conduct of public affairs; appropriations and expenditures have been rapidly increasing, the appropriations in 1913 for two years amounting to nearly $38,000,000.
Social Order And Political Authority
Authors: Dickinson John
Published: May 2006

The first of these papers carried a warning against conceiving social order in an absolute sense. It does not mean suppression of all forms of competition and defeat, but only the protection of selected human interests at the expense of others. Even taking order in this limited sense, it was found that custom and voluntary adjustment furnishan incomplete apparatus for its furtherance. The effectiveness of custom was seen to be connected with the auxiliary activity of an organ of leadership to serve as a focus for the radiation of custom, and a pivot for change. Voluntary adjustment, while capable of resolving many interest-conflicts beyond the reach of custom, was also found to rely largely on the initiatory activity of an organ of mediation. Finally, we have thus far considered social order primarily from the point of view of the prevention or adjustment of direct conflicts of interests between individuals.

The functioning of a social group requires more than that its members should refrain from what other members resent as invasions of their interests. If the advantages of group life are to be reaped, it is necessary that at many points the group should, aswe say, act as a unit, which means that each member should so shape his conduct with reference to the conduct of others that the acts of all, when thus geared together, will produce an aggregate or group result. This gearing together of the acts of separate individuals is what is commonly called “coöperation.” Coöperation has value only as it furthers interests which belong to individuals.
Public Law in the State Courts in 1926–1927
Authors: Cushman Robert E.
Published: May 2006

Legislative Apportionment. The problem of the representation of large cities or metropolitan districts in state legislatures is becoming increasingly difficult and acute. The number of states in which a single center of population is with each census approaching a size which entitles it, on the basis of its inhabitants, to a controlling proportion of the representatives in the state legislature grows steadily as the current of population toward the city continues to flow. Certain states have dealt with this situation by frankly and openly discriminating against these metropolitan areas by specifying that they shall never be entitled to more than a fixed percentage of the representatives. The constitutions of certain other states do not permit this, however, but require that after each decennial census a total fixed number of members in the legislative body shall be allotted equally to districts of equal population. If this is done the metropolis is guaranteed under each apportionment the increase in representation to which its proportionate increase in population entitles it. And the answer volunteered to this problem by several state legislatures has been steadily to refuse to reapportion the state.
The Investigative Function of Congress
Authors: Galloway George B.
Published: May 2006

In the winter and spring of 1923–24 a blizzard of congressional investigations swept the national capital. Party lines were tied up, statesmen were snowed under, and Washington officialdom was chilled by a storm of inquiries into the conduct of government departments. Scarcely a corner of the administration escaped inquisition. The subjects of inquiry ranged from the naval oil reserve leases at Teapot Dome and Elk Hill to the administration of the Veterans' Bureau under Director Forbes of dubious fame. Upwards of two-score inquests were instituted by Congress, through its committees, into the official behavior of the executive branch of the national government. In the end, and as a direct result, two cabinet members lost their portfolios.

Such wide and effective use by Congress of its committees for the purpose of inquiry and examination of administrative conduct raised certain questions in the minds of students of government. What were the constitutional limits of the investigative function of Congress? What was the relation of this function to the law-making function and to impeachment? Was punishment by impeachment a satisfactory remedy for official misconduct, or had it become obsolete as too cumbersome? Did the vote of the Senate calling for Secretary Denby's resignation usher in a new process in this country? Should cabinet officials be required to appear on the floor of Congress and answer questions? Would this be preferable to investigating their actions long after they have been performed? Does the steady increase of federal powers necessitate greater supervision by Congress over the President and administrative officers? Have students of politics overlooked a function of Congress frequently and forcibly exercised for the control of administration?
Greece's Experiment with Proportional Representation
Authors: Polyzoides Adamantios Th.
Published: May 2006

On November 7 Greece held its first general election under the system of proportional representation, using a modified form of the Belgian system. This innovation was imposed on the country despite the most strenuous opposition by all of the old parties, the majority of the press, and the bulk of public opinion, and its adoption was a clear victory of the minority parties, assisted by the Military League and the then dictator General Kondylis.

