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 THE 
 
 LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 HOW AMERICA IS GOVERNED 
 
 BY 
 
 GEOFFREY PARSONS 
 
 \* 
 
 NEW YORK 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 1919 
 
 CtrWl ^* » 
 

 Copyright, 1919, by 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS ^ 
 
 Published September, 1919 
 
 B 2A 
 
 / 
 
 CI.A536122 U 
 Bem/rded 
 
PREFACE 
 
 We are all starting out afresh, on a new path, as a 
 result of the Great War. Nothing is or can be the same 
 for any one, for men and women or for boys and girls. 
 One of the greatest changes is in our attitude toward 
 our nation, our idea of government. We lived in an 
 easy-going world before the war and we took much for 
 granted. We were vaguely grateful for freedom, for 
 our America; but the extent of our blessings, the cost 
 of their creation in the past, the need of our ever-pres- 
 ent support if they are to continue, had faded into the 
 background of our minds. 
 
 The war brought all this back. We saw suddenly 
 that America was not just a convenient servant to fetch 
 our mails and police our streets but the sacred giver of 
 everything we held dear — home, family, friends, the 
 right to work, to play, to be happy, to live; and that 
 as our protector, our great mother, we owed her our 
 uttermost love and service, if need be, our lives. 
 
 This book aims to describe America as the war has 
 revealed her anew. It aims to picture the ideas under- 
 lying our government and the machinery embodying 
 those ideas. It aims, beyond this, to make clear the 
 great, unseen services that America renders each of us, 
 and the active devotion each of us must yield in return 
 if America is to endure. 
 
 Among the hundreds of books on American govern- 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 ment few have attempted to state the essential fact 
 and theory as simply as is attempted here. There are 
 excellent story-books about fire-engines and street-clean- 
 ing and mounted policemen. There are admirable 
 handbooks of governmental machinery fitted for the 
 last years of high school and for college. For the 
 younger boy or girl government has been chiefly por- 
 trayed as an affair of fires, garbage, and runaway horses. 
 That the great plan and purpose of America should be 
 planted in each generation as early as possible is a new 
 realization born of our experience in the war. For- 
 tunately the playground has built up a parallel and a 
 text as just and simple as they are illuminating. The 
 family has been the traditional starting-point of writers 
 on civics. But the analogy is hopelessly confusing and 
 quite without reality for anybody's mind, young or 
 old. The basis of what follows, on the other hand, lies 
 ready and clear in the mind of every American boy 
 and girl, the lesson of that first and best school of gov- 
 ernment, the playground. 
 
 The Constitution is given in full and referred to fre- 
 quently. If the reader will make some acquaintance 
 with its text he will already have done much. The first 
 goal in the understanding of American government is 
 a sense of the vital part played in our lives and hap- 
 piness by this "living voice of the people." 
 
 G. P. 
 
 Rye, New York, July 1, 1919. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. The Spirit of America 1 
 
 II. The Captain, the Umpire, and the Rules . 3 
 
 III. The Team 7 
 
 IV. Majority Rule H 
 
 V. The Laws of Freedom and Fair Play ... 14 
 
 VI. The Constitution 22 
 
 VII. The Duties of an American 25 
 
 VIII. Home Rule 30 
 
 IX. The President 38 
 
 X. Congress 53 
 
 XI. The Federal Courts 63 
 
 XII. The Three Branches of Our Government . 66 
 
 XIII. What the Nation Does for Us 68 
 
 XIV. The Government of a State 86 
 
 XV. What The State Does for Us 103 
 
 XVI. Political Parties and Elections .... 114 
 
 XVII. Taxation 129 
 
 •• 
 Vll 
 
vin CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XVIII. Courts and Trials 139 
 
 XIX. The Making of the Constitution .... 155 
 
 XX. Your Government ......... 169 
 
 Constitution of the United States . . . 173 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 "Choosing Up" Frontispiece 
 
 PACING PAGE 
 
 A Close Decision at Home Plate 4 
 
 The Battleship Michigan Firing a Broadside 40 
 
 The White House, Washington, D. C 44 
 
 President Wilson Delivering His War Message to Congress, April 
 
 2,1917 50 
 
 The Capitol, Washington, D. C 54 
 
 Justices of the U. S. Supreme Court 64 
 
 U. S. Transport Leviathan Entering New York Harbor .... 70 
 
 Irrigable Land in Washington State Before Reclamation ... 80 
 
 Apple Orchard, Washington State; the Result of Reclamation . . 80 
 
 Arrowrock Dam, the Highest in the World, Near Boise, Idaho . . 82 
 
 A Road Before Improvement 98 
 
 The Same Road After Improvement 98 
 
 A Rescue in the Park 106 
 
 Patrolman and Ambulance Surgeon Caring for Victim of an Accident 106 
 
 Fireman Rescuing a Child 1 " 8 
 
 Interior of a Polling-Place 116 
 
 The "Party-Column" Type of Ballot Used in New York Before 
 
 1914 120 
 
 The Modified Massachusetts Type of Ballot Used in New York, 
 
 1914 122 
 
 A Court-Room 146 
 
 Independence Hall, Philadelphia . 158 
 
 ix 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF AMERICA 
 
 The Spirit of Fair Play. — Every American boy and girl 
 learns on the playground the true spirit of America, 
 which is nothing else than fair play, fair play for every 
 one, big and little, neither bullies nor cheats allowed. 
 You can sum up the whole object of our American Gov- 
 ernment by saying that it seeks to give every American, 
 man or woman, boy or girl, rich or poor, an equal 
 
 chance. 
 
 Every boy and girl in America wishes to win, to suc- 
 ceed, to become great and famous. There is more am- 
 bition in America than in any other country in the 
 world. That is because every boy and girl has a better 
 chance in America than in any other country in the 
 world. Our country is far from perfect; we have our 
 faults and injustices, as has every country. There are 
 cheats and bullies in business as in play. But we try 
 to keep the game of life fair and we have succeeded in 
 making America the land of opportunity beyond any 
 other spot. 
 
 The poorest boy can become President, has become 
 
 President. Abraham Lincoln, who split fence-rails as a 
 
 farmer's boy, lived to become our greatest and most 
 
 honored President. Every position, every success, 
 
 stands open for every boy to try for. Every girl can 
 
 learn as much as she will and enter any business or pro- 
 
 l 
 
2 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 fession or work that appeals to her. Andrew Carnegie, 
 who started out as a messenger-boy in Pittsburg at the 
 age of fourteen and became our greatest steel manufac- 
 turer, is but one of hundreds of American boys who 
 have won their way to the highest success. 
 
 Now it is fair play, and only fair play, that makes 
 this possible, that gives this chance to rich and poor 
 alike. As in games, so in work we try our hardest to 
 win, to succeed. But we play fair. We obey the rules. 
 We give every boy and girl a fair start. We put bullies 
 and cheats out of the game and we aim to give every 
 one an equal chance to succeed. That is the spirit of 
 America. No one is a true American who does not try 
 to live up to it. 
 
 There is no room for king or noble or any favored 
 class in this free country. Every American is as good 
 as his brains and character and manners, and no better. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 THE CAPTAIN, THE UMPIRE, AND THE RULES 
 
 Captain and President. — When a group of boys wish 
 to start a ball team one of the first things they do is to 
 choose a captain. No team can play well without a 
 captain, and a good one. He decides where each boy 
 shall play, directs the practice, makes out the batting 
 list, and gives the orders in a game — when to play up 
 for a batter, when to change pitchers, and so on. He 
 is the general of the forces in the field, and a good cap- 
 tain of a ball team is quite as important as a good gen- 
 eral in a battle. 
 
 The President of the United States is the captain of 
 the country. He does for the whole country very 
 much the kind of things that your captain does for 
 your baseball team. The country selects him to be 
 their general, their leader. If we are good Americans 
 we obey him to the death. If he asks the men to en- 
 list they do so. If he asks the women to save food in 
 war time they do so. If he asks us to buy War Sav- 
 ings Stamps we do so. If he asks us to pay a tax we 
 do so. Of course, he has a tremendous task and all 
 sorts of things to do. It is a very much more difficult 
 thing to lead a nation of 100,000,000 men, women, and 
 children than to lead a team of nine ball-players. But 
 he is chosen by the people of the country much as you 
 
 3 
 
4 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 choose "your baseball captain, "and he leads the people 
 much as your captain leads you. 
 
 Umpire and Judge. — Next is the umpire. You can 
 play a small game without an umpire, but there is 
 likely to be trouble and dispute over close decisions, 
 and no big game is ever played without an umpire. He 
 belongs to neither team and is chosen to call balls and 
 strikes and fouls and outs fairly, without favoring either 
 
 side. 
 
 Our judges are umpires chosen to make fair decisions 
 in the matters of business and life. They are elected 
 because they are fair-minded men and fitted to hear 
 both sides of a dispute and decide fairly which man has 
 broken a law. If a player in a baseball game spikes a 
 fielder intentionally, the umpire punishes him by put- 
 ting him out of the game. Just the same, if a tough 
 knocks you down on the street, the judge punishes him 
 by sending him to jail. 
 
 Rules and Laws.— This brings us to the question of 
 rules, of laws. Have you ever seen the printed rules of 
 baseball? They take up many pages of fine print. 
 Most of them you know without thinking— how many 
 strikes a batter is allowed, which way to run around 
 the bases, and so on. But other rules, especially some 
 of the newer changes, puzzle the most experienced 
 players. The umpire is trained to know all the rules 
 and to hold all the players to them. 
 
 Now stop and think what a hopeless mess a game of 
 baseball would be without rules that every one had to 
 follow. Each player would be doing as he pleased, a 
 big boy who was a bully could stay at bat all day if he 
 

THE CAPTAIN, THE UMPIRE, AND THE RULES 5 
 
 wished to, and a boy who wished to cheat could be as 
 unfair as he cared to without any one to stop him. There 
 would be no fair play for anybody. 
 
 It is rules and obedience to them that make fair 
 play possible. The laws are nothing more than the 
 rules of life, by which every honest man and woman is 
 glad to live. Most of them every boy and girl knows 
 and obeys without thinking because they are the sim- 
 ple rules of right and wrong. It is a crime to steal, it 
 is a crime to attack any one. You can see that life 
 would be a wild scramble without laws and courts to 
 enforce them. Thieves and cheats would have an open 
 field and fair play would be utterly impossible. 
 
 Freedom Through Laws. — That is what American free- 
 dom means. It is not freedom to do exactly as we 
 please, for that would produce anything but real free- 
 dom. It is a freedom to do our utmost to succeed 
 provided we play fair. As a matter of fact, no one who 
 lives in the same city or village or county with other 
 people can be entirely free to do what he wishes. Some 
 one has said that "only a fish is wholly free" and that 
 is about true. What America tries to do is to give just 
 as much freedom as possible and give it to every one 
 alike. The result is that America is the freest country 
 in the world. 
 
 Who makes the rules and laws of fair play? In base- 
 ball it is men chosen by the big leagues who meet once 
 a year. In our government it is our lawmakers, or 
 legislators, the Congress that meets every year at Wash- 
 ington, and these are chosen by the votes of everybody 
 just as is the President. 
 
6 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 The Three Branches of American Government. — That is 
 the main outline of our American Government, and 
 you see how much its plan resembles the plan of a base- 
 ball game. You cannot have a successful baseball team 
 without (1) a leader; you cannot play a baseball game 
 peaceably and fairly without (2) an umpire; and you 
 cannot possibly play baseball without (3) rules. That 
 is the precise theory of our government. 
 
 What Government Does. — The rules of baseball re- 
 late to only one thing, a baseball game. Government 
 touches our whole daily life, waking or sleeping, our 
 business, our health, our safety, our happiness. It in- 
 cludes all those things that we can best do together: the 
 building of roads; fire and police protection day and 
 night; the delivery of mail; the coining of money; fight- 
 ing a common enemy with an army and navy, and so 
 forth. In a savage country every man carries a club 
 and is his own policeman. In a civilized country all 
 unite and hire a policeman to act for all. It is more 
 convenient and more efficient. Government is the 
 organization we use to do all these things in common. 
 
 So the reach of our government is very wide. But 
 the goal that it aims for and the spirit of everything 
 that it does, is fair play. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE TEAM 
 
 Democracy— All these are important, the captain, the 
 umpire, and the rules. But you cannot play ball with- 
 out a team. After all is said, it is the whole nine that 
 wins a game or loses it. It is the team that does the 
 
 work. . 
 
 Now in a well-run ball team this is recognized and 
 
 the team runs things. The captain is chosen by vote 
 
 of all the players. The most important questions are 
 
 put before the team for decision. The captain runs the 
 
 team not to please himself or any one or two players, 
 
 but for the whole nine. That is the American way. ^ It 
 
 is the democratic way. It is the way the American 
 
 nation is governed. 
 
 Despotism —You all may have seen teams which were 
 not run in this way— in which one big boy, something 
 of a bully, got together a team of smaller boys and 
 made them do as he wanted, for instance. The smaller 
 boys lacked the spirit to stand up for their rights and 
 so they received just what the captain chose to give 
 them. That is un-American. It is the way a despot 
 rules, an emperor like the Czars of Russia, or, to go 
 farther back in history, Henry VIII, of England (1509- 
 
 1547), and Louis XIV, of France (1643-1715). 
 Anarchy— Suppose, on the other hand, you tried to 
 
 run a team without any leader. Probably no boys 
 
 7 
 
8 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 were ever foolish enough to attempt this plan, but sup- 
 pose some boys did. You can imagine what confusion 
 and quarrelling there would be and how poor a game 
 such a team would play. Every boy would do as he 
 pleased and boss just as many other boys as he could. 
 We saw how important rules and an umpire are. Take 
 away the captain, too, and you have exactly the con- 
 dition known as anarchy, which means the attempt to 
 run a country with no government whatever. Cer- 
 tain theorists, impressed by the defects of government, 
 have urged anarchy as a solution of all our troubles. 
 But, as you can see, the remedy would be far worse than 
 the disease. We should have a whole nation of despots, 
 every one ruling himself as he pleased and just as many 
 of his friends and neighbors as he could. 
 
 Aristocracy. — Sometimes it is not one boy who runs 
 a team but three or four boys. Perhaps they have 
 more money than the others and can buy bats and balls 
 and masks, and therefore think they have the right to 
 tell the others what to do. Perhaps they are older and 
 bigger than the rest. Well, that is not American, either. 
 When it comes to electing a captain or deciding any 
 important matter, every player on the team ought to 
 have his say. Big or little, rich or poor, they are all 
 players; it is their team, and they ought to run it. 
 That is the theory of America. 
 
 When, instead, a few put their ideas over on the rest, 
 you have what is called an aristocracy. The word 
 means a government by the best. Occasionally a rul- 
 ing class of aristocrats are the best, but usually they 
 only think they are the best because they are the richest 
 and the most powerful. Atjanyjrate, even if the aris- 
 
THE TEAM 
 
 tocrats who rule a country happened to be the wisest 
 and finest, it is the American theory and the right 
 theory that, with the best intentions, they could not 
 know what was best for their poorer and weaker neigh- 
 bors, that every man has a right to decide his own 
 affairs, and that no man has a right to rule any other 
 
 man. 
 
 England, France, America, and Germany.— A typical 
 aristocracy was England at the time of the American 
 Revolution. George III was not a despot, because the 
 nobility and upper classes of the country shared the 
 power of governing with him. But the working people 
 of England had nothing to say whatever in the govern- 
 ment. Power belonged only to nobles and landowners. 
 A limited monarchy is another name for such a govern- 
 ment, since the power of the monarch or king is not 
 absolute, but is limited by the power of others. 
 
 Do not make the mistake of thinking that England 
 of to-day is either a despotism or an aristocracy. It is 
 a democratic monarchy and its government is fully as 
 democratic as our own. It is a limited monarchy in 
 which the limits have swallowed the monarch. He re- 
 mains simply as a figurehead to symbolize the unity of 
 the nation and represent it on state occasions. The 
 real head of England is the prime minister, who acts 
 for the people of England just as our President acts for 
 the American people. 
 
 That is the normal growth of governments, away 
 from despotism, through limited monarchies to democ- 
 racy. France and America have arrived at complete 
 democracy, in name as well as in fact. England has 
 reached democracy in fact but not in name. Germany, 
 
10 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 at the time of the Great War, was still a long way from 
 democracy. Her Kaiser had much of the power of a 
 despot. The people were allowed to vote and elect 
 legislators, but the power of these legislators was small. 
 Next to Russia, Germany and Austria possessed in 1914 
 the most despotic governments in Europe. 
 
 The Peopled Rule. — In America the only rulers are 
 the people. As we have seen, they elect a President to 
 lead them, legislators to make new laws or rules for 
 them, and judges to act as umpires for them when laws 
 are dipputed. But the President, the legislators, and 
 the juages are simply the agents of the people to carry 
 out the wishes of the people. The Constitution of the 
 United States, the highest law of the land, begins with 
 the words: "We, the people of the United States . . . 
 do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United 
 States of America." When a criminal is arrested or 
 punished the order reads not in the name of the judge 
 or the officer, but in the name of "the people." 
 
 "Of the people, by the people, for the people" was 
 Abraham Lincoln's description of the American system 
 of government, and it is the best description there is. 
 
 A Republic. — America is both a democracy and a 
 republic. It is a democracy because the people rule it. 
 It is a republic because the people rule it through repre- 
 sentatives. The other kind of popular rule is sometimes 
 called a "pure democracy," and in it the people meet and 
 run their government directly without electing any offi- 
 cers to act for them. This sort of democracy is possible 
 only in a small community like ancient Athens or a 
 modern New England town. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 MAJORITY RULE 
 
 Government by Majority.— Like most of the long words 
 of government, "majority" rule is a thing which every 
 American boy is so familiar with that he takes it as 
 a matter of course. If there is a dispute in your team 
 over anything, who shall be captain, what team you 
 will play next, where you will play, you all say what 
 you want and what the most of you want, that you 
 all do. If eight vote one way and one the other, you 
 all do as the eight wish. If seven vote one way and 
 two the other, you all do as the seven wish. If six 
 vote one way and three another, you all do as the six 
 wish. If five vote one way and four another, you still, 
 all nine of you, do as the five wish. Those who are 
 outvoted swallow their ideas and do as the rest prefer. 
 That is all there is to majority rule. (" Majority " 
 comes from the Latin word "major" which means 
 
 "greater.") 
 
 I Won't Play. — It is a simple idea, but it is at the 
 bottom of all government by the people, and unless a 
 people understand it and live by it they cannot possibly 
 run a successful government. You know how it is in a 
 group of boys too young or too tough to play fair. In 
 such a crowd it is impossible to have a good baseball 
 team or to play any game that is worth while. There 
 
 is wrangling and fighting and sulking all the time. "I 
 
 11 
 
12 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 won't play unless I can have my way" is the talk of 
 the boy who is outvoted. Or if he is a bully, he puts 
 up his fists and threatens to fight those who disagree 
 with him. 
 
 There are certain young nations so unfitted for popu- 
 lar government that they behave exactly like these dis- 
 orderly boys. Their people do not understand the 
 first principle of majority rule. Every little while we 
 used to read of a revolution in a Central American 
 country. That simply meant that the side which was 
 outvoted at an election had seized the government by 
 force of arms. No great issue of right and wrong was 
 involved. The revolutionists simply refused to "play" 
 unless they could run things. As you can imagine, 
 there is no happiness or comfort or progress or business 
 success in a country thus given over to riot and blood- 
 shed. 
 
 The Right of Revolution. — There is one other point 
 to remember. The time does come, once in a long 
 while, when it is not only necessary but one's sacred 
 duty to resist a government. This has been called "the 
 right of revolution," and our own America was founded 
 in just this way, as you have learned in your histories. 
 Suppose in your crowd of boys the leaders tried to cheat 
 you or steal from you. It would be your duty to 
 resist and fight to the limit and break away altogether 
 rather than submit. So in a nation the government 
 is sometimes tyrannical and unjust, and when all peace- 
 able protest fails of relief a courageous and self-respect- 
 ing people must and will fight as did our ancestors in 
 the Revolution. 
 
MAJORITY RULE 13 
 
 But in government, as in play, fighting is a last resort, 
 and no people are fit for self-government unless they are 
 trained to understand that save where a vital question 
 of right and justice is involved, the government must 
 have its way and the people must peaceably accept its 
 decisions. 
 
 The Dangers of Revolution. — The American colonies 
 were used to a large measure of self-government, and 
 having declared their independence, quickly set up an 
 orderly and secure rule. Aside from their war for free- 
 dom there was little disturbance or bloodshed. Other 
 revolutions have not been so fortunate. The French 
 Revolution of 1789 lasted through many long and bloody 
 years, while parties rose and fell and one popular tyrant 
 succeeded another. The Russian Revolution went 
 through the same bloody confusion. The Bolshevist 
 government originated as one of the most dangerous 
 forms of despotism, rule by a class. Such a government 
 is as much opposed to the American idea of rule by all 
 the people as a despotism like that of the Czars. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE LAWS OF FREEDOM AND FAIR PLAY 
 
 American Liberty.— Liberty is in the air we breathe 
 in America. It is so much a part of our lives that we 
 seldom think of it. We take it for granted, like the 
 sky and a clear wind and food and drink. 
 
 But those who came to America from the dark coun- 
 tries of Europe, from old Russia before the Revolution 
 and the downfall of the Czar, from Germany, from Aus- 
 tria, feel this liberty as something new and strange and 
 wonderful. They feel that they are coming out of the 
 dark into the light, from a house with low ceilings and 
 narrow walls into the free and open air. 
 
 We should all understand this liberty of ours, whence 
 it came and how we can keep it, for it is the most pre- 
 cious gift we have. 
 
 The Five Rights.— There are five chief rights belong- 
 ing to every American, old and young, that make Ameri- 
 can freedom what it is. They are: 
 
 1. Personal safety and freedom. 
 
 2. Religious freedom. 
 
 3. Free speech. 
 
 4. Safety of property. 
 
 5. Trial by jury. 
 
 i. Personal Safety and Freedom.— In the little town 
 of Zabern in Germany, in 1913, a lieutenant, of noble 
 
 14 
 
THE LAWS OF FREEDOM AND FAIR PLAY 15 
 
 birth, struck a lame cobbler with his sword because the 
 poor man had laughed at him. There was a great to-do 
 over the attack, but the Kaiser upheld the lieutenant, 
 and he was never punished in any way. It was held 
 that under the German law he had done entirely right 
 in hitting the lame cobbler. 
 
 That was a very brutal and outrageous case. But 
 the same kind of interference with liberty happened 
 constantly in Germany under her militarist rule. The 
 German word "verboten" means " forbidden," and 
 every way that a German turned, to play or to work, 
 he found something "verboten." In his home, on the 
 street, in business, he was surrounded by harsh rules 
 and brutal army officers and nobles and royalty, to 
 whom he was forced to give way. Nowhere was he a 
 free man and his own master. 
 
 Now, in America we can live as we please, safely and 
 securely. Every man, woman, and child is protected 
 from arrest and attack. We have no nobles and royalty 
 to bow to. No officer of our army and navy would 
 dream of slashing a civilian to make him respectful. 
 The policeman is your friend and protector. Our only 
 rules are those necessary to punish wrong-doers, and to 
 see that there is fair play, so that everybody has an 
 equal chance to succeed. 
 
 An American home has a peculiar degree of protec- 
 tion. "A man's house is his castle" is the old English 
 phrase, and this liberty, like many others, we inherited 
 direct from our English forebears. The police cannot 
 enter your home without a court order. An American 
 home is a sacred spot that the law protects. 
 
16 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 2. Religious Freedom. — We can go to church where 
 we will. That does not sound like anything extraordi- 
 nary to an American. Of course, we can go to church 
 where we choose. But in many countries of the Old 
 World there is no religious liberty at all. In old Russia 
 the Jews led a hunted life because of their religious 
 faith. They were cursed and abused and imprisoned 
 and killed by the hundreds and thousands. They were 
 kept virtual prisoners in a certain part of Russia called 
 the Pale. 
 
 In America the Jew has his synagogue just as others 
 have their churches. He is not only free to worship as 
 he wills, but his worship is no handicap in any respect. 
 He can aspire to any success or office. So it is of all of 
 us, Protestant, Catholic, Jew. Most Americans have a 
 strong religious faith, but they feel that religion is 
 something each man must decide for himself, and they 
 do not dream of forcing anybody to believe as they do, 
 or of punishing anybody for a strange belief. 
 
 3. Free Speech. — Free speech is another precious part 
 of American liberty. It means that Americans can 
 meet whenever they want to and talk over what they 
 will. If they do not like their government they can 
 meet and say so. If they wish a law changed they can 
 meet and say so. Free writing is included. That means 
 that American newspapers can speak of anything they 
 think is wrong and say why, and nobody can stop them. 
 The only limit is that you must say and print the truth. 
 You must not misstate the facts. Lying is against the 
 law for grown-ups, just as much as for children. 
 
 Compare this with Germany. The German news- 
 
THE LAWS OF FREEDOM AND FAIR PLAY 17 
 
 papers could not print the truth about the Great War. 
 They had to print exactly what the Kaiser and his men 
 ordered them to print. The First Battle of the Marne 
 was not told about at all in the German papers. 
 Throughout the war the German people were lied to 
 and deceived in their newspapers by order of the Kaiser. 
 
 You can see how important free speech is to a people 
 wishing to be free and to be their own masters. Unless 
 public men can tell the truth and newspapers can print 
 the truth, the people cannot know what is going on, 
 whom to trust and how to vote. The control of speech 
 and newspapers and books is one of the bulwarks of 
 autocracy. Free speech is the beginning of all free 
 government. 
 
 4. Safety of Property. — Property is anything you own 
 — a postage-stamp, a bicycle, a Liberty Bond, a house 
 and lot. The right to own things, to have them for 
 your very own so that nobody can take them away, is 
 very important. Unless a man can keep what he earns 
 and buys with his savings he can never get ahead in 
 the world, and he will always be dependent upon some 
 rich man for charity. He can never be free. In old 
 Russia almost all the land was owned by a few great 
 nobles and rich men, and these took good care that the 
 Russian peasants should not own any land or much of 
 any property. Thus the peasants of old Russia were 
 little more than slaves. 
 
 In the Middle Ages throughout Europe kings and 
 nobles helped themselves to taxes very much as they 
 desired. The peasants and tradesmen and artisans 
 were obliged to give up a huge slice of their earnings 
 
18 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 and property to their overlord. That was the feudal 
 system, and the history of democracy is the history of 
 how the people slowly got the better of their kings and 
 nobles, and gained the right to hold their property 
 unmolested. 
 
 In America what a man earns is his own and no one 
 can take it away from him. With it he can buy what 
 he chooses, a house, land, anything. He must pay 
 taxes, but they must be fair and reasonable. If his land 
 is needed for some public improvement, of benefit to 
 every one, a railroad or a school, the State can take it, 
 but it must pay full value for it. The right to succeed, 
 we might fairly call this right to own property without 
 interference from any one. 
 
 5. Trial by Jury. — In past centuries despotic kings 
 ran the courts as they pleased, and sent anybody to 
 prison or beheaded anybody they wished. Slowly the 
 people have won fair and impartial trials. Trial by 
 jury, that is, trial by twelve of his neighbors, is the 
 right of every American when he is accused of a serious 
 crime. No judge can convict him, no police officer, no 
 politician, no rich and powerful man. Plain American 
 citizens like himself alone can send him to jail. 
 
 Moreover, the trial must be public. Secret trials 
 have always been the favorite weapon of a despot. 
 "Star Chamber proceedings" is now a common name 
 for any 'secret decision by any group of people. It 
 dates back to 1487 in England, when Henry VII founded 
 a special court that sat in secret, tortured prisoners, 
 and condemned them without a hearing. It is said to 
 have sat in a room with gold stars on the ceiling, and 
 
THE LAWS OF FREEDOM AND FAIR PLAY 19 
 
 thus was named the Star Chamber. It was abolished 
 
 in 1641. 
 
 Also the prisoner cannot be compelled to testify 
 against himself. Other features of American justice 
 will be described later. You can see how important a 
 part of American fair play is trial by jury, with all it 
 
 signifies. 
 
 Sources of Our Liberty.— These rights of American 
 liberty did not come into being suddenly. They were 
 the outgrowth of five centuries of struggle in England 
 against tyranny. Our revolution freed the colonies 
 from unjust rule by an English king and gave them 
 the chance to develop as a great, free nation. But the 
 foundations of personal liberty had already been laid 
 in England. Later on (in Chapter XIX) we shall see 
 that even our new form of government was not a wholly 
 strange and untried invention, but was the natural out- 
 growth of all the experience of the past. There, indeed, 
 was the greatest feat of our forefathers, the ability that 
 saved them from the wreck and ruin that have followed 
 in the wake of most revolutions. They had the courage 
 to fight to the death for freedom ; and they also had the 
 common sense to know that freedom by itself, without 
 wise laws to control it and insure fair play, is nothing 
 and that wise laws cannot be invented overnight, but 
 must come as the slow growth of centuries of custom. 
 
 Magna Carta and Bill of Rights. — These are the two 
 great landmarks in the English struggle for personal 
 liberty and every American fives under their safeguards, 
 for their provisions were brought over by the colonists 
 and written into the law of our land. Magna Carta, or 
 
20 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 the Great Charter, was signed by King John, at Runny- 
 mede, near London, in 1215. He had been tyrannical 
 and cruel until the nation could stand his oppression 
 no longer. So the strong men of England drew up this 
 statement of their rights and compelled the king to sign 
 it. It is the foundation and beginning of our liberty. 
 The right to a prompt and fair trial, the right to trial by 
 jury, the forbidding of taxation except as imposed by 
 the people's representatives, and the right to local self- 
 government are among the great rights which it declared. 
 
 The battle was not over and tyrannical kings repeat- 
 edly broke the rules laid down by Magna Carta. Final- 
 ly, in 1689, when William III was made king, the Bill 
 of Rights was drawn up. Free speech, the right to bear 
 arms, and a number of other important rights were 
 added to the common privileges of every Englishman by 
 this great document. 
 
 Religious liberty had not been won at this time in 
 England and it was religious persecution that drove 
 many of the colonists to seek their fortune in America. 
 There was persecution in many of the colonies and com- 
 plete religious freedom was gained only after a long 
 struggle. 
 
 Civil and Political Rights. — The rights we have been 
 describing are often called civil rights, the word civil here 
 meaning common to all members of a nation. They are 
 contrasted with political rights, that is, the right to share 
 in the government, to vote, and to hold office. Our fore- 
 fathers found that the best way to protect their civil 
 rights (that is, the rights of personal liberty we have 
 described) was to gain political rights. So they insisted 
 
THE LAWS OF FREEDOM AND FAIR PLAY 21 
 
 upon the right to vote, and that is how our American 
 theory developed that government should be run not 
 by a few people or any class but by all the people. But 
 the distinction still remains. All Americans, men, 
 women, boys, and girls, have civil rights simply be- 
 cause they are Americans; but only those Americans 
 have the "elective franchise," that is, the privilege of 
 voting, whom the voters think qualified to vote. No one 
 under twenty-one, for instance, is permitted to vote; 
 but every boy and girl has exactly the same rights of 
 personal liberty as any grown man or woman. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 The Constitution. — We saw that the object of all laws, 
 and the reason we have judges to say what they mean, 
 is to secure freedom and fair play, just as the rules 
 and the umpire secure fair play in a ball game. But 
 these great rights of freedom we have just described 
 have a special importance. They are the foundation 
 upon which all other rights rest. With them our free- 
 dom is secure. Without them, without any one of 
 them, our whole system of liberty and fair play might 
 crash to the ground. Therefore special safeguards have 
 been thrown about them. They have been set apart 
 in a sacred document, called the Constitution, to stand 
 like the ten commandments, above all other law. The 
 general plan of our government forms part of the Con- 
 stitution. These rights of the people form the rest. 
 Every American boy and girl should understand exactly 
 how the Constitution works, how it is protected, and 
 what it does for each of us. 
 
 Its Safeguards. — Any ordinary law can be changed at 
 any time by Congress without much delay. But the 
 Constitution is different. It can be changed only after 
 long discussion and by the overwhelming vote of the 
 people. A bare majority of legislators can pass a law 
 in Congress. It takes the vote of two-thirds of the 
 legislators to offer an amendment (that is, a change) 
 
 22 
 
THE CONSTITUTION 23 
 
 to the Constitution; and after the amendment has 
 passed Congress it must be approved by three-fourths 
 of the States, that is, 36 out of 48. This procedure in- 
 sures long discussion and makes certain that no change 
 can be made in the Constitution unless the country is 
 overwhelmingly for it. 
 
 The Two Reasons. — There are two reasons for these 
 safeguards thrown about the Constitution. One is that 
 the Constitution holds the thought of our wisest and 
 noblest men, from Washington down. We must not 
 lightly change what they have wrought. There must 
 be thorough debate by every one and general agreement 
 before we act. There must be appeal to second thoughts, 
 which are often the best. There must be no hasty tink- 
 ering with so solemn a document, the guardian of our 
 lives and liberties. 
 
 The second reason goes back to what has been said 
 about majorities and tyranny and the right of revolu- 
 tion. America is the oldest republic on a large scale in 
 the world. It has weathered every storm, very largely 
 because our Constitution prevents evil acts by majori- 
 ties. The Constitution is binding not only on you and 
 me, but upon Congress as well. Our legislators cannot 
 pass a law taking away any of the rights and liberties 
 protected by the Constitution. Or, rather, they can pass 
 such a law, but as soon as the Supreme Court of the 
 United States decides that the law attempts to do what 
 the Constitution forbids, the law is wiped out. That is 
 what "unconstitutional" means. That is the great ser- 
 vice that our Supreme Court of the United States, the 
 most powerful court in the world, does for each of us. 
 
24 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 This plan of a Constitution binding upon every one and 
 of a court to enforce it was an American invention, and 
 we can all be proud and thankful that our forefathers 
 had the mind and skill to create this new and wise 
 system. There is no other country in the world where 
 personal rights are held so sacred or so carefully pro- 
 tected by the laws. No mere majority can ever take 
 away our liberties or our rights. 
 
 The Supreme Law. — You can see why the Constitu- 
 tion is called the supreme law of the land. It stands 
 above all other laws and above all our officers of govern- 
 ment: Presidents, judges, legislators, policemen, every 
 one. It is the faithful, tireless protector of every 
 American. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 THE DUTIES OF AN AMERICAN 
 
 Our Five Duties. — America gives her citizens more than 
 any country in the world, and she expects more from 
 them. That is a general rule of life. You cannot get 
 something for nothing in this world, either in govern- 
 ment or anything else. 
 
 The five great things that every American must do 
 for his country are these: 
 
 1. Vote. 
 
 2. Pay taxes. 
 
 3. Do jury duty. 
 
 4. Fight. 
 
 5. Obey the laws. 
 
 i. The Vote. — The first duty of every American over 
 twenty-one is to vote. The actual voting takes only a 
 few minutes on Election Day, which comes the first 
 Tuesday after the first Monday in November. But the 
 duty is much more than that. You must vote wisely, 
 and that means you must read the newspapers and keep 
 track of what is going on, you must discuss it all with 
 your friends and neighbors, you must attend political 
 meetings and hear the candidates (that is, the men run- 
 ning for office) tell what they intend to do. It takes a 
 keen, wide-awake mind, that can read and talk English, 
 to vote intelligently. 
 
 Moreover, voting is more than just the few minutes' 
 
 25 
 
26 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 work once a year. In order to vote you must first 
 register, which means going on a certain day and put- 
 ting your name down on the voting list. (This is to 
 prevent fraud at the election.) Also you ought to vote 
 at the primaries, the party elections, held some time 
 before Election Day, at which the candidates of the 
 parties are chosen. Also there are other elections than 
 the main one in November at which you ought to vote. 
 If you live in a city there is a city election. If you live 
 in a village there is a village election. There is also in 
 many cases an annual school meeting which elects the 
 school board. All these elections will be described in 
 more detail later. The point now to remember is that 
 a good American citizen takes a constant interest in his 
 government, follows all the elections carefully, and 
 votes honestly and as wisely as he knows how at each 
 election. No democracy can be a success unless its 
 voters help in this fashion by conscientious, wise voting. 
 
 2. Taxes. — A tax is exactly like a collection or offer- 
 ing in church — or the sum you pay when every member 
 of your team chips in to buy a new ball or bat. Gov- 
 ernment costs much. Your President, your judges, your 
 legislators, your firemen, your policemen, must be paid 
 salaries. Your army and navy must be paid for. Your 
 streets must be paved, your street-lamps lit, your pub- 
 lic schools run. And so on. All this runs up to a tre- 
 mendous sum, as you can imagine. But it is divided 
 among everybody, and nobody has to pay a very large 
 sum except the very rich. 
 
 Taxes are not easy or pleasant to pay. In war time, 
 when there is a great army to feed and equip and a 
 
THE DUTIES OF AN AMERICAN 27 
 
 great navy to build and supply, taxes are a heavy bur- 
 den. But every loyal American pays his share fairly 
 and gladly, for he knows that without an army and 
 navy we should be conquered and lose all the bless- 
 ings America gives us. The man who tries to dodge his 
 tax does not deserve to be an American. 
 
 3. Jury Duty. — We saw that trial by jury was one 
 of the great blessings of American liberty. Now you 
 cannot have juries without men to serve on them. 
 Therefore every American must take his turn when the 
 court summons him to act as a juror. It means the loss 
 of some time from a man's business or job, but that is 
 part of the price we gladly pay for the benefit of safe, 
 fair, and humane trials. 
 
 4. Fighting. — The duty of every American to fight 
 for his country when she is in peril is as old as the 
 nation. Our country, with all its wonderful liberties, 
 was born of heroic fighting. Without the glorious cour- 
 age of the Revolution, the years of hard, bitter fighting 
 against heavy odds, there would be no America to-day. 
 In 1812 and again in 1861 the nation was preserved 
 from destruction by the sword. In 1917 we entered 
 the Great War "to make the world safe for democracy," 
 as President Wilson declared. Our ships had been 
 torpedoed at sea and our citizens drowned. The Ger- 
 man threat of conquest was aimed not only against Bel- 
 gium, France, Italy, Russia, England, but against the 
 United States and every other free people. Once more 
 we had to fight for our liberties — and this time, as well, 
 for the liberties of the world. Conscription, the call of 
 every fighting man to the colors, was a magnificent sue- 
 
28 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 cess in America because this duty of the citizen was 
 universally felt. There was practically no opposition, no 
 holding back. All America went to war gladly to defend 
 those liberties which are more precious than life itself. 
 
 5. Obey the Laws. — Boys and girls with the right idea 
 of sport and fair play do not try to cheat their oppo- 
 nents. Whether the umpire is looking or not they 
 play fair. They feel that it is dishonorable to win by 
 cheating. As a matter of fact, a game played by cheats 
 is about as unpleasant as a game can be. No umpire 
 can keep order or prevent the rules from being broken. 
 It is not really a game, at all, but a free-for-all stealing 
 match. 
 
 Just so, a nation of lawbreakers is no nation at all. 
 It is a free-for-all fight, with the strongest getting away 
 with everything worth having. It is only because 
 America is a nation of law-observers with only a very 
 few lawbreakers that our government is a success. Try 
 to imagine what your street would be like if everybody 
 along it was a burglar and a murderer. Life would not 
 be worth living and no number of policemen could make 
 
 life safe. 
 
 Therefore every American is in honor bound to obey 
 the law. Arrest and punishment may or may not be 
 around the corner if he breaks the law. The good 
 American obeys the law because that is his duty. Obey- 
 ing the law is part of the price that he gladly pays for 
 living in a free and happy land. 
 
 All the precious liberties which we have studied de- 
 mand self-control and respect for other people's rights 
 on the part of each of us. Religious liberty, for in- 
 
THE DUTIES OF AN AMERICAN 29 
 
 stance. It can amount to nothing unless every one 
 respects his neighbor's right to worship as he wills. Lib- 
 erties mean equal duties, as we have seen. It is the 
 old idea of fair play again. We can have our chance 
 only because others let us have it; and, turn about, 
 we must respect their chance when it comes. 
 
 There is a special and added reason for obeying the 
 law in a democracy which every boy and girl should 
 understand. It is our laws that we are obeying, laws 
 that we made through our legislators whom we choose 
 with our votes. So, too, it is our property that we de- 
 stroy when we injure a park tree or destroy a public 
 sign. A park is a piece of property that we all own 
 together. Every child owns a share in it. Therefore 
 every child with sense respects it and treats it with 
 care, so that it will be preserved for his use and enjoy- 
 ment. To destroy a park tree is just about as sensible 
 as to throw your baseball into the river. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 HOME RULE 
 
 Two Uniforms.— There are two government officers 
 that every boy and girl sees daily on the street. They 
 both wear uniforms. They both render important and 
 familiar services to us all. I mean the policeman and 
 the postman. 
 
 At first sight you might think there was no especial 
 difference between these two public servants, except the 
 particular work they did. But there is one other dif- 
 ference that is most important and packed with mean- 
 ing. If you understand this difference and the reason 
 for it you will understand a very large part of American 
 government. You will gain an idea that goes to the 
 roots of our whole system. 
 
 You can discover this important fact for yourself. 
 Look at a postage-stamp and you will find on it the 
 words "U. S. Postage." Look on the policeman's 
 shield and you will find the name of your city, New 
 York, Chicago, San Francisco, or your village, however 
 small. The name of the locality is there— but no 
 
 "U. S." 
 
 The Two Kinds of Work.— This is not mere chance. 
 It has a far-reaching cause. Can you work it out for 
 yourself? Why should the postman be as he is an 
 officer of the United States, of the national government 
 at Washington, and the policeman an officer of your 
 
 30 
 
HOME RULE 31 
 
 local government? Is not the reason fairly clear when 
 you come to think of it? The policeman's job is wholly 
 local. He has his beat, which may change, but his 
 work never takes him out of the locality. It is local 
 peace, local order, that he is to preserve. So he is 
 hired and paid by the local government, the village or 
 city where you live. The postman, on the other hand, 
 is part of a vast system that covers the whole country. 
 Your particular postman's job is local enough, to deliver 
 letters on a given street or route. But the letters he 
 delivers come from all over the United States, all over 
 the world. He is one small cog in a great machine 
 which has to be unified and under one central control 
 to work well. Naturally he is hired and paid by the 
 national government, the Post-Office Department, at 
 Washington. 
 
 The Principle of Home Rule. — Now, the great, gen- 
 eral rule of America is to let each community do just as 
 much governing as it safely can. The principle of 
 home rule this is often called, and the idea of it is deep 
 in every American. It goes back to our whole notion 
 of personal liberty and the right of each individual to 
 run his own concerns. 
 
 In the Family. — Self-control or self-government is the 
 beginning of home rule. Every American boy and girl 
 is trusted far more than other children. It is the 
 American way to put children on their honor as far as 
 possible, to let them learn the value of money by using 
 and saving it, to run their games, and generally take 
 responsibility early. There are, of course, many things 
 in which parents and teachers must give orders and 
 
32 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 children must obey implicitly. Whenever possible, 
 Americans prefer to let their children learn by choosing 
 and deciding for themselves. This system, we believe, 
 produces self-reliant men and women, rich in individual 
 character and common sense and what is called initia- 
 tive, the ability to act alone, on one's own ideas, without 
 prodding from some one else. Americans are self- 
 starters, we like to think. 
 
 Centralized Government.— This principle applies not 
 only in the home but all the way up, through each divi- 
 sion of the country, in village, town, county, city, and 
 State. You can see that the country might still be a 
 democracy and be run on quite the reverse principle. 
 All the power might be centralized at Washington. 
 Your policeman might be hired by the government at 
 Washington just as is the postman. That is, in fact, 
 very much the way the French Government is run. 
 
 The American Theory.— But it is not the American 
 way. Our theory is exactly that of home rule, that 
 each community ought to run as much of its local 
 affairs as it can run well. By handling their local 
 affairs, running their schools, paving their streets, oper- 
 ating their own fire departments, Americans learn 
 about public affairs and become self-reliant citizens, 
 able to vote more wisely on the great national ques- 
 tions that arise. You can see that this is the self- 
 government theory over again, that America tries to 
 develop self-reliance in its communities exactly as it 
 does in its boys and girls. 
 
 The Forty-Eight States.— The States are the essential 
 framework of home rule in our government. They are 
 
HOME RULE 33 
 
 something far more than mere areas of square miles, 
 physical divisions into which the nation is carved. 
 They are living parts of our national being, as complete 
 in themselves and as necessary and vital to the life of 
 the nation as the nine individual players are necessary 
 to a ball team. That is why they are all symbolized 
 separately in the flag, each by a star and the thirteen 
 original States by a stripe as well. 
 
 Without the States, each leading a life of its own, it 
 is doubtful if our nation could endure. It was the pre- 
 diction of European observers that no nation as vast 
 as ours could long exist as a republic. That it has done 
 so and has prospered and stands to-day securer than 
 ever is due first of all to this basic American idea of a 
 union of States, all endowed with full power of home 
 rule. 
 
 Chance had everything to do with the creation of 
 this unit at the start. As you know, there were thir- 
 teen colonies at the time of the Revolution and these 
 thirteen colonies became the thirteen original States. 
 Our forefathers united these separate governments into 
 one government, which they called the United States of 
 America. The name recorded exactly what happened. 
 " Federal" is another word often used to describe this 
 fact in our government, that it was formed of several 
 governments united in one government. The word 
 means just that. The Latin motto "E pluribus unum," 
 which is on our coins, meaning "One from many," ex- 
 presses the same idea. 
 
 There was no effort to destroy any part of the State 
 governments. These going concerns were accepted of 
 
34 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 necessity. The problem that faced the wise, far-seeing, 
 and patient men who met in the Constitutional Conven- 
 tion of 1787 was how to give full home rule to each of 
 these separate States, and yet so firmly unite them in a 
 single nation that no quarrel from without or within 
 could ever break them apart. How marvellously suc- 
 cessful they were, time has proved. William Ewart 
 Gladstone, the great Englishman, declared that the 
 American Constitution was "the most wonderful work 
 ever struck off at a given time by the brain and pur- 
 pose of man." That is the general opinion of man- 
 kind. 
 
 The National Government.— You see, then, the general 
 scheme of our government. You can easily work out 
 some of the details yourself. The mails were put in 
 charge of the Federal Government (that is the govern- 
 ment at Washington) for the obvious reason; suggested 
 before. Mails had to travel between States and, of 
 course, no one State could handle them efficiently. All 
 commerce between States (interstate commerce, it is 
 called, which is Latin for between-state) was placed un- 
 der national control. The coining of money, which has 
 to circulate in every State, was placed under federal con- 
 trol. The power to declare war and control of the army 
 and navy were also given to the national government. 
 Otherwise, as you can see, the separate States might 
 have quarrelled as they pleased and there would have 
 been no real nation at all. Also the national govern- 
 ment received the important power to raise money by 
 taxation to pay its expenses. (You will remember 
 from your American history that after the Revolu- 
 
HOME RULE 35 
 
 tion, from 1783 to 1788, when the Constitution was 
 adopted, the country nearly fell to pieces under the 
 Articles of Confederation which gave the central govern- 
 ment no power to raise money and otherwise tied its 
 hands.) 
 
 Later on the other powers of the national government 
 will be stated in full. The point for you to see now is 
 their general aim and character. 
 
 Power of the States. — All the remaining powers of local 
 government were left with the State governments, which 
 thus received a free hand to run their local concerns very 
 much as they wished. Therefore each State in the 
 Union is a government by itself, with very great powers 
 within its own area. (The police power is one of these 
 powers, and that is how, as we discovered before, your 
 policeman never happens to have "U. S." on his 
 shield, but always the name of the locality.) This 
 is home rule on a gigantic scale. California can build 
 its roads and run its schools and pass laws about 
 marriage and divorce and what-not to suit its situa- 
 tion and people. So can Louisiana. So can Minnesota. 
 So can Maine. Think how vast a country America is, 
 how many different kinds of people there are in it, and 
 how different the States are in climate, resources, and 
 occupations, and you will see how useful and necessary 
 it is that this sweeping home rule exists. It is safe to 
 say that without this home rule by States America 
 never would have hung together and become the great 
 nation that it is. 
 
 Home Rule Within States. — What did the States do 
 with all these powers ? Well, part of their freedom was 
 
36 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 to run their governments as they chose (within certain 
 limits), and, therefore, no two State governments are 
 exactly alike. The names of divisions vary, the names 
 of officers vary, the whole systems vary. We shall go 
 into these divisions within the States in detail later. It 
 is enough to say now that the same principle of home 
 rule is respected and carried out in every State. The 
 powers that a State possesses, it passes on to its counties, 
 its cities, its towns, and its villages. 
 
 To go back to your policeman, a State could, if it 
 chose, hire all the policemen throughout its cities and 
 villages, appointing them by its central government at 
 its State capital. But no State does. Every State 
 turns over this police power to the local government of 
 city, county, village, or town. 
 
 So we end where we began, with home rule as the 
 life-saving provision of American government, a living 
 part of the structure of the original government through 
 the preservation of the existing States, and an honored 
 principle of government from one end of the country 
 to the other. 
 
 Good and Bad Government. — Under this system each 
 community gets just as good or just as bad a govern- 
 ment as it deserves. If the voters of a village are in- 
 telligent and interested in their local government, if 
 they watch it carefully and do their share of work, that 
 village will be excellently governed. If the voters are 
 illiterate and stupid and too lazy to vote or pay atten- 
 tion to public affairs, their village will be poorly gov- 
 erned. 
 
 What is true of a village is true of a city or a State. 
 
HOME RULE 37 
 
 And it is not less true of the whole nation. Democracy 
 is not a short cut to good government. It is no cure- 
 all. It simply enables a people fit for self-government 
 to rule themselves as they deserve. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 THE PRESIDENT 
 
 1. Teem and Powers 
 
 Open to All. — The presidency of the United States is 
 the greatest office in the world, for which neither birth 
 nor riches are required. Any American boy, however 
 poor and whoever his parents may be, famous or un- 
 known, can hope to become President. The only im- 
 portant restriction is that the President must have been 
 born an American. (A naturalized citizen cannot be 
 President.) It is also required that he be not less than 
 thirty-five years old and have resided not less than four- 
 teen years in the country. (Constitution, Art. II, Sec. 1, 
 Par. 4.) 1 
 
 The Executive Branch. — As we saw before, the Pres- 
 ident corresponds to the captain of a team. He leads 
 the nation, and he sees that the laws are carried out — 
 "executes" the laws, in the language of the Constitu- 
 tion, which means the same thing. From this he is 
 usually described as the "executive branch" of our 
 government, just as Congress, our lawmaking body, is 
 called the "legislative," and the courts, our umpires^ 
 are called the "judicial." His first and highest duty is 
 
 1 The full text of the Constitution of the United States will be found at 
 pages 173 to 189. All references in parenthesis are to the Constitution, 
 by Article, Section, and Paragraph. 
 
 38 
 
THE PRESIDENT 39 
 
 to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." 
 (Art. II, Sec. 3.) 
 
 Term and Powers. — The President is one of the most 
 powerful rulers in the world. But two important facts 
 must be kept in mind. 
 
 First, he is elected for a term of four years (Art. II, 
 Sec. 1), and at the end of that time, unless the people 
 wish him to continue in office, he loses all power and 
 becomes a plain citizen like every one else. The Presi- 
 dent is often re-elected for a second term of four years, 
 and there is nothing in the Constitution to prevent his 
 election for more terms. But George Washington 
 refused a third term on the ground that it might tend 
 to make him seem a king, and his example has always 
 been respected and followed. No President has had 
 more than two terms or eight years. 
 
 Second, his powers are not anything he chooses, but, 
 as you will see, only the definite things set down in 
 black and white in the Constitution as his to do. These 
 are the safeguards that prevent a President from be- 
 coming a tyrant or setting up anything like a monarchy. 
 
 Commander-in-Chief. — "The President shall be com- 
 mander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United 
 States," says the Constitution. (Art. II, Sec. 2.) This 
 means that he ranks above all our generals and admirals, 
 and that every battleship and every sailor and every 
 soldier are his to command. You may have read during 
 the Great War that it was finally won by the Allies 
 largely because all the Allied armies were placed under 
 Marshal Foch, thus achieving "unity of command," as 
 it was called. Our fighting forces are run on.this same 
 
40 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 principle, that one man, the President, must have com- 
 plete control. He chooses the generals, the admirals, 
 and directs the entire movements of our armies and 
 fleets. You can see that this, alone, gives the President 
 of the United States a vast power. 
 
 He Cannot Declare War.— Yet right here you can un- 
 derstand how carefully the President's powers, great 
 as they are, have been limited so as to safeguard 
 the people's rights. The President makes war for us 
 through our armies and navies, but he cannot start a 
 war. The power to declare war is reserved to Con- 
 gress, composed of the House and Senate, our national 
 legislature. Moreover, the President has no power to 
 raise money to build ships or buy guns or anything else 
 for army or navy. Congress has the sole right to raise 
 money by taxation and give it to the President for these 
 purposes. So you see that while the President com- 
 mands our army and navy, he cannot say whom they 
 
 shall fight or when. 
 
 Division of Powers.-— This division of powers between 
 President and Congress (and the courts, as you will see 
 later) is one of the basic ideas of our government. The 
 object is to prevent any one branch of the government 
 from taking too much power and becoming tyrannical. 
 You can observe this same purpose in much that follows. 
 You will notice, for instance, that all important appoint- 
 ments made by the President must be approved by the 
 Senate. This is a sweeping restriction on the entire 
 executive power. Yet since the power of removal is 
 given wholly to the President, his control over his sub- 
 ordinates is complete. 
 
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THE PRESIDENT 41 
 
 2. The Cabinet 
 
 The Cabinet. — The President could not possibly do 
 all his duties himself and Congress has authorized him 
 to appoint ten secretaries in charge of as many depart- 
 ments. These are his official advisers and assistants, 
 and are known as his Cabinet though not so named in any 
 law. They hold meetings, presided over by the Presi- 
 dent, at frequent intervals. What goes on in these meet- 
 ings is confidential, and no record of them is published. 
 Each of these secretaries receives a salary of $12,000. 
 
 The ten members of the Cabinet are: 
 
 Secretary of State, 1789. 
 
 Secretary of the Treasury, 1789. 
 
 Secretary of War, 1789. 
 
 Attorney-General, 1789. 
 
 Postmaster-General, 1794. 
 
 Secretary of the Navy, 1798. 
 
 Secretary of the Interior, 1849. 
 
 Secretary of Agriculture, 1889. 
 
 Secretary of Commerce, 1903. 1 
 
 Secretary of Labor, 1903. 1 
 These are set down in the order of their creation by 
 Congress, with the years of their beginning. They 
 show how the business of the government has grown 
 with the country. Congress defines the powers of each 
 secretary; but the President appoints them and can 
 remove them at will. 
 
 Secretary of State. — The President has general charge 
 of the foreign affairs of the nation. That is to say, he 
 
 1 These two offices were united until 1913. 
 
42 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 negotiates treaties (agreements with other countries), 
 sends out ambassadors and consuls to represent the 
 United States in foreign countries, issues passports (trav- 
 elling papers) to our citizens who wish to go abroad, 
 and protects our citizens and ships wherever they may 
 be. The Secretary of State runs these affairs for him. 
 
 But here again is a notable case of limiting the Presi- 
 dent's power; for all treaties must be approved by a 
 two-thirds vote of the Senate before they are binding, 
 and the appointment of all ambassadors, etc., must be 
 approved by a majority vote of the Senate. The makers 
 of our Constitution felt that a treaty, being an agree- 
 ment with another nation which might bring us into 
 grave difficulties, perhaps even war, should take effect 
 only when thus carefully considered and accepted by 
 another branch of the government. (Art. II, Sec. 2, 
 Par. 2.) 
 
 The Secretary of State is regarded as one of the 
 highest and most important officers in the country. In 
 many respects he ranks next to the President in honor. 
 Thomas Jefferson was Secretary of State under Presi- 
 dent Washington, and James Madison under President 
 Jefferson. 
 
 Secretary of the Treasury. — As the head of the Trea- 
 sury Department, he handles all the money affairs of 
 the national government. He collects the tariff (the 
 tax on goods entering the United States from other 
 countries) and all other federal taxes. He pays out 
 money for all the expenses of the government. He 
 raises money by loans (such as the Liberty Loans dur- 
 ing the Great War). He coins our money, through a 
 
THE PRESIDENT 43 
 
 subordinate known as the director of the mint; he has 
 general direction of the national banks and the Federal 
 Reserve banks. 
 
 In all these matters the President, and the secretary 
 under him, can only carry out or execute the laws which 
 Congress passes. That is to say, they can collect only 
 the taxes that Congress orders and pay out only the 
 money that Congress directs. The President, for ex- 
 ample, can build a post-office only if Congress orders 
 it and grants the money for it. 
 
 The Treasury Department also has charge of several 
 other interesting matters: the Revenue Cutter Service 
 (to prevent smuggling, that is the bringing of foreign 
 goods into the United States without the payment of 
 the tariff due) ; the Secret Service to arrest counterfeiters 
 and other violators of national laws; and the Life Sav- 
 ing Service of our coast guards who, in case a ship is 
 wrecked, seek to save the passengers and crew from 
 drowning. 
 
 Secretary of War. — He has charge of the army and 
 carries out the orders of the President as its commander- 
 in-chief. 
 
 Army engineers do important peace work. They 
 built the Panama Canal and have general charge of the 
 improvement of our harbors and rivers. 
 
 The United States Military Academy at West Point, 
 New York, is in charge of the War Department. It 
 gives a free education for a four years' course, and 
 graduates are commissioned as second lieutenants in 
 the regular army. Each congressional district sends 
 one cadet, who is named by the representative of the 
 
44 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 district, usually after a competitive examination. Sen- 
 ators and the President also make a limited number of 
 appointments. 
 
 Attorney-General. — This officer has charge of the De- 
 partment of Justice and gives legal advice to all the 
 departments of the government and acts as their law- 
 yer in court. 
 
 Postmaster-General. — This member of the Cabinet has 
 charge of the Post-Office Department. Its services will 
 be described in Chapter XIII. 
 
 Secretary of the Navy. — He is in charge of the navy 
 and carries out the orders of the President as its com- 
 mander-in-chief. 
 
 The United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, 
 Maryland, is in charge of the Navy Department. It 
 gives a free education lasting four years at the academy 
 and two years at sea. Appointments are made as at 
 West Point. 
 
 Secretary of the Interior. — This important secretary 
 has charge of a number of miscellaneous internal af- 
 fairs of the nation: the pensions for soldiers and sailors; 
 the survey and gift or sale of the public lands; the 
 national parks; the reclamation of arid lands by irriga- 
 tion; the Indians; and patents (giving inventors of use- 
 ful devices the exclusive right to profit from their dis- 
 covery for a period of years). The department also 
 includes a commissioner of education, whose work is 
 simply that of investigation and advice, since the school 
 system of the country is a local affair entirely. 
 
 Secretary of Agriculture.— His department maintains 
 stations, at which it experiments with seeds and 
 
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THE PRESIDENT 45 
 
 animals and spreads the knowledge thus gained among 
 farmers. It also includes the Forest Service, the 
 Weather Bureau, and two important bureaus that in- 
 spect foods and drugs to make sure that they are pure 
 and wholesome. 
 
 Secretary of Commerce. — He has general supervision 
 of all navigation, including the care of lighthouses and 
 buoys, the inspection of steamboats, to see that they 
 are safe, and the coast survey that prepares charts for 
 sailors. His department restocks lakes, rivers, and the 
 sea with fish. It takes the census every ten years, now 
 a colossal work, since the country has grown from 
 3,900,000 in 1790 to 101,100,000 in 1910. 
 
 Secretary of Labor. — He has general supervision of im- 
 migration and naturalization, the entrance of foreigners 
 into the United States and their admission to citizenship. 
 
 This department also includes a Bureau of Labor, 
 that investigates the conditions of labor, and a Chil- 
 dren's Bureau, that investigates child labor and other 
 questions affecting the happiness and health of boys 
 and girls. As we shall see, the regulation of labor con- 
 ditions is primarily a State affair under the Constitution, 
 and the powers of this national office are limited chiefly 
 to advice. 
 
 Interstate Commerce Commission. — In addition to these 
 ten departments, headed by the ten members of the 
 Cabinet, the national government includes a number of 
 other important bodies, chief of which is the Inter- 
 state Commerce Commission, created by Congress in 
 1887 to regulate railroad rates and make them fair and 
 reasonable. It is appointed by the President. 
 
46 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 Library of Congress. — This great library is housed in a 
 magnificent building near the Capitol in Washington. 
 It is in charge of a librarian appointed by the President. 
 He has charge of copyrights, which give to writers of 
 books, plays, songs, etc., the same exclusive right to 
 profit from their work that patents give to inventors. 
 
 Territorial Governments. — The President has large pow- 
 ers in the government of all United States territory 
 not included in any State. He appoints three com- 
 missioners to govern the District of Columbia, and a 
 governor and various other officers for Alaska, for Ha- 
 waii, for Porto Rico, and for the Philippines. Residents 
 of the District of Columbia have no vote whatever in 
 their government. In Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico, and 
 the Philippines the people share in the government 
 through a legislature which they elect. Both Alaska 
 and Hawaii also elect a territorial delegate who sits in 
 the House of Representatives at Washington. He can 
 speak on all questions concerning his territory but has 
 no vote. Porto Rico elects one commissioner and the 
 Philippines elect two commissioners who represent 
 them at Washington, but have no seat in Congress. 
 The Panama Canal Zone is in charge of a governor ap- 
 pointed by the Secretary of War; Guam and Samoa are 
 governed by the naval officer in command there. 
 
 As we shall see, Congress has power under the Con- 
 stitution to provide whatever government it thinks 
 best for these territories and island possessions. It has 
 passed laws setting up the various governments described 
 above and placing in the President the power to make 
 these important appointments. 
 
THE PRESIDENT 47 
 
 Civil Service.— This is a phrase that is often used 
 and you should understand what it means. "Civil' 
 has many meanings. Here it means nothing more 
 than " not-military. " That is, the "civil service" of 
 the government includes all office-holders not in the 
 army or the navy. Now there are some 400,000 of 
 these, and their number increases steadily year by 
 year. Almost all of them are chosen by the President, 
 and you can see what a task it would be if each new 
 President appointed a new man for each job. That 
 was the system for many years — the "spoils system," 
 it was called, and it was based on the idea that "to the 
 victor belong the spoils." As a party came into power 
 its President threw out all the office-holders not of his 
 party, and rewarded his political friends with jobs. 
 
 In 1883, however, a civil-service law was passed 
 which ended much of this. It has been extended year 
 by year. This law provides that public offices must 
 be rilled on the basis of merit after examinations, just 
 like school examinations; and when once chosen, an 
 officer holds his job during good behavior. He cannot 
 be thrown out to make room for a politician. 
 
 The President has still a large number of appoint- 
 ments to fill, however, and this forms a large part of 
 his duty. The most important appointments must be 
 confirmed by the Senate, including the ten members of 
 his Cabinet: the federal judges (including the justices 
 of the Supreme Court); postmasters in the cities and 
 larger towns; collectors of customs at the ports; federal 
 district attorneys (who prosecute criminals); ambassa- 
 dors, and consuls. (Art. II, Sec. 2, Par. 2.) 
 
48 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 3. Legislative Powers 
 
 President and Congress. — All this, so far, you will ob- 
 serve, is executive power. Congress passes a law un- 
 der one of its constitutional powers, and the President 
 carries it into action. We come now to an important 
 part that the President plays in the making of laws. 
 
 The Veto.— The word "veto" is Latin for "I forbid." 
 Under our Constitution, when Congress has passed a 
 bill, it must go before the President before it takes 
 effect. He can sign it, in which case it becomes a law 
 at once. If he does nothing, it becomes a law after ten 
 days, provided Congress is still sitting. If Congress ad- 
 journs within ten days, the President need do nothing. 
 The bill fails unless he signs it. This is called the "pocket- 
 veto." Or he can "veto" the bill, sending it back to 
 Congress with any reasons he cares to give. This kills 
 the bill. 
 
 Congress can take it up again if it wishes, but cannot 
 pass it over the President's veto, except by a two-thirds 
 vote of both Houses. As this vote is difficult to get, 
 the President's veto is a very powerful obstacle to Con- 
 gress. It compels Congress to pay attention to the 
 President's views if it wishes its bills to become laws, 
 and gives the President a very decided influence on all 
 legislation. A strong and courageous President has 
 more influence than a weak one. But the power is 
 very real and important in any President's hands. 
 
 Here, you will notice, the Constitution places a very 
 important check upon Congress and its whole legisla- 
 tive power. (Art. I, Sec. 7, Pars. 2 and 3.) 
 
THE PRESIDENT 49 
 
 Messages to Congress. — The Constitution provides that 
 the President shall "from time to time give to the Con- 
 gress information of the state of the Union, and rec- 
 ommend to their consideration such measures as he 
 shall judge necessary and expedient." (Art. II, Sec. 3.) 
 George Washington delivered his messages to Congress 
 orally. Jefferson, not caring for public speaking, sent 
 his messages in writing, and that continued to be the 
 custom down to President Wilson who resumed the for- 
 gotten practice of addressing Congress in person. The 
 President usually sends an annual message and as many 
 shorter messages as he deems proper. This right is not 
 nearly as effective as the power of the British Premier, 
 who sits in the British House of Commons and leads 
 its debates, but it adds considerably to the President's 
 influence upon legislation. 
 
 Special Sessions of Congress. — The President can call 
 Congress in special session to consider any subject that 
 he considers important whenever he wishes. This gives 
 him an added influence upon Congress, for he can 
 keep Congress sitting as long as he wishes. (Art. II, 
 Sec. 3.) 
 
 These three powers, to veto bills, to send messages 
 to Congress, and to call special sessions of Congress are 
 the only legislative powers of the President. 
 
 4. Judicial Power 
 
 Pardoning Power. — The President has another power, 
 really judicial. He can pardon any criminal convicted 
 under a federal law — that is, for example, mail thieves, 
 counterfeiters, or smugglers. There are no constitu- 
 
50 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 tional limits on this power, but no President uses it 
 except to free a man who has been wrongly or too 
 harshly punished; to correct the errors of courts, in 
 other words. (Art. II, Sec. 2, Par. 1.) 
 
 5. Election 
 
 Election of President. — This is one of the few provi- 
 sions of the Constitution which have not worked out 
 as the makers of the Constitution hoped. They planned 
 an electoral college of wise men chosen by the people, 
 and gave the election of a President and Vice-President 
 to this body. They did not trust the people to pick a 
 good President directly. This body still exists, and 
 when you vote for President you nominally vote only 
 for "presidential electors." But these men are selected 
 by the parties who have already named their candidates 
 for President and Vice-President and the electors always 
 vote as their parties wish. So your vote really counts 
 for the candidate and the electoral college might just 
 as well not exist. The Constitution still provides for the 
 electoral college, but the people vote directly for their 
 President none the less. The original provision (Art. 
 II, Sec. 1, Par. 2) was changed in 1804 by the Twelfth 
 Amendment, but not so as to eliminate the electoral 
 college. The vote for President was merely separated 
 from the vote for Vice-President. 
 
 Minority Presidents. — The only effect of preserving this 
 peculiar provision is to make possible sometimes the 
 election of a "minority President" — that is, a Presi- 
 dent who did not receive a majority of all the votes in 
 the country. This is because the electors are chosen 
 
THE PRESIDENT 51 
 
 by States. Each State has as many votes in the elec- 
 toral college as it has representatives and senators in 
 Congress. Now if one candidate carries a few States 
 by very large majorities, and his opponent carries many 
 States by very small majorities, the latter may easily 
 win a majority in the electoral college, and yet not 
 have half of all the votes cast. Lincoln was a minority 
 President in 1860. So have been eight other Presi- 
 dents. This seems queer and unjust, but it is our his- 
 toric method, and it has never been considered worth 
 while to change it. 
 
 Election by the House. — The electors of each State meet 
 at the State capitol on the second Monday in January 
 following the election and vote. Their ballot is sent 
 to the president of the United States Senate and on the 
 second Wednesday in February the president of the 
 Senate, before a joint session of Congress, opens the bal- 
 lots and they are counted. 
 
 A majority of the electoral vote is required, and 
 therefore if there is a tie or the votes are split among 
 a number of candidates the election fails. In this event 
 the election is thrown into the House of Representatives, 
 which chooses a President from among the three can- 
 didates standing highest in the vote of the electoral 
 college. In this balloting each State has one vote. 
 The Senate elects a Vice-President under similar con- 
 ditions. Twice the election has been thus thrown into 
 the House, in 1800, when Jefferson and Burr were tied, 
 and in 1824, when the electoral votes were divided 
 among four candidates and John Quincy Adams was 
 elected by the House. 
 
52 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 Inauguration Day.— The President is elected early in 
 November (the Tuesday following the first Monday), 
 every four years, 1916, 1920, etc. But he does not take 
 office until the March 4 following (in 1917, 1921, etc.), 
 that date being known as Inauguration Day. He then 
 takes the oath of office set forth in the Constitution 
 (Art. II, Sec. 1, Par. 7) : "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) 
 that I will faithfully execute the office of President of 
 the United States, and will to the best of my ability 
 preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the 
 United States." The oath is administered by the Chief 
 Justice of the United States. This ceremony is pre- 
 ceded by a great parade and followed by a speech from 
 the new President outlining his policies, delivered from 
 the Capitol steps before a vast crowd. He is then 
 driven to his new home, the White House. The Presi- 
 dent receives a salary of $75,000. 
 
 The Presidents Death. — If the President dies or be- 
 comes disabled the Vice-President, elected at the same 
 time with him, becomes President. Until that time 
 the Vice-President has nothing to do except to preside 
 over the Senate. His salary is $12,000. If the Vice- 
 President dies before the President, the succession then 
 goes down through the Cabinet in the following order: 
 Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary 
 of War, the Attorney-General, the Postmaster-General, 
 the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Interior. 
 (Art. II, Sec. 1, Par. 5.) 
 
CHAPTER X 
 CONGRESS 
 
 1. The Two Houses 
 
 The Legislative Branch. — The rules of baseball, as we 
 saw, are made by a national commission representing 
 the big leagues. Most of the rules are very old, and 
 were followed by boys playing the game long before 
 they were written down. But changes are made almost 
 every year to meet new conditions or clear up doubts, 
 and that is why a rule-making body is always needed. 
 The laws of the United States are much the same. 
 Many of them are very old and were customs, habits 
 of right and fair-dealing among men, before they were 
 written down into laws. But the country grows so 
 rapidly, conditions of life change so constantly, that new 
 laws are needed every year. Therefore, the Constitu- 
 tion creates our Congress that sits every year in Wash- 
 ington, debates our national problems and makes our 
 laws (subject, as we have seen, to the Presidents right 
 of veto). It is called the legislative branch of our gov- 
 ernment. (Art. I, Sec. 1.) 
 
 Two Houses of Congress. — Congress is composed of two 
 bodies, the House of Representatives (usually called the 
 "House") and the Senate. One meets in one end of 
 the Capitol at Washington, the other in the other. A 
 bill must be passed by both House and Senate before 
 
 63 
 
54 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 it can become a law. The two bodies are unlike in 
 every important respect save that both are elected by 
 the people. 
 
 The House of Representatives now (1919) contains 
 435 members, allotted to the States according to popula- 
 tion. Thus the large States have many representatives, 
 the small ones few. New York has 43 representatives, 
 Delaware 1. Originally each State was allowed 1 repre- 
 sentative for every 33,000 inhabitants, and this gave 
 the first House 65 members. If this ratio had remained 
 unchanged the House would now consist of over 3,000 
 members, which would make a body far too large for 
 effective deliberation. Congress has therefore increased 
 the ratio from time to time. A representative is now 
 allotted to every 210,000 inhabitants (about). But 
 each State, however small, is entitled to 1 representa- 
 tive. (Nevada, for instance, has a representative, 
 though its population is only 81,000, less than half of 
 the quota.) Congress fixes the ratio of representation 
 after each decennial census. (Art. I, Sec. 2.) 
 
 The Senate has 96 members, 2 from each State. 
 Large and small States are thus represented alike. Illi- 
 nois, with 5,600,000 inhabitants, has two senators, and 
 so has Wyoming, with 145,000. It has increased in 
 size only as new States have been admitted to the 
 Union. (Art. I, Sec. 3.) 
 
 There are several other important differences between 
 House and Senate. A senator must be at least thirty 
 years old; a representative need be only twenty-five. A 
 senator is elected for a term of six years, a representa- 
 tive for only two years. Besides, all the representatives 
 
CONGRESS 55 
 
 are elected at the same time and thus go out of office at 
 the same time, whereas in the Senate the terms are so 
 arranged that only one-third are elected at any one 
 election, two-thirds always holding over. 
 
 Why Two Houses. — Can you see any reasons for hav- 
 ing two legislative bodies so unlike one another? The 
 explanation of one great difference is historical. As we 
 saw before, when the Federal Government was formed 
 in 1789, the original States came in with all their exist- 
 ing governments. They varied much in size, and local 
 pride was very strong. The smaller States would not 
 have come into the Union if the Senate had not been 
 planned so as to give them equal power and prestige, 
 and thus prevent the larger States from taking full con- 
 trol. The theory was that the Senate represented the 
 States as governments. That is the first reason why 
 large and small States have the same vote and power 
 in the Senate. 
 
 But there are other and better reasons for having two 
 houses and having the membership of one older in years 
 and less frequently changed. The preparing and passing 
 of good laws is a slow and difficult business requiring 
 much thought and care. People are constantly having 
 new ideas that sound well but that do not work out. 
 If we had one legislative body, and that the House, new 
 and untried and ill-considered laws might be passed. 
 With the Senate we are surer of thorough debate and 
 investigation and careful decisions. They represent dif- 
 ferent points of view. Each is a check on the other. 
 By the time both have agreed on a law, we can be fairly 
 confident that it is a wise and just one. 
 
56 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 Direct Election of Senators. — The Constitution origi- 
 nally had one additional device for making the Senate 
 less likely to act hastily. It provided that whereas 
 representatives should be elected directly by the people, 
 the senators should be chosen by the State Legislatures. 
 The thought was that thus more conservative and 
 thoughtful men would be chosen. Also, this system 
 accorded with the theory of the Senate as the repre- 
 sentative of the States as governments. This did not 
 meet the {approval of Americans, and in 1913, by the 
 Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution, this was 
 changed, and to-day our senators are elected as are the 
 representatives, by popular vote. 
 
 Election of Representatives. — Congress has provided that 
 representatives must be elected by districts and not by 
 the whole State ("at large," as this latter method is 
 termed). Of course, in small States, Arizona, Dela- 
 ware, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wyoming, entitled to 
 only one representative, he is elected by the voters of 
 the whole State. 
 
 The States lay out these congressional districts as 
 they wish, and much unfairness has been worked at 
 times in the effort by a party in power to apportion the 
 State to its advantage. The trick has been either to 
 throw the greatest possible number of hostile voters 
 into one district, certain to be hostile anyway, or to 
 add a friendly area to an evenly divided district. Con- 
 gressional districts have taken on extraordinary shapes 
 as a result, a " shoe-string" district in Mississippi and 
 a "dumbbell" district in Pennsylvania, for instance. 
 The device is called "gerrymandering," after Elbridge 
 
CONGRESS 57 
 
 Gerry, of Massachusetts. He had helped redistribute 
 the districts of his State so as to produce one district 
 resembling a queer animal figure. "A salamander," it 
 was suggested. "Better a Gerrymander " some one re- 
 plied, from which the name passed into political slang. 
 
 A representative is not required by law to live in the 
 district that elects him. But custom demands it. It 
 has been argued that abler men might be sent, if this 
 restriction were not imposed, even though the local in- 
 terests of the district might not be so closely regarded. 
 The English custom, by contrast, frequently elects 
 great national figures from districts where they do not 
 live. 
 
 The salary of representatives and senators is the 
 same, $7,500 a year, with mileage to and from Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 2. Powers 
 
 The Powers of Congress. — Congress, like the President, 
 is not free to do anything it wishes. It can do only 
 what the Constitution expressly permits it to do. Its 
 powers are mainly set forth in Section 8 of Article I 
 of the Constitution. They are, as we saw before, the 
 powers which the nation needs to preserve itself, and 
 which the nation can exercise better than the States. 
 All the other matters, affecting local concerns, are left 
 to the States to handle as they think best. The chief 
 matters thus given to Congress to legislate about are 
 as follows: 
 
 1. To collect taxes. 
 
 2. To borrow money. 
 
58 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 3. To regulate commerce to and from foreign coun- 
 tries and between the States. 
 
 4. To coin money and punish counterfeiters. 
 
 5. To establish post-offices and post-roads. 
 
 6. To provide for patents and copyrights. 
 
 7. To punish piracy and other crimes committed on 
 the high seas. 
 
 8. To declare war. 
 
 9. To maintain an army and navy. 
 
 10. To govern the Territories (Art. IV, Sec. 3) and 
 the District of Columbia. 
 
 11. To admit new States. (Art. IV, Sec. 3.) 
 
 12. To make all the laws needed to carry into effect 
 these powers. 
 
 As you see, under the last clause Congress has a very 
 liberal grant of power with respect to the things it is 
 permitted to take charge of. Congress has a free hand 
 in the jobs assigned to it. This has often been called 
 "the elastic clause," because it has been stretched in 
 some cases to cover a good deal. Those who believe 
 that the national government should not increase in 
 power, construe it very strictly. Those who would 
 strengthen the national government construe it liber- 
 ally. This is an old and perennial dispute between 
 American political parties. 
 
 By referring to the tenth clause above you can work 
 out a neat illustration of what Congress can and 
 cannot do. The Territories (Alaska, etc.) and the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia are considered wards of the national 
 government, and have no right to govern themselves 
 as the States have. Congress can give them whatever 
 
CONGRESS 59 
 
 laws it wishes to, local laws as well as the national laws 
 described in the other eleven powers. It can provide 
 local policemen for Alaska and decide how the streets 
 of Washington (in the District of Columbia) shall be 
 paved. 
 
 It can do none of these local things in New York or 
 Illinois or California or any of the States. In them it 
 can only run the mails, draft soldiers, and do the other 
 national things enumerated. All the other things are 
 left to the States to do as they will. 
 
 As you will have noticed, these powers granted to 
 Congress cover, in very general terms, the things that 
 the President through his Cabinet carries into action. 
 The people adopted the Constitution; by it they gave 
 Congress the power to make laws about certain things; 
 the President sees that such laws as are passed are 
 carried out. 
 
 Congress and the Bill of Rights. — As was stated in 
 Chapter VI, Congress, with all its power, cannot pass 
 any law interfering with the liberties of American citi- 
 zens. Personal safety and freedom, religious freedom, 
 free speech, property, trial by jury, are all protected by 
 what is often called the Bill of Rights in the Constitu- 
 tion — the first ten amendments passed shortly after the 
 original Constitution was adopted. Just how Congress 
 is restrained will be explained in the next chapter on 
 the courts. 
 
 Section 9 of Article I also ties the hands of Congress 
 in certain similar respects, as, for instance, in prohibiting 
 any title of nobility. Congress could not create a 
 prince or duke or earl if it wanted to. 
 
60 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 Special Powers of the House and Senate. — As we saw be- 
 fore, the Senate has certain powers all its own. It can 
 approve or reject treaties which the President makes 
 with foreign countries (a two-thirds vote being necessary 
 for approval). It can confirm or reject the President's 
 appointments to certain high offices, judges, ambas- 
 sadors, etc., as noted in the preceding chapter. From 
 this power has grown a custom known as "senatorial 
 courtesy" whereby a President is expected to consult 
 the senator of his own party in a State, if there is one, 
 before making an appointment therein. Thus the 
 senators have gained a large control over federal "pat- 
 ronage," as this selection of office-holders is called. 
 
 The only peculiar power of the House is that all the 
 tax bills must start in it — this because taxes hit all the 
 people and the House is better able to speak for all the 
 people at any given time than the Senate. Once intro- 
 duced in the House, tax bills must go to the Senate and 
 be passed by the Senate like any other bills. (Art. I, 
 Sec. 7, Par. 1.) 
 
 When a President or any federal officer violates the 
 law or the Constitution, Congress can remove him by 
 a trial known as "impeachment." In this the House 
 accuses him and states the charges, and the Senate tries 
 him, sitting as a court. But one President has ever 
 been thus tried, Andrew Johnson, and he was not con- 
 victed. (Art. I, Sec. 2, Par. 5, and Sec. 3, Pars. 6 and 7.) 
 
 3. Organization 
 
 How Congress Works.— The House elects a speaker who 
 presides over its sessions. His position is one of great 
 
CONGRESS 61 
 
 importance and influence. Any representative can pro- 
 pose any bill, that is to say, the draft of a law, that 
 he wishes to. It is referred to a committee which can 
 either kill it or, if it approves, report it back to the 
 House for action. The House is divided into a large 
 number of these committees, each with certain subjects 
 assigned to it, and, as you can see, very important and 
 decisive action takes place in these committees. One 
 of the most important is the Ways and Means Com- 
 mittee, which passes upon all tax bills for the raising of 
 revenue. The most powerful is the Committee on 
 Rules, which largely determines what bills shall be 
 considered. The bill, if reported back by the committee, 
 must be read three times on three different days — this 
 to make sure that no bill is slipped through unawares — 
 and is then voted upon. If it receives a majority of 
 votes it is sent to the Senate, which takes it up in just 
 the same way, referring it to a committee, and so on. 
 If the Senate passes the bill it goes to the President for 
 him to approve or veto. If the Senate does not pass it, 
 the bill fails. Often the Senate amends, that is to say, 
 changes the bill as it comes from the House, and the 
 matter then goes to a conference committee of repre- 
 sentatives and senators, who try to adjust the differences 
 and agree upon a compromise bill which can pass both 
 House and Senate. 
 
 The Vice-President presides over the Senate, but he 
 has no vote except when there is a tie. Bills are intro- 
 duced in the Senate, referred to committees, and so on, 
 exactly as in the House. The only restriction is that 
 noted before, that tax bills cannot be introduced in the 
 
62 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 Senate. Owing to its smaller size the Senate is a much 
 more effective forum for debate than the House. When 
 the Senate is considering treaties or presidential appoint- 
 ments it is said to be in "executive session" and its pro- 
 ceedings are secret. 
 
 Congress meets every year on the first Monday in 
 December. It also meets in special session at other 
 times, when the President summons it. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 THE FEDERAL COURTS 
 
 The Need of National Judges.— The simplest rules of 
 baseball need an umpire to apply them, and you can 
 see how great is the need of a fair and unbiassed um- 
 pire to tell the President, Congress, and the people just 
 what the Constitution means on any given subject. 
 Disputes would be endless, otherwise. Even more im- 
 portant, Congress might claim power not really given 
 it; it might pass a law taking away religious liberty or 
 free speech or a man's life or property; and if there were 
 no umpire to say no, the law would prevail. 
 
 Their Powers. — The federal courts, of which the Su- 
 preme Court at Washington is the highest and final 
 authority, act as this umpire. Their chief work is to 
 interpret the Constitution, decide what it means, and 
 if Congress has exceeded its powers to say so. When 
 these courts decide that a law is not authorized by the 
 Constitution, is unconstitutional, that law is wiped 
 out. Similarly, if anybody violates the Constitution, 
 a private citizen, or a policeman, or even a State judge 
 or a State [ legislature, the federal courts step in and 
 direct that the Constitution be obeyed. These courts 
 are the bulwark of the Constitution. Without them it 
 could not protect our liberties or make our country a 
 safe and happy place to live in. \ 
 
 63 
 
64 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 These courts also settle disputes and punish crimes 
 arising under the laws passed by Congress and under 
 treaties with foreign nations. There are State courts 
 which pass on the State laws enacted by State legisla- 
 tures, as we shall see. Most crimes are local in char- 
 acter and are tried in the State courts. Thus, if a boy 
 smashed a street-lamp he would be breaking a local, 
 that is, a State law, and would be tried in a State court. 
 But if he stole a letter from a letter-box he would be 
 breaking a federal law protecting the mails, which are 
 a national concern, and would be tried in a federal 
 court. Counterfeiters must similarly be tried in fed- 
 eral courts, for it is the federal law which punishes 
 counterfeiting. 
 
 The federal courts hear certain other cases as well. 
 All disputes between States come before them, also all 
 suits between citizens of different States. The idea is 
 here that the federal court is better fitted to be impar- 
 tial, since it is chosen by the President and not by either 
 State. (Art. Ill, Sees. 1 and 2.) 
 
 The Supreme Court. — This is the highest court in the 
 land, and in many respects the most wonderful court in 
 the world. It has successfully applied the Constitution 
 to our changing, vastly growing nation through more 
 than a century and a quarter. Membership on it is 
 one of the highest honors in the country. The Chief 
 Justice ranks as one of our greatest public figures. 
 
 The court consists of the Chief Justice and eight asso- 
 ciate justices. They are appointed by the President 
 (with the consent of the Senate) and serve for life. 
 The court sits in the Capitol at Washington. The 
 
THE FEDERAL COURTS 65 
 
 salary of the Chief Justice is $15,000, the salary of the 
 associate justices, $14,500. 
 
 Most cases come before it on appeal from the lower 
 courts. That is to say, the side that loses at the 
 first trial "appeals" to this higher court to have the 
 decision changed. 
 
 District Courts and Circuit Courts. — The lowest federal 
 courts, in which suits usually begin, are called district 
 courts. Appeal is first made to the circuit courts of 
 appeal and thence to the Supreme Court. There are 
 district judges and circuit judges sitting in every State. 
 They are all appointed by the President (with the con- 
 sent of the Senate). 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 THE THREE BRANCHES OF OUR GOVERNMENT 
 
 Our System of Checks and Balances. — You have now 
 seen the three branches of our government — the execu- 
 tive, the legislative, and the judicial — and you have 
 seen in detail how they check each other. The legisla- 
 tive power of Congress is checked by the President's 
 veto. The executive power of the President is checked 
 by the Senate's right to reject his appointments. The 
 judiciary can check Congress all along the line by its 
 right to hold it to the Constitution. All this was care- 
 fully planned by the makers of our Constitution, with 
 definite purposes in view. They called it a system of 
 checks and balances. 
 
 Its Purposes. — The purposes were two. One was to 
 prevent tyranny by any one branch. The other was to 
 prevent hasty action by the nation. If too much power 
 lay in any one branch, or if the branches were not sep- 
 arate — if the executive and legislative powers were 
 united in one body, for instance (as is true in England 
 to-day, where the chief executive is the premier chosen 
 by the House of Commons) — there would be danger that 
 some very strong man or men would usurp power and 
 set up a dictatorship. 
 
 The second reason does not appeal to some Americans 
 with plans of change and reform. Undoubtedly the 
 system has sometimes held back desirable changes too 
 
 66 
 
THE THREE BRANCHES OF OUR GOVERNMENT 67 
 
 long. It certainly compels delay, debate, and second 
 thoughts. It has certainly prevented many blunders. 
 If it errs on the side of " safety first," it has worked and 
 worked successfully for many years, through all kinds 
 of strain and stress. Even if it makes us impatient at 
 times, we should realize its value and hesitate a long 
 time before changing it. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 WHAT THE NATION DOES FOR US 
 
 1. The Fundamental Services 
 
 In Our Daily Life. — Having viewed the machinery of 
 our national government, let us examine in detail what 
 services it renders each of us. Most of the things that 
 come nearest to our daily life, that make life in a village 
 or city pleasant and comfortable, are done by the local 
 government, as we shall find later. But the national 
 government performs some important services of this 
 character, the delivery of mail, for instance; and as we 
 know from our study of liberty and fair play, it performs 
 other services even more important though not usually 
 so plainly to be seen and appreciated. Let us take up 
 these latter first. They have been already suggested. 
 
 The Greatest Services of All.— The basis of all our rights 
 of liberty, our safety and happiness, our religious free- 
 dom, our free speech, is our strong, unified, national 
 government. Under weak and unstable governments 
 no man's life or property is secure from day to day. 
 You have read in our own history how troubled were 
 the years just after the Revolution, when the thirteen 
 colonies were only loosely held together under the Arti- 
 cles of Confederation. It was, in fact, the disorder and 
 confusion of these years that made the colonies see the 
 need and wisdom of a strong union under the Constitu- 
 
 68 
 
WHAT THE NATION DOES FOR US 69 
 
 tion. From 1783 to 1789 the new American confedera- 
 tion was threatened from without and from within, and 
 the new Constitution gave the nation vast powers to 
 end these troubles and safeguard the people's liberties. 
 The preamble to the Constitution states this clearly : 
 
 " We the people of the United States, in order to form 
 a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic 
 tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote 
 the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty 
 to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish 
 this Constitution for the United States of America.' ' 
 
 Enemies Abroad. — In time of peace we are apt to 
 forget this elementary service that America does for us. 
 Any one who lived through the period of the Great 
 War can never make this mistake. When the war 
 came, it was our national government at Washington 
 that carried the whole burden. Local governments are 
 useless in such a crisis, for unity of command is essen- 
 tial. To protect us from foreign invasion, to command 
 us in our battles, to speak for America among the 
 nations of the world, we must look to our national 
 government. That is the most vital service of all. 
 Upon it depends our whole safety and happiness. For 
 if we were a weak, divided nation, without army or 
 navy, and with no strong government, we might be 
 conquered, deprived of our rights, and ruled as a colony, 
 as indeed the imperialistic Germans dreamed of doing. 
 China is the best example of such weakness. She has 
 been invaded and overrun and conquered time and 
 again. 
 
 This danger of war is no remote possibility, though 
 
70 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 people are apt to forget in time of peace how constant 
 the danger is. Our country was founded by a long and 
 bloody war, the War of the Revolution. Since then we 
 have fought five wars: the War of 1812, the Mexican 
 War, the Civil War, the Spanish War, the Great War. 
 The Revolution ended in 1781, the Great War in 1918. 
 That is a period of one hundred and thirty-seven years, 
 and, therefore, the average interval between wars has 
 been less than twenty-seven years. The longest period 
 between wars was from the Civil War to the Spanish 
 War, 1864 to 1898, which is thirty-four years. Every 
 generation of Americans has gone to war, and every 
 American who has lived to middle age has lived through 
 
 a war. 
 
 In time of peace our foreign trade depends on the 
 same force. Because our nation protects its flag wher- 
 ever flown and its citizens wherever they travel, other 
 nations respect us and our citizens can go where they 
 will. If this were not so it would be impossible for us 
 to build up our commerce overseas. 
 
 In 1904 an American citizen of Greek ancestry, Ion 
 Perdicaris, was seized by a bandit named Raisuli in 
 Morocco and held a prisoner. President Roosevelt 
 cabled to our representative that we must have "Perdi- 
 caris alive or Raisuli dead." Perdicaris was promptly 
 surrendered uninjured. 
 
 Arbitration and the League of Nations. — In an effort 
 to prevent war with all its cost in suffering and lives, the 
 arbitration of disputes between nations was often re- 
 sorted to during the last century. Our country has been 
 a leader in developing this method of settling interna- 
 
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WHAT THE NATION DOES FOR US 71 
 
 tional quarrels. A court of arbitration is always ar- 
 ranged for by treaty and the two nations submit their 
 arguments to this court exactly as two citizens try a 
 case before a judge. A permanent court of arbitration 
 was established by the great nations at the Hague Peace 
 Conference in 1899. 
 
 This system, however, did not prevent the Great War 
 from breaking out in 1914. Overwhelmed by the 
 terrible losses of this war the nations of the world sought 
 in the League of Nations a more effective means of ar- 
 bitrating disputes and preventing war. It is the hope 
 of the whole civilized world that peace has been made 
 more secure for the future and that the danger of war 
 will grow smaller and smaller. 
 
 Enemies at Home.— The national government also pro- 
 tects us against the graver forms of disorder at home. 
 It cannot do ordinary police work. That is left to the 
 States, as we have seen. Your local policeman is ex- 
 pected to protect you against thieves, and there is a 
 State militia (our State volunteers) which the governor 
 can call out to protect property and lives when there is 
 disorder. But if a riot or a rebellion grows serious and 
 the State authorities are unable to quell it, the State 
 Legislature (or if the legislature is not in session, the 
 governor) is entitled to call upon the President to 
 send troops of the national army to help. (Art. IV, 
 Sec. 4.) Under the same section it is made the duty 
 of the national government to see that every State 
 has "a republican form of government." This means 
 that no State can set up a monarchy or any tyranny, 
 and that all the troops of the United States will be 
 
72 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 called out if necessary to compel popular government 
 in a State. 
 
 In one other way the national government preserves 
 order within the States. The President must "take 
 care that the laws be faithfully executed.' ' (Art. II, 
 Sec. 3.) To do this he can use the entire army if neces- 
 sary. When a strike tied up the mails in Chicago in 
 1894 President Cleveland sent national troops to pre- 
 serve order and prevent the mails from being held up 
 or destroyed. The mails were not stopped. 
 
 These services show how fortunate we are to live in a 
 strong, stable, unified nation, that gains us respect 
 wherever we travel abroad and holds our lives and 
 liberties, our property and our happiness safe against 
 riot and rebellion at home. 
 
 2. The Lessee Services 
 
 Other Services.— We come now to the simpler and 
 lesser things that the national government does for 
 us. These have increased constantly with the growth 
 of the country, and are likely to increase more. Why? 
 
 Our Changed Conditions. — Just consider what the 
 country was like in 1789. Then most Americans were 
 farmers, and each farmer grew almost everything that 
 he and his family ate — wheat, pork, mutton, beef, 
 milk, eggs, and so forth. His wife spun the wool and 
 made the clothes. There were no factories. There was 
 very little trading between States. To-day, the farms 
 are mostly huge farms, each growing a few products 
 which are shipped all over the country. The wheat 
 farmer grows chiefly wheat, and so forth. Cattle are 
 
WHAT THE NATION DOES FOR US 73 
 
 raised in the ranching States of the West, packed at the 
 great meat-packing centres, Chicago and Kansas City, 
 and shipped to every city and village in the nation. In 
 the same way clothes are no longer made at home; they 
 are made in New York and other large cities for the 
 whole country. Wonderful machines have been in- 
 vented for spinning and weaving and every other manu- 
 facturing process, and to operate them great factories 
 have been built. Each factory makes one sort of thing, 
 shoes, hats, ploughs, automobiles, etc., and what it 
 produces is shipped everywhere. To deliver all these 
 products railways were invented and developed as we 
 know them to-day, crossing and crisscrossing the entire 
 country. The freight charge is an important item in 
 the price of everything we buy. 
 
 Just think when you sit down for dinner how many 
 States are serving you. The wheat for your bread was 
 grown in North Dakota, let us say, and milled in Min- 
 nesota. The steer that is now roast beef grazed in 
 Texas and was killed and packed in Chicago. The 
 apples came from Oregon, the oranges from Florida. 
 The sugar-cane was grown in Louisiana and refined 
 into sugar in New York. The salt was manufactured 
 in Kansas. The coal that cooked the meal is from 
 Pennsylvania. The perishables, the milk, fresh eggs, 
 and fresh vegetables, came from your own or a near-by 
 State. A dozen States contribute to the simplest 
 meal. 
 
 Take your knife and fork. If they are silver-plated, 
 the silver was mined in Nevada, perhaps, the iron under- 
 neath was mined in Michigan, shipped to Pittsburgh 
 
74 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 as ore and there smelted. The knife and fork were 
 finally made in Connecticut. 
 
 The leather hide for your shoes very likely came off 
 a Texan steer, killed at Chicago. The shoes were man- 
 ufactured in Massachusetts. 
 
 All this long-distance trade increases the work of the 
 national government. When a farmer grows all his 
 own food he knows that it is pure and healthful. Or if 
 he buys it from a neighbor that he knows and can trust 
 he can be sure. But if he has to buy meat packed in 
 Chicago or Kansas City by a stranger, he cannot possi- 
 bly tell. So the government, which is to say, all of us 
 clubbed together, sends an inspector to do this for us. If 
 it is milk from his own State, his State government can 
 inspect the dairies to see that the cows are healthy. 
 But no State can act outside its own borders and most 
 foods, as we saw, come from other States; so there is a 
 big job here which the government at Washington 
 alone can do. 
 
 Our vast and elaborate means of communication, the 
 post-office, the railroads, the telephone, and telegraph, 
 also raise national problems which only the national 
 government can handle. The government has always 
 run the post-office, as we know. It fixed the railroad 
 rates for a number of years, as we shall see, and began 
 to operate the railroads during the Great War. As to 
 whether the government can run efficiently such a com- 
 plex and difficult business as our railroads there is grave 
 debate. But there is general agreement that our rail- 
 roads must be fully controlled and regulated by the 
 national government. 
 
WHAT THE NATION DOES FOR US 75 
 
 America has become one large family, everybody 
 working for everybody else, and dependent on every- 
 body else. No one can prosper alone. What happens 
 in one State affects the whole country. Every section 
 and every kind of worker must be prosperous and con- 
 tented, or the whole country suffers. 
 
 We must be cautious in increasing the activities of 
 our national government, for that way lies danger of 
 interference with our liberties. We must keep our 
 State governments strong and use them as far as we 
 can. But when changed conditions call for new national 
 regulation or work we must not hesitate to give our 
 government at Washington the necessary power. 
 
 Money. — A uniform system of money or currency is 
 an essential basis of buying and selling and commerce 
 in a modern nation. Therefore the States are forbid- 
 den by the Constitution to coin money (Art. I, Sec. 10, 
 Par. 1) and the national government has the sole power 
 (Art. I, Sec. 8, Par. 5). Before 1789 the States had 
 flooded the country with paper money that in some 
 instances had become worthless. 
 
 Our coins are minted at mints located at Philadel- 
 phia, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Denver. The 
 coins now issued are: gold coins, double eagle, eagle, 
 half-eagle, and quarter-eagle (no one-dollar gold pieces 
 have been coined since 1890) ; silver coins, dollar, half- 
 dollar, quarter-dollar, dime; nickel, five cents; copper, 
 one cent. The gold and silver coins contain an alloy 
 of copper and nickel to make them hard enough to 
 withstand wear. The metal is first rolled out into 
 strips, round pieces called "blanks" are next cut out, 
 
76 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 these are carefully weighed, and the "blanks" that are 
 of correct weight are then stamped with the design and 
 the edge milled in a press. 
 
 The government has also issued a vast amount of 
 paper money. It is all exchangeable or redeemable in 
 coin. It is of seven kinds: 
 
 Gold and Silver Certificates,— A dollar of gold or silver 
 coin is on deposit in the United States Treasury for each 
 dollar of these certificates. These two forms of cur- 
 rency make almost half of the entire stock of money in 
 circulation. 
 
 Greenbacks.— These were notes of the government, 
 promises to pay without interest, issued during the 
 Civil War when the government was hard pressed for 
 funds. Because they were not then exchangeable for 
 gold or silver, and because the credit of the government 
 was then under a great strain, they depreciated greatly 
 in value. In 1879 the government began to redeem 
 them in coin, and since then they have been worth 
 their full value. They are reissued as redeemed. 
 
 Sherman Treasury Notes.— These are Treasury notes 
 like the greenbacks, but issued under an act passed in 
 1890 and redeemable in coin. They are cancelled as 
 redeemed and only a small quantity are now outstand- 
 ing. 
 
 National Bank iVoJes.—- These are notes issued by 
 those banks throughout the country which are organized 
 under a national law and supervised by the national 
 government, and are called national banks. Next to 
 gold and silver certificates they form the largest body of 
 paper money in circulation. 
 
WHAT THE NATION DOES FOR US 77 
 
 Federal Reserve Notes and Bank-Notes. — These were 
 provided for in 1913 under a new central control of the 
 nation's banking facilities through the Federal Reserve 
 Board. 
 
 The amount and kinds of money in circulation in the 
 United States on December 31, 1916, were as follows: 
 
 MEDIUM AMOUNT 
 
 Gold coin (including bullion in the Treasury) $679,702,890 
 
 Silver dollars 72,330,864 
 
 Lesser silver coins 190,171,320 
 
 Gold certificates 1,660,030,029 
 
 Silver certificates 476,795,613 
 
 U. S. notes (greenbacks) 341,271,554 
 
 Treasury notes of 1890 2,035,188 
 
 National Bank notes 708,817,446 
 
 Federal Reserve notes 298,013,235 
 
 Federal Reserve bank-notes 11,764,495 
 
 Total $4,440,932,634 
 
 Population of continental United States estimated at 103,287,000 
 
 Circulation per capita $43 .00 
 
 The Post-Office. — Let us next take up the oldest of 
 the business undertakings of the government. There 
 were 75 post-offices in 1789 in the whole country, and it 
 cost 25 cents to send a letter more than 450 miles. 
 There are now over 60,000 post-offices and for years you 
 could send a letter from Portland, Maine, to Manila in 
 the Philippines, over 10,000 miles, for 2 cents. This 
 rate was raised to 3 cents during the Great War. 
 
 Our post-office system is one of the largest businesses 
 in the world, but it is not run as other businesses are, to 
 make a profit. It is run to educate and inform and 
 unify the nation. That is why the rates are so low, 
 
78 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 that is why letter rates are equal wherever the Stars 
 and Stripes are flown. It costs the government very 
 little to deliver a newspaper to a man a few blocks away 
 in a city. It costs the government a good deal, far 
 more than it gets, to deliver that same newspaper to a 
 ranch on an R. F. D. route a thousand miles away in 
 Wyoming. Yet it charges only a fraction of the 
 larger cost of the larger haul. That is because both 
 men are Americans, and both must be informed of pub- 
 lic events and public opinion, in order to be good citi- 
 zens. The success of government by the people rests 
 upon the mails quite as much as upon the public schools. 
 The post-office service has grown steadily, and now 
 includes these five things : 
 
 1. It delivers mail from door to door in cities and 
 larger villages, and by rural free delivery it carries mail 
 over miles and miles of country roads to farmers remote 
 
 from villages. 
 
 2. It registers letters so as to make their safe delivery 
 
 more certain. 
 
 3. It sends money by postal orders. 
 
 4. Since 1911 it has run the Postal Savings Bank, 
 accepting deposits and paying a low rate of interest 
 
 to depositors. 
 
 5. Since 1913 it has been carrying parcels by parcel- 
 post, doing work formerly done by the express com- 
 panies. 
 
 Railway Rates.— A large slice of what we pay for 
 everything we buy goes to the railroad that carried it 
 from State to State, and finally to the place where we 
 bought it. Think of that dinner-table again. The 
 
WHAT THE NATION DOES FOR US 79 
 
 orange from Florida, the wheat from Minnesota, the 
 roast beef from Texas, all paid a railway charge which 
 the grocer and butcher had to add into the price they 
 charged you. Therefore, it is very important that 
 railway rates should be fair, and be as low as possible 
 without cheating the railroads. 
 
 Congress has no control over commerce on railroads 
 wholly within one State. As we have seen, the Consti- 
 tution gives Congress entire control of interstate com- 
 merce, that is, commerce between States. (Art. I, Sec. 
 8.) There were nothing but stage-coaches when the 
 Constitution was written, but the makers had the fore- 
 sight to use such general and far-reaching terms that it 
 has provided for every development. Through its con- 
 trol of "commerce," Congress has provided for the fixing 
 of fair and reasonable rates on all interstate traffic, 
 freight and passengers alike. This has been done 
 through the Interstate Commerce Commission. This is 
 one of the most important services that the national 
 government has undertaken. It is another case in 
 which the government steps in and sees that there is 
 fair play for all, railroad, farmer, manufacturer; and 
 consumer alike. 
 
 Panama Canal. — The national government severed the 
 American continent at Panama for the convenience of 
 the worlds commerce, and also to give a swift passage 
 from coast to coast for our war-ships, and thus make the 
 defense of our nation easier. A strip of land ten miles 
 wide, running across the isthmus, was bought from the 
 republic of Panama in 1904. The canal was built by 
 the War Department and was completed in 1915. The 
 
80 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 work was the most extraordinary engineering feat in the 
 history of the world. 
 
 The Nation's Health.— If you will look at some meat 
 the next time you are in your butcher's shop you will 
 see that it is stamped "Inspected." That mark was 
 put upon it at the packer's, in Chicago, let us say, by a 
 United States inspector. This is one of the most val- 
 uable services the government does for us. These in- 
 spectors watch every piece of meat that is packed, they 
 condemn every piece that is diseased or unfit, and pass 
 only the sound, wholesome meat. 
 
 This is done under the pure food and drug law passed 
 in 1906. It applies, of course, only to interstate com- 
 merce. Under this law drugs are required to be pure, 
 and foods must be pure and wholesome and free from 
 poisonous and injurious substances. Labels on foods 
 and drugs must tell the truth. Inspectors watch fac- 
 tories the country over, destroy food that is adulterated 
 and have fines imposed upon manufacturers who violate 
 the law. 
 
 This important work that means so much to the 
 health of all of us is under the general charge of the 
 Secretary of Agriculture. 
 
 The Farmer. — The national government has done much 
 to aid and encourage the farmer. With each new 
 Territory added to the Union, vast, unsettled public 
 lands have come into the ownership of the government. 
 These have been largely given to actual settlers under 
 the Homestead Act of 1862, which provided that any 
 person could secure 160 acres by settling on it and cul- 
 tivating it for five years. In this way we have become 
 
From a photograph by the U . S. Reclamation Service 
 
 IRRIGABLE LAND IN WASHINGTON STATE BEFORE RECLAMATION 
 
 * ; .. M" 
 
 -rjr-/.,. 
 
 From a photograph by the U. S. Reclamation Service 
 
 APPLE ORCHARD, WASHINGTON STATE; THE RESULT OF RECLAMATION 
 
WHAT THE NATION DOES FOR US 81 
 
 a nation of landowners. (As you will recall, these pub- 
 lic lands are in charge of the Department of the In- 
 terior.) 
 
 The best of this land has now been given out and the 
 government has begun a series of great irrigation sys- 
 tems to reclaim tracts of desert and semiarid lands. 
 Huge dams have been built and water stored in them 
 to be distributed by canals and ditches over the dry 
 sections. These lands are sold in small tracts to actual 
 settlers. 
 
 Up to 1916 the United States Reclamation Service 
 had dug 9,805 miles of canals, 1,139 miles of ditches, and 
 91 tunnels. Enough reservoir capacity had been con- 
 structed to cover the States of New Jersey and Dela- 
 ware with water 16 inches deep. Projects completed 
 and begun will serve over 3,000,000 acres of irrigable land. 
 
 Among the famous dams constructed are the Arrow- 
 rock Dam for the storage of the water of the Boise River 
 in southern Idaho, 348.6 feet in height and 1,100 in 
 length, the highest dam in the world, and the Roose- 
 velt Dam, 280 feet high and 1,020 feet long on the Salt 
 River near Phoenix, Arizona. 
 
 The Department of Agriculture studies the farmers 
 problems, the breeding, feeding, and diseases of ani- 
 mals, the improving of crops by new varieties of seeds, 
 the soils in the different parts of the country, with the 
 crops best suited to them, the insects and diseases which 
 attack plants, trees, and grains; and distributes bulle- 
 tins telling what it discovered. It also conducts the 
 Weather Bureau, which warns every one, farmers in- 
 cluded, of cold waves, frosts, and storms. 
 
82 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 Conservation.— One-quarter of the United States is 
 still covered with forests, but it is estimated that if we 
 go on cutting as wastefully as we have and make no 
 provision for reforestation or other care our forests will 
 be entirely cut down in fifty years. This shows how 
 recklessly we have been using our natural resources, 
 and why our new national conservation policy is so 
 important. Under it more than one-third of our forest 
 acreage has been placed in the forest reserves of the 
 government in charge of the Forest Service of the De- 
 partment of Agriculture. Forest rangers patrol these 
 areas, prevent cutting except according to the rules of 
 careful forestry, extinguish fires, and guard against 
 them by building firebreaks along the crests of ranges, 
 and direct reforestation. The whole country benefits 
 by this foresight and watchful care. 
 
 The principles of conservation include also the de- 
 velopment of our vast water-power, so as to avoid 
 monopoly and furnish power to as many citizens as 
 possible. 
 
 Labor. — The Department of Labor studies the labor 
 problems and labor laws of the several States and of 
 the world, and publishes reports upon them. 
 
 The regulation of labor in factories so as to protect 
 workers from injury and disease rests chiefly with the 
 State governments, since the national power of regula- 
 tion is restricted to interstate commerce. National 
 laws have been passed limiting the hours of trainmen 
 and telegraphers employed in interstate business, and a 
 workman's compensation law applying to railroads en- 
 gaged in interstate commerce has also been enacted. 
 
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WHAT THE NATION DOES FOR US 83 
 
 This law gives every such workman, if injured while at 
 work, a certain fixed sum, graded according to the ex- 
 tent of the injury; or if he is killed a fixed sum must be 
 paid his family. The national government has also 
 attempted to prevent child labor on goods entering inter- 
 state commerce. 
 
 The Protective Tariff. — One of the great political issues 
 throughout the history of the nation has been "protec- 
 tion." A small tariff (a customs duty) upon goods 
 from foreign countries operates merely as a tax to pro- 
 duce revenue. Protection means imposing a tariff so 
 large that foreign goods cannot be profitably imported, 
 thus protecting American industries from foreign com- 
 petition. The Republican party has argued that only 
 thus could manufacturing be developed and maintained 
 and labor paid its present wages, since wages are higher 
 in America than elsewhere, and it is therefore not pos- 
 sible to produce goods as cheaply here as elsewhere. 
 It has contended that protection benefited laborer and 
 manufacturer alike. The Democratic party has argued 
 that the country would be better off if it could buy 
 foreign-made goods cheaply and let only such manu- 
 facturing develop as would develop naturally. The 
 Democratic party has therefore stood for free trade 
 (that is, no tariff) or a tariff for revenue only. 
 
 The decision of this question is one of the many 
 political issues that you will have to vote upon and 
 help decide. Whatever its merits, however, whichever 
 side is right, the country long had a highly protective 
 tariff and still has a protective tariff. The result has 
 been to stimulate manufacturing tremendously and the 
 
84 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 protective tariff must be classed as one of the many 
 means our national government has used to develop the 
 nation. 
 
 The Control of Trusts. — One of the most serious prob- 
 lems in preserving fair play in American life has been 
 raised by the growth of huge businesses called trusts or 
 combinations. The old theory of our business life was 
 that every bright and energetic young man could start 
 out for himself as an independent manufacturer or 
 dealer. Competition among these small concerns both 
 gave free play for ability to show itself and also kept 
 prices down for the public that bought. In many lines 
 this condition still exists. But in some, meat packing, 
 for instance, the small concerns have all been merged 
 into a few and these large corporations control the 
 field. These conditions shut out the small beginner 
 and permit an unfair raising of prices since competi- 
 tion is largely ended. Such single control of any one 
 line is called a monopoly. 
 
 To secure a return of fair play, both for the small 
 business man and for the public, the nation has passed a 
 number of laws, the chief being the Sherman Anti-trust 
 Law of 1890. Under this law great trusts, like the 
 Standard Oil and the tobacco companies, were split up 
 by the courts into their original small concerns. In 
 1914 this was supplemented by the Clayton Act, defin- 
 ing what "unfair trade methods" are and creating a 
 Federal Trade Commission to enforce the law. 
 
 The problem is a very difficult one, and there has 
 been much disagreement as to what remedy should be 
 used* There is no question that combinations can 
 
WHAT THE NATION DOES FOR US 85 
 
 reduce costs, since they buy and manufacture and 
 sell in larger quantities than the small manufacturer. 
 This saving is of value to us all — provided we get the 
 benefit of it in lower prices. Therefore some argue 
 that we should not compel the combinations to dissolve, 
 but should regulate prices. Others believe that trusts 
 should be split up and competition fostered by means 
 of the laws which now prevent "unfair trade practices," 
 such as selling goods far below cost to drive out a com- 
 petitor, and obtaining " rebates" from railroads, that 
 is, secret agreements for cheaper rates. 
 
 The trust problem is the problem of fair play in busi- 
 ness for the manufacturer, for the laborer, for the pub- 
 lic. It has been solved only in part. 
 
 The States have also passed many laws in an effort 
 to end monopoly or prevent its evils, but with little 
 success since their laws cannot touch interstate com- 
 merce. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF A STATE 
 
 1. The State 
 
 State Governments, — We now come to the govern- 
 ments of the States. As you will recall, each State is 
 left free by the Constitution to govern itself as it sees 
 fit in its local concerns. That is our theory of home 
 rule. It possesses all powers not delegated to the 
 national government and not denied to it by the Con- 
 stitution. (Amendment X.) Therefore it is impossible 
 to describe any one system of State government that 
 will hold true of all forty-eight States. As a matter of 
 fact, no two are exactly alike. What follows is only a 
 rough sketch which must be filled in and perhaps altered 
 a little to apply to your own State. 
 
 In general outline the State governments are very 
 much like the national government. The seat of the 
 State government is the State capital. There are three 
 branches exactly as in the government at Washington. 
 
 The State Executive. — The executive (corresponding to 
 the President) is the governor, elected directly by 
 the people of the State. His term is usually two or 
 four years. His salary ranges from $2,500 in Nebraska 
 and Vermont to $12,000 in Illinois. The lieutenant- 
 governor corresponds to the Vice-President. 
 
 One important difference to be noted is that some of 
 the governor's chief assistants are always elected along 
 
 86 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF A STATE 87 
 
 with him by the people and not appointed by him. A 
 treasurer and a comptroller (who handle the funds of 
 the State), a secretary of state and an attorney-general 
 are usually among these. (Do not confuse this secre- 
 tary of state with the national secretary of state, who 
 has charge of our foreign affairs. The State, as we 
 have seen, has no foreign affairs, and its secretary is 
 simply the keeper of the State's records and election 
 returns.) A governor thus has no body of chosen ad- 
 visers exactly corresponding to the President's Cabinet, 
 and he cannot select or control his chief agents. 
 
 This feature of our State governments has been much 
 criticised, for it divides responsibility and prevents 
 unified handling of the State's affairs. It also puts an 
 undue burden on the voter, who often does not know 
 anything about the minor candidates. The " short 
 ballot" is the name given to the plan of cutting down 
 the number of elective offices. We have a "short 
 ballot' ; in the national election now, for we vote only 
 for President, Vice-President, senator, and representa- 
 tive. The "short-ballot" movement would apply the 
 same principle to State, county, township, city, and vil- 
 lage. 
 
 Appointments. — The governor has many appoint- 
 ments to make. Chief among these are a superinten- 
 dent of education, who has general supervision of the 
 public schools, a superintendent of prisons, and a State 
 engineer, who has care of the State highways. 
 
 Many States have created numerous boards or com- 
 missions in recent years to handle various matters, all 
 appointed by the governor. There are boards of agri- 
 
88 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 culture, food, and dairies, live stock, fish, and mining, 
 which collect and diffuse information to promote these 
 interests. There are boards of health, bureaus of labor 
 and statistics, geological commissions, and forestry 
 boards, which collect facts, conduct scientific research 
 and (in the case of the State board of health) execute 
 certain laws. There are supervising boards which regu- 
 late railroads, insurance companies, banks, etc. There 
 are boards of examiners for those who wish to become 
 dentists, pharmacists, barbers, etc. There are boards 
 which have supervision of the prisons, hospitals, asy- 
 lums, etc. This commission system has been much 
 criticised for the diffusion of responsibility which it 
 produces. 
 
 The State civil service has passed through the same 
 stages as the national service, and many States have 
 passed civil-service reform laws to reduce the spoils 
 system of appointment, just as the national govern- 
 ment has. 
 
 Commander-in-Chief. — The governor is commander-in- 
 chief of the military forces of the State, that is, the 
 State militia composed of volunteers subject to the call of 
 the governor. The department head of the State militia 
 is the adjutant-general, appointed by the governor, who 
 also has a military staff to accompany him at public 
 ceremonies. In time of peace, the State militia are 
 called out by the governor to suppress riots and mobs, 
 and generally to preserve order when the police are 
 unable to maintain it. In time of war the State militia 
 is taken over by the national government, as it was dur- 
 ing the Great War. 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF A STATE 89 
 
 Pardons. — The governor has a pardoning power like 
 the President's, but it is usually restricted. In many 
 States a board of pardons is provided winch either hears 
 pleas for pardon and makes recommendations to the 
 governor, or passes finally on all pardons, and must 
 approve before they take effect. Included in the right 
 of pardon are the power to grant a reprieve (that is, a 
 stay of the execution of a sentence, the death penalty, 
 for instance) pending investigation or some legal step, 
 and the power to commute a sentence, that is, change 
 it to a lesser sentence. The President's pardoning 
 power includes these same features, but it is not as 
 important, since the control of most crimes rests with 
 the States. 
 
 Legislative Powers. — These are like the legislative 
 powers of the President. He can call the legislature in 
 special session in an emergency, he sends messages to 
 the legislature, he can veto bills (in every State except 
 North Carolina). The legislature can pass a bill over 
 his veto by a two-thirds vote in some States, a three- 
 fifths vote in others, or a bare majority in a few others. 
 
 The State Legislature. — The legislature has two houses 
 contrasting in size and length of term very much as do 
 the House and Senate at Washington, and varying 
 greatly in size. The larger body is called the House 
 of Representatives, Assembly, or House of Delegates. 
 The smaller body is called the Senate. Regular ses- 
 sions are held every two years in most States; in 
 Arizona, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode 
 Island, Georgia, and South Carolina every year; and in 
 Alabama once in every four years. State legislators 
 
90 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 are elected by districts, and for this purpose each State 
 is divided into two sets of districts, larger ones for 
 senators, smaller ones for representatives. Districts are 
 usually arranged on the basis of population, so that 
 each senator represents about the same number of 
 inhabitants and each representative represents about 
 the same number. But sometimes each senator repre- 
 sents a county, and in Connecticut each member of 
 the lower house represents a "town" (see Section 2 
 of this chapter for a description of this peculiar New 
 England unit), a most unjust system for the "towns" 
 containing large cities. The salaries of State legislators 
 are small, ranging from $3 a day in Kansas and Oregon, 
 or $120 a year in South Carolina, up to $1,500 a year in 
 New York. The houses are organized and bills are 
 introduced and passed very much as at Washington. 
 
 The State Constitution and Courts. — There is a State 
 constitution exactly as there is a national Constitution; 
 and there are State courts (including a supreme court 
 sitting at the capital) to interpret the State laws and 
 the State constitution. The State constitution contains 
 a Bill of Rights protecting the freedom of the people, 
 their religious liberty, their right of free speech, exactly 
 as does the national Constitution. Your State consti- 
 tution is the highest law of the State, just as the na- 
 tional Constitution is the highest law of the nation. 
 It is a most important protection of the people's rights, 
 for it restrains the State legislature from interfering 
 with your freedom, just as the national Constitution 
 restrains Congress. 
 
 The national Constitution is, of course, binding on 
 the State legislature, just as it is binding on everybody 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF A STATE 91 
 
 else. But by a curious omission it does not protect 
 religious liberty or the right of free speech or personal 
 liberty against State laws. This is not a serious matter 
 since all the State constitutions fully protect these rights 
 and always have protected them. It was because the 
 State constitutions already contained these Bills of 
 Rights in 1787 that the national Constitution omitted 
 to cover this point. 
 
 The powers of each State are very wide, as we have 
 seen (and shall examine in detail in the next chapter). 
 But the powers of State legislatures have been much 
 limited by means of detailed provisions in the State 
 constitutions. That is to say, the people of the indi- 
 vidual States have not trusted their legislatures with 
 the same freedom that the people of the whole country 
 have trusted Congress. There is usually a debt limit 
 beyond which the State legislature cannot go, and limits 
 to taxation are often fixed. In some States the legisla- 
 ture is limited by constitutional restrictions upon almost 
 every subject. One result of this condition is that 
 our State constitutions are very long and confused by 
 comparison with our national Constitution. This ten- 
 dency to put matters in State constitutions which might 
 better be left to the judgment of State legislatures has 
 been much criticised. 
 
 Amendments. — State constitutions require frequent 
 amendment, owing to the large amount of detailed legis- 
 lation in them. They can be amended in two ways, as 
 a rule: 1. By a constitutional convention called by the 
 legislature, in which case an entirely new constitution 
 may be drafted. Whatever the convention adopts 
 must be submitted to the voters and takes effect only 
 
92 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 if ratified by them. 2. The State legislature itself can 
 propose amendments. In some States a two-thirds 
 vote is required. In others the amendment must be 
 passed by a legislature in two different years. In all 
 States the proposed amendment must be submitted to 
 the voters exactly as after a constitutional convention. 
 In the State of Oregon a third method is permitted: A 
 certain small percentage of the voters can petition for 
 an amendment, in which case it is submitted to popular 
 vote without coming before either convention or legis- 
 lature. This use of the "initiative," as it is called, will 
 be discussed again in connection with elections in Chap- 
 ter XVII, Section 6. 
 
 The State Courts. — These are necessarily much more 
 numerous and complex than the federal courts, for they 
 handle many more cases since the State laws control 
 most of the common affairs of life. The titles and 
 organizations vary in the different States, the general 
 plan is as follows: 
 
 1. Justice of the peace. Elected by the town. (In 
 
 cities, police magistrates try the same cases.) 
 
 2. County judge. Elected by the county. 
 
 3. Superior, district, or circuit court. Elected by dis- 
 
 tricts (each usually including several counties) 
 in most States, but appointed by the governor 
 in some States and elected by the State legis- 
 lature in others. 
 
 4. Supreme court or court of appeals. Elected by 
 
 the people of the State in most States, but 
 appointed by the governor in some States and 
 elected by the State legislature in others. 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF A STATE 93 
 
 The justice of the peace tries small crimes and civil 
 suits for small sums, up to $50 or $100 as a rule. 
 
 The county judge tries cases of more importance, 
 civil suits up to a limit usually of a few thousand dol- 
 lars, and almost all criminal trials. He also has charge 
 of the important matters of wills (by which property is 
 left at death) and the guardianship of children whose 
 parents have died. For these reasons he is sometimes 
 called the probate court (for the "proving" of wills) 
 or judge of the orphan's court. Sometimes there is a 
 separate court for these latter purposes. "Surrogate" 
 is another name for the judge having charge of those 
 matters relating to the property of the dead. 
 
 The trial of all other cases, civil and criminal, comes 
 before the superior, district, or circuit court as it is va- 
 riously called. 
 
 The supreme court or court of appeals hears only ap- 
 peals from the lower courts. It does not try cases, 
 it only settles doubtful questions of law that have 
 arisen in trials. It sits at the State capital and is a 
 court of great importance and distinction. The only 
 court above it is the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 Appeals can be taken from a State supreme court to 
 the national supreme court when, and only when, a ques- 
 tion involving the national Constitution arises. In all 
 other cases the decision of the State supreme court is 
 final. It is, therefore, the final interpreter of the State 
 laws and State constitution. 
 
 States Are Not Nations. — Each State is thus governed 
 very much as if it were a little nation. But you al- 
 ready know why it is not^ really a nation at all. Its 
 
94 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 power to govern itself is strictly limited to local affairs, 
 to building roads and punishing murder, and so on, 
 within its own borders. It cannot do the things that a 
 real nation can do. It cannot make war, it cannot 
 impose a tariff against a foreign country or between 
 States, it cannot coin money, it cannot make a treaty 
 with a foreign nation. (These restrictions upon the 
 States are contained in Art. I, Sec. 10 of the Constitu- 
 tion.) It yielded up all these national rights in enter- 
 ing the Union — that is, in becoming part of one united 
 nation. 
 
 Our Double Government.— This idea of double govern- 
 ment, of forty-eight State governments all under one 
 federal government, seems confusing at first. But it 
 works without serious confusion, since each govern- 
 ment has its own job assigned to it and must stick to 
 that job. It is as simple as the case of the postman 
 and the policeman discussed before. Both walk the 
 same street and serve the same houses without any 
 conflict; yet one takes his orders and is paid from Wash- 
 ington, the other from the city or village. 
 
 2. County and Town 
 
 County and Town.— Each State subdivides itself into 
 a number of small districts, and gives these districts a 
 large measure of home rule. No two States handle this 
 problem alike and, of course, a State can change the 
 system of local government whenever it pleases. That 
 is entirely within its own control. All States are divided 
 into counties (except Louisiana, which has "parishes"). 
 These counties are divided again into smaller districts 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF A STATE 95 
 
 called by various names, but usually towns or town- 
 ships. Also, in all States where a number of people live 
 close together, that is, in a village or a city, they are 
 permitted to govern themselves as a separate unit. 
 
 There are three main types of local government, the 
 town system of New England, the county system of the 
 South and the Far West, and the township system of 
 the Middle West. 
 
 The Town System. — This grew up around the New 
 England meeting-house or church. Once a year the 
 voters go in person to a "town meeting," now held in a 
 "town hall." Here they discuss the needs of the com- 
 munity, fix the tax rate, pass by-laws (that is to say, 
 town laws, for "by" is an old English word meaning 
 town), and elect town officers. These latter include a 
 board of from three to nine selectmen who have general 
 charge of the business of the town, a clerk (who keeps 
 the town records), tax assessors, a treasurer, overseers of 
 the poor, a school committee, constables (to keep the 
 peace), and surveyors of highways (who keep roads in 
 repair). There are many other minor officials. In the 
 town of Middlefield (Mass.) there were recently 18 
 town officials to 82 voters. Two or three other town 
 meetings are usually held in the course of a year, at 
 which other town business is discussed and settled. 
 
 Do not misunderstand this use of the word town in 
 New England. It does not mean a city or a village as it 
 does elsewhere. A New England town usually includes 
 a village; but it includes the surrounding farms as well, 
 an area of perhaps four or five square miles, with an 
 average of 3,000 inhabitants. 
 
96 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 The town meeting exists chiefly in New England 
 (though Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota 
 use it). Elsewhere, voters elect their officers by ballot 
 on Election Day, and never gather in a meeting. You 
 can see that the New England system is best suited to 
 a small and compact community. 
 
 In this system the town was the original unit, and has 
 remained the important unit, and the county, appear- 
 ing later, has much less to do than elsewhere. It is 
 merely a group of towns with a county-seat, at which 
 sit county judges (with a sheriff to carry out their judg- 
 ments, make arrests, etc.), and county commissioners 
 whose chief business is the care of highways. 
 
 The County System. — There are smaller divisions than 
 the county in the Southern States, bearing various 
 names, but they have little importance. All the local 
 governing is done by the county officers. This system 
 arose in the South, because it was sparsely settled, and 
 as population has increased there has been a tendency 
 (in North Carolina and West Virginia, for example) to 
 develop townships. But generally the county controls 
 everything. The county system also prevails in Colo- 
 rado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, California, 
 Oregon, and Washington. 
 
 The government elected consists of a board of county 
 commissioners, a treasurer, a superintendent of educa- 
 tion, a superintendent of the poor, and an overseer of 
 roads. There are also county judges, a county prose- 
 cutor or State's attorney, a sheriff and a coroner (who 
 investigates mysterious deaths). The county-seat is an 
 important spot, since there are the county court-house, 
 the county jail, and all the county records. 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF A STATE 97 
 
 The board of commissioners has much power in this 
 system. It has entire charge of the business of the 
 county, including the erection of county buildings, the 
 levying of taxes, the making of appropriations, the 
 building and repair of roads, and the care of the poor. 
 
 The sheriff is a highly important officer. Aided by 
 his deputy sheriffs, he is responsible for the peace of 
 the whole county, and he carries out the orders of the 
 county court. If property is ordered sold to pay a 
 judgment, the sheriff does it. If a murderer is sentenced 
 to death, the sheriff hangs him. If need be to maintain 
 order or hunt down a criminal, he can call to his aid 
 every able-bodied man in the county, forming what is 
 called a posse comitatus. All prisoners are in his cus- 
 tody and he usually has charge of the county jail. 
 
 The county clerk has charge of the records of the 
 county. All deeds, etc., are recorded either with him 
 or with a register of deeds. 
 
 In the South the schools are usually in charge of a 
 county school board with full power to establish and 
 run schools. 
 
 The Township System. — This is sometimes called the 
 '' mixed system/' since it combines features of both 
 town and county systems. In all these States the 
 county appeared first, and the township came later as 
 population grew more dense, and the township has never 
 gained the importance of the New England town. It 
 prevails in the Middle Atlantic States and the Middle 
 West. In the West the township is a product of the 
 original government survey which mapped out the land 
 in regular plots six miles square, and called these " town- 
 ships." In these States the local township governments 
 
98 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 usually developed around the schoolhouse, just as the 
 New England town had developed around the church. 
 
 There are two general types, that of New York (in 
 which the township is more important than the county) 
 and that of Pennsylvania (in which the county is the 
 more important unit). Since in the development of the 
 country westward settlers followed lines of latitude, 
 roughly speaking, most of the northerly States followed 
 the example of New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Min- 
 nesota, for example. The States to the south, Ohio, 
 Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and also 
 North and South Dakota, followed Pennsylvania. In 
 Illinois a division took place, the southern part pre- 
 ferring the Pennsylvania type, the northern part the 
 New York type. The State constitution gives each 
 county its choice; and under this provision 85 out of 
 102 counties have adopted the township system of the 
 New York type. 
 
 In the New York type the town meeting is usually 
 preserved, but is not largely attended. The county 
 board is composed of supervisors, one elected by each 
 township. In the Pennsylvania type there are no 
 town meetings and the county board consists of com- 
 missioners elected by the whole county. 
 
 The county, wherever the township system prevails, 
 always has its county judges, prosecuting attorney, 
 sheriff, and coroner. It usually has also a county clerk 
 (and, sometimes, a register of deeds), a treasurer, a 
 superintendent or commissioner of schools (whose pow- 
 ers are supervisory), a superintendent of highways, and 
 a superintendent of the poor (though the poor-houses 
 are more apt to be run by the township). 
 
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THE GOVERNMENT OF A STATE 99 
 
 Under the township system the schools may be run 
 by the school directors or trustees of the township. 
 But more often each township is divided into several 
 school districts, and each of these districts elects a board 
 called by various names, school committee, school 
 trustees, board of education, etc., which has full charge 
 of the school, including the right to raise money by 
 taxes, to hire teachers, and to build schoolhouses. This 
 election sometimes takes place as part of the general 
 township election and sometimes is held at an annual 
 school meeting of parents and taxpayers, resembling a 
 New England town meeting. 
 
 The township usually has the following officers: one, 
 two, or three supervisors (who have charge of the roads, 
 etc.), a clerk, tax assessors, a tax collector, overseers of 
 the poor, school directors or trustees, justices of the 
 peace (who try minor cases), and constables. 
 
 You see how varied the methods of local government 
 are. Each State works out its own plan suited to its 
 own conditions. The thickly settled State can turn 
 local affairs over to small units, the sparsely settled 
 State can organize itself through larger units. Every 
 local condition of country, population, and character 
 can be considered and met. 
 
 3. Village and City 
 
 Village and City. — When people live close together all 
 kinds of things must be done by the community which 
 rural districts leave to the individual. Sidewalks must 
 be paved, streets must be lit, sewers must be laid, water 
 must be supplied in pipes from a distance (for in a 
 congested district pumps and wells collect germs and 
 
100 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 spread disease) ; the danger of a fire spreading is much 
 greater, so there must be an efficient fire department; 
 burglars and toughs prefer villages and cities, so there 
 must be an efficient police; traffic must be regulated; 
 contagious diseases very carefully watched to prevent 
 their spread, and so on. 
 
 Now, the county or the town could, of course, handle 
 all these matters for the village or the city. But that is 
 not the American way. Since the village and the city 
 have special problems, peculiar to them, the State gives 
 them their own governments to handle their peculiar 
 local problems. The grant of this right is called a char- 
 ter. It organizes the village or city government just 
 as a constitution does the State government. 
 
 Village and city are much alike, except that the city 
 government is more complicated and has, of course, 
 much more to do. In some parts of the United States 
 villages are called boroughs or towns. 
 
 City Government. — A city elects a mayor and a city 
 council, or board of aldermen, usually elected by wards. 
 The aldermen are really a little legislature having power 
 to pass what are called city ordinances, that is, local 
 rules requiring householders to clear their sidewalks of 
 snow, requiring houses to be built of fireproof materials, 
 and so forth. The city council also raises money by 
 taxes and directs how it shall be spent — for parks, 
 streets, schools, etc. (In a few cities the city council 
 consists of two houses as in a State legislature.) 
 
 The mayor of a great city like New York, Chicago, or 
 San Francisco is a very important and powerful officer. 
 He is the chief executive, corresponding to the President 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF A STATE 101 
 
 and the governor. He usually appoints all the heads 
 of departments, that is to say, commissioners having 
 charge of these matters : 
 
 Police. 
 
 Fire. 
 
 Health. 
 
 Street Cleaning. 
 
 Parks. 
 
 Tenements. 
 
 Schools. 
 
 Streets, Water, Gas, and Electricity. 
 
 Taxes. 
 
 The mayor also has a veto power upon the acts of 
 the board of aldermen. There is great variety in the 
 city governments, but the general outline is usually as 
 above. 
 
 The city has a number of important courts, in partic- 
 ular the police courts, which deal with drunkenness and 
 other small crimes. In many cities children's courts 
 have now been created to give special care to children 
 arrested and accused of crime. 
 
 Commission Government. — More than three hundred 
 cities have abandoned the foregoing system and are 
 using "commission government." A small board, usu- 
 ally of five members, is elected, and the entire business 
 of governing^the city is turned over to it. The object 
 is to unify control and responsibility. This system origi- 
 nated in Galveston, Texas, after the great flood of 1900. 
 The commission acts as both executive and legislature. 
 
 A city manager is sometimes used under this plan. 
 He is an expert, to whom the commission turns over 
 
102 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 the executive work very much as if the city were a busi- 
 ness undertaking. The commission keeps its legislative 
 powers. In choosing a city manager the commission can 
 search the country over for the best expert it can find. 
 It is hoped to develop city managers as able as the heads 
 of our great private corporations. 
 
 Where the commission system is used, it is customary 
 to give the voters a direct voice in lawmaking by devices 
 known as the initiative and referendum. These will be 
 explained in detail in Chapter XVI, Section 6. 
 
 Village Government. — A village elects a president and 
 a board of trustees or councilmen; also a collector of 
 taxes and treasurer. These meet regularly and transact 
 all the business of the village, including the fixing of tax 
 rates and the passing of village ordinances. They are 
 executive and legislature combined. 
 
 There is usually no village court, the local judge being 
 the justice of the peace, who is chosen for a town or 
 township. 
 
 The village board of trustees does not have charge 
 of the local public schools, it should be noted. These 
 are in charge of officers chosen by the school district or 
 town or township as described before. (This is unlike 
 the city, which does run its schools.) 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 WHAT THE STATE DOES FOR US 
 
 1. Through State Officials 
 
 State Government Important. — American voters some- 
 times pay little interest to the election of their State 
 officers, but they are really most important. They 
 touch the daily life of every one of us, both directly and 
 also through the fact that State laws create and control 
 our local governments. 
 
 Voting. — Each State has full power to say which of 
 its citizens shall vote — for national officers, President, 
 and congressmen as well as local officers. This is part 
 of the home-rule policy of our Constitution. The only 
 restriction is that of the Fifteenth Amendment, passed 
 to secure the vote for the negro, which declares that 
 "the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall 
 not be denied or abridged by the United States or by 
 any State on account of race, color, or previous condi- 
 tion of servitude. ,, 
 
 Laws of Person and Property. — It is the State that 
 makes almost all of the laws affecting our persons and 
 properties, of the utmost importance to every man, 
 woman, and child. The law of marriage and divorce, 
 who may marry and for what causes they may separate, 
 is decided by each State. The State laws define all the 
 common crimes — murder, robbery, etc. — and fix the 
 sentence for each crime. The State builds and main- 
 tains the jails for these punishments. All the rights of 
 
 103 
 
104 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 property, how land may be bought and sold, what con- 
 tracts must be in writing, and so on, are for the State 
 legislatures to decide. The forest, fish, and game laws, 
 stating at what seasons wild animals can be taken or 
 shot, are State laws (except in the national parks, of 
 course). This produces some confusion, for the^laws of 
 no two States are alike. But it enables each State to 
 pass the kind of laws best suited to its people and mode 
 of life, and that is a great advantage. 
 
 Health. — The State government maintains our asy- 
 lums for the insane, the deaf, dumb, and blind. (Most 
 hospitals are not State institutions but are run by pub- 
 lic-spirited citizens and supported largely by gifts.) 
 Many States have pure food and drug laws like the 
 national law already described. 
 
 Education.— The State has a commissioner of educa- 
 tion who has general charge of the public schools. The 
 general courses of study and examinations to be passed 
 by each grade are often fixed by this State authority. 
 The State university is supported by State funds, and 
 there are usually State agricultural and engineering col- 
 leges and State normal colleges to train teachers. It is 
 to our State and local governments that we look for 
 our education. 
 
 Labor.— It is to the State that we must look for laws 
 making our factories safe, for laws preventing children 
 under fourteen from working, and similar laws. Inspec- 
 tors travel about enforcing these laws, seeing that dan- 
 gerous machinery is safeguarded, that crowded build- 
 ings have fire-escapes, that there is sufficient fresh air, 
 and that dozens of other rules are complied with. 
 
WHAT THE STATE DOES FOR US 105 
 
 Workmen's compensation laws usually provide that 
 a workman injured through his work must be paid 
 by his employer a certain fixed sum, graded according 
 to the amount of the injury; or if he is killed, a fixed 
 sum paid to his family. Such laws thus parallel the 
 national workmen's compensation act; but that benefits 
 only workers on interstate railroads, whereas a State law 
 can protect every worker injured within the State. 
 
 Much has been accomplished and much remains to 
 be done. The national government has done what it 
 could to better the conditions of labor, but the main 
 burden of this important reform work must be done 
 by the States as part of their local power of regulation. 
 Children under fourteen are still employed in the cot- 
 ton-fields of the South and worked long hours in can- 
 ning factories. Many States are far behind the humane 
 and enlightened view of the time, which is that child 
 labor stunts growth and mental development and causes 
 disease, and thus is both cruel to the child and a waste 
 of precious health and life to the community. The age 
 of fourteen is now generally accepted as the age limit 
 for regular work. 
 
 Many States have also passed laws to prevent the 
 overworking of women with long hours and to insure 
 healthful labor conditions for them. 
 
 A number of States are now experimenting with mini- 
 mum wage laws, designed to prevent the paying of less 
 than a living wage. 
 
 State Highways. — All roads were formerly built by the 
 town or county, but of late years many States have un- 
 dertaken the building of important highways, forming 
 
106 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 through routes. Automobiles have hastened this new 
 development. 
 
 2. Through the City 
 
 The City. — The closer people live together, the more 
 they must do in common, that is, through their govern- 
 ment, in order that they may live safely and comfort- 
 ably. Therefore a large city does a great many more 
 things than a village, and a village more things than a 
 town or township or county for its rural districts. 
 There must be more rules and regulations in a city — 
 traffic rules, for instance, which are quite unnecessary 
 in the country. If we take up city life first, we can 
 then compare it with village and rural life to see how 
 they differ. 
 
 The Police Department. — Service in the police depart- 
 ment is like service in the army. A policeman always 
 goes armed, with a revolver and a night-stick. He 
 wears a uniform. The chief differences are that he 
 fights not an army but one criminal or a few criminals 
 at a time, and that he fights usually alone. Every 
 policeman risks his life in serving us. 
 
 The policeman is the enemy of every law-breaker 
 and the friend of every honest person. The traffic po- 
 liceman helps little children cross a crowded street. 
 Mounted policemen stop runaway horses. Finding lost 
 children and returning them to their homes is a frequent 
 duty. Many policemen have rescued men, women, and 
 children from burning buildings. All this help to us is 
 as much part of their duty as their work of watching 
 for criminals night and day and arresting them at 
 whatever risk. 
 
From a photograph copyright by the Vitagraph Co. 
 
 A RESCUE IX THE PARK 
 
 PATROLMAN* AND AMBULANCE SURGEON CARING FOR VICTIM OF AN ACCIDENT 
 
 The surgeon is binding up the victim's head while one patrolman is writing down an 
 account of the accident and another is holding back the crowd 
 
WHAT THE STATE DOES FOR US 107 
 
 It is the duty of every citizen, man, boy, woman, and 
 girl, to help a policeman whenever possible. That is 
 the law, and it is common sense as well, for the police- 
 man is our policeman, it is our laws that he is enforcing, 
 our property that he is protecting, our lives that he 
 may save. Boys and girls should know the policeman 
 on their beat and help him. He is one of the best friends 
 they have, and they may owe their life to him some 
 day when their house catches afire or a runaway comes 
 down the street. 
 
 Every police force includes a large squad of detectives 
 in plain clothes (therefore often called plain-clothes- 
 men). At police headquarters is maintained a Rogues' 
 Gallery, which contains not only photographs of all 
 criminals but also nowadays accurate measurements of 
 the head and other parts of the body taken according 
 to a scientific system invented by a Frenchman, Ber- 
 tillon. By this an arrested criminal giving a wrong 
 name can be identified at once, and his whole record 
 produced against him. 
 
 The police department is run either by one man, 
 called a chief of police, or by a board of police commis- 
 sioners, in either case appointed by the mayor. His 
 office is called police headquarters. The city is divided 
 into precincts, each with a police station in charge of a 
 police captain. 
 
 The Fire Department. — Our firemen fight a war that 
 never ends. At any hour of the day or night they 
 must be ready to come to our rescue. The risk to their 
 lives is even greater than that of policemen. They are 
 every-day heroes, quite as brave and daring as any 
 soldiers. 
 
108 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 The growth of tall buildings has made fire-fighting in 
 cities much more difficult than it was, but inventions 
 have kept pace with the difficulties. Water-towers, ex- 
 tension ladders, and motor fire-engines are now familiar 
 sights. If there are navigable waters about a city (as 
 at New York), fireboats lend great aid. 
 
 Volunteer firemen once ran the fire-apparatus of the 
 cities, as they do still of our villages. But they have 
 now given way to trained firemen paid by the city. 
 
 Every boy and girl can (1) help to prevent fires, and 
 (2) send in an alarm instantly if he or she discovers a 
 
 fire. 
 
 Fire prevention is now taught to every one, old and 
 young, in every large city. Refuse is cleaned up and 
 carted away to prevent spontaneous combustion (that 
 is, fire that starts itself in greasy rags and other inflam- 
 mable substances). Every one is taught not to throw 
 away lighted matches or lighted cigarettes or cigars. 
 Every one is taught the very great care required in 
 handling alcohol, kerosene, and gasolene. Gasolene is 
 particularly dangerous, for it is a high explosive that 
 lays its own train — in the inflammable fumes which it 
 
 sends off. 
 
 Never try to put out a fire yourself until you have 
 sent in an alarm. Every boy and girl ought to know 
 where the nearest fire-box is and how to open it and 
 pull down the hook. (Opening the door of the box 
 does not send in the alarm.) If you have a telephone 
 in the house, that is the quickest way. Simply take 
 down the receiver and say to central: "I want to report 
 a fire." Then tell exactly where it is, making sure that 
 
FIREMAN RESCUING A CHILD 
 
WHAT THE STATE DOES FOR US 109 
 
 central repeats the street and number correctly. After 
 you have sent in the alarm you can try to put out the 
 fire. Any number of fires have gained dangerous head- 
 way because people waited to send in an alarm until 
 they had tried to put out the fire — and failed. 
 
 The fire department is run by a fire commissioner 
 appointed by the mayor. 
 
 The Public Health. — The progressive city does any 
 number of things to preserve and better the health of 
 its citizens. The growth of medical science has taught 
 us that the germs of disease threaten us in foul air, in 
 impure food, in street dust, in dirt of every kind. Every 
 person must keep clean to avoid sickness, and every 
 home must be kept clean. Beyond this personal clean- 
 liness no one can do much in a great city to make sure 
 of protection against germs. The milk comes to us in 
 a bottle from a dairyman we have never seen. No one 
 can keep all the streets clean. So the community 
 attends to these jobs for each of us. 
 
 The city's health department (in charge of a health 
 commissioner appointed by the mayor) inspects food- 
 supplies, working with the national and State inspectors 
 to protect the consumer from injurious foods. Most 
 important of all is the milk-supply, which usually comes 
 from within the State and is altogether a city affair. 
 Impure milk causes the death of many babies and 
 spreads many diseases. Milk inspectors not only test 
 the milk when it arrives, but inspect the dairies and see 
 that none but healthy cows are in the herds, and that 
 cleanly methods prevail. 
 
 The health department also prevents the spread of 
 
110 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 infectious diseases by quarantining every one who 
 comes down with such a disease. Every doctor is re- 
 quired to report every infectious case at once. There- 
 upon the health-board officer posts notices of the quar- 
 antine and sees that it is enforced. It is the duty of 
 every one to obey such a quarantine, for otherwise the 
 most deadly diseases would spread throughout a city. 
 
 Many city health departments give much attention 
 to public-school children. Inspectors look after their 
 health, sometimes dental work is done free, and the 
 rules of hygiene are explained and taught. 
 
 The street-cleaning commissioner not only makes 
 city streets agreeable, but prevents disease as well. 
 By sweeping streets, flushing them with water, and 
 removing garbage and waste in wagons, covered so as 
 to prevent dust from blowing about, the street-cleaning 
 department can contribute much to the health of a city 
 as well as to its sightliness. It is every one's duty to 
 help in this work by not throwing paper or refuse in 
 the street. 
 
 Fresh air is the greatest enemy of germs. That is 
 why schoolrooms must be well ventilated and sleeping- 
 rooms at home as well. The city does much to secure 
 us fresh air through two departments. The park com- 
 missioner has charge of the parks, and in a properly 
 laid-out city there are ample parks so located as to 
 offer breathing spaces in every crowded section. The 
 tenement-house commissioner enforces rules requiring 
 that every tenement shall have at least a certain amount 
 of air space and a certain number of windows. The 
 city also sees that there are enough stairways and fire- 
 
WHAT THE STATE DOES FOR US 111 
 
 escapes to save every one in case of fire. Factories are, 
 as we have seen, usually inspected and made safe and 
 healthful by State inspectors. But city inspectors often 
 do this work, too. 
 
 Recreation.— Closely akin to these health measures 
 are the playgrounds for children, band music in the 
 parks, public beaches for bathing or public swimming- 
 pools, and other sources of recreation. Everything 
 that keeps people out in the open aids their health and 
 many cities expend large sums of money to enable its 
 inhabitants to play out-of-doors. These matters are 
 usually in charge of the park commissioner. 
 
 Education.— Every city runs its own schools, as we 
 have seen, usually through a board of education ap- 
 pointed by the mayor. Every city spends vast sums 
 on its schools, but considers that it is money well in- 
 vested, for only well-educated boys and girls grow up 
 to be valuable and successful citizens. This education 
 is a precious gift that every American community 
 makes to every child. Every level-headed boy and girl 
 takes it and makes the most of it. 
 
 Many cities also own their public libraries, another 
 important part of the education offered free to every 
 citizen. 
 
 Streets. — The paving of streets and the up-keep of 
 them is a very important part of a city's service. Well- 
 paved streets do more than anything else to make a 
 city pleasant to live in. A commissioner of public 
 works usually has charge of these matters. 
 
 Water, Gas, Electricity, Street Railways. — Most cities 
 own their water-works and many own their gas and 
 
112 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 electric plants. A very few run their street railways. 
 For all these services the city charges rates just like a 
 private company. When it does not own these ser- 
 vices, the rates charged are regulated by commissions. 
 Services of this kind are called public utilities, which 
 simply means things of use to the public generally. It 
 is the theory nowadays that private owners of such ser- 
 vices must submit to reasonable regulation by the gov- 
 ernment for the good of all. Whether a city shall own 
 and run its street railways parallels the question ex- 
 plained before, whether the national government shall 
 own and run the interstate railways of the whole 
 country. There are strong arguments on both sides. 
 
 3. Through the Village 
 
 The Village. — The progressive village does almost all 
 of the things that the city does, but in a simpler way 
 and on a much smaller scale. There is usually a chief 
 of police and a small police force. The fire department 
 is usually a volunteer organization, but it is often very 
 efficient, and many villages now have motor fire-engines. 
 There is not so much for a health officer to do, but his 
 control of infectious diseases is important in preventing 
 epidemics. Schools in villages can be just as good as 
 city schools. 
 
 4. In Rural Districts 
 
 Rural Districts. — The farmer looks to his town or 
 township and county government for such policing as 
 he gets. The town constables are the regular police 
 officers, but in case of any serious crime or disturbance 
 
WHAT THE STATE DOES FOR US 113 
 
 the sheriff and his deputy sheriffs step in. A few States 
 have a State police or State constabulary of mounted 
 men, whose duty it is to patrol rural districts. 
 
 The roads (other than the State highways) are built 
 and repaired by the supervisors of the town or town- 
 ship; or, in such a State as Virginia, by the county 
 commissioners. 
 
 Every farm, however remote, is included in a school 
 district, and every boy and girl is entitled to education 
 at the school of his district. 
 
 The farmer must be his own fire department, and 
 must supply himself with water from his own pump. 
 He misses a great many of the services which the city 
 dweller gets. On the other hand, he does not need 
 them, for he is not exposed to the same danger from 
 germs, from fire, from dirt. He is his own master in 
 almost everything, and though he has to shift for him- 
 self, he can order his life as he wills. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS 
 
 1. A Sacred Duty 
 
 The Ballot. — We come now to the most important 
 duty of an American, the basis of all the fine structure 
 we have studied. That is to vote, wisely and patrioti- 
 cally. A certain number of Americans always fail to 
 turn up on Election Day. They are too lazy or too in- 
 different. They are cheating themselves out of their 
 birthright, that should be their proudest possession; 
 they are cheating their country, for they enjoy her pro- 
 tection and care, and they refuse to bear the chief re- 
 sponsibility of citizenship. There is no magic in the 
 word democracy. Unless the citizens of a country give 
 it their best wisdom and aid whenever needed, it will 
 become corrupt and fail and perish. 
 
 2. Parties 
 
 The Reason for Parties. — You must understand politi- 
 cal parties in order to understand elections. There is 
 nothing about them in the Constitution. They have 
 grown up gradually to satisfy a natural tendency in 
 human nature. That is to unite in groups in support of 
 certain ideas and certain leaders. Sometimes a great 
 leader creates an idea and the party forms around him. 
 Sometimes the idea is developed by a party, and the 
 leader is merely chosen to carry the idea into effect. 
 Whichever way it happens, most people instinctively 
 
 114 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS 115 
 
 join such a group. We call those who prefer to remain 
 out of groups independents. They are a small but im- 
 portant part of any community. 
 
 The Two Main Parties. — There have usually been two 
 main parties in the United States. Under changing 
 names they have lasted down to our present time. In 
 the first years of the republic the two parties were the 
 Federalist (the party of Hamilton and John Adams) 
 and the Democratic-Republican, usually called simply 
 Republican (the party of Jefferson). The former be- 
 lieved in a broad construction of the Constitution, giv- 
 ing the national government wide powers. The latter 
 believed in a strict construction, and in holding the 
 national government to the powers clearly set forth in 
 the Constitution. The dispute was largely over the 
 "elastic clause" referred to before. (Art. I, Sec. 8, 
 Par. 18.) 
 
 In a very general way this distinction has lasted right 
 through; only the names have become reversed. The 
 original Republican party founded by Jefferson changed 
 its name to Democratic about 1828, and has retained 
 that name to this day. The Federalists lasted only a 
 generation, being succeeded by the National Republicans 
 of 1828, the Whigs from 1833 to 1854, and the Republi- 
 cans of 1854 down to the present. New issues have 
 arisen frequently. The present Republican party sprang 
 up to oppose slavery and advocate a protective tariff. 
 The Civil War ended slavery, and after that for many 
 years the tariff was the chief issue. Of course many 
 other issues have from time to time come to the front, 
 and by the time of the Great War the issues had be- 
 
116 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 come much confused. But the original dispute over 
 the strength of the national government still persists 
 in some degree to distinguish the two parties. 
 
 Third Parties. — Third parties have sprung up from 
 time to time, as a new group appeared around a new 
 idea or a new leader not acceptable to either of the 
 old parties. (That was the way the new Republican 
 party began in 1854.) Most of these parties die out 
 after a few years. Of this type were the Populist party, 
 a farmers party formed in 1892, and the Progressive 
 party, formed in 1912 to advocate new policies under 
 the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt. The Socialist 
 party is a third party which has slowly gained in strength 
 and maintained its existence without electing many 
 officials. 
 
 Independent Voting. — Every voter must keep his mind 
 alive to these changes, study the new problems as they 
 arise, and decide whether or not he wishes to join a 
 new party and how it seems wisest to cast his vote. 
 No country can stand still. It must go ahead] or fall 
 behind. No voter does his duty who sits back and 
 votes with his party year in and year out, from habit 
 and prejudice. Even if a man supports a party for 
 its general principles, he must be independent enough 
 to vote against a bad candidate that it nominates or a 
 bad law that it advocates. This independent spirit has 
 grown steadily. As you will see, our ballots are now 
 arranged so as to recognize and assist it. 
 
 3. The Primary and Nominations 
 
 Platform and Primary. — A party does two important 
 things before every election. It makes a party plat- 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS 117 
 
 form, stating the principles for which it stands. It 
 nominates, that is, names candidates through an elec- 
 tion of its own called a primary. These candidates of 
 a party are called its "ticket." Now think how this 
 affects the election which follows. When you are 
 twenty-one and go to cast your first ballot, you can 
 vote for anybody you please (as will be explained). 
 But since the great mass of voters will vote for the 
 party candidates, no one else stands a real chance of 
 election and you will simply throw away your vote if 
 you cast it for an outsider. So, really, the election has 
 been narrowed down, long before it is held, to a choice 
 between the party candidates who stand on the party 
 platform. 
 
 Importance of the Primary. — You see, therefore, how 
 important the primary is. Altogether too many Ameri- 
 cans pay scant attention to the primaries, and then 
 groan because they have such a poor choice on Election 
 Day. The time to make the first choice is at this first 
 election day, called the primary, which takes place 
 months before. 
 
 How Candidates Are Chosen. — The machinery of nomi- 
 nating candidates is very elaborate and has been much 
 criticised. Under the older system, at the primary the 
 members of the party elected delegates to nominating 
 conventions. These conventions named the candidates. 
 In recent years "direct primaries" have been introduced 
 at which the members of the party name their candidates 
 directly at the primary. 
 
 The National Conventions. — The presidential candidates 
 are nominated at a great national convention in which 
 delegates from all the States sit. It takes place every 
 
118 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 four years in the summer preceding the election, and 
 is one of our most stirring political events. The na- 
 tional platform is drawn up and after much excitement 
 and many speeches and often prolonged balloting, the 
 candidate is named. (The candidate for Vice-President 
 is also named but, unfortunately, with but little in- 
 terest or attention from the delegates.) 
 
 In many States the principle of the "direct primary" 
 has been applied to presidential candidates, the voters 
 at the primary not only electing their delegates to the 
 national convention, but instructing them for whom to 
 vote, 
 
 4. The Campaign 
 
 The Campaign. — A presidential campaign creates great 
 excitement. Meetings are held all over the country, 
 there are torchlight processions, and the candidates 
 address great gatherings. Every voter has ample time 
 to read and hear all the arguments, discuss them with 
 his family and friends, and decide how he will vote on 
 Election Day. The parties have national and State 
 committees, which collect large sums to finance the 
 campaigns and direct them. 
 
 These funds are now strictly regulated by the national 
 government and by many States. Candidates can 
 spend only up to a certain limit — candidates for the 
 United States Senate only $10,000, and candidates for 
 the House of Representatives only $5,000, for instance. 
 Corporations are forbidden to contribute. Every con- 
 tribution must be made public. This puts all candi- 
 dates on an equality, whether there are rich interests 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS 119 
 
 back of them or not. The amount of publicity is equal- 
 ized, and the danger of money being used corruptly to 
 buy votes is greatly lessened. These laws are called 
 corrupt practices acts. 
 
 5. Registration and Election 
 
 Registration. — There is one more preliminary to vot- 
 ing, and that is registration. In all but a few States 
 no citizen can vote unless he has previously gone before 
 a Board of Registry and entered his name on the voting 
 list of his election district with his address, age, and 
 other details. This is to prevent fraud. Vicious politi- 
 cal bosses used to win elections by hiring criminals to 
 vote in several election districts. These were called 
 "repeaters." This trick is impossible when there is a 
 registration list, for then either party can investigate 
 and arrest any one guilty of fraudulent registration or 
 at any rate prevent his voting on Election Day. 
 
 There are usually several registration days. It is 
 obviously just as much the duty of every voter to regis- 
 ter as to vote, for unless he does the former he cannot 
 do the latter. 
 
 In country districts the registration list is usually 
 carried over from one year to another, and it is not 
 necessary to register unless you have moved into a new 
 district. 
 
 Bribery. — Repeating is but one form of fraud at elec- 
 tions. There is always a criminal class in every com- 
 munity willing to sell its votes. This is called bribery. 
 The political boss who bribes and the man who takes the 
 bribe are equally guilty of one of the gravest crimes. 
 
120 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 If convicted they are heavily sentenced. Buying or 
 selling a vote is one of the most dishonorable of all 
 crimes. It is an act of treachery to one's country which 
 is entitled to every voter's honest judgment and it is 
 the sale of a voter's freedom and manhood. 
 
 The Australian Ballot. — It is useless for a boss to give 
 a bribe unless he can be sure that the vote paid for 
 is delivered. For obviously a man debased enough 
 to be bribed cannot be relied upon to vote as he 
 promises. So long as voting was public the briber 
 could be sure of his man. Public voting also made 
 possible control of the weak by the powerful. A 
 man might lack the courage to vote as he thought he 
 should, through fear of losing his job. Therefore the 
 secret ballot was invented. Originating in Australia it 
 has spread throughout the United States and most 
 democracies. It is an ingenious system by which a 
 man's vote is entirely his own secret. It leaves no way 
 by which any one else can know how he has voted. 
 Even though a voter should wish to convince a boss 
 that he has voted " right" he cannot do so under the 
 Australian ballot. 
 
 Main Features. — There are three main features of the 
 Australian ballot: 
 
 1. All ballots of all parties are printed at public ex- 
 pense and given out to the voters, one by one, at the 
 
 polls. 
 
 2. The voter marks his ballot, thus indicating his 
 vote, alone in a booth or small compartment. 
 
 3. The ballot is then folded so that no one can see 
 how it is marked and dropped u r opened in a ballot-box. 
 
THIS BALLOT SHOULD BR HARKF.D 1M ONE OF TWO WAYB WITH A PrTNCfT. HAVING nUuK LEAD. 
 
 TO VOTJ-: A I-', j: M.,ll i Th'l.'IT. MAKE A CHOSB (xl MMIK WITHIN THE CMllXK AHUVI . u-J l-j HI 71 J, PARTY COLTJMrTB. 
 
 TO VOTE F(iR A PBRSOH HOT ON Till BALLOT, WRITE THE NAME OF SUCH PERSON UNDER THE TITLE OFTHEOmCE I IT THE BLANK COLUMN. 
 
 WEPUsncju* parti 
 
 DEMOCRATIC PARTY. 
 
 INDEPENDENCE 1EAGUE PARTT. 
 
 SOCIALIST PARTT. 
 
 PROHIBITION PARTT. 
 
 SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY. 
 
 CITIZENS' UHIOIT. 
 
 BLABX COLUMN. 
 
 THE VOTER MAT WRITE IK 
 THE COLUMN BELOW, UNDER 
 THE TITLE OF THE OFFICE, 
 THE NAME OF ANY PEB60N 
 WHOSE NAME IB NOT PRINT- 
 ED upon the ballot, fob 
 
 WHOM H£ DESIRES TO VOTE. 
 
 FRANK E. PASSANNO. 
 
 I For Jortiesof ibeSupmoa Courtli 
 I iba gesnd JudlnrJ Davk i, 
 
 I GARRET J. OAHRETSON. 
 
 SAMUEL T. UADDOX. 
 
 HARRINGTON I 
 
 For fc— Iwy of lbl% 
 
 CARL A LUEDECEE. 
 
 SYLVESTER BUTLER. 
 
 WILLIAM A. WALTERa 
 
 For Sulci Eaftocu 
 
 I Aaodiu Iui*» of lis Omrt 
 
 oJAppr*lr, 
 
 IRV1N0 0. VAHH. 
 
 For titodaU Jmtga of lbt> Court 
 
 r* Apjevli, 
 FREDERICK COLLIN. 
 
 Fat AjwcUM Judp. of the Cour 
 
 a I Appeilr, 
 
 REUBEN R0B1E LYON 
 
 Sat Awciila Jtufgr el lb* Co 
 
 of Appeal*, 
 
 MORRIS HILLQU1T. 
 
 lor AmocJttr lads' of 'bo Court 
 ALFRED L. UANIERRE. 
 
 at AaaoeUte Judfo or ILe Court 
 
 of Appub, 
 
 CHARLES H. CHASE: 
 
 F-r ni-riqif — ril. 
 
 Fa 5uu Ficuwr wi Svn^r, 
 
 Fen taxiila Jodp o( ib« Court 
 
 FREDERICK COLLIN 
 
 HIVING 0. YANN. 
 
 JAMES A ALLEN. 
 
 LOU 13 a BOUDIN. 
 
 OILBERT ELUOTT. 
 
 CITIZENS' NOH-PtRTISIN 
 JUDICIUM NOMINATORS. 
 
 OARRET J. OAttRETSON. 
 
 orJuftire of lbs Supmnn Court fc 
 lbs Second Judicial Dtrtrtrt, 
 GARRET J. GARRETSON. 
 
 For Jorttce of ibe SupnnH Court fe 
 tbe Second Judicial Dijinct, 
 THOMAS A HOPKINS. 
 
 c*Juslle*ar lb* Bupreto* Court lor 
 the Becoad Judicial Dirtrict, 
 OARRET 1. GARRETSON. 
 
 SAMUEL T. UADDOX. 
 
 SAMUEL T. UADDOX. 
 
 BAlfUEL T. UADDOX. 
 
 LOUIS & BOUDIN. 
 
 SAMUEL T. MADDOX. 
 
 HARRINGTON PUTNAM. 
 
 IURR1NQTON PCTNAV. 
 
 HARRINGTON PUTNAM. 
 
 EMIL MILLER. 
 
 HARRINGTON PUTNAM. 
 
 For Justice c( Iba Supreme Court U 
 lb* Second Judicial Putrid, 
 GARRET J. GARRETSON , 
 
 For J miice of lb* Sapm* Court [or 
 
 ■ BgpriBH Court fi 
 
 udieiaJ Drrtrtrt, 
 
 SAMUEL T. UADDOX. 
 
 HARRINOTON PUTNAM. 
 
 JOHN JOSEPH KINDRED. 
 
 For Reprerenlali™ to Cemjra* loi tt 
 
 Fourteen lb CoDlTaekul Dirtricl, 
 
 VICTOR HUGO DURAS. 
 
 1 1 L Li am F. EHRET. 
 
 VpHuullit In Conipn (or lb. 
 JTlanlh Copfniiniil Dirtrict, 
 JOSEPH 11. RALPH. 
 
 For Rj^rrrnmln to Quay— hi 
 
 toanLoCuarnafo 
 tMimiul Dtrtrt 
 
 Far Senator for (be Second 
 
 Scuto Dtrtrict, 
 
 DANA WALLACE. 
 
 For S—ator for lb. In»i 
 
 MARTIN KRAEMEB. 
 
 HENRY O JOHNSON, Ja. 
 
 For Member of Arerembrr for U 
 
 Firii Aasmuly Dirtricl. 
 
 HENRY C. JOHNSON, Ja. 
 
 or Member of Aaccvbly lor lb* 
 Flirt ArrrmiWy Diitrttt, 
 WILLIAM KRUEOER 
 
 For Member of Arormbty for lb 
 I'm i Aaembtjr Datrtci, 
 NO NOMINATION. 
 
 THE "PARTY-COLUMN" TYPE OF BALLOT USED IN NEW YORK BEFORE 1914 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS 121 
 
 How It Works. — Let us suppose that you are twenty- 
 one, that you have voted at your prr .ary, that you 
 have registered, and that having read and listened and 
 discussed you have made up your mind for what can- 
 didates you wish to vote. On Election Day you go to 
 the polling-place in your election district (usually the 
 place of registration). The election officials (represent- 
 ing both parties) sit at a table with the list of registered 
 voters before them. You give your name, it is checked 
 off the list, and you receive the official printed ballot. 
 You enter a booth, close the door, and unfold the ballot. 
 On it are the names of all the candidates. There are 
 various ways of arranging the names, as will be ex- 
 plained; but whatever the system you vote by mark- 
 ing a cross in a circle or square above a column of 
 names or opposite the names. Or you can vote for 
 some one not on the printed list, by writing his name 
 in a blank space provided for that purpose. Having 
 checked up your ballot to make sure you have voted 
 as you wished, you fold it up, leave the booth, and see 
 it dropped in the ballot-box. 
 
 As an added precaution a ballot is treated as void if 
 marked other than as provided. The cross mark must 
 be wholly within the allotted space, for instance. Thus 
 a man who was bribed would forfeit his vote if he put 
 some special mark on his ballot in an effort to prove to 
 his boss that he had voted as agreed. 
 
 At the end of the day — the polls are usually open 
 from about sunrise to sunset — the officials open the 
 ballot-box and count the votes. 
 
 Majority and Plurality. — These words are often used 
 
122 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 carelessly as if they meant the same thing. Majority 
 means more than half of all votes cast. Plurality means 
 only more than any other candidate. If only two can- 
 didates are voted for, you can see that the man who has 
 a plurality must also have a majority. But if three are 
 running for office, let us say A, B, and C, and A receives 
 4,000 votes, B 3,000, and C 2,000, no candidate has a 
 majority (which would be 4,501 votes), but A has a 
 plurality of 1,000 votes over B. The general rule in 
 America is that only a plurality is needed to elect. In 
 this case, therefore, A would be declared elected. 
 
 Voting Machines. — Ingenious machines have been in- 
 vented, resembling adding-machines, which save all the 
 labor of counting the ballots. The voter turns han- 
 dles on the machine instead of marking crosses on a 
 ballot. This he does in secret, and the principles of 
 voting are quite as with the Australian ballot. These 
 machines are in use in a number of States. 
 
 The Massachusetts Ballot. — There are many kinds of 
 ballots in the various States. The two principal kinds 
 are illustrated in this chapter. Both are New York 
 ballots in a State election, but for different years, 1910 
 and 1918, and between those years a reform now be- 
 coming popular took place in that State. In the first 
 ballot you will see that the candidates are arranged by 
 tickets and the voter who wishes to vote a straight 
 ticket has only to put one cross in the circle above his 
 party column. This system favors the lazy, ignorant, 
 party vote. The second ballot is of a type that origi- 
 nated in the State of Massachusetts. In it the names 
 are arranged by offices, not by tickets. To vote it a 
 
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 ROBERT F. WAGNER. . 
 
 LYLE EVANS MAHAN. . 
 
 GEORGE STEINHARDT S«L»liit 
 
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 THE MODIFIED MASSACHUSETTS TYPE OF BALLOT USED IN NEW YORK, 1914 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS 123 
 
 voter must mark a cross opposite each candidate. This 
 favors independent voting, for every voter has to look 
 over the whole ballot, whether he wishes to or not. 
 
 You will note that both ballots use party symbols to 
 indicate the party candidates. In Massachusetts the 
 ballots used have no such symbols. (Each State has 
 its own peculiarities in the form of its ballots.) 
 
 Who Can Vote. — As we saw under State powers and 
 laws, each State has the right to say who shall vote, 
 barring the one exception of the Fifteenth Amendment, 
 designed to insure the negro his vote. In the early 
 days of the republic there were many restrictions. Only 
 men with property were allowed to vote. Gradually as 
 education spread intelligence, the demand for the vote 
 came from all classes, and by 1850 America had achieved 
 manhood suffrage. To-day the requirements are few: 
 
 1. Citizenship. Only Americans, by birth or natural- 
 ization, can vote. (A few States allow aliens who 
 have taken out their "first papers," that is, declared 
 their intention of becoming citizens, to vote.) 
 
 2. Age. Voters must be twenty-one years old. 
 
 3. Sex. Voting was restricted to men for many 
 years, but State after State has now admitted women 
 to suffrage. Twenty-nine States had given women presi- 
 dential suffrage by 1919, and an amendment to the na- 
 tional Constitution passed Congress in that year giving 
 them the vote throughout the nation. When ratified by 
 the States this will add "womanhood suffrage" to "man- 
 hood suffrage." 
 
 4. Residence. It is required that a person live within 
 a State a certain period, varying from six months 
 
124 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 to two years in the different States, before voting. There 
 are further restrictions within each State by which a 
 voter must have resided within the county and the 
 election district a certain length of time. 
 
 5. Education. Massachusetts requires a voter to be 
 able to read a section of the State constitution and 
 write his own name. A number of other States have 
 similar tests, but the general rule permits the illiterate 
 to vote. 
 
 6. Poll tax. A very few States require a small poll 
 tax (that is, a head tax), one or two dollars, which must 
 be paid before a man can vote. 
 
 Certain classes are disfranchised altogether, chiefly 
 idiots, paupers, and criminals who have been convicted 
 of a felony (that is, a serious crime). Aliens, of course, 
 cannot vote, no matter how long they remain in the 
 country, since they are not American citizens. (The 
 few States allowing aliens who have taken out their first 
 papers to vote make a small exception.) 
 
 Citizenship and Naturalization. — It must be understood 
 that citizenship does not depend on voting. Boys and 
 girls whose parents are Americans or who were born in 
 this country of whatever parentage are just as much 
 American citizens as any voter. So are American 
 women whether permitted to vote or not. They are 
 members of our nation; that is what citizenship means. 
 As we learned in discussing the difference between civil 
 and political rights, they are entitled to every protection 
 and privilege save the one right of voting, which is denied 
 them by the wisdom of the voters. 
 
 Every foreigner who intends to stay in the United 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS 125 
 
 States should become a citizen as soon as possible. 
 Until he does so he is not entitled to the full rights of 
 an American. This is just as important to his success 
 and safety and happiness as that he learn to read and 
 write English. 
 
 A foreigner must live here for five years before he can 
 become naturalized, and two years before he applies 
 for naturalization he must declare his intention to 
 become a citizen. "Taking out first papers " this is 
 called. Both the declaration of intention and the final 
 admission must be made before a judge. When he is 
 admitted he takes an oath to support the Constitution 
 and he renounces allegiance to any foreign Power. 
 
 Children become citizens when their father is natural- 
 ized. But if they have been born in America they are 
 citizens anyway. A wife becomes a citizen when her 
 husband is naturalized. A woman can become natural- 
 ized by the same process as a man. 
 
 Election Dates. — The presidential election comes every 
 four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in 
 November. The State, county, and township elections 
 usually come in off years, in November. So do most 
 city elections. New England town elections and most 
 village elections come in the spring. As the length of 
 the terms of governor and other officers varies greatly with 
 the different States, no general rule can be laid down. 
 But it is the tendency nowadays to have local elections 
 when there is no presidential election; for local elections 
 are questions rather of personal uprightness and busi- 
 ness ability than of the national issues which control in 
 party politics, and it is wiser to hold local elections at a 
 
126 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 time when party politics is not uppermost in every 
 voter's mind. 
 
 In the elections of village, city, and town, communities 
 often forget party lines altogether and nominate a joint 
 non-partisan ticket. 
 
 The school elections often come at a separate time, 
 usually at the annual meeting of the parents and tax- 
 payers. Politics should not have and usually does not 
 have any place in these elections. 
 
 Some voters are too careless or indifferent to vote for 
 lesser officers. This is not to do one's full duty, how- 
 ever. A good American should follow the elections 
 closely, and vote at every one. As we have seen, the 
 local elections and the State elections often affect his 
 welfare even more closely than do the national elections. 
 The school elections affect the welfare and entire future 
 of his children. 
 
 , 6. Direct Government 
 
 Our Representative Government. — All the elections thus 
 far described are to choose men to occupy the va- 
 rious offices of our government. These men repre- 
 sent us for the term of their office and make our laws, 
 execute them, and interpret them for us and in our name. 
 Under this system the people make the laws, but they 
 do it indirectly through these representatives. That is 
 why, as we saw before, our government is a republic 
 and not a "pure democracy" like the New England 
 town meeting. 
 
 Direct Lawmaking. — There has been a movement in a 
 number of States in recent years to enable the people 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS 127 
 
 to make laws directly when they so desire. Obviously, 
 all the voters of a State cannot gather in a meeting and 
 discuss and vote. The processes used are called the 
 initiative and the referendum. By the initiative a 
 group of voters can draft a law, and on securing the sig- 
 natures of a certain required number of voters to it can 
 have the law submitted to the voters at the next elec- 
 tion. The law is printed on the ballot and the voters 
 vote "Yes" or "No" on it. If a majority vote "Yes" 
 it becomes a law. In this operation the legislature has 
 no voice whatever. A number of cities apply the initia- 
 tive to city ordinances. 
 
 By the referendum, a group of voters who do not 
 approve of a law passed by the legislature can force its 
 submission to a sort of popular veto. They prepare a 
 petition for a referendum and on securing the signatures 
 of a certain required number of voters the law must be 
 referred to the people at the next election. It is printed 
 on the ballot as in the case of the initiative and becomes 
 a law or not, according as there are more votes for or 
 against it. 
 
 The referendum is new as applied to laws, but it is a 
 very old system of amending our State constitutions. 
 After the amendments have been proposed as explained 
 in Chapter XIV, they are printed on the ballot and 
 voted upon exactly as above. 
 
 The Recall. — This is an additional device for giving 
 the people more direct control over their elective offi- 
 cers. If a group does not approve of the course of a 
 mayor or governor, for instance, and can obtain a 
 required number of signatures of voters to a petition, 
 
128 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 the mayor or governor must submit to a new election 
 forthwith and he loses the office if a majority then vote 
 against him. The decisions of judges on constitutional 
 points, etc., have also been submitted to the recall. 
 The recall has not made as much headway as the initia- 
 tive and referendum. 
 
 Not a " Pure Democracy." — Even with all these new de- 
 vices, however, our government continues to be essen- 
 tially representative in character. These processes are 
 only supplemental to the work of the legislature, gov- 
 ernors, and other officers. The advisability of these 
 "direct" methods is one of the moot questions of the 
 day. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 TAXATION ! 
 
 1. The Taxpayer 
 
 Every One Pays Taxes. — Many people think that they 
 pay no taxes because they own no property and never 
 pay anything directly to a tax-collector. If they vote 
 for some wasteful city improvement they think that 
 they will pay nothing toward the expense of it, that the 
 cost will fall upon others. In this they fool themselves. 
 Every one pays a tax. Every boy and girl has paid a 
 tax without knowing it. 
 
 This is because most taxes are shifted; that is, the 
 man who pays the tax collects it afterward from some 
 one else. Take the best-known of all taxes, the tax on 
 real estate, land and houses. The owner of the land 
 and house pays the tax, and you might think that if 
 you rent a house or a flat or a room that you pay no 
 tax at all. To the contrary, many landlords are able 
 to add part of the tax, that on the house, into the rent, 
 and the tenant, without realizing it, in paying rent is 
 paying a real-estate tax. (The tax on the land itself 
 cannot usually be shifted and is therefore called a 
 "direct" tax. Taxes which can be shifted are called 
 " indirect " taxes.) 
 
 More subtle and concealed is the tariff. As we have 
 seen, this is both a protection to American industries 
 and a tax. The importer of the foreign-made goods 
 pays the tax to the national government, and then col- 
 
 129 
 
130 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 lects it from the retailer, who collects it from you. The 
 tariff, you see, is part of his cost, just as much as is the 
 price paid the foreign manufacturer. If you ever bought 
 a doll or any toy made in Germany you paid such a 
 tax. Every time you buy chocolate candy you pay a 
 tax— a small item, but there it is, for the chocolate 
 came from abroad and paid a tariff on entering the 
 country. So it is of any number of common products 
 imported from other countries, silk, woollen goods, sugar, 
 tin, fur, rubber, and so on. 
 
 2. The National Taxes 
 
 What Is Taxed.— The national government collects its 
 own taxes and the States collect theirs, as you might 
 guess from what we have learned of our double system 
 of government. The national taxes have normally been 
 of three kinds: 
 
 1. Customs duties on imports (that is, the tariff). 
 
 2. Excise taxes on whiskey and tobacco. (An excise 
 tax is a tax on a home product— an internal revenue tax 
 it is called in our laws.) 
 
 3. Taxes on incomes of corporations and individuals. 
 
 In war time when the expenses of the national govern- 
 ment are very high, taxes are levied on many other things 
 —automobiles, moving pictures, theatre tickets, jewelry, 
 and other luxuries. An inheritance tax has also been 
 used by the national government, that is a tax on all the 
 property of a person who dies. These extraordinary 
 taxes are not usual in peace times. 
 
 The national government's power of taxation is 
 granted in the broadest terms (Art. I, Sec. 8, Par. 1) 
 
TAXATION 131 
 
 and it can, if it desires, tax real estate throughout the 
 country. It has done so at times, but it now leaves this 
 to the States as their chief source of revenue. 
 
 The restrictions are few and not now important. 
 The Constitution requires that customs duties and such 
 taxes as the tax on tobacco shall be uniform throughout 
 the country. (Art. I, Sec. 8, Par. 1.) This is obvious 
 justice. The next requirement is that " direct" taxes be 
 apportioned among the States according to population. 
 (Art. I, Sec. 9, Par. 4.) This has an historic impor- 
 tance because it delayed the imposition of a national 
 income tax for many years. The Supreme Court de- 
 cided in 1895, after much argument, that an income 
 tax was a "direct" tax and since Congress had not ap- 
 portioned the tax according to population, the law was 
 declared unconstitutional. (Income being unequally 
 distributed among the States, such a tax apportioned 
 according to population would not be fair.) The 
 Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, passed in 
 1913, removed this restriction upon income taxes and an 
 income tax has now become a large source of national 
 revenue. Congress is also prohibited from taxing ex- 
 ports. (Art. I, Sec. 9, Par. 5.) 
 
 Customs Duties. — These are fixed in a lengthy schedule 
 contained in a bill passed by Congress. The rates 
 vary widely. Many articles enter duty free. The du- 
 ties are collected at the custom-houses in our ports 
 upon the arrival of the goods. These duties have long 
 been the principal source of the national revenue. 
 
 Excise Taxes. — The tax on liquors ceased with the ar- 
 rival of national prohibition. The tax on tobacco will 
 
132 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 doubtless be continued. These taxes are collected 
 by internal revenue collectors. The tax on tobacco is 
 collected by means of stamps required to be affixed to 
 every package. One of the chief duties of the Secret 
 Service has been to run down illicit manufacturers of 
 whiskey in remote districts especially in the Southern 
 States. These secret makers of liquor are called "moon- 
 shiners." 
 
 Income Taxes. — These are levied upon all incomes of 
 corporations and upon incomes of individuals exceeding 
 a certain minimum exemption which before the Great 
 War was $4,000 for married couples and $3,000 for 
 unmarried persons. 
 
 The taxes on personal incomes are arranged on a 
 sliding scale, increasing rapidly in percentage as the 
 income increases. During the Great War very high 
 rates were imposed on large incomes. As an illustration 
 of how rapidly the scale increased, a calculation of the 
 income tax passed in 1917 shows that it imposed the 
 following taxes on these incomes: 
 
 AMOUNT 
 OF INCOME TAX 
 
 $3,000 $20 
 
 10,000 355 
 
 100,000 16,180 
 
 500,000 192,000 
 
 1,000,000 475,180 
 
 3,000,000 1,800,180 
 
 The percentage ranges from 2 per cent on the last $1,000 
 of the $3,000 income to over 60 per cent in the case of 
 the $3,000,000 income. The exemption under this law 
 
TAXATION 133 
 
 was $2,000 for each person. These were, of course, ex- 
 traordinarily high and will presumably be reduced as 
 soon as the extraordinary expenses of the war cease. 
 
 Bonds. — The revenue from taxes should be sufficient 
 to cover all the running expenses of the government in 
 ordinary times. A war, however, involves such large 
 expenses that it must be financed in part by borrowing 
 money. This is done through the issue of government 
 bonds, which are simply the government's promise to pay 
 a certain sum after a certain number of years together 
 with interest in the meantime at a certain rate. The 
 Liberty Loans of the Great War were made by the peo- 
 ple's loaning money to the government and receiving 
 in return Liberty Bonds. The total of bonds owed by a 
 government is called its national debt. All the great 
 countries of the world had large national debts which 
 the Great War increased tremendously. Our national 
 debt is relatively small. 
 
 For the construction of a great permanent improve- 
 ment which will last for generations, like the Panama 
 Canal, bonds are rightly issued. To pay for such an 
 improvement by taxes in a few years would increase 
 the tax rates hugely. A bond issue spreads this tax 
 burden over many years. 
 
 3. State and Local Taxes 
 
 Real Estate. — The chief source of State revenue is the 
 tax on real estate. The collection of this is usually 
 turned over to the local authorities, town or county. 
 Therefore a real-estate tax, assessed and paid locally, 
 may include five different taxes, village, school, town or 
 
134 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 township, county, and State. The officers of each of 
 these divisions fix the amount of tax required to meet 
 the needs of their division. 
 
 Tax Rate. — The first item to be settled before a tax 
 rate is fixed is the value of the property covered by it. 
 Assessors do this, lot by lot, house by house. Their 
 record is called a tax roll or list. Opportunity is always 
 given for protest by the owner against the size of his 
 assessment. Certain property, such as schools, libra- 
 ries, hospitals, and churches, is usually tax exempt. Let 
 us say that the total assessed value of all the real estate 
 in a town is fixed at $3,000,000. Now the amounts 
 needed are as follows : 
 
 Schools $22,000 
 
 Town (roads, salaries, etc.) 20,000 
 
 Gounty (roads, salaries, etc.) 10,000 
 
 State (highways, salaries, etc.) 8,000 
 
 Total $60,000 
 
 If $3,000,000 of property must yield $60,000 in taxes, 
 each dollar must obviously pay 2 cents. The tax rate is 
 therefore 2 per cent, or as it is commonly written, $2.00 
 —the tax expressed in dollars and cents per every one 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 If your house and lot are assessed at $5,000 your 
 share of the tax will be $100. 
 
 Collection.— The tax is paid to the tax-collector, who 
 turns over the amounts to the town treasurer, who re- 
 tains the town's share and pays over what is due to 
 the treasurers of the county and the State. The col- 
 lector has a right to sell property in order to collect 
 taxes. But this right is very carefully limited. 
 
TAXATION 135 
 
 Personal-Property Tax.— This used to be very generally 
 collected on every sort of property, household furniture, 
 stocks, bonds, and so on. It is still carried on the 
 books of most tax districts, but in practice is collected 
 only from wealthy householders and large owners of 
 stocks and bonds. It is an unsatisfactory tax, for it is 
 very difficult to assess fairly (since personal property is 
 easily concealed), and it is falling into disuse. 
 
 Inheritance Tax— This has become a very common 
 form of State tax. As noted before, the national 
 government has resorted to it in time of war, but or- 
 dinarily it has shown a disposition to leave this source 
 entirely to the States. The tax is a fixed percentage 
 of all property owned by a person at his death. It is 
 usually graduated in two respects, the nearness of kin- 
 ship of the relatives inheriting and the size of the in- 
 heritance. Thus the California statute imposes these 
 tax rates when the property goes to husband, wife, 
 parents, grandparents, children, or grandchildren: 
 
 PERCENTAGE AMOUNT 
 
 OF TAX °F ESTATE 
 
 I Up to $25,000 
 
 2 $25,000 to 50,000 
 
 4 [ [ \[ 50,000 to 100,000 
 
 7 ' [ 100,000 to 200,000 
 
 10./..!! 200,000 to 500,000 
 
 12! .... ! 500,000 to 1,000,000 
 
 15. ./'.' ! Above 1,000,000 
 
 But if the property goes to brothers and sisters the 
 rates range from 3 per cent to 25 per cent; if to uncles 
 and aunts 4 to 30 per cent ; and to others 5 to 30 per cent, 
 the latter beginning with $500,000. s 
 
136 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 These rates are higher than most States. But the 
 tendency to tax large inheritances heavily is growing. 
 
 Income Tax. — Some States impose taxes on personal 
 incomes, thus subjecting them to a double tax since 
 the national government has also taken to taxing in- 
 comes. 
 
 Corporation Tax.— Many States tax the corporations 
 doing business within them. It is levied in various ways, 
 sometimes on the capital stock, sometimes on the in- 
 come. In this latter form it duplicates the national tax 
 on corporation incomes. 
 
 Licenses and Fees. — These are small taxes collected by 
 a government usually in connection with some act per- 
 formed by the government. The fee for a dog license 
 pays for the pound keeper and eliminates stray dogs. 
 A marriage license covers the expense of keeping mar- 
 riage records. High license fees for saloons used to pay 
 a large revenue in some States, one of the objects being 
 to reduce the number of saloons. Fees must also be 
 paid for having a deed or other document recorded in 
 the county records. 
 
 Franchise Taxes. — A franchise is a privilege given to a 
 person or corporation to use public property, for instance, 
 to a street car company to build tracks and run cars in 
 a public street. Some cities tax such franchises heavily. 
 Chicago, for example, receives more than $1,500,000 a 
 year by taxing the earnings of its street railways. 
 
 Assessments. — The cost of local improvements, sew- 
 ers, new streets, etc., is usually assessed against the 
 near-by property owners in proportion to the special 
 benefit which it is calculated will result to them. These 
 
TAXATION 
 
 137 
 
 payments are called special assessments. They are not 
 like other taxes because they are not equally applied to 
 all property owners but are collected from the few espe- 
 cially benefited. 
 
 Bonds.— All our local governments issue bonds to pay 
 for permanent improvements. The purpose is exactly 
 the sa meas in the case of national bond issues. If a 
 schoolhouse is built costing $100,000, it is not con- 
 sidered right that taxes should be jumped to pay such 
 a huge sum in the year or two of its construction. 
 Therefore the school district issues its bonds to borrow 
 the money. The same is true of sewers, water-works, 
 and all lasting improvements. Our great cities have 
 huge debts outstanding as a result. 
 
 It is so simple to issue bonds that communities are 
 often tempted to pay for temporary improvements in 
 this fashion. This is unsound and puts a heavy burden 
 on later generations. For interest has to be paid reg- 
 ularly. The principal of every bond must be paid off 
 when due. For this purpose sinking funds must be 
 established, and this means that everybody must be taxed 
 not only enough to pay the current interest but also 
 enough in addition to put by a sum each year which 
 will produce a total equal to the principal when the bond 
 falls due. Issuing bonds is mortgaging future genera- 
 tions, and a community should be very careful to do it 
 only for lasting improvements of which future taxpayers 
 
 will share the benefit. 
 Eminent Domain.— Suppose a new railroad is needed or 
 
 a new street. It must run across the private property 
 
 of a number of owners. Suppose these owners do not 
 
138 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 wish to sell — even though the public benefit is clear. 
 Can the nation, State, or town, or village take this private 
 property for this public purpose? It can; and the right 
 is called the right of eminent domain. The only limita- 
 tions are that the public need shall be established by an 
 impartial body and that the owner shall be paid the 
 value of his land. The legal proceedings by which 
 these facts are determined are called condemnation pro- 
 ceedings. The owner is protected from the arbitrary 
 taking of his property without proper compensation by 
 the Fifth Amendment to the national Constitution. 
 (See its last clause.) 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 COURTS AND TRIALS 
 
 1. The Two Kinds of Laws 
 
 Civil Laws. — If a gang of hoodlums, old enough to know 
 better, set fire to a barn for the fun of seeing a blaze, 
 they break two different kinds of laws and commit two 
 different kinds of wrongs. They damage the owner of 
 the barn, for they destroy it and he is that much poorer. 
 He therefore has the right to sue them for damages in 
 what is called a "civil" suit. (To sue is simply to seek 
 justice in a court, and a suit is the process of doing this.) 
 This law— that we must not destroy another's property 
 and that if we do he can go to court and compel us to pay 
 for the damage done— is called a "civil" law. You 
 see that this wrong is done to an individual. 
 
 Criminal Laws. — But a wrong has also been done to 
 the people of the State in which the barn is located. 
 The whole community is imperilled and injured by hav- 
 ing such hoodlums about. Nobody's barn is safe. 
 Therefore the law of the State says that the act of setting 
 fire to a barn is a crime to be punished by imprisonment. 
 The hoodlums have therefore broken a "criminal" law 
 as well as a "civil " law. 
 
 Points of Difference. — This distinction is important and 
 runs throughout the law. In a civil suit, the plaintiff 
 (who sues) and the defendant (who is sued) are both 
 individuals. In a criminal suit the people, styled "The 
 
 13d 
 
140 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 People of the State of New York," for instance, are the 
 plaintiff, and the accused person is the defendant. If 
 the crime is against the nation, counterfeiting, for in- 
 stance, "The People of the United States" are the plain- 
 tiff. In a civil suit, each side hires his own lawyer and 
 pays his own expenses. In a criminal suit, the "People 
 of the State" are represented by the District Attorney, 
 a public officer elected by the county. The defendant 
 hires his own counsel. In a civil suit the object is to 
 recover damages or in some cases prevent damage. In 
 a criminal suit the object is to convict the defendant of 
 a crime and have him fined or imprisoned. (A fine is a 
 money payment to the State. It is imposed as a punish- 
 ment and to prevent a repetition of the act and not to 
 recompense anybody.) 
 
 2. A Criminal Trial 
 
 The Crime. — Let us suppose that a murder has been 
 committed in your village. A respected storekeeper 
 going home on Saturday night with his cash from the till 
 has been struck on the head, killed, and robbed. His 
 body is found at midnight by a policeman. The mur- 
 derer has vanished. Let us now see what legal steps 
 follow, remembering that all these matters are left to 
 the individual States to decide and that the details vary 
 with every State. 
 
 The Coroner's Inquest. — The first public inquiry is made 
 by the coroner, an officer of the county whose busi- 
 ness it is to inquire into every mysterious death. He 
 summons six or twelve men to act as a coroner's jury 
 and holds what is called a " Coroner's Inquest." Wit- 
 
COURTS AND TRIALS 141 
 
 nesses are called and the jury report what they think 
 has been the cause of death — "from a blow struck by a 
 person unknown/' for instance. This is usually a brief 
 and unimportant process. 
 
 The Arrest. — Meantime the district attorney of the 
 county and the county detectives as well as the local 
 police have been hard at work. Within a few days a 
 man brings suspicion on himself through the lavish 
 spending of money and it is found that he lives not far 
 from the scene of the crime. The police can arrest at 
 once on reasonable suspicion and they do arrest if there 
 is any fear that the suspect will escape. (Can a private 
 citizen make an arrest? Only if a crime is actually 
 committed in his presence.) Here the district attorney 
 goes privately to a judge and secures a warrant (that 
 is an order) for the man's arrest. The police arrest the 
 man and lock him up. 
 
 If this happens in a large city the prisoner is at once 
 photographed and measured by the Bertillon system 
 and thus, if he has ever committed a crime before, he is 
 at once identified by his measurements and his old 
 record produced even though it may have been years 
 before and he is now living under an alias, that is, an 
 assumed name. 
 
 A Prisoner's Rights. — Here in jail the law at once be- 
 gins to protect the prisoner from injustice. It provides 
 that' a prisoner when questioned must be warned that 
 everything he says may be used against him; and that 
 if this warning is not given or if force or duress (that is, 
 threats or terrorism amounting to force) is used, nothing 
 that the prisoner says can be used against him. 
 
142 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 As soon as he is arrested a prisoner is entitled to the 
 advice of counsel. Many other safeguards will appear 
 later. They are all based on the broad idea that every 
 man is to be presumed innocent until he is proven 
 guilty. That is something we should all remember and 
 apply, for it holds true in every-day life just as much 
 as in a trial in court. It is one of the noblest principles 
 of that splendid body of law which we have inherited 
 from England. The chance is a long one that any 
 honest, well-meaning American will ever be falsely 
 accused and arrested. But if he is, his very life may 
 depend upon our wise and benign system of law which 
 protects the innocent just as zealously as it seeks out 
 
 the guilty. 
 
 Habeas Corpus.— These Latin words mean "Have the 
 body." It is a writ, that is, an order, issued by a judge 
 requiring the officers of a jail to bring a prisoner before 
 him. "Have the body brought before the court" is the 
 full idea. The purpose is to prevent unlawful arrest 
 and imprisonment. If a prisoner does not know why he 
 was arrested or whether he is legally detained, he can 
 find out by obtaining this writ. The court must inves- 
 tigate and decide whether the prisoner is legally held. 
 If illegally held he sets him free. This is an old Eng- 
 lish writ of the greatest importance to our liberties. 
 
 The national Constitution protects it in Article I, 
 Section 9, Paragraph 2. Yet there is also a clear 
 recognition that in time of war private rights must 
 give way to public safety. Under these conditions 
 Congress can suspend the right to the writ and permit 
 imprisonment without the necessity of explaining why. 
 
COURTS AND TRIALS 143 
 
 Arraignment. — The prisoner is next brought into court 
 before a justice of the peace (in a city before a police 
 magistrate) and a brief hearing is given to the evidence. 
 If the crime charged were a minor one (disorderly con- 
 duct or a violation of a speed law) the justice of the peace 
 could go ahead and try the case and find the defendant 
 guilty or not guilty. But the charge being a grave 
 crime, he can only decide whether the prisoner shall or 
 shall not be "held for the grand jury," that is, kept in 
 jail until the grand jury can hear the evidence. If there 
 is no evidence he sets the prisoner free. 
 
 Bail. — In the case of ordinary crimes, a prisoner can 
 be released on bail while awaiting further action. That 
 is, his friends who own property can sign a bond in an 
 amount fixed by the court, agreeing to produce the de- 
 fendant in court when he is wanted or forfeit the sum 
 named. (A defendant is said to "jump his bail" if he 
 runs away.) Murder is such a grave charge that a 
 prisoner accused of it is not admitted to bail. 
 
 The Grand Jury. — This is the first part of our jury 
 system. It is composed of not less than twelve or more 
 than twenty-three citizens. The district attorney brings 
 the State's witnesses before this body and presents the 
 case to them. The grand jury sits in secret and hears 
 only the side of the prosecution. The defendant's case 
 is not heard. If at least twelve of the grand jury believe 
 that the prisoner ought to be tried for the murder, the 
 district attorney draws up an indictment making the 
 charge of murder against the prisoner and the foreman 
 writes across the back of the indictment the words "A 
 true bill." 
 
144 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 This is not at all a trial of the defendant's guilt or 
 innocence, you see. After indictment, as before, the de- 
 fendant is still "presumed to be innocent." The 
 grand jury has simply decided that enough evidence 
 exists to require the prisoner's trial. It is another pro- 
 tection of the innocent, the theory being that no one 
 man, not even a public official like the district attorney, 
 should be able to make a citizen stand trial. 
 
 The Plea. — The defendant is now brought before the 
 court to "plead." The indictment is read to him and he 
 is asked whether he is "Guilty or not guilty." If he 
 pleads "Guilty" that is the end, and the court proceeds 
 to sentence him without trial. 
 
 The Trial. — If he pleads "Not guilty" the trial may not 
 take place for months since the lawyers have much 
 work to do preparing their cases. To compel wit- 
 nesses to attend, a "subpoena" for each is issued by 
 the court commanding him to appear. This is "served 
 upon" (that is, handed to) the witness by the lawyer 
 who wishes him present. A subpoena must always 
 be obeyed. It is a serious offense to disregard any 
 order of a court. 
 
 On the day fixed by the judge the defendant is brought 
 into court and the trial begins. The whole proceed- 
 ings must be public that they may be watched and 
 no star-chamber action take place. Also the defendant 
 must be present throughout. He sits with his counsel 
 facing judge, witness, and jury. 
 
 The Trial Jury. — This is the second and more impor- 
 tant part of our jury system. It is sometimes called 
 the "petit jury," which means "small jury" to distin- 
 
COURTS AND TRIALS 145 
 
 guish it from the grand jury. It contains twelve mem- 
 bers. 
 
 The jury is chosen from " talesmen," that is, citizens 
 summoned to court as possible jurymen. Their names 
 are drawn by lot so as to lessen the chance of bribery or 
 bias and they are questioned one by one as called by 
 the lawyers and the court. Friends of the defen- 
 dant or of the lawyers, or any one who might have 
 difficulty in giving a fair decision, are ruled out by 
 the court. Each side has also a limited number of 
 " challenges"; that is, each side has the right to exclude 
 a certain number of talesmen without any cause given, 
 simply because the lawyer does not believe they would 
 be favorable to his side. 
 
 The Evidence. — The district attorney opens the case 
 with a speech in which he states what he proposes to 
 prove. He then calls the State's witnesses one by one. 
 Each witness is seated in the witness-chair, a high seat 
 between the judge and the jury. A witness is said to 
 "take the stand" when he enters the witness-chair. He 
 is sworn "to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing 
 but the truth." If you are ever called as a witness, 
 that must be your sole effort. Whether you have 
 friends in the trial or are interested yourself makes no 
 difference. Any one who tells anything but the truth 
 commits perjury, the crime of false swearing, a very 
 serious offense. 
 
 Now, a witness gives his evidence in court in only one 
 way and according to a great many very technical rules, 
 called the rules of evidence. For the first point, a 
 witness is not allowed to volunteer anything. He must 
 
146 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 answer only the questions put to him. This often seems 
 a slow and silly method to outsiders. But the reason is 
 clear. Only by this method is it possible to keep the 
 witness from blurting out prejudices, guesses, remote 
 facts that the jury ought not to pay any attention to 
 and had best not hear. Only questions that call for 
 proper evidence are allowed. Others are ruled out. 
 
 Long experience has shown that certain kinds of 
 testimony can be believed and certain kinds cannot. 
 The best illustration is hearsay, which the rules of evi- 
 dence exclude (save in exceptional cases). Hearsay is 
 second-hand evidence; that is, the witness tries to 
 tell not what he, himself, saw or heard but what some- 
 body else saw and related to him. Gossip is typical 
 hearsay and everybody knows how unreliable it is. A 
 story always grows as it is handed on. So the law 
 insists that no hearsay should be admitted, that the 
 person who saw or heard must be produced in court. 
 The basic objection to hearsay, you see, is that it is not 
 sworn to, for the man who started the story is not in 
 
 court. 
 
 There are many other rules of evidence which must 
 be obeyed. The lawyers must follow them in their 
 questions; and if a witness tries to evade them his 
 answers are stricken out. 
 
 Direct and Cross Examination. — The district attorney 
 first puts on the stand the policeman who found the 
 body and asks questions that bring out what the police- 
 man saw and did on that night. This is called the 
 direct examination. Counsel for the defendant then 
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 question him about what he has told and try to bring out 
 facts more favorable to his client. Or if a witness 
 is not telling the truth he can often be tripped into a 
 contradiction and thus shown up as a liar. 
 
 Let us say that no witness of the crime can be pro- 
 duced. There is then no "direct" evidence. But the 
 "circumstantial" evidence may be strong. That is, a 
 weapon stained with blood and fitted to produce the 
 wound that caused the death of the victim is found on 
 the defendant. Also a document that was in the vic- 
 tim's pocket is found on the defendant. Such evidence 
 is often just as damning as direct evidence. 
 
 The Defense.— After all the witnesses for the State 
 have testified and been cross-examined, the prosecution 
 rests. The defense opens with a speech by the de- 
 fendant's lawyer and the defendant's witnesses are called 
 in turn exactly as the State's were. The district at- 
 torney can cross-examine these witnesses just as the de- 
 fendant's counsel could cross-examine the State's wit- 
 nesses. 
 
 One of the commonest defenses is an alibi, that is, 
 evidence that the defendant was somewhere else than 
 the place of the crime at the time it was committed. 
 The defendant's neighbor takes the stand and swears 
 that he saw him at his house around ten o'clock, the 
 hour of the murder. 
 
 Can the defendant testify in his own behalf? He 
 has the right, but he seldom does. Even an innocent 
 man is apt to become confused with so much at stake 
 and therefore the law provides that no defendant can 
 be compelled to testify against himself in any criminal 
 
148 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 case. This is another protection that the law throws 
 about the defendant. 
 
 The Summing Up. — Both sides now sum up, the lawyer 
 for the defense first, the district attorney last. These 
 speeches are addressed to the jury and are often very 
 eloquent pleas. 
 
 The Judge's Charge. — Finally the judge "charges" the 
 jury, that is, tells them what the law of the case is. Here 
 is an interesting and important distinction. The judge 
 lays down the law; the jury decide every question of 
 fact. The judge is not even permitted to express an 
 opinion on a question of fact. Let us take an illustration : 
 The judge in his charge explains the different degrees of 
 murder. These are carefully planned so as to inflict a 
 punishment proportionate to the crime. Thus for 
 murder in the first degree (punishable by death) there 
 must be not only an intent to kill but premeditation, 
 that is, some planning and reflection. Killing in a sud- 
 den burst of anger without forethought is not considered 
 as grave a crime as killing in cold blood. It is punish- 
 able by life imprisonment, not death. This is part of 
 the law which the judge must set forth and which the 
 jury must accept. 
 
 On the other hand, it is for the jury to decide whether 
 the neighbor is telling the truth or is possibly mistaken — 
 whether the alibi is true or false. On this decision may 
 depend the verdict and it is wholly a question of fact 
 which the jury have the exclusive right to decide. 
 
 How sure must the jury be? This is again a matter 
 of law which the court explains. In order to convict 
 a defendant of any crime, the jury must be convinced 
 
COURTS AND TRIALS 149 
 
 of his guilt " beyond a reasonable doubt." That is a 
 severe requirement. It is made so in order to protect 
 the innocent. In civil cases, where only money is at 
 stake and not liberty or life, a jury decides by the " weight 
 of evidence" — that is, with whichever side makes out 
 the stronger case. But it is not enough for the district 
 attorney to have the "weight of evidence" on his side. 
 He must prove the State's case beyond a reasonable 
 doubt. 
 
 The Verdict. — The jury is now locked up in a jury 
 room to debate the evidence and seek to agree on a 
 verdict. All twelve jurors must agree in order to bring 
 in a verdict. Sometimes they are kept out for a day 
 or more if there is any chance of agreement. One stub- 
 born juror may prevent a verdict and his fellow jurymen 
 take turns in trying to change his mind. If they are 
 utterly unable to agree, the foreman so announces and 
 the court dismisses the jury and the whole trial goes for 
 nought. This is called a "hung jury." The district 
 attorney can begin all over again with a new jury, but 
 his chances of success in a second trial are not good. 
 
 In a few States the old rule has been modified and 
 eleven or even seven jurors may bring in a verdict. 
 This change prevents "hung juries," but its justice has 
 yet to be approved generally. 
 
 In our case let us assume that the jury has been so 
 impressed by the evidence of the neighbor that it feels 
 grave doubts of the defendant's guilt even though the 
 circumstantial evidence is strong. It therefore brings 
 in a verdict of "Not guilty." The defendant is freed 
 at once and he is free for all time as he can never be 
 
150 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 tried again for the same crime, once a verdict of "Not 
 guilty" has been reached. 
 
 Appeal. — Had he been found guilty, his lawyer could 
 have appealed to a higher court of the State (usually 
 called the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals) and 
 obtained a review of the law points involved. Generally 
 speaking, questions of fact cannot be raised on appeal. 
 
 Constitutional Points. — It is on such an appeal that 
 constitutional questions often arise. The safeguards 
 which surround every defendant in an American trial 
 for crime should be observed by the trial judge; but 
 if he fails to do his duty, their protection can still be 
 obtained on appeal and the whole conviction set aside. 
 These are the main points : 
 
 1. There must be an indictment by a grand jury in 
 the case of any felony (that is, a serious crime). 
 
 2. No person shall be tried again for the same crime 
 after acquittal. 
 
 3. No person shall be compelled to be a witness against 
 himself. 
 
 4. A defendant is entitled to a speedy and public 
 trial by an impartial jury. 
 
 5. He must be informed of the nature of the accusa- 
 tion, be confronted by the witnesses against him, have 
 the right to have witnesses summoned in his behalf, 
 and have the assistance of counsel. 
 
 6. No ex-post-facto law shall be passed. That is, a 
 law making an act done in the past a crime. "After 
 the fact" the words mean. 
 
 The first five of these you will find in the Fifth and 
 Sixth Amendments to the national Constitution, the 
 sixth in Article I, Section 9, Paragraph 3. There are 
 
COURTS AND TRIALS 151 
 
 similar rules in all the State constitutions. They rep- 
 resent the results of the long fight for fair trials won 
 by Englishmen before our republic was founded. They 
 are part of that English freedom from which our Ameri- 
 can freedom was developed. 
 
 Sentence and Punishment. — The court sentences a con- 
 victed defendant after taking into view all the facts of 
 his past life. Sometimes, in the case of first offenses 
 for lesser crimes a judge suspends sentence altogether. 
 For almost all crimes the term of imprisonment is fixed 
 by the law within certain limits — from five to ten years, 
 for instance. The judge decides whether the full term 
 shall be imposed or less. 
 
 The view is now gaining ground that we should make 
 more effort to reform our criminals. The old tortures 
 and cruel punishments have long been abolished. No 
 punishment is for revenge in our modern view. The 
 object is to restrain the criminal from repeating his crime 
 and also by the example to prevent others from com- 
 mitting the same crime. 
 
 Many States are now introducing " indeterminate 
 sentences" as one aid to reform. This system allows 
 great chance for individual treatment. A minimum 
 term is fixed by law; beyond that it depends on how the 
 prisoner behaves in prison; and after he is released he is 
 "on parole" for a period, this meaning that if he does 
 not behave as he promises he goes back to prison to 
 serve out his term. 
 
 Children's Courts. — As part of this new wisdom in deal- 
 ing with criminals has come the children's court. One 
 of the worst features of the old system was that it 
 threw all prisoners together, old and young, first of- 
 
152 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 fenders and hardened yeggmen. The result was that 
 our jails trained all prisoners in corruption. 
 
 The children's court takes all cases of alleged crime 
 up to sixteen or seventeen or even eighteen in some 
 States. It is not run at all like the court we have 
 described. The theory of it is that boys or girls of this 
 age are not real criminals at heart no matter what 
 they have done and that every effort should be made 
 to appeal to their good side and turn them into the 
 right road again. 
 
 The judge hears the case without any jury and the 
 punishment is entirely in his hands. He is more like a 
 just father than a court. Imprisonment is used as a 
 last resort; and then only a sentence to a reform school, 
 until twenty-one, is given. Most children are released 
 on parole in charge of a man or woman known as a pro- 
 bation officer. This officer goes to their homes and to 
 their schools and watches over them. At regular inter- 
 vals they report to the judge. 
 
 3. Civil Trials 
 
 General Description. — Civil trials resemble criminal 
 trials with the differences noted before. There is no 
 district attorney, each side having its own lawyer. 
 Either side can demand a jury if the case involves a 
 considerable sum of money. But many cases are left 
 to the judge to decide, facts as well as law. The same 
 rules of evidence apply and lawyers for plaintiff and de- 
 fendant present their cases in much the same order. 
 
 Pleadings. — There being no crime charged, there is 
 no indictment. There are instead pleadings between 
 
COURTS AND TRIALS 153 
 
 the two parties. The plaintiff serves a summons and 
 also a complaint on the defendant, stating on what facts 
 he makes his claim and how large damages he claims. 
 The defendant serves an answer in which he states his 
 defense. 
 
 Judgment. — If the plaintiff wins, he gets a judgment 
 ordering the defendant to pay him a certain sum of 
 money. This judgment the court enforces through the 
 sheriff who can seize property of the defendant and sell 
 it if necessary to pay the judgment. In certain cases, 
 also, a court issues an injunction, that is, an order direct- 
 ing the defendant to do something else than pay money 
 by way of reparation or to refrain from doing something 
 that is injuring or will injure the plaintiff. This is 
 called "equity" relief as distinct from "law" relief 
 which gives only money damages. 
 
 A century ago, a defendant who would not or could not 
 pay a judgment was thrown into jail, to remain indefi- 
 nitely. This was harsh and unjust and very stupid, for 
 while in jail no debtor could possibly earn money to 
 pay what he owed. Imprisonment for debt has now 
 been abolished everywhere. You can read in Dickens's 
 novel, "Little Dorrit," the tragedy and injustice of this 
 old-time practice. Amy Dorrit was born and brought 
 up in a London prison where her father was confined 
 for debt. This novel had much to do with changing 
 the law. 
 
 4. Common and Statute Law 
 
 Statute Law. — You may have seen the huge volumes 
 of laws which legislatures of every State have passed. 
 
154 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 One or two volumes are passed every year. These are 
 called the statute law, which means simply law enacted 
 by a legislature. 
 
 Common Law. — We have also a large and most im- 
 portant body of law which was never thus enacted by 
 any legislature. It is called common law, which means 
 that it originated as common usage. That is the way 
 all English law began, by the courts enforcing the 
 general customs of honest business and orderly life. 
 Gradually general rules developed which all the judges 
 followed. It is of ancient origin and was taken over 
 in full by our colonies when they split from England. 
 This law is contained in the decisions of judges, and it is 
 still growing as our courts interpret old laws to meet 
 new conditions. 
 
 This system makes our laws flexible, more easily bent 
 to meet new necessities. It also makes for justice, since 
 so many of our laws are the slow growth of many cen- 
 turies of custom and experience rather than the opinions 
 of any one group of men. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 THE MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 The Critical Period. — We are apt to think that the 
 Revolution made the United States, and that after the 
 dark days of Valley Forge and the other heroic hours of 
 the War of Independence, all was plain sailing. Noth- 
 ing could be further from the fact. The Revolution 
 won independence for the colonies and made possible 
 a united America. But for six long years, from 1783 to 
 1789, it was touch and go whether such a union would 
 be achieved or whether the States would break apart 
 into separate and weak nations to drift into disorder 
 and probable absorption by some foreign power. 1 
 
 Articles of Confederation. — The trouble lay with the 
 Articles of Confederation, adopted in 1777 and made 
 effective in 1781, under which the States constituted not 
 a firmly united nation but little more than a league. 
 "A firm league of friendship" was the phrase used in 
 the Articles. The Congress which it created, like the 
 Continental Congress which it succeeded, had neither 
 the power to raise an army nor the power to raise 
 money by taxation. It could order the States to furnish 
 troops and money, but it could not enforce its orders. 
 
 With the war over and the peace treaty signed in 
 1783 the States went from bad to worse. The jealousy 
 
 1 Note. — You will find an absorbing narrative of these years in John 
 Fiske's "Critical Period of American History." 
 
 155 
 
156 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 of the several States, which had made a league the strong- 
 est union acceptable in 1777, led to quarrels between 
 them. Congress, the only central authority created, 
 there being neither executive nor judges to carry out the 
 laws, had the authority to raise money by borrowing, 
 but it had exhausted its credit and could not even find 
 money to pay the soldiers who had fought and won the 
 war. It was mobbed by a crowd of drunken soldiers in 
 Philadelphia in 1783 and compelled to flee to Princeton, 
 New Jersey. Commerce among the States was hampered 
 by customs duties which as separate States they had the 
 right to impose as against one another. New York 
 taxed firewood from Connecticut and farm produce from 
 New Jersey. 
 
 Convention of 1787. — Clear-headed men throughout the 
 Confederation realized the gathering danger and set 
 about meeting it. Fortunately the colonies possessed 
 a group of political thinkers as able as any the world has 
 ever produced. We owe an inestimable gratitude to the 
 men who fought the war of independence. We owe not 
 less gratitude to these extraordinary men who, upon the 
 freedom thus won, erected the permanent Structure of 
 our government without which freedom must have 
 perished. 
 
 At the call of Congress a convention met in Philadel- 
 phia in May, 1787, for the purpose of meeting these 
 known and growing evils. Twelve States, all except 
 Rhode Island, responded to the call and sent delegates, 
 fifty-five in all. These men assembled in Independence 
 Hall on May 25 and there, in the same room in which 
 the Declaration of Independence had been signed and 
 
THE MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION 157 
 
 issued to the world eleven years before, began their 
 great labor. 
 
 Four of the delegates were men of genius, Washington, 
 Hamilton, Madison, Franklin. Washington was unani- 
 mously chosen president of the convention and through- 
 out the four long months of debate and dispute and com- 
 promise his nobility of character and unselfish devotion 
 to the cause of union again and again saved the conven- 
 tion from break-up. At the very outset he sounded the 
 lofty note which was to animate the convention. A del- 
 egate had advocated half-way measures of amendment 
 as likely to be more popular. To this Washington re- 
 plied : 
 
 "It is too probable that no plan we propose will be 
 adopted. Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to be 
 sustained. If, to please the people, we offer what we 
 ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our 
 work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and 
 the honest can repair; the event is in the hand of God." 
 
 Franklin was eighty-one years of age, the oldest 
 member of the convention. He had returned from his 
 marvellously successful diplomatic labors in Paris in 
 behalf of the Confederation and brought a rare tact and 
 practical wisdom to the convention. 
 
 Hamilton and Madison were among the younger men, 
 being thirty and thirty-six respectively. Hamilton was 
 the more brilliant of the two and the more eloquent. 
 But it was Madison whose profound learning and bal- 
 anced mind contributed most to the Constitution that 
 was created, and he has rightly been termed the "Father 
 of the Constitution. " 
 
158 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 After the Constitution was completed by the con- 
 vention and while its adoption by the States was still 
 in doubt, these two, Hamilton and Madison (aided by 
 John Jay), wrote " The ^Federalist," a series of articles 
 expounding the Constitution and urging its adoption. 
 This volume ranks with the greatest works on political 
 theory of all time. 
 
 There were many other able men in the convention, all 
 of whom contributed something to the final result. 
 The sessions were held in secret so that delegates could 
 be free to speak their minds and the disputes that arose 
 could be settled in the privacy of the convention. Seri- 
 ous disagreements existed; interests of different sec- 
 tions clashed gravely. It was only by infinite patience 
 and generous compromise that agreement was finally 
 reached — not a compromise of those principles of right 
 and wrong which no man should ever compromise, but 
 compromise of those personal opinions and selfish in- 
 terests which a man should always stand ready to sacri- 
 fice to the public good. 
 
 Sources of the Constitution. — In praising the masterly 
 achievement of the great men of 1787, we must not mis- 
 take the nature of their labor and conceive that they in- 
 vented a wholly new and untried system of government. 
 Their achievement would have been far from masterly 
 and would probably have lasted only a brief period if 
 they had attempted any such experiment. What they 
 did was to draw on all the experience and wisdom of the 
 past (especially the experience of the thirteen States as 
 recorded in their constitutions and the example of Eng- 
 land), taking those elements which had worked well, 
 
THE MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION 159 
 
 adapt them to the needs of the new nation, invent new 
 devices where it seemed necessary, and build therefrom 
 a new and beautifully proportioned structure. In one 
 sense, nothing was new in the Constitution; in another 
 sense, it was wholly new. 
 
 The Great Compromise.— The chief dispute in the con- 
 vention came between the small and the large States. 
 The former naturally feared that if they entered a na- 
 tion they would be outvoted and overwhelmed. In the 
 Congress of the Confederation each State had one vote 
 and a continuation of this system was put forward by 
 the delegates from New Jersey, therefore known as the 
 New Jersey plan. Connecticut, Delaware, and Mary- 
 land sided with this view. 
 
 The Virginia plan, supported chiefly by Massachu- 
 setts, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, was largely 
 the work of Madison, and it provided for a legislature 
 of two houses, in both of which representation was to 
 be according to population. This would have given the 
 large States complete control. 
 
 Debate upon these two plans was prolonged and bitter 
 and it was not until the delegates from Connecticut put 
 forward a plan known as "the Connecticut compromise" 
 that any hope of agreement appeared. In this scheme, 
 the House of Representatives was to represent the peo- 
 ple in proportion to population; the Senate was to 
 represent the States, large and small having an equal 
 representation. "Yes," said Franklin, "when a joiner 
 wishes to fit two boards, he sometimes pares off a bit 
 from both." This compromise, as you will recognize, 
 was the system adopted in the Constitution. So im- 
 
160 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 portant did the smaller States consider their equal 
 representation in the Senate that change of this provi- 
 sion is prohibited save by consent of the State. (Art. 
 V.) It is the only part of the Constitution requiring 
 unanimous consent of the States for its alteration. 
 
 After this difficult problem was settled and the small 
 States placated, the Virginia plan was largely adopted 
 in respect to other matters. The central government 
 received ample authority to tax, to raise armies, to con- 
 trol commerce between States, received indeed all 
 those powers the lack of which brought the Confedera- 
 tion to the verge of disaster. 
 
 Slavery. — Opinion against slavery had not crystallized 
 by 1787, and while the Northern States sought to pro- 
 hibit the importation of slaves, the wish of the South- 
 ern States in part prevailed. The slave population was 
 not large at this time and its evils and peril to the nation 
 were not clearly foreseen. The main disputes relating 
 to slavery were compromised. The one was whether 
 slaves should be counted in figuring the representatives 
 of a State in Congress and also in apportioning taxes. 
 This was compromised by agreeing that for both pur- 
 poses five slaves should count as three individuals. 
 (Art. I, Sec. 2, Par. 3.) The question of the slave 
 trade was compromised by providing that it should not 
 be ended prior to 1808, that was for twenty years. 
 (Art. I, Sec. 9, Par. 1.) 
 
 The Presidency. — The President was modelled to some 
 extent on the British King, carefully modified to avoid 
 any possibility of the tyranny which the colonists knew 
 to their sorrow in George III. His powers were strictly 
 
THE MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION 161 
 
 limited; he was to be elected for a fixed term of four 
 years. Now, at this time the British Government was 
 rapidly moving away from its old monarchical character 
 through the development of the prime minister, the 
 head of the British Cabinet. Nominally appointed by 
 the King but really the leader of the majority in the 
 House of Commons, this officer was fast becoming the 
 true executive power of the British Government. But 
 this fact was not realized at the time our Constitution 
 was made. Therefore the Convention of 1787 paid no 
 attention to the example of the prime minister in creat- 
 ing our President. Had it copied the prime minister 
 instead of the King our President would be elected by 
 the House of Representatives and would hold office not 
 for a fixed term but only so long as a majority of the 
 House supported him. This is called the "responsible 
 cabinet" system and is the way England is governed 
 to-day. The point is important because it marks a 
 vital difference between our government and the 
 
 English system. 
 
 The convention feared to trust the people to select a 
 President and therefore invented the electoral college, 
 already referred to. It was one of the more novel 
 features of the Constitution; it was praised by every 
 one and opposed by none; and it failed completely, be- 
 ing overridden by the popular desire for direct election 
 
 by the year 1800. 
 
 The Supreme Achievement.— The supreme creation of 
 the convention was the relation of the Constitution to 
 the government. It was made the "supreme law of 
 the land" (Art. VI, Sec. 2), and a Supreme Court was 
 
162 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 created to interpret it. (Art. Ill, Sec. 1 and Sec. 2.) 
 It was made binding not only upon the States and in- 
 dividuals, but upon the national government, executive, 
 legislative, and judicial departments alike. Effective 
 force was given to its binding character through the 
 power of the Supreme Court to declare acts of Con- 
 gress which violated the Constitution unconstitutional. 
 This was undoubtedly the plan of the convention and 
 through the wisdom and courage of Chief Justice Mar- 
 shall of the Supreme Court it speedily became the ac- 
 cepted interpretation. 
 
 "The American Constitution," says James Bryce in 
 "The American Commonwealth/ ' "is the living voice 
 of the people." That is the accurate truth. The peo- 
 ple speak through the Constitution; and the Constitu- 
 tion, by its own provisions, is supreme above every 
 other power in the country. 
 
 This was a magnificent conception and a wholly 
 novel one. No other country in the world has a like 
 system. It was the crowning achievement of a great 
 labor. 
 
 Adoption of Constitution. — Some one has remarked that 
 our Constitution can be read through in twenty-three 
 minutes. It is amazingly brief for the vast ground 
 it covers and the enormous structure it rears. Yet it 
 took four months of the hardest labor to build it and 
 its completion marked perhaps the mightiest creation 
 ever accomplished by any single group of men. There 
 was deep emotion when on that September 17 Benja- 
 min Franklin arose to state his reasons for signing the 
 completed document. The spirit of generosity and prac- 
 
THE MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION 163 
 
 tical wisdom that ruled the convention breathed in 
 
 his words: 
 
 "I confess that there are several parts of this Consti- 
 tution which I do not at present approve, but I am not 
 sure I shall never approve them. For, having lived 
 long, I have experienced many instances of being 
 obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, 
 to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I 
 once thought right but found to be otherwise. It is 
 therefore that, the older I grow, the more apt I am to 
 doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to 
 the judgment of others. 
 
 "Thus I consent, sir, to this Constitution, because I 
 expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is 
 not the best. ... I hope, therefore, that for our own 
 sakes, as a part of the people, and for the sake of pos- 
 terity, we shall act heartily and unanimously in recom- 
 mending this Constitution wherever our influence may 
 extend, and turn our future thoughts and endeavors 
 to the means of having it well administered." 
 
 A unanimous vote of the States represented was cast 
 for the Constitution. But it had to be referred to the 
 legislatures of the States for ratification, and serious 
 opposition arose in several States, including New York. 
 Here it was that Hamilton and Madison did rare work. 
 Their "Federalist" had much to do with winning New 
 York. You can see the clear reasoning of these papers 
 from the following quotation. It is from the 51st paper 
 of the "Federalist," probably written by Madison, and 
 is a defense of the system of checks and balances of the 
 Constitution with which you are already familiar : 
 
164 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 "Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. 
 The interest of the man must be connected with the 
 constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflec- 
 tion on human nature that such devices should be neces- 
 sary to control the abuses of government. But what 
 is government itself but the greatest of all reflections 
 on human nature. If men were angels, no government 
 would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, 
 neither external nor internal controls on government 
 would be necessary. In framing a government which 
 is to be administered by men over men, the great diffi- 
 culty lies in this: you must first enable the government 
 to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it 
 to control itself." 
 
 By July, 1788, the Constitution had been ratified by 
 nine States and therefore, under its terms (Art. VII), 
 went into effect. North Carolina held out until 1789 
 and Rhode Island until 1791. Meantime the first 
 presidential election had been held, in January, 1789, 
 and on April 30 George Washington was inaugurated 
 at Federal Hall, in New York City, the first President 
 of the United States. 
 
 The Growth of Nationalism. — Oddly enough there was 
 little dispute in the constitutional convention over the 
 point that was to harass the country for seventy-five 
 years, until settled for all time by the Civil War. That 
 was the broad question of how firmly united the States 
 were under the Constitution of 1789, whether, in fact, 
 a r true nation had been created, with ample power to 
 perpetuate itself. As a matter of fact the Convention 
 of 1787 could not have gone farther than it did in creat- 
 
THE MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION 165 
 
 ing a strong national government. The Constitution 
 never would have been accepted by the States had our 
 modern theory of nationalism been expressly adopted. 
 It was necessary to leave the definition of this issue to 
 coming generations. 
 
 In the gradual development of national powers no 
 American played a greater part than John Marshall, 
 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1801 to 1835. 
 His name deserves to rank with the greatest names of 
 the Convention of 1787, for it was his great intellect 
 that gave life to their work and made a strong and united 
 America possible. He stands with the greatest judges 
 of any country or any time. His work was not as 
 conspicuous as that of generals or Presidents, but it 
 was not less vital to our national safety. Under his 
 leadership the Supreme Court upheld the liberal construc- 
 tion of the "elastic clause" (Art. I, Sec. 8, Par. 18) and 
 prevented any encroachment by the States upon the 
 powers essential to the preservation of the Union. 
 
 The railroads brought the different parts of the 
 country closer together and aided the national spirit. 
 The great movement to the West and the development 
 of new States without the old prejudices and traditions 
 made for unity. The War of 1812 and the war with 
 Mexico strengthened patriotism and gave the national 
 government new vigor. 
 
 The coming spirit of union in the country was never 
 better stated than by Daniel Webster in his famous 
 "Reply to Hayne," a speech delivered in the Senate in 
 1830. Senator Hayne, of South Carolina, had spoken in 
 defense of the doctrine of States' rights and "nullifica- 
 
166 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 tion," that is, that a State had the right to nullify or 
 set aside an act of Congress. The concluding words 
 of Webster's speech were: 
 
 "When my eyes shall be turned to behold, for the 
 last time, the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining 
 on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glo- 
 rious Union; on States dissevered, discordant, belliger- 
 ent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may 
 be, with fraternal blood ! Let their last feeble and linger- 
 ing glance, rather, behold the gorgeous ensign of the 
 republic, now known and honored throughout the 
 earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies 
 streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe erased 
 or polluted, not a single star obscured, bearing for its 
 motto no such miserable interrogatory as, 'What is all 
 this worth?' Nor those other words of delusion and 
 folly, ' Liberty first, and Union afterwards ' ; but every- 
 where, spread all over in characters of living light, 
 blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea 
 and over the land, and in every wind under the whole 
 heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true Ameri- 
 can heart — 'Liberty and Union, now and forever, one 
 and inseparable V" 
 
 The land "drenched with fraternal blood" which 
 Webster prophetically described came to pass in 1861 
 over the issue of secession, the right that the Southern 
 States claimed to secede, that is, quit the Union. This 
 was the culminating fight in the long dispute over the 
 character of the federal government created in 1787. 
 In his first inaugural, in 1861, President Lincoln defined 
 his stand: 
 
THE MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION 167 
 
 "I hold that in contemplation of universal law and 
 of the Constitution the Union of these States is per- 
 petual." 
 
 The victory for the Union ended this issue for all 
 time. The final theory of the nation was expressed by 
 the Supreme Court in the declaration that ours is "an 
 indestructible union of indestructible States. " 
 
 "The Indestructible States."— Despite the victory for 
 the principle of perpetual union, the need for the 
 States exists as much to-day as ever. Ours is still a 
 double government. The question now is the practical 
 one of how far it is wise to increase national governmental 
 activities, since the point surely exists at which the 
 States will lose their self-respect and their efficiency as 
 self-governing units. Home rule is still a vital princi- 
 ple of our government, as we have seen. It is a vital 
 faith in America that the States must be preserved in 
 full force and power. Events have necessarily increased 
 the duties of the national government. It is the fear 
 of many that the point has already been reached where 
 the vigor of the States will be impaired. Those who 
 believe in a strong national government feel that this 
 is not so. It is not a question easily settled and it will 
 undoubtedly fall to every reader of this book to help 
 settle it. You must do so with a knowledge of our his- 
 tory and a clear understanding of the nature of our 
 double government. 
 
 The Amendments. — There are two methods of amend- 
 ing the Constitution provided: 1. By a convention 
 called by Congress upon the application of the legisla- 
 tures of two-thirds of the States (but amendments pro- 
 
168 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 posed by such a convention must thereafter be ratified 
 by the legislatures or by conventions of three-fourths of 
 the States, whichever Congress directs). 2. By amend- 
 ments proposed by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses 
 and ratified by three-fourths of the States as under 1. 
 (Art. V.) The first method has never been used. 
 Eighteen amendments have now been passed by the 
 second method. 
 
 The first ten of these constitute the Bill of Rights 
 and were adopted in 1791. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, 
 and Fifteenth grew out of the Civil War, to confirm the 
 emancipation of the negro and seek to insure him the 
 ballot. These were adopted from 1865 to 1870. After 
 another long interval the Sixteenth Amendment was 
 passed enabling Congress to pass an income tax upon a 
 fair basis. This was in 1913. In the same year the 
 Seventeenth Amendment providing for the direct elec- 
 tion of senators was ratified. In 1919 the Eighteenth 
 Amendment ordaining national prohibition was ratified. 
 
 Thus after an interval of forty-three years three 
 amendments were passed within six years. There have 
 been some to argue that the Constitution was too diffi- 
 cult of amendment and the record of the years from 
 1791 to 1913 was pointed to as bearing out their conten- 
 tion. But the recent amendments tend to show that the 
 country has no difficulty in passing amendments when 
 it has fully made up its mind. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 YOUR GOVERNMENT 
 
 The Voters to Come.— The boys and girls of to-day are 
 the voters of to-morrow. The government will be 
 theirs to make of it what they will. All the wisdom of 
 the past, alone, cannot make a government successful. 
 The fate of America rests with each generation. We 
 have a wonderful machine, but it is only a machine, and 
 it will run well or ill exactly as the voters direct. That 
 is why it is the duty of every American to learn how his 
 government works, to watch it, and to the utmost of his 
 ability play his part in running it. 
 
 Change.— Our Constitution provides for changes and 
 it has been repeatedly changed in important particulars. 
 It was the intention of the makers of our Constitution 
 that it should be changed when occasion required. All 
 that was insisted upon was that there should be time 
 for reflection and that something more than a bare 
 majority vote should be agreed. That must be our 
 attitude to-day. We should reverence our Constitu- 
 tion for its noble history and its great wisdom. We 
 should reflect long before deciding to alter it. But if 
 new conditions or new wisdom convince us that a change 
 is needed we should not hesitate to vote for it. 
 
 Socialism.— There are few limits to the changes which 
 the people of the nation could make in the Constitution 
 if they saw fit. They could abandon our whole system 
 of private ownership and establish a wholly socialistic 
 
 169 
 
170 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 state if they wished. That is, they could turn over all 
 the means of production, land, factories, etc., to the state 
 and let them be run co-operatively. The country has 
 already turned over a few of our public utilities to the 
 government to own and run. Some people think that 
 more of such utilities should be owned by the govern- 
 ment. Many others think not. The question is solely 
 one of efficiency and justice and individual develop- 
 ment. Will further socialistic steps produce the great- 
 est good for the greatest number or not? The people 
 have the power to decide and do whatever they think 
 best. As soon as the bulk of the American people are 
 convinced that the government should own and run all 
 industry they can make it so own and run it. At 
 present the overwhelming majority of Americans prefer 
 private ownership. They like the freedom and chance 
 for individual success that it gives, the incentive it offers 
 every one to develop and forge ahead. They have 
 watched our experiments in government ownership and 
 feel that government ownership of all industry would 
 produce nothing less than national disaster. But the 
 minority of socialists or of any other political belief 
 have only to convince the people that their plan is better 
 and their reform is won. 
 
 Bolshevism. — The only real limits upon our government 
 are that it could not be made a government of riot 
 or a government by classes. In the course of the Rus- 
 sian Revolution the Bolshevist government for a time 
 held power by force. The theory seemed to be that 
 the Bolshevist leaders knew better what the people 
 wanted than the people themselves and therefore were 
 
YOUR GOVERNMENT 171 
 
 justified in imposing their ideas upon the nation by 
 whatever tyranny and bloodshed were necessary. 
 
 That is one sort of government that could not be 
 conducted under our Constitution by any process of 
 amendment. Orderly compliance with law and with 
 the will of the majority are the foundation of our whole 
 system. Destroy that foundation and you destroy 
 America. With it you would destroy the greatest de- 
 gree of liberty that has ever been attained by human 
 beings, the liberty of order and fair play to all. 
 
 Soviet Rule vs. Our Representative System. — Equally 
 antagonistic to our American theory is the Soviet 
 government which the Bolshevists of Russia set up. In 
 our government no public officer represents any class. 
 He is elected by the votes of all, rich and poor, bankers, 
 farmers, carpenters, miners, every one, and he must act 
 for all. This is true of President, governor, legislator, 
 judge, right down to the trustee of the smallest village. 
 In the Soviet system, each factory, each class of work- 
 man, elects its class representative, and thus the national 
 legislature is an assemblage of special delegates each 
 looking out for the interests of his own special class. 
 
 This is not a wholly new idea. In the beginnings of 
 representative government in England, classes and in- 
 terests were largely represented. But with the growth 
 of the democratic idea, this system was gradually aban- 
 doned and it survives now in England only in the all 
 but obsolete House of Lords, wherein the church is repre- 
 sented by bishops and the nobility by the lords. The 
 Soviet system may possibly be best suited to Russia, 
 where 90 per cent of the peasant® can neither read nor 
 
172 THE LAND OF FAIR PLAY 
 
 write. But it is a backward and primitive system by 
 comparison with our highly developed democracy and 
 to attempt to introduce it in America would be to over- 
 turn our whole Constitution and government and destroy 
 the progress of centuries. 
 
 Americans All. — The greatest source of injustice and un- 
 fairness in America to-day is the ignorance of our lan- 
 guage and customs among recently arrived immigrants. 
 Such episodes as the Lawrence (Massachusetts) strikes 
 of 1912 and 1919, with suffering and loss to thousands, are 
 due primarily to the industrial weakness of these classes. 
 The foreigners who cannot speak English herd together 
 in alien communities, they continue their old standards 
 of living, they cannot ask for their rights. 
 
 The truth is that America was planned for a nation of 
 equals. It gives fair play to all who know how to play 
 the game. We are coming to realize that if we are to 
 have a happy, prosperous people throughout the nation 
 we must end these alien communities. We must Ameri- 
 canize our immigrants as rapidly as possible through 
 the public schools, through night schools, through re- 
 ducing the massing of alien groups in our large cities 
 as much as possible. 
 
 We must all be Americans. It is the duty of every 
 newcomer to our shores to learn English and become 
 naturalized and become a full-fledged American as soon 
 as possible. It is the duty of older Americans to help 
 him in every way. Only if our people are Americans in 
 speech and custom and understanding can our land 
 of fair play reach its full promise of good-will to 
 all men. 5 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect 
 union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the 
 common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings 
 of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this 
 Constitution for the United States of America. 
 
 ARTICLE I 
 
 Section 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a 
 Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and 
 House of Representatives. 
 
 Section 2. 1. The House of Representatives shall be composed 
 of members chosen every second year by the people of the several 
 States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications 
 requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legis- 
 lature. 
 
 2. No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained 
 to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the 
 United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of 
 that State in which he shall be chosen. 
 
 3. Representatives and direct taxes l shall be apportioned among 
 the several States which may be included within this Union, according 
 to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to 
 the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for 
 a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all 
 other persons. 1 The actual enumeration shall be made within three 
 years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and 
 within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall 
 by law direct. The number of representatives shall not exceed one 
 for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one 
 representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State 
 of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts 
 eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, 
 New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, 
 Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, 
 and Georgia three. 
 
 1 Partly superseded by the 14th Amendment, p. 187. 
 
 173 
 
174 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, 
 the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such 
 vacancies. 
 
 5. The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and 
 other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment. 
 
 Section 3. 1. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of 
 two senators from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof, for 
 six years; and each senator shall have one vote. 1 
 
 2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the 
 first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three 
 classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at 
 the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration 
 of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth 
 year, so that one third may be chosen every second year; and if va- 
 cancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the 
 legislature of any State, the executive thereof may make temporary 
 appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall 
 then fill such vacancies. 1 
 
 3. No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the 
 age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, 
 and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for 
 which he shall be chosen. 
 
 4. The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the 
 Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. 
 
 5. The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president 
 pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall 
 exercise the office of President of the United States. 
 
 6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. 
 When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. 
 When the President of the United States is tried, the chief justice shall 
 preside: and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of 
 two thirds of the members present. 
 
 7. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than 
 to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office 
 of honor, trust or profit under the United States: but the party con- 
 victed shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, 
 judgment and punishment, according to law. 
 
 Section 4. 1. The times, places, and manner of holding elections 
 for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by 
 the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make 
 or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators. 
 
 1 See the 17th Amendment, p. 188. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 175 
 
 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such 
 meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall 
 K y law appoint a different day. 
 
 Section 5. 1. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, 
 returns and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each 
 shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may 
 adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the atten- 
 dance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties 
 as each House may provide. 
 
 2. Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish 
 its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of 
 two thirds, expel a member. 
 
 3. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from 
 time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their 
 judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of 
 either House on any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those 
 present, be entered on the journal. 
 
 4. Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without 
 the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any 
 other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. 
 
 Section 6. 1. The senators and representatives shall receive a 
 compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out 
 of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except 
 treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest 
 during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and 
 in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate 
 in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place. 
 
 2. No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he 
 was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the 
 United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments 
 whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no person 
 holding any office under the United States shall be a member of either 
 House during his continuance in office. 
 
 Section 7. 1. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the 
 House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur 
 with amendments as on other bills. 
 
 2. Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives 
 and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the 
 President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if 
 not he shall return it, with his objections to that House in which it 
 shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their 
 journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration 
 two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, 
 
176 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall 
 likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, 
 it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses 
 shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons 
 voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each 
 House respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President 
 within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented 
 to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, 
 unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which 
 case it shall not be a law. 
 
 3. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the 
 Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a 
 question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the 
 United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved 
 by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds 
 of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules 
 and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill. 
 
 Section 8. 1. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect 
 taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for 
 the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all 
 duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United 
 States; 
 
 2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States; 
 
 3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the 
 several States, and with the Indian tribes; 
 
 4. To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws 
 on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States; 
 
 5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, 
 and fix the standard of weights and measures; 
 
 6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities 
 and current coin of the United States; 
 
 7. To establish post offices and post roads; 
 
 8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing 
 for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their 
 respective writings and discoveries; 
 
 9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Gourt; 
 
 10. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the 
 high seas, and offenses against the law of nations; 
 
 11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make 
 rules concerning captures on land and water; 
 
 12. To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to 
 that use shall be for a longer term than two years; 
 
 13. To provide and maintain a navy; 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 177 
 
 14. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land 
 and naval forces; 
 
 15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of 
 the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions ; 
 
 16. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, 
 and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the ser- 
 vice of the United States, reserving to the States respectively the ap- 
 pointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia 
 according to the discipline prescribed by Congress; 
 
 17. To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over 
 such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of 
 particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of 
 the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority 
 over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the State 
 in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, 
 dockyards, and other needful buildings; and 
 
 18. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carry- 
 ing into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested 
 by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in 
 any department or officer thereof. 
 
 Section 9. 1. The migration or importation of such persons as 
 any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not 
 be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight 
 hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importa- 
 tion, not exceeding ten dollars for each person. 
 
 2. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, 
 unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may 
 require it. 
 
 3. No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed. 
 
 4. No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in propor- 
 tion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken. 1 
 
 5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. 
 
 6. No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or 
 revenue to the ports of one State over those of another: nor shall 
 vessels bound to, or from, one State be obliged to^enter, clear, or pay 
 duties in another. 
 
 7. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence 
 of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of 
 the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published 
 from time to time. 
 
 8. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and 
 
 1 See the 16th Amendment, p. 188. 
 
178 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, with- 
 out the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, 
 office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign 
 
 State. 
 
 Section 10. 1. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or 
 confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; 
 emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in 
 payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex 'post facto law, or law 
 impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility. 
 
 2. No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any 
 imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be ab- 
 solutely necessary for executing its inspection laws: and the net 
 produce of all duties and imposts laid by any State on imports or 
 exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and 
 all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Con- 
 gress. 
 
 3. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty 
 of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into 
 any agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, 
 or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger 
 as will not admit of delay. 
 
 ARTICLE II 
 
 Section 1. 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President 
 of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the 
 term of four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for 
 the same term, be elected, as follows : 
 
 2. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature 
 thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of 
 senators and representatives to which the State may be entitled in the 
 Congress: but no senator or representative, or person holding an office 
 of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector. 
 
 The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot 
 for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of 
 the same State with themselves. And they shall make a list of all 
 the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list 
 they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the govern- 
 ment of the United States, directed to the president of the Senate. 
 The president of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and 
 House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes 
 shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of 
 votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole 
 number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 179 
 
 have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House 
 of Representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for 
 President; and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest 
 on the list the said House shall in like manner choose the President. 
 But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the 
 representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this 
 purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the 
 States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. 
 In every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the 
 greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the Vice President. 
 But if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate 
 shall choose from them by ballot the Vice President. 1 
 
 3. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, 
 and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be 
 the same throughout the United States. 
 
 4. No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the 
 United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall 
 be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible 
 to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, 
 and been fourteen years a resident within the United States. 
 
 5. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, 
 resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said 
 office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress 
 may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or 
 inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what 
 officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, 
 until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected. 
 
 6. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a 
 compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during 
 the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive 
 within that period any other emolument from the United States, or 
 any of them. 
 
 7. Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the 
 following oath or affirmation: — "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that 
 I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, 
 and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the 
 Constitution of the United States." 
 
 Section 2. 1. The President shall be commander in chief of the 
 army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several 
 States, when called into the actual service of the United States; he 
 
 1 This paragraph was in force only from 1788 to 1803. It was super- 
 seded by the 12th Amendment, p. 186. 
 
180 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of 
 the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of 
 their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves 
 and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of 
 impeachment. 
 
 2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the 
 Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the senators present 
 concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and con- 
 sent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers 
 and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the 
 United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided 
 for, and which shall be established by law; but the Congress may by 
 law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think 
 proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads 
 of departments. 
 
 3. The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may 
 happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which 
 shall expire at the end of their next session. 
 
 Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress 
 information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their con- 
 sideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; 
 he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either 
 of them, and in case of disagreement between them with respect to 
 the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he 
 shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public 
 ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and 
 shall commission all the officers of the United States. 
 
 Section 4. The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of 
 the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, 
 and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and mis- 
 demeanors. 
 
 ARTICLE III 
 
 Section 1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested 
 in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may 
 from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the 
 Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good be- 
 havior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compen- 
 sation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office. 
 
 Section 2. 1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law 
 and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United 
 States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; 
 — to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and con- 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 181 
 
 suls; — to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; — to con- 
 troversies to which the United States shall be a party; — to controversies 
 between two or more States; — between a State and citizens of another 
 State; 1 — between citizens of different States, — between citizens of the 
 same State claiming lands under grants of different States, and be- 
 tween a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign States, citizens or 
 subjects. 
 
 2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and 
 consuls, and those in which a State shall be party, the Supreme Court 
 shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before men- 
 tioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as 
 to law and to fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations 
 as the Congress shall make. 
 
 3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be 
 by jury; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes 
 shall have been committed ; but when not committed within any State, 
 the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law 
 have directed. 
 
 Section 3. 1. Treason against the United States, shall consist 
 only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giv- 
 ing them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted] of treason 
 unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on 
 confession in open court. 
 
 2. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of 
 treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or 
 forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted. 
 
 ARTICLE IV 
 
 Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the 
 public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. 
 And the Gongress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which 
 such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect 
 thereof. 
 
 Section 2. 1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all 
 privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States. 
 
 2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, 
 who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall on 
 demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, 
 be delivered up to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the 
 crime. 
 
 3. No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws 
 
 1 See the 11th Amendment, p. 185. 
 
182 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or 
 regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall 
 be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such serivce or labor 
 may be due. 
 
 Section 3. 1. New States may be admitted by the Gongress into 
 this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the 
 jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the junc- 
 tion of two or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of 
 the legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. 
 
 2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful 
 rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property be- 
 longing to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall 
 be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of 
 any particular State. 
 
 Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in 
 this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of 
 them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the 
 executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic 
 violence. 
 
 ARTICLE V 
 
 The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it 
 necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the 
 application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall 
 call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, 
 shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution 
 when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several States, 
 or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other 
 mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that 
 no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight 
 hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses 
 in the ninth section of the first article; and that no State, without its 
 consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. 
 
 ARTICLE VI 
 
 1. All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the 
 adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United 
 States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. 
 
 2. This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall 
 be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be 
 made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme 
 law of the land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 183 
 
 anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary 
 notwithstanding. . 
 
 3. The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the 
 members of the several State legislatures, and all executive and judicial 
 officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be 
 bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no 
 religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or 
 public trust under the United States. 
 
 ARTICLE VII 
 
 The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be sufficient 
 for the establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratify- 
 ing the same. 
 
 Done in Convention by the unanimous consent of the States present 
 the seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thou- 
 sand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the independence of 
 the United States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof we 
 have hereunto subscribed our names, 
 George Washington, President and Deputy from Virginia. 
 
 New Hampshire. — John Lang- 
 don, Nicholas Gilman. 
 
 Massachusetts. — Nathaniel Gor- 
 ham, Rufus King. 
 
 Connecticut. — W m . Samuel 
 Johnson, Roger Sherman. 
 
 New York. — Alexander Hamil- 
 ton. 
 
 New Jersey.— William Living- 
 ston, William Patterson, David 
 Brearley, Jonathan Dayton. 
 
 P ennsylvania . — Benjamin 
 Franklin, Robert Morris, Thomas 
 Fitzsimons, James Wilson, Thomas 
 Mifflin, George Clymer, Jared In- 
 gersoll, Gouverneur Morris. 
 
 Attest, William Jackson, Secretary. 
 
 Delaware. — George Read, John 
 Dickinson, Jacob Broom, Gunning 
 Bedford, Jr., Richard Bassett. 
 
 Maryland.— James McHenry, 
 Daniel Carroll, Daniel of St. Tho. 
 Jenifer. 
 
 Virginia. — John Blair, James 
 Madison, Jr. 
 
 North Carolina .—-William 
 Blount, Hugh Williamson, Rich- 
 ard Dobbs Spaight. 
 
 South Carolina. — John Rut- 
 ledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinck- 
 ney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce 
 Butler. 
 
 Georgia.— William Few, Abra- 
 ham Baldwin. 
 
184 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 Articles in addition to, and amendment of, the Constitution of the 
 United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the 
 legislatures of the several States pursuant to the fifth article of the 
 original Constitution. 
 
 ?*;-. ARTICLE I 1 
 
 Gongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, 
 or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of 
 speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, 
 and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. 
 
 ARTICLE II 
 
 A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free 
 State the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be in- 
 fringed. 
 
 ARTICLE III 
 
 No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house, without 
 the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be 
 prescribed by law. 
 
 ; ARTICLE IV 
 
 The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, 
 and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be 
 violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, sup- 
 ported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place 
 to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 
 
 ARTIGLE V 
 
 No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise in- 
 famous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, 
 except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, 
 when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any 
 person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of 
 life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a wit- 
 ness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, with- 
 out due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public 
 use without just compensation. 
 
 1 The first ten Amendments were adopted in 1791. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 185 
 
 ARTICLE VI 
 
 In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a 
 speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district 
 wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have 
 been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature 
 and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against 
 him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, 
 and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. 
 
 ARTICLE VII 
 
 In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed 
 twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact 
 tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United 
 Statesman according to the rules of the common law. 
 
 ARTICLE VIII 
 
 Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor 
 cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 
 
 ARTICLE IX 
 
 The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not_be 
 construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 
 
 ARTICLE X 
 
 The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitu- 
 tion, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States 
 respectively, or to the people. 
 
 i 
 
 ARTICLE XI 1 
 
 The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to 
 extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against 
 one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or 
 subjects of any foreign State. 
 
 1 Adopted in 1798. 
 
186 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 ARTICLE XII * 
 
 The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot 
 for President and Vice President, one of whom, at least, shall not be 
 an inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name in 
 their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots, 
 the person voted for as Vice President, and they shall make distinct 
 lists of all persons voted for as President and of all persons voted for 
 as Vice President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists 
 they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the govern- 
 ment of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate; — 
 The President of the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and 
 House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes 
 shall then be counted; — The person having the greatest number of 
 votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a ma- 
 jority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person 
 have such majority, then from the persons having the highest num- 
 bers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, 
 the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the 
 President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken 
 by States, the representation from each State having one vote; a 
 quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from 
 two thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be 
 necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not 
 choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon 
 them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice 
 President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other 
 constitutional disability of the President. The person having the 
 greatest number of votes as Vice President shall be the Vice President, 
 if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, 
 and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers 
 on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice President; a quorum for 
 the purpose shall consist of two thirds of the whole number of Senators, 
 and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. 
 But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall 
 be eligible to that of Vice President of the United States. 
 
 ARTICLE XIII 2 
 
 Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except a9 
 punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, 
 
 1 Adopted in 1804. 2 Adopted in 1865. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 187 
 
 shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their juris- 
 diction. 
 
 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appro- 
 priate legislation. 
 
 ARTICLE XIV 1 
 
 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject 
 to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the 
 State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law 
 which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United 
 States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or prop- 
 erty, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its 
 jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 
 
 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States 
 according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of 
 persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the 
 right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President 
 and Vice President of the United States, representatives in Congress, 
 the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the 
 legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such 
 State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, 
 or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other 
 crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the pro- 
 portion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the 
 whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. 
 
 3. No person shall be a senator or representative in Congress, or 
 elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or 
 military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having 
 previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of 
 the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an 
 executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of 
 the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion 
 against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But 
 Congress may, by a vote of two thirds of each House, remove such 
 disability. 
 
 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized 
 by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties 
 for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be ques- 
 tioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or 
 pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion 
 against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation 
 
 1 Adopted in 1868. 
 
188 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held 
 illegal and void. . . 
 
 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legis- 
 lation, the provisions of this article. 
 
 ARTICLE XV 1 
 
 Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall 
 not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on 
 account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 
 
 Section 2. The Gongress shall have power to enforce this article 
 by appropriate legislation. 
 
 ARTIGLE XVI 2 
 
 The Gongress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, 
 from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the 
 several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. 
 k 
 
 ARTICLE XVII ■ 
 
 The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators 
 from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each 
 senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the 
 qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the 
 
 State legislature. 
 
 When vacancies happen in the representation of any btate in tne 
 Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of elec- 
 tion to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State 
 may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments 
 until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may 
 
 This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election 
 or term of any senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the 
 Constitution. 
 
 ARTICLE XVIII* 
 
 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manu- 
 facture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the im- 
 
 » Adopted in 1870. 
 
 2 Passed July, 1909; proclaimed February 25, 1913. 
 
 " Passed May, 1912, in lieu of paragraph one, Section 3, Article I, of tne 
 Constitution and so much of paragraph two of the same Section as relates 
 to the filling of vacancies; proclaimed May 31, 1913. 
 
 ♦Passed January 16, 1919; proclaimed January 29, 1919. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 189 
 
 portation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United 
 States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage 
 purposes is hereby prohibited. 
 
 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power 
 to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 
 
 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified 
 as an amendment to the Constitution by the Legislatures of the several 
 States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the 
 date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress. 
 
nr.r o i iq-ip 
 
LIBRA 
 
 RY OF CONGRESS 
 
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