UC-NI
Main Lib,
A POLITICAL PRIMER
FOR THE
NEW VOTER
BY
BESSIE BEATTY
INTRODUCTION
BY
WILLIAM KENT
WHITAKER & RAY-WIGGIN CO.
SAN FRANCISCO
1912
COPYRIGHT BY
WHITAKBR & RAY-WIGGIN CO.
1912
I offer this book to you in the name of the woman who represents
to me the best in womanhood she who was my comrade in the Cali-
fornia woman's struggle for the ballot Jane Mary Beatty, my
mother.
257017
Several articles which appeared in "The San Francisco Bulletin"
under the author's name are republished in this volume through the
courtesy of "The Bulletin."
CONTENTS
PART ONE CITIZENSHIP
Chapter I. Our Eolation to Law 3
Chapter II. Citizenship and Eegistration 6
Chapter III. Naturalization 9
Chapter IV. Elections 13
Chapter V. Other Duties of Citizenship Taxes 18
Chapter VI. History of Our Political Parties 22
PART Two PROGRESSIVE LEGISLATION
Chapter VII. Progressive Measures 31
Chapter VIII. Further Progressive Measures 39
Chapter IX. The Legal Status of Women 43
Chapter X. Economic Theories 48
PART THREE GOVERNMENT
Chapter XI. Our Present Government 55
Chapter XII. Legislative Department 59
Chapter XIII. Executive Department 63
Chapter XIV. The Judiciary 69
Chapter XV. Nation and State 73
INTRODUCTION.
Miss Beatty, whose work for human rights, and
whose realizing sense of democracy are known and appre-
ciated far beyond the boundaries of the Golden State, has
performed a distinguished public service by the publica-
tion of this book.
All who are interested in the great problems of the
individual and of society, must first of all obtain a knowl-
edge of the structure and functions of the government
under which they live. This is infinitely essential, when,
as in our case, people either govern themselves or at
least are supposed to govern themselves.
The volume is exactly what it claims to be a Primer
of Citizenship clearly outlining the powers and limita-
tions of State and National authority. As is natural in
a book written by a woman, there is special but not un-
due emphasis placed upon the political and legal status
of women.
The clear and simple style in which the book is writ-
ten, the admirable arrangement by chapters and by topics
make it intelligible to every one capable of exercising
the franchise, and it will doubtless prove of great value
as a text book in the elementary schools.
By the easy process of revising certain paragraphs
to fit the varying laws of the several States, it should
have a Nation-wide circulation. This unpretentious lit-
tle volume will naturally lead the thoughtful to a study
of constitutional history and constitutional development,
and to a knowledge of our inheritance from the long
struggle that evolved the common law of England.
Not alone as a voter's handbook but as a clean-cut,
simple statement of fundamental propositions, it is des-
tined to a wide circulation and to great usefulness.
WILLIAM KENT.
Kentfield, Cal., October 3, 1912.
PART ONE
CITIZENSHIP.
CHAPTER I.
Our Relation to Law
We look upon law as remote, something apart
from us. It seems to us the concern of judges and juries,
of legislators who appear in print at election times and
then disappear.
Instead, we are hedged about by law on every side.
We meet it at the butcher shop when we buy a steak ; it
says how much coffee the grocer shall sell us for a pound ;
it is left at the door with the milk bottle ; it chooses our
winter suit and determines how long our shoes shall last.
It is our intimate personal concern.
The law is our architect, our educator, our doctor
and our cook. It determines whether our houses shall
be one story or sixteen, whether they shall be papier
mache or fire-proof brick ; it says what books our children
shall study and whether they shall learn at school only
the three R's, or how to make a living; it takes care of
the big kitchens of the country, the packing houses, bak-
eries and canneries ; it fills the medicine bottles and de-
termines who shall be competent to prescribe the dose.
It presides at the bedside of birth and at the graveside
of death.
Law is present in our lives as much as our own de-
sires. It is supposed to be an expression of our desires
if it is not the voice of our individual will, it is still of
the same importance to us, because we are governed by
it as if it were.
If we all realized how close law comes to us, our in-
terest in it would be a vital thing which would
result in molding it so that it would be in fact as in
theory the expression of our own desires.
4 A Political Primer
The business man who is too busy to vote and the
housekeeper who can not leave the wash-tub or the
ironing board or the bridge table, permit someone else
to make the law by which they must abide.
In a country governed by the people there is small
excuse for injustice, or even inconvenience. Yet how
often we board a crowded street car at the end of a hard
day's work and find that the narrow seats along the
sides of the car are filled. The best that we can secure is
standing room in the spacious aisle between. Nightly we
declaim against it while body and spirit are buffeted
about. We declaim some three hundred or more times
a year; yet concerted action once a year with the ballot,
crystalizing our protest into law would place the strap-
hangers in comfortable seats. How often do we asso-
ciate law with our discomfort? Yet law, or the lack of it,
is almost always to blame. Even though we do recog-
nize that law is responsible, we blame the inconvenience
upon some one other than ourselves. We do not realize
that we are the ones to be held to account, if not for our
vert acts, for our indifference.