The arguments of the established parties in favor of the old plurality system ran on lines too familiar to require extensive statement here. The former system, according to its supporters, usually assures the election of large majorities, one way or the other, and enables Parliament to give the country what we call a strong government, such as Greece needed at the time of the election. Great Britain and the United States were offered as the outstanding examples of the efficiency of the two-party system, which is best served by the old-fashioned electoral method of absolute plurality. Naturally enough, Belgium was cited as the worst exponent of the evils of proportional representation.
Revolutionary Communism in the United States
Authors: Watkins Gordon S.
Published: May 2006

On October 15, 1919, a press dispatch from Buffalo, New York, indicated that the primary election returns in that city gave an average of about three hundred votes to the three candidates whose names appeared on the ballot as representatives of the Communist party, the protagonist of the soviet form of government in the United States. The total number of votes cast was 54,000, which shows that the Communist vote was insignificant, numerically. Newspapers ridiculed the diminutive radical vote. All phenomena have a genesis, and it is the fact that a Communist ballot was cast rather than the quantitative character of the vote that has significance for the student of political philosophy and action. To those who saw the revolutionary left wing of the old Socialist party organize the Communist party and the Communist Labor party in Chicago during the first week of September, 1919, this initial appearance of the revolutionary Communists in American political life presages important developments. The event was heralded by revolutionists in this country and in Europe as the emergence of a new era in the political and economic life of the United States. The widespread dissemination of ultra-radical propaganda in connection with recent strikes is further evidence of the revolutionary purposes of Communists in America.

Optimistic prophecies are prevalent to the effect that bolshevism will find no fertile soil in the United States, since American workmen are too prosperous to become susceptible to revolutionary political and industrial philosophy. Similar predictions were voiced even on the floor of the Socialist emergency convention and the Communist Labor party convention last September.
The New York County System
Authors: Gilbertson H. S.
Published: May 2006

County government in New York, as in every other State, is more or less of a mystery to the average citizen. It is questionable whether, outside of the district attorney, and possibly the sheriff, very many people have any clear notion of the duties of any of the county officers. The activities of the counties are largely invisible and such as to attract very little interest or attention. On the other hand, counties use up a great deal of hard earned money and county officers loom up large on the political horizon at the general election.

For this prevailing ignorance, the nature of the county itself is largely to blame. It is an anomaly, and its anomalous character is due to the perpetuation of an historical institution through the manifold changes of the last two centuries. The county assumed a logical and practical form in its beginnings in the seventeenth century. In later times as the State developed, the interests of the people became diversified and they distributed themselves in some sections sparsely like the people of the southern States and sometimes into compact communities, as, for instance, in Onondaga, Monroe and Broome Counties. The form of local government which was made to fit the Hudson settlements was extended westward.
Political Parties and the War
Authors: Mathews John M.
Published: May 2006

The pathology of political parties is illustrated under especially illuminating circumstances during time of war. The internal political conditions of every important nation are influenced to some extent by its external relations. War on a world-wide scale is the external relation which has the most profound influence upon the internal political conditions of every participating nation. This influence varies in different cases, depending upon the proximity of the particular nation to the scene of the conflict, the extent of its participation, the relative danger of invasion by its enemies, the character of the internal governmental organization, the length of the conflict, and other factors. In normal times, it has been found by experience in nations operating under the two-party system that oscillations in the fortunes of the two principal parties occur with a surprising degree of regularity. This see-saw of party politics may have an injurious effect upon the continuity and constructiveness of the nation's foreign policy even in normal times; its continuation in time of war when the nation's fate may be hanging in the balance would be a serious, if not intolerable, danger. One effect of war upon the party system, therefore, is to bring about, at least for a time, a relatively greater stability of party control, if not complete quiescence of partisanship, either through coalition or through cessation of party opposition, or both.
The Future of the Washington Conference Treaties
Authors: Holcombe Arthur N.
Published: May 2006

At the outset, it is pertinent to recall the high hopes with which, ten years ago, the Washington Conference Treaties were proclaimed to the world. We can still remember the measured words with which President Harding brought the Conference to a close. “This Conference,” he declared, “has wrought a truly great achievement. It is hazardous sometimes to speak in superlatives, and I will be restrained. But I will say with every confidence that the faith plighted here today, kept in national honor, will mark the beginning of a new and better epoch in human progress.”

The grounds for these high hopes were set forth in the official summary transmitted to the Senate along with the record of the proceedings of the Conference and the texts of the treaties themselves:

To estimate correctly the character and value of these several treaties [it is written in this document] they should be considered as a whole. Each one contributes its part in combination with the others towards the establishment of conditions in which peaceful security will take the place of competitive preparation for war. … Competitive armament, however, is the result of a state of mind in which a national expectation of attack by some other country causes preparation to meet the attack.
The Administration of Japan's Pacific Mandate
Authors: Heneman Harlow J.
Published: May 2006

The territory under Japanese mandate comprises the former German colonial possessions in the Pacific Ocean lying north of the equator. This region is made up of three main groups of islands, the Marshall, the Mariana, and the Caroline, having a total estimated land area of approximately 800 square miles. Included in these groups are more than 1,400 islets, reefs, and atolls stretching across the Pacific from 130 longitude east to 175 longitude east, and from the equator to 22 latitude north. Lying west of Hawaii, east of the Philippines, and south of Japan, many of these islands are near the steamship lanes running from the Hawaiian Islands to Guam and to the Philippines.

A recent census shows that there are more than 60,000 inhabitants in the territory under Japanese mandate, about four-fifths being natives. More than 12,000 Japanese have gone to the islands, as well as a few Europeans and Americans. The Japanese, for the most part, are engaged in agricultural or commercial pursuits or are government officials, while the Occidental population is made up mostly of missionaries. Racially, it is believed that the natives come within the Micronesian or Polynesian classification, although in many instances the racial strain is not pure.

Prior to 1914, the Japanese had few interests of importance in these islands. Occasional tramp steamers, trading vessels, or fishing boats from. Japan sometimes visited them, but no regular trade relations existed. When, however, the World War broke out, Japan lost no time in sending a naval squadron to the islands, and, with comparative ease, she obtained control of them in October, 1914. At the time, the Tokio government explained that the seizure of the islands was only temporary, for military purposes, and that Japan had no desire to keep them. Later events indicate, however, that these mere dots in the Pacific took on an increased value in Japanese eyes; certainly, once having secured control of them, the conqueror was loath to give them up.
The Personnel of the British Foreign Office and Diplomatic Service, 1851–1929
Authors: Nightingale Robert T.
Published: May 2006

The connection between public opinion and public policy is slighter in foreign affairs than in any other sphere of politics. In normal times, international relations have little palpable impact upon the life of the people, and are obscured by more vivid domestic issues until war or some sudden crisis throws a high light on their significance. Even since the Great War, although public realization of the importance of foreign affairs has begun to be aroused in the late belligerent countries—in England at any rate—direct contact between popular opinion and government action is still both sporadic and uncertain.

What is true of the British nation is almost equally true of its representative assembly. Parliament has but little power over foreign affairs. Some of the most momentous changes in the country's relations with other Powers have, in the present century, been accomplished without reference to the House of Commons, and often without even its knowledge. Like the people themselves, the people's representatives exercise only an inconsiderable control over that branch of public affairs which is at present of more vital concern than any other.

Most British foreign secretaries, indeed, regard their actions as matters of exclusively executive concern. A cabinet of twenty ministers, already overworked in their own departments, is not, however, a body which can conduct the country's foreign relations. On his own subject, the Foreign Secretary dominates his ministerial colleagues. Experience shows that he can avoid consultation with all the cabinet save two or three of the principal ministers.
Need for a more Democratic Procedure of Amending the Constitution
Authors: Eldridge Seba
Published: May 2006

That final legislative authority in this country is lodged in the letter of a constitution that is amended with the greatest difficulty, and with a supreme court which is entirely independent of electoral control has become a commonplace of political discussion.

To quote Professor Goodnow: “Acts of congress and of state legislatures are declared to be unconstitutional ‥‥ because they cannot be made to conform to a conception of the organization and powers of government which we have inherited from the eighteenth century;” and Dr. Blaine F. Moore: “If we may judge from the decisions based on the due process clause in the fourteenth amendment and applying to the States, the court has it in its power to make the similar clause in the fifth amendment cover practically all federal legislation dealing with new problems concerning which there are few or no precedents. If the court does make this entirely possible extension of its power, then the legislation dealing with the more recent and pressing questions is under the control of the popularly inaccessible justices of the supreme court.”

Both these quotations are from studies published before the adoption of the sixteenth and seventeenth amendments, but they are only a little less true now than then, as an analysis of the history of those amendments will show.
State Constitutional Law in 1932–33, II
Authors: Haines Charles G.
Published: May 2006

Review of administrative authority and procedure has at times some strange and unfortunate results. Such was the case when the railroads protested the payment of taxes levied by the state tax commission of Washington. When the issue was brought to the courts, a special master was designated to secure evidence and to make preliminary findings of fact and conclusions of law. The master found no actual fraud, but concluded that there was constructive fraud in fixing base values and in allocating such values to the counties. He also found gross over-valuation and a grossly excessive ratio of assessed to actual value.

With the master's report before it, the federal district court made the usual deferential statement to administrative officers in this field in asserting that great care must be taken not unduly to interfere with the discretion which is confided to the assessing and taxing agencies; within their jurisdiction, except in case of fraud or a clearly shown adoption of wrong principles, they are the ultimate guardians of certain rights. Then the court proceeded to condemn the methods of procedure followed by the tax commission in assessing railway property, and also to disapprove of some of the conclusions of the master. Among these conclusions, the master believed that reproduction cost could not be used as a criterion for tax purposes; but the court held that such cost may be considered a relevant factor in such cases.
Notes on Municipal Affairs
Authors: Reed Thomas H.
Published: May 2006

The year which has passed since the preparation of the last “Notes on Municipal Affairs” (June 1, 1930) has been even more eventful than the preceding period.

Developments in Particular Cities. New York City. The belief which had been growing for many years that the Tammany tiger was, after all, a self-restrained, self-muzzled beast has suffered a rude shock in the exposures of flagrant corruption in the sale of judicial office, the handling of vice, the purchase of land for school purposes, and in many other directions. The district attorney's office has been exposed to the searchlight of investigator Seabury. Charges were preferred against Mayor Walker by John Haynes Holmes and Rabbi Wise in the name of a citizens' committee. Governor Roosevelt dismissed these charges with scant consideration. In the meantime, however, the legislature ordered a most searching investigation of the whole governmental situation in New York—an investigation which bids fair to rival, in extent and dramatic interest, that of the celebrated Lexow committee.

Chicago. In Chicago, Mayor Thompson's political career has suffered, if not extinction, at least a total eclipse. Though victorious against a broken field in the Republican primary, he was defeated by Anton J. Cermak in the election of April 7 by a vote of 476,932 to 671,189. It is probable that the people of Chicago were more anti-Thompson than pro-Cermak, but the new mayor is a vigorous and striking figure. For one thing, he is boss in his own right of the Democratic organization in Cook county.
American Administrative Law in 1931
Authors: Dimock Marshall E.
Published: May 2006

An analysis of administrative law cases which federal and state courts decided during 1931 reveals some exceptionally interesting problems and tendencies. These will be considered under the following main headings: (1) the separation of powers and administrative action, (2) principles regulating administrative determinations, (3) conclusiveness and appeal, (4) the law of officers, (5) the liability of officers, (6) community liability, and (7) the remedies against abuse of power.
Constitutional Reform in France
Authors: Gooch Robert K.
Published: May 2006

The Stavisky affair in France was, it would now seem, one of those national crises with which students of French politics are familiar. In cases of the kind, a chronic condition becomes acute. A latent anti-democratic sentiment and a dormant antiparliamentary movement appear to become suddenly aroused. A concatenation of apparently superficial circumstances causes an emergency to exist.

The many persons who, like M. Charles Benoist for example, have for a long time insisted that the inevitable ultimate outcome for a system suffering from a chronic condition marked by periodic crises must be revolution, dictatorship, or reform seemed in February of 1934 to be supported by unusually important facts. In conditions such that anticipation of revolution or dictatorship was prevalent on an exceedingly large scale, M. Doumergue assumed power, as is well known, with the definite understanding that he would direct his efforts seriously and unconditionally towards reform.
State Constitutional Law in 1933–34
Authors: Haines Charles G.
Published: May 2006

More than ten years ago, the Earl of Birkenhead, former Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, speaking before the American Bar Association, expressed the belief that it was a question for the future to determine whether the barriers which the framers of the constitutions placed upon the complete freedom of legislative assemblies in the United States will prove equal to the emergencies as they arise and will be as adaptable to the stress and strain of political exigencies as the more flexible and more democratic arrangements of the British constitution. “Your constitution,” he remarked, “is expressed and defined in documents which can be pronounced upon by the Supreme Court. In this sense, your judges are the masters of your executive. Your constitution is a cast-iron document. It falls to be construed by the Supreme Court with the same sense of easy and admitted mastery as any ordinary contract. This circumstance provides a breakwater of enormous value against ill-considered and revolutionary changes.” On the other hand, so far as England is concerned, the genius of the Anglo-Saxon people has, rightly or wrongly, refused to shackle in the slightest degree the constitutional competence of later generations. Any law of Great Britain can be altered by Parliament and no court may challenge the constitutional force of an act of Parliament. It is on the whole premature, thought Lord Birkenhead, to decide whether you or we have been right.
Judicial Review of Legislation under the Austrian Constitution of 1920
Authors: Grant J. A. C.
Published: May 2006

When Canada set up a federal system of government in 1867, she had nearly eighty years of American experience to build upon. Consequently, she was able to evade many of the problems in which we find ourselves entangled today. When Austria provided for judicial review in her constitution of 1920, she could profit from more than a century and a quarter of American experience, as well as from the various modifications of the American plan to be found in the British Dominions and elsewhere. Hence, we should not be surprised to learn that in the opinion of Dr. Hans Kelsen the theory and practice of judicial control of legislation reached a more complete development in Austria than in any other nation.
Politics, Personalities, and the Federal Trade Commission, I
Authors: Herring E. Pendleton
Published: May 2006

The Federal Trade Commission has been the object of more scholarly examination and critical discussion than any other administrative commission in the federal government. The statutory authority, the internal organization, and the administrative procedure of the Commission have all been studied. More specialized researches have thrown light on its regulation of competitive practices and its relations with the courts. Our purpose here is to view the Commission in its relations with business and with Congress and the President, in order to achieve some understanding of the political and economic factors that have influenced its activities.

Underlying both sets of relationships are the conflicts of economic groups and special interests which attempt to convert their force into political power when they touch the legislator or the President. The attempt here will be to explore some of these rather intangible aspects of the Commission's administrative experience.
International Economic Coöperation at the Cross-Roads
Authors: Bailey S. H.
Published: May 2006

International concerted action by states in economic affairs, save in the sphere of communications and transport, has a history of little more than one generation's span. Indeed, apart from the three disconnected conventions concluded before the Great War at Brussels concerning sugar subsidies, the publication of customs tariffs, and the exchange of comparable commercial statistics, respectively, efforts for international coöperation between governments date only from the Peace Settlement. Of the pre-war agreements, the first was denounced before the War; the second, which might still prove of considerable importance when national tariffs become fairly stable, has proved ineffective in a period of violent tariff changes; while the third came into operation only in 1922.

The movement, therefore, with the important exceptions in the sphere of communications and transport, owed its impetus to the work of the Peace Conferences; but save for Part XIII of the Versailles Treaty and the similar provisions of the other treaties—the labor clauses—no specific machinery was established by the treaties either within or without the framework of the Covenant for economic coöperation.
Direct Legislation in the German Länder, 1919–32
Authors: Greene Lee S.
Published: May 2006

Among the experiments in government which have taken place in post-war Germany, one of the most varied in form is to be found in the theory and practice of direct legislation. The referendum, initiative, and a type of recall exist in national, state, and local governments. The experience of the German people with these constitutional practices has been treated occasionally in studies of the national and municipal governments, and this note is designed to perform a similar service with regard to the German states.

Studies of the constitutional convention at Weimar seem to indicate that direct legislation was adopted for the national constitution without a great deal of study. The Germans had, however, been acquainted with the idea of direct legislation for some time, and a proposal for its use had found expression in theErfurter Programof the Social Democratic party. The provisional arrangements for the national government during the revolutionary period included machinery for an appeal to the electorate in cases of disagreement between the ordinary organs of government. But the widest use of the various forms of direct legislation is first to be found in the provisional constitutions of the states.
The Economics of the Recovery Program
Authors: Elliott William Y.
Published: May 2006

From Aristotle's day to this, the subject-matter of economics has been recognized by political scientists to affect very greatly the institutions with which the latter deal. In our own time, studies like those of Professors Charles A. Beard and Arthur N. Holcombe have carried the great bulk of American political scientists over to a primarily economic interpretation of political history. It is not too much to say that there has been some danger of political scientists conceding too much common ground to the economist's psychology and methods.

The economist, on the other hand, has for some decades at least, both in this country and abroad, had scant patience with political science. He has given even less recognition to the bearing of political factors upon the simple assumptions upon which his economic science too often rested. F. Delaisi characteristically wrote of Political Myths and Economic Realities, without much regard for a test of whether the myths might not be the more powerful realities in terms of survival value. “Politics” was something which, in an annoying and “unscientific” way, occasionally interfered with the operations of man as a profit-making animal. Politics was rarely thought of as a statement of those psychological motives and controlling social institutions which corrected or conditioned at every stage the jejune motivation and the mechanical equations upon which most economic generalizations rested.
Organization of the Executive Branch of the National Government of the United States. Changes between November 1,1933, and March 15, 1934
Authors: Schmeckebier L. F.
Published: May 2006

In the December, 1933, issue of the REVIEW (pp. 942–955) appeared a tabular view of the changes in major units of the national government between March 4 and November 1, 1933. The list below brings the enumeration to March 15,1934. As in the previous list, mention is made only of units specifically authorized by law or established by the President by executive order under general authority vested in him. There are also boards, corporations, and committees subordinate or advisory to the units listed.
Operation of the Literacy Test for Voters in New York
Authors: Crawford Finla G.
Published: May 2006

The education department of the state of New York, which is charged with the administration of the literacy test law of 1923, has recently submitted a report on the workings of the measure from 1923 to 1929. The document furnishes some very illuminating evidence, not only on the operation of the literacy test for voters, but on other phases of political action.

These figures indicate a steady increase of interest in voting in the state of New York, if the presidential years are not included. Despite the peak applications of 1928, a larger number of new voters applied in the off-year 1929 than in the gubernatorial year 1926. The figures for 1928 are particularly significant. The Hoover-Smith campaign brought out a record number of non-voters who had never participated, and it must be recalled that these 163,299 persons had either become of age or had been naturalized since January 1, 1922. They do not include persons who were qualified but had never voted before the literacy test law became operative.
The Lytton Report
Authors: Dennett Tyler
Published: May 2006

The title is not only misleading but even obscures one of the most significant features of the report of the Commission of Enquiry of the League of Nations which was authorized by the Council on December 10, 1931, and the composition of which was approved on January 14 following. From the popular title which has been given to the report, it might be inferred that it is the work of one man, an Englishman, whereas it is the unanimous report and recommendation of five men of five nationalities—Italian, French, English, American, and German. That five men of such diverse associations could have reached an agreement upon a report so incisive and upon recommendation so comprehensive and concise is a very remarkable characteristic of the document.
Report on Recent Social Trends in the United States
Authors: Holcombe Arthur N.
Published: May 2006

This is the latest and most comprehensive of the series of studies promoted or patronized by Mr. Hoover, which began in 1921 with the report on “Waste in Industry.” In September, 1929, the President called upon a group of leading social scientists to examine recent social trends with a view to preparing such a report “as might supply a basis for the formulation of large national policies looking to the next phase in the nation's development.” This was an ambitious undertaking, more ambitious than any of those which had preceded it. But the President believed firmly in the method of fact-finding by commission, as was demonstrated by the contemporaneous creation of the Wickersham Commission. This belief appeared to be justified by the accomplishments of previous commissions, especially the commission whose report on “Recent Economic Changes” was then approaching completion. Be that as it may, it was logical that the series of studies should culminate with a broader view of the great society which constitutes the American community. For the purpose of making this survey, President Hoover secured the services of six expert investigators whose past performances had gained for them the confidence of American students of the social sciences. Among them there was a thoroughly competent representative of political science. There was also assurance of adequate financial support. Thus the enterprise began with a good prospect of achieving whatever it might be practicable to achieve in the existing state of the social sciences.
State Constitutional Law in 1934–35
Authors: Haines Charles G.
Published: May 2006

Validity of Constitutional Amendments. The courts continue to scan with rather meticulous care the procedure for the adoption of constitutional amendments. Where the sole purpose of a proposed constitutional amendment under the initiative provisions of the constitution was to provide for the levy of a “syncrotax,” or a tax on the basis of gross receipts in lieu of all other state taxes, a petition with a short title reading “initiative measure providing for adoption of gross receipts act” was held fatally defective in view of the requirement that every initiative petition have a short title showing the nature of the petition and the subject to which it relates. But according to the supreme court of Florida, a proposal to amend the constitution need not have a title, need not be read on different days or at different times, and need not be concurred in by the governor. And the dissenting justices protested that the majority failed to uphold the requirement that a proposed amendment shall be entered upon the respective journals of the two houses with the yeas and nays, showing a three-fifths vote in favor of the amendment. There must be, however, a violation of express constitutional requirements for the courts to interfere with the procedure in the adoption of amendments.
Organization of the Executive Branch of the National Government of the United States: Changes between December 15, 1934, and June 16, 1935
Authors: Schmeckebier L. F.
Published: May 2006

In the December, 1933, issue of this Review, pp. 942–955, appeared a tabular review of the changes in major units of the national government between March 4 and November 1, 1933. In the April, 1934, issue, pp. 250–254, appeared a supplementary list showing the changes between November 1,1933 and March 1,1934. In the October, 1934, issue, pp. 872–874, a second supplementary list showed the changes between March 1 and June 30, 1934; and a third supplementary list in the February, 1935, issue showed changes between June 30 and December 15, 1934. The present list indicates the reorganization effected and new units created between December 15, 1934, and June 16, 1935. As in previous lists, mention is made of units only specifically authorized by law or established by the President under general authority vested in him.
Recent Governmental Reforms in France
Authors: Heneman H. J.
Published: May 2006

In reporting to the French people on th e state of affairs in France on June 25, 1940, Premier Marshal Philippe Pétain said: “It is toward the future that. … we turn our efforts. A new order commences.” A new order in France has begun, indeed, even though the character of the French political, economic, and social institutions of the future is not yet subject to definitive determination. With large portions of her territory occupied by German and Italian troops and with all of France at the mercy of her conquerors, the Vichy government has been unable to act with that independence essential to the exercise of full sovereign power. Because of this subjugation to countries still at war, the future of France is inextricably bound up with the outcome of the present conflict. Nevertheless, the “restoration of all that is sound in French life” is well under way, according to Marshal Petain. This task has been undertake n by a government composed in a large measure of persons who have never enjoyed a wide popular following. For years, criticisms of French democratic political institutions and the practices which surrounded them were not inconsiderable and, although handicapped by the necessity of looking both to Wiesbaden and to the German authorities in Paris, the critics who repeatedly sought to discredit the parliamentary system are now having their innings. Under the normal operation of the French political system, the Pétain cabinets could not have come into power, because it is extremely doubtful whether they could have received the support of a parliamentary majority.