Thus the incentives driving the new voter to an in-
telligent use of the ballot are two-fold that of service
to the State, that of service to himself. Both patriotism
and self interest demand of him an earnest consideration
of the problems of government, and the expression of
his opinion at the polls.
Too often the citizen who pretends to the highest
civic ideals forgets to register, or is too busy to go to
the polls on election day.
The sons of men who fought for the voting privilege
can not efford to be that kind of citizens. The women
who have fought and are fighting for it now can not be.
There is too much at stake.
Both men and women know far too little about the
affairs of government. We need not be ignorant. Let
A Political Primer 5
us refuse to be ignorant of the things that concern the
country. Let us learn our Federal and our State govern-
ments and study the problems which affect the health and
the happiness of even the least of us.
The citizen who would become a valuable elector
must realize his responsibility. To him belongs the right
of saying whether he will have jam on his bread, or just
butter; whether he wants pure milk and a sanitary
dwelling place and clean streets, or impure milk, an un-
sanitary dwelling place and unclean streets. To him be-
longs the right of saying whether he wishes to see the
country governed for the few who combine the "special
interests," or for the many who are the people. To
him belongs the right of saying whether he believes in
humanity or the dollar mark.
The first point of importance is that he has the right
of saying what he wants the right of registering a de-
mand and a protest. The second is that he use the
right. For citizenship is both a right and a duty. To di-
vide the one from the other is impossible. In the meas-
ure that we perform our citizen's duty we shall enjoy
our citizen's rights.
Speaking broadly, the first duty of a citizen is to pro-
mote the common good. In the United States each citi-
zen is called upon to do certain things to promote this
common good. These things are :
TO VOTE, to aid the State by his intelligent opinion.
TO PAY TAXES, to support the State financially.
TO DO JURY DUTY, to uphold the State in ad-
ministering justice.
TO BEAR ARMS, when necessary, to protect the
actual existence of the State.
CHAPTER II.
Citizenship and Registration
New voters are of three kinds: The citizen youth
who has just reached the age of twenty-one, the foreigner
who has completed his naturalization, and the American
woman who lives in a State in which equal suffrage has
just been granted.
Technically a citizen is a person who owes allegiance
to a government and is entitled to protection from it.
Yet it is not until a youth reaches his majority and real-
izes that he has a voice in the affairs of government that
he really feels himself a citizen.
To the foreigner, also, citizenship would mean little
if it did not entitle him to participation in the affairs of
government.
So it is with the other new voter the woman. Not
until she has found her citizen's voice and has received
the right of expression, does the word citizenship have
real significance for her.
New citizens using the word in its broader mean-
ing are being continually made. But a State gains the
largest number of electors when, once in its history, it
passes the constitutional amendment which allows its wo-
men who have held only an associate membership in the
commonwealth, to become active members. Whether
the new citizen is the boy of twenty-one, the naturalized
foreigner, or the enfranchised woman, the ballot is a
grave responsibility.
Registration
Before we discuss government, the constitution, or
any of the other big subjects with which we must concern
ourselves as voters, let us make ready our tools.
A Political Primer 7
The ballot is the citizen's kit of tools. To be able to
exercise it we must comply with certain set forms. In
some cases the set form means naturalization, and in all
cases it means registration.
Qualifications for Registration.
To exercise the right of franchise in the United States
one must be twenty-one years of age and a registered
citizen. In most States one must also be a male ; but in
Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Washington, Idaho and Cali^
fornia this is unnecessary.
We are citizens by right of birth, by right of marriage,
or by right of naturalization ; but unless we are citizens
by one of these rights we can not register or vote.
To be permitted to register in most States we, must
have lived one year in the State, ninety days in the county
and thirty days in the precinct in which we are entitled
to vote.
An idiot, or an insane person, or a person convicted of
any infamous crime is denied the ballot.
How to Register.
The exact manner of registering differs in the States,
but the main points are the same in all cases.
Registration is conducted before certain specially ap-
pointed officials, whose duty it is to ascertain that each
person who presents himself as an elector is actually en-
titled to vote. These officers conduct the registration at
the city hall, county clerk's office, or other places ap-
pointed by the election officials.
Time of Registering
In California, and in most States, a new and com-
plete registration is begun on January 1 of each even year,
8 A Political Primer
and registration is in progress at all times except during
the thirty days immediately preceding an election.
A voter need register only once in each two years if
he continues in the same residence, but he is required
to register as many more times as he moves.
Registration blanks are made out in duplicate, and
voters registering must state their height, occupation,
residence and birthplace.
In registering for the general Presidential primary it
is also necessary to give a party affiliation, the voter de-
claring himself a member of the Republican, Democratic,
Socialist, Prohibition or other party which may have
National recognition at the time of the election.
Printed lists of the voters are posted in public places
a short time before election, and these are open to the
inspection of candidates or electors.
It is difficult to make a mistake in registering. You
can enroll yourself among the voters of the State almost
as easily as you can buy a loaf of bread. It means merely
taking a few minutes' time, going to an appointed place of
registration and replying to a few questions.
The chief points to keep in mind are: To register
every time you move, even though it be only from one
room of a hotel into another; the cancellation of your
former registration, and the fact that registration closes
for a brief period before election.
Whether interested in any particular contest or not,
it is best to register in plenty of time; for many a man
finds himself a few days before election possessed with
a keen interest in an issue or a candidate, and yet unable
to vote because he has neglected his registration.
CHAPTER III.
Naturalization
To men and women born on foreign soil, but living in
America, and to the American-born woman married to
a foreigner, naturalization is a subject of paramount im-
portance.
Only citizens of the United States have a voice in the
government of the country.
Every child born on United States soil becomes at
birth an American citizen, regardless of the nationality
of either or both of its parents.
Every child born on foreign soil whose father is nat-
uralized before the child is twenty-one years of age is
a citizen of the United States without himself going
through the process of naturalization.
Every foreign-born woman married to an American
is a citizen.
Every foreign-born woman married to a foreigner
must await the naturalization of her husband before she
is entitled to citizenship. Upon his naturalization she
automatically becomes a citizen.
The naturalization laws as they now stand are not
satisfactory to most married women. Many foreign
women feel they should have the right to be naturalized
independently of their husbands, and American women
object strenuously to losing their citizenship by mar-
riage with a foreigner.
Until 1907 there was much vagueness about the status
of the American woman who married a foreigner. Up
to that time the law was variously interpreted. It was
generally held that a citizen woman who married a for-
eigner did not forfeit her citizenship unless she left the
United States for permanent residence, and then only in
certain cases, depending upon particular circumstances.
10 A Political Primer
An act passed March 2, 1907, provides that any Ameri-
can woman who marries a foreigner shall take the na-
tionality of her husband. At the termination of the
marital relationship she may resume her citizenship if
abroad, by registering as an American citizen within one
year with the Consul of the United States, or by return-
ing to reside in the United States, or if residing in the
United States at the termination of the marital relation,
by continuing to reside therein.
Qualifications for Naturalization
Five years' residence in the United States, five dollars
in money, and the ability to read the Constitution of the
United States and write your name in English are neces-
sary requisites if you would become a citizen.
Declaration of intent, generally spoken of as "First
Papers,'' may be made at any time after arrival in this
country, before a United States District Court, or before
a State Court of Record having jurisdiction in actions of
law or equity in which the amount in controversy is un-
limited.
How to Become Naturalized
The applicant for citizenship must state name, age,
occupation, residence, personal description, birthplace,
last foreign residence and date of arrival on United States
soil.
Upon the payment of one dollar the applicant is given
a certificate which must be at least two years old before
final petition for full citizenship may be filed.
This certificate will not entitle the holder to final
papers unless he has lived at least five years in this coun-
try at the time the certificate is two years old.
Citizenship can not be granted until ninety days after
the petition is filed.
A Political Primer 11
The applicant for admission must be able to read and
speak English and to write his own language. He must
file a verified petition signed in his own handwriting, and
must swear that he is not opposed to organized govern-
ment and is not a believer in polygamy.
In addition to this, he must state his intention to re-
side permanently in the United States, and must renounce
absolutely allegiance and fidelity to any "foreign prince,
potentate, state or sovereignty." In case he possesses an
hereditary title or order of nobility he must renounce it
in the court in which his application is made, and must,
before being admitted to citizenship, declare on oath that
he will support the Constitution of the United States.
Four dollars in fees is payable before final admission is
granted.
All affairs pertaining to naturalization are now under
the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization maintain-
ed by the Federal Department of Commerce and Labor.
Naturalization of Women
As the States grant suffrage to their women they find
themselves handicapped by Federal law on the subject
of naturalization, but are powerless to make any local
changes, however advisable they may seem.
The foreign-born man who comes to the United States
with the intention of becoming a citizen knows that as
soon as he has completed his five years' residence here
he may vote, if he so wishes. Generally he loses no time
in attending to the business of naturalization. The young
woman who comes to this country and settles in a State
where women do not vote often neglects naturalization
and when she is placed among the enfranchised classes
she finds that she has not the right to vote without a long
season of waiting.
By making application immediately upon the granting
of the ballot in their States, women may be naturalized
12 A Political Primer
in two years and three months if they have previously
lived in the United States for three years, tyt* -vf hV t, ^ /'
There are thousands of young English and Irish wo- rW*
men whom we usually think of as American citizens ^'^
they think of themselves as such because they have so
quickly adopted American customs and ideals and made
them their own. These women, if they are unmarried,
must go through the process of naturalization before they
will be eligible as electors.
Women in States which have not yet recognized them
as electors can prepare for the ballot by taking steps to-
ward their naturalization as soon as they are eligible for
citizenship.
CHAPTER IV.
Elections
Citizens express their will at elections.
An election is defined as a deliberate act of choice,
and freedom and enlightenment of choice are the founda-
tion and mainstay of democracy. The exercise of the
elective power is a dignified act of expression stimulating
the voter to a fuller realization as it is the more freely
exercised.
Time! of Elections
Certain days are set apart upon which citizens may
express their will at the polls. On the first Tuesday after
the first Monday in November of each year devisible by
four we hold a general or Presidential election. The time
for holding State, city and county elections is determined
by statutes or by special needs.
The Democratic theory of government presumes that
the people rule, by expression of opinion. Formerly their
choice was a choice only between men. Now it is often
a choice of measures and the voters accept or reject di-
rectly at the ballot box many of the propositions which
formerly rested with legislators.
Officials are chosen by direct and indirect vote. The
President, Vice-President and United States Senators are
chosen indirectly. Members of the House of Represen-
tatives, Governors, State Legislators, and all local officers
not appointed are chosen by direct vote.
Presidential Elections
The President and Vice-President are elected by the
electoral college, the members of which are chosen di-
14 A Political Primer
rectly by the people. Each State is entitled to choose as
many members of this electoral college as it has Senators
and Representatives in the National Congress.
The manner of choosing these members of the elec-
toral college is left to the States. In the beginning they
were very generally chosen by the State Legislatures.
Now they are elected by the people.
The Electoral College
In most States the members of the electoral college
are nominated by State party conventions, but the Presi-
dential preference law, a new measure which is meeting
with general popular approval, puts the nomination di-
rectly into the hands of the people. This is another in-
stance that shows the modern trend toward giving the
affairs of government directly into the hands of the people
and breaking away from arbitrary party rule.
The original intention of the framers of the Constitu-
tion was that the electoral college should be left to choose
at will any man whom they felt would best fill the ex-
ecutive chair. Though the law has not been changed,
custom has established a different method. The Presi-
dent is now really elected at the polls, because each
Presidential elector is pledged to vote for his party candi-
date, and the choice at the electoral college has become a
mere formality.
The ballot of the electoral college is cast on the first
Monday of January, and the new executive is formally
inaugurated on the 4th of March following.
Choice of Senators
In most States the choice of Senators is left entirely
to the legislators, but another of the popular measures
which has been adopted in some States, including Cali-
A Political Primer 15
forma, is a people's advisory vote on Senatorial candi-
dates.
Though each State makes its own election laws, there
is not today a very wide diversion in the regulations ol
the various States. For the purpose of simplifying mat-
ters we will describe the process in California, which does
not differ widely from most States, and which expresses
in its elections most of the progressive measures in use in
the United States.
The Australian Ballot
The Australian ballot is used at all elections in Cali-
fornia, as it is almost universally. Some slight variations
from the regular form have been made, but the general
plan is the same.
All ballots are secret and must bear no marks of iden-
tification. Each is printed according to an official form.
Voting
The polls are open from six in the morning until six
at night, and the election laws provide that any person
entitled to vote in any general election in the State may
absent himself from work for two consecutive hours be-
tween the time of opening and closing the polls without
loss of wages.
All polling places must be provided with booths in
the proportion of one to every forty electors qualified to
vote in the precinct.
The Voting Booth
Each voting booth is supplied with ink pads and
rubber stamps. To vote for any candidate or measure
the voter must place a cross (X) in the voter's square
following his choice, being careful to use the stamp only.
16 A Political Primer
The time in which to cast a vote is limited to ten minutes.
The intelligent voter will go to the polls with his mind
made up as to his course of action, and the mere register-
ing of his opinion will be a simple matter, easily accom-
plished within this time limit. No two voters can occupy
a booth at once. If the voter spoils one ballot, another
is provided to the extent of three all unused ballots be-
ing returned to the ballot clerk, who preserves them.
A sample ballot must be mailed to each registered
voter by the authorized official at least five days before
election. The county or city clerk is responsible for
mailing such ballots.
Qualifications for Voting
All electors are required to vote in the precinct in
which they live, and the name of each must appear on the
great register. It is necessary upon entering the polling
place for the voter to write his name and address on a
roster, and to announce the name to one of the ballot
clerks who announces it to another, who consults the reg-
ister. The signature on the roster and the signature on
the register must compare, unless physical infirmity has
made it impossible for the voter to sign his own name.
Causes for Challenge
Any qualified elector may challenge the right of any
person to vote. The causes for challenge are :
That the voter is not the person whose name appears
upon the register.
That he has not resided in the State one year preceding
election.
That he has not been a naturalized citizen of the
United States for ninety days preceding election.
That he has not resided in the county or precinct the
required number of days.
A Political Primer 17
That he has voted before on the same day.
That he has been convicted of an infamous crime, or
the embezzlement or misappropriation of public money.
Answers to questions determining the justice or in-
justice of the challenge must be made under oath.
If the voter is not challenged, or if the challenge is not
allowed the voter is given a ticket, or if there is a gen-
eral and municipal election two tickets. The numbers of
these two tickets are written on the register after the
voter's name, and when the ballot has been stamped and
deposited in the ballot box the word "voted" is written
after these names and numbers to prevent "repeating."
The law requires that when the polls are closed the
canvas of votes shall begin at once and continue without
interruption until completed. If there are two tickets the
general ticket is counted first.
Much special legislation has been enacted to prevent
fraud in registration, voting and counting the ballots.
Intimidating, deceiving and corrupting electors is punish-
able as a felony.
CHAPTER V.
Other Duties of Citizenship Taxes
If the word "taxes" and that for which it stands had
been erased from the world's vocabulary, our histories
would tell a different story.
Taxation is the legal appropriation of private prop-
erty for public purposes.
Private property is legally appropriated in two ways :
By the right of eminent domain and by the right of di-
rect and indirect taxation.
The right of eminent domain declares that private in-
terests are second to community interests and gives the
commonwealth the right to take for a fair return that
which it determines to be necessary for the common
good.
All persons who own property must pay taxes, re-
gardless of sex.
Certain lands and buildings serving the common good
are, because of such service, exempt from taxation.
All other property is divided into two classes and
taxed as real estate, or personal estate, or "real" and
"personal" taxes.
Poll Tax
A poll tax, or head tax, is levied upon every male
citizen over twenty-one years of age. It is sometimes
thought to be a voter's tax, but, instead, it is a male tax
and is not paid by women, whether or not they have the
right of franchise.
Personal property is taxed in the legal residence of
the owner, but real estate is taxed in and for the benefit
of the city and county and State in which it is located.
A Political Primer 19
Though there are slight differences in the manner of
levying and collecting taxes in the various States, the
principle of taxation and the methods of fixing tax assess-
ments are very much the same throughout the Union.
A certain amount of household furniture, varying in dif-
ferent States, is exempt from taxation, but aside from
this we are required to pay personal tax upon all val-
uables that can be carried from one place to another, in-
cluding bank accounts, bonds, live stock, ships, furni-
ture, jewelry, etc.
Tariff
The tax which we pay to support the Federal Gov-
ernment is levied in a different way, but it is neverthe-
less paid by the people. Federal revenue is raised by
duties on imports, and by excise on a few domestic arti-
cles. We pay our duties as consumers of the taxed arti-
cles and call it tariff instead of taxation.
The Constitution of the United States provides that
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.
Jury Duty
Jury duty is prescribed by the States, and varies in
some particulars, although the general plan of choosing
jurors in use in California today is much the same as
that in other States. The Constitution provides that
every person accused of crime or sued at law shall have
the right of trial before a jury of his peers. The Cali-
fornia law provides that a juror must be a citizen of the
United States, twenty-one years of age, who has been a
resident of the State for one year, of the county ninety
days, and whose name is on the last assessment roll of
the county or city and county.
20 A Political Primer
Women as Jurors
In some States women are precluded from service on
juries by the word male, which appears in the qualifi-
cation clause. In California and in some of the other
Western States this exclusion is not made. Women have
served on juries in California, but the fact that they have
become electors does not necessarily affect their position
so far as eligibility for or exemption from jury duty is
concerned. Their acceptance as jurors depends very
much upon the opinion of the judge presiding in indi-
vidual cases. The Attorney-General of California re-
cently held that women are not eligible for jury duty in
this State.
The jury that decides the fate of accused men and
women, passes judgment upon whether or not the com-
mon good will be best served by taking from these men
and these women their liberty or their life, should be
composed of individuals to whom the common good is
a sacred trust.
Exemptions from Jury Duty
Some men and some women best serve the common
good by remaining away from courts and performing
other duties. Certain States make certain exemptions
from jury duty on the same basis that they exempt cer-
tain property from taxation the common-good basis.
Thus we find the doctor, the druggist, the minister, the
priest, the telegraph and telephone operator, the judicial,
civil and military officials, newspaper editors and re-
porters, National guardsmen, volunteer firemen, en-
gineers, brakemen, motormen, conductors and several
other classes of individuals exempt.
A man may claim the right to be excused from jury
duty also, on the grounds of ill health or because of
sickness or death in his family.
A Political Primer 21
Bearing Arms
The duty of bearing arms is an urgency or extraor-
dinary duty, and citizens are only called on to perform it
when the actual existence of the State is threatened.
But men who would respond promptly to a call to arms,
if they felt that the existence of their State was threaten-
ed, continually shirk these other serious duties which
they have imposed upon themselves and which they admit
to be necessary for the common good.
The citizen who remains away from the polls on
election day upon an excuse to himself that he is busy ;
the man who makes his neighbors pay his share of the
taxes, while he defrauds the Government; the man who
leaves the performance of jury duty to the other man,
should really be classed among the undesirable citizens.
He is the man who shirks the citizen's duties, upon the
performance of which the common good is dependent.
CHAPTER VI.
History of Our Political Parties
Differences of opinion create political parties.
Tradition plays a large part in determining whether
men shall be Democrats or Republicans. The man whose
father was a Republican is not certain to follow in his
footsteps, but other things being equal, the chances are
that he will have a conviction that high tariff is the solu-
tion of all the country's problems.
"What was good enough for father is good enough for
me," is the sentiment that is responsible for registering
thousands of men under one standard or the other. It is
only in the last few years that the new voter has begun to
consider and decide that his father's day is not his day.
In the new generation of citizens we find fewer "hide-
bound" party members than ever before in the political
history of the United States.
Since Jefferson and Hamilton first disagreed over the
interpretation of the Constitution men have been ranging
themselves on one side or another of political questions.
The points of difference have changed with the years and
even the names of the parties, but in one form or another
they have been Republican and Democrat.
In National politics party lines are still closely drawn,
but in municipal, and even in State politics, non-parti-
sanship is on the increase and new legislation points the
way to direct participation in politics individually, in-
stead of through the medium of the party.
Parties have come and gone, and this generation can
not even recall the names of many of them, but each has
had its effect. Each has demanded recognition for its
issues and forced them to some degree to the attention
of the dominant parties.
A Political Primer 23
The most important point of difference between the
three leading parties today is their attitude on the trust
question.
The Republicans believe in regulating the trusts, the
Democrats believe in abolishing them, and the Socialists
believe in owning them.
The Republicans say that the present social and eco-
nomic order is the best. The Democrats say we should
return to earlier days of competition, and the Socialist
regards the trusts and combinations an improvement
over wasteful competitive systems, but advises that we
go forward and take over the trusts.
A fourth party, the Prohibition party, owes its ex-
istence to an entirely different issue the liquor ques-
tion.
The Republican Party
The present Republican party had its birth in a free
soil movement in 1854, and the question at issue was the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise. The name was sug-
gested by Horace Greeley and the first convention was
held in Jackson, Michigan, on July" 6th of that year.
Almost simultaneously there were conventions in six
other States Maine, Illinois, Massachusetts, Wiscon-
sin, Iowa and Indiana. The following year there were in
the upper house of Congress fifteen Republicans to forty-
two Democrats and five Americans. In the House of
Representatives there were 108 Republicans, eighty-
three Democrats and forty-five Americans.
The party platform of the first Republican Presiden-
tial convention declared opposition to the extension of
slavery, and to polygamy, and advocated the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise and the admission of Kansas as
a State.
John C. Fremont, the Californian, was the first Presi-
dential nominee and two of the slogans of his campaign
24 A Political Primer
were National aid for a railway to the Pacific and a lib-
eral appropriation for rivers and harbors. Fremont poll-
ed 114 of the electoral votes and Buchanan 174.
Four years later, with Abraham Lincoln as the Presi-
dential candidate, the Republican party rode into Wash-
ington victorious.
Almost full grown from the beginning, the Republi-
can party sprang into being. During Lincoln's campaign
the new party pledged itself to the doctrine of protective
tariff, which it advocates today.
The affairs of government, enough in themselves for
even a prodigy infant, were only the beginnings of the
work of the new administration, for it was into the fire
with a war on hand before it had really discovered where
the great seal was kept.
Since then Republicans have held the White House,
except during the years from 1884 to 1888, and from 1892
to 1896.
Abolition of slavery, reconstruction after the Civil
war, the Spanish-American war, the protective tariff acts,
the 1862-Homestead law by which Government lands
were thrown open to settlement, and the revision of the
rules of the House, are some of the most important of
this party's achievements.
The Democratic Party
The Democratic party of today was, in the days of
Jefferson and Hamilton, the Republican party, and since
then it has been called the Democratic-Republican party
and the Democratic party.
Thomas Jefferson, its founder, advocated the doctrine
of popular sovereignty. He believed the people were
competent to carry on the activities of government and
favored State rule as opposed to the strong centralized
National government advocated by Hamilton.
A Political Primer 25
His administration was characterized in every aspect
by simplicity and austere renunciation of the pomp and
ceremony with which some of his predecessors had
sought to invest the Presidential office.
In his adherence to these standards of simplicity, Jef-
ferson gave to his party an ideal which has lasted through
succeeding generations and the slogan today is "Back to
Jeffersonian Democracy."
The governmental theory of the Democratic party has
always been strict construction of the Constitution with
regard to the powers delegated to the Federal Govern-
ment and those reserved to the States. The assertion of
individual rights in contra-distinction to the restrictions
imposed by government followed naturally.
In recent years the tariff has been the chief issue, the
tariff theory of the Democrats being directly opposed to
that of the Republicans. Tariff for revenue only is the
Democratic cure-all. The Democratic party is opposed
to private monopolies and believes that by putting the
products of the trusts upon the free list, competition
could be restored.
Centralization of all sorts has been fought by the
Democrats. Jackson vetoed the bank charter on the
ground that it centralized the power of wealth. William
Jennings Bryan, who is the most notable figure in the
Democratic party in recent times, advocates State au-
tonomy in most of his platform speeches. This policy
of opposition to centralized power in any form has been
consistently maintained by the Democratic party since
its beginning.
Enlargement of the scope of interstate commerce reg-
ulation is another measure advocated.
The Monroe Doctrine promulgated by James Monroe
is a contribution of the Democrats which has played a
vital part in the relation of the United States with other
countries. Bryan opposed imperialism with especial
26 A Political Primer
reference to Porto Rico and the Philippines, and demand-
ed the remonitization of silver, advocating that the in-
trinsic value of both gold and silver dollars should be the
same and that both should be coined without charge for
mintage.
In recent years the Democrats have had such brief
sessions of power that they have not been able to make
any great direct contribution to our National Government.
Indirectly they have made themselves felt by influencing
National thought.
The Socialist Party
The Socialist party is unique among American politi-
cal parties because of its international character.
It is a party of measures, not men. The struggle
which it expresses is in its origin economic, but sooner
or later is transferred to the political field under the name
of the Socialist party.
The object is the use of the powers of government
and society in the interests of the workers.
The growth of the organization in the last fifty years
is without parallel in history. In Germany, from 493,000
members in 1877 it has increased to 3,259,000 in 1907.
The growth in the last five years is not officially com-
puted, but Germany has at least 4,000,000 Socialist citi-
zens today. By a system of disenfranchisement their
votes have been undercounted, but, nevertheless, there
are over 100 members in the German Reichstag.
In France, 470,000 Socialists in 1877 have grown to
1,106,047. Austria counts 1,041,000 Socialists, Belgium
483, and Great Britain 373,645.
There are in the world today approximately 50,000,000
Socialists.
More than 500 of these are representatives in Na-
tional Legislatures and 12,000 hold municipal office.
A Political Primer 27
In the United States nearly 500 Socialists are in
office.
Since the whole working plan of the Socialist party is
based upon an entirely different system of society than
that which now prevails, Socialists, even when they hold
office, can do no more than existing- law permits. Their
principal effect has been upon the thought of the world.
Locally, the several branches of the party take va-
rious stands on questions ; all, however, in accord with
the general principle of the international body.
In the United States the Socialist party stands in the
main for Government control of public monopolies, for
the taking over of the public service corporations by the
States and municipalities in which they are located as
fast as their franchises run out, for the Government em-
ploy of those who cannot find work elsewhere, for free
text-books, old age pensions, initiative, referendum and
recall, free speech, free press and the abolition of pov-
erty. The theory of Socialism will be discussed in an-
other chapter.
The Prohibition Party
"That the traffic in intoxicating beverages is a dis-
honor to civilization, inimical to the best interests of
society, a political wrong of unequalled enormity not
capable of being restrained by any system of license what-
ever, but imperatively demanding for its suppression ef-
fective legal prohibition by State and National legis-
lation ;
"That in view of this, and inasmuch as the existing
political parties either oppose or ignore this great and
paramount issue, we are driven by an imperative sense
of duty to sever our connection with any existing politi-
cal party and organize ourselves into a National Prohi-
bition party, having for its primary object the entire sup-
pression of the traffic in intoxicating beverages."
28 A Political Primer
This platform, adopted by an organising convention
which met under the auspices of the Right Worthy Lodge
of Good Templars, September 1, 1869, still expresses the
spirit of the Prohibition party.
It was not until after the Civil war that the liquor
traffic became organized sufficiently to fight with any de-
gree of success the restraint of prohibition which the
churches had formerly placed upon it. Although the
prohibition issue had been a feature of political import-
ance for many years, its advocates were not organized
as a separate party until the growth of the liquor inter-
ests made these interests formidable in politics.
The movement has always been closely affiliated with
church activities, a strong religious sentiment inspiring
most of its advocates and being voiced in its platforms.
As a party the Prohibitionists have never strongly fought
for any political principle other than the abolition of the
traffic in liquor.
They have been opposed strenuously by the liquor in-
terests who have used every resource of influence and
money. They also struggle against a large proportion of
uninterested voters who either disregard the question or
believe that prohibition is not the cure for the liquor evil.
Nevertheless, the Prohibition party today polls nearly
300,000 votes, and although it has never been successful
in a National election, it has certainly influenced our Na-
tional attitude toward the liquor problem.
PART TWO.
PROGRESSIVE
LEGISLATION.
A Political Primer 31
CHAPTER VII.
Progressive Measures
Initiative, Referendum and Recall
"The measure and the man" is the slogan of the fu-
ture.
It is taking the place of "party loyalty."
The growing belief in more complete democracy is
destroying political bossism. When the political his-
tory of the world is written from the viewpoint of a
hundred years hence, perhaps the most significant feature
of the present period will be the destruction of party auto-
cracy.
On every hand there are the beginnings of the rebel-
lion against ring rule. This popular rebellion is express-
ing itself in progressive legislation, placing more power
directly in the hands of the people.
Practically all the legislation of today is along the
lines of increasing self-government and protecting hu-
manity.
The initiative, referendum and recall are the principal
measures of direct legislation.
The Initiative
The initiative gives the people the right to initiate
law. It provides that a certain percent of the voters
may by petition propose laws, statutes and constitutional
amendments.
The California initiative law, which was passed in the
form of an amendment to the State constitution in 1911
permits 5 per cent of the qualified electors to present to
the Secretary of State at least ten days before the com-
mencement of a regular session of the Legislature a peti-
tion proposing a statutory law.
32 A Political Primer
This petition is transmitted to the Legislature by the
Secretary of State, and if no action is taken on it within
forty days, or if the measure is not passed by the Legisla-
ture, it is referred to the people at the next regular elec-
tion. The Legislature may, if it desires, present a dif-
ferent law on the same subject, in which case the people
will be permitted to express their opinion upon both.
When the measure is to be presented directly to the peo-
ple, instead of to the Legislature at a time when the
Legislature is not soon to convene, signatures of 8 per
cent of the voters are necessary to the original petition.
The Referendum
The referendum provides that a certain per cent of
the voters may demand that laws previously passed by
the Legislature shall be referred to the whole people for
approval.
The California referendum law provides that within
ninety days after final adjournment of the Legislature,
5 per cent of the voters may demand that any measure
passed during that session be submitted to referendary
vote. Exceptions to this rule are measures calling elec-
tions or providing for tax levies and urgency measures.
In order that this urgency clause shall not be abused,
no act granting a franchise or any special privilege or
creating a vested right shall be constituted as an urgency
measure.
The Recall
The recall gives the constituents of any official the
right to dismiss that official from office.
In California, in order to thus recall an official, 12
per cent of the voters must sign a petition for the recall
of a State officer, and 20 per cent for any lesser official.
The per cent is computed in recalling State officers upon
A Political Primer 33
the number of votes cast for the Governor at the preced-
ing election. In the case of lesser officials it is computed
upon the number of votes cast for the office in question.
A special election is then called at which the people
shall choose between the officer sought to be recalled and
the candidate nominated to replace him in his office. A
majority vote is necessary to remove the incumbent
official.
The recall applies to all elective offices, executive,
legislative and judicial. No officer shall be subject to
recall until he has held office for six months, excepting
members of the Legislature, who may be recalled five
days after the organization of the Legislature.
Direct legislation measures have been passed in many
States, among them South Dakota, Utah, Oregon, Ne-
vada, Montana, Oklahoma, Maine, Missouri and Colo-
rado. In others various bills leading to direct legislation
are pending.
Direct Primary
The direct primary is usually the first step in pro-
gressive legislation.
It is a method of taking the nominating power from
the party ring and placing it directly in the hands of the
voter. In slightly differing forms it is in force in sev-
eral States.
Time of Primary Elections
In California the regular nominating or primary elec-
tion is held at the legally designated polling places on the
first Tuesday in September. All candidates to be voted
on at the ensuing November election are placed on the
final ballot by this September primary election.
Sixty days before this primary a list of all offices to
be filled is prepared by the Secretary of State and sent
to the county clerk or registrar of voters who publishes it.
34 A Political Primer
Thirty-five days before the September primary a nom-
ination paper must be filed by the candidate for office in
order that his name may be placed upon the primary bal-
lot. All elective officers of the State are nominated in this
manner by direct vote of the people at the primaries.
If any candidate receives at the primary a majority of
the total number of votes cast for the office, he is declared
elected and need not be voted for at the final election.
Since the election of United States Senators is provid-
ed for by the Federal Constitution, they are still appoint-
ed by the State Legislatures, but a Senatorial preference
vote enables the people to express their choice for United
States Senators at the primary polls. From those chosen
in this manner the Legislature elects our Senators at
Washington.
A Presidential preference law passed by the Cali-
fornia Legislature of 1911 allows the people of this State
to express their preference for Presidential nominees in-
stead of leaving the choice entirely in the hands of the
State convention.
Thus political power is again in the hands of the Cali-
fornia people almost as completely as it was in the hands
of the New Englanders in the old town meeting days.
Railroad Regulation
Following the Civil war period the growth of the rail-
roads became one of the disturbing elements of our Na-
tional life. As the result of the many lines rapidly built
at that time, a severe competitive struggle grew up be-
tween them. This struggle cut railroad rates to much
below cost in many places where competition was bit-
terest, making up this deficit by overcharging between
points tapped by only one line.
This method of business being both expensive and
precarious, combinations were the natural result. Com-
bined, the railroads could do with the people what they
A Political Primer 35
willed carry them and their goods when and how and at
whatever rate they chose.
As naturally as the combinations came, so came the
people's protest against them. The first appeal was made
to the State governments, but their jurisdiction was lim-
itted. As the traffic was interstate, it was soon evident
that the laws regulating it must be interstate.
The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 was the first
step toward National regulation of railroads. As later
amended it provides that a short haul shall not be charged
for at a greater rate, proportionally, than a long haul
over the same route ; that combination for the purpose of
dividing traffic is illegal, and that publicity of railroad
rates be compulsory.
An Interstate Commerce Commission of seven mem-
bers was created by the act to carry out the provisions
of the act and this commission was later given power to
fix maximum rates.
This act has not prevented railroad combinations. It
has, instead, forced them. In order to avoid the statute
against pooling, railroads have combined into a few great
systems. Although creating the trusts which it was
formed to prevent, this Interstate Commerce Act and
Commission still remain the people's tools with which to
control the great railroad mergers. They were used re-
cently by President Roosevelt to smash the proposed
Northern Securities merger.
To safeguard further interests against possible misuse
of railroad power, the States have established individual
interstate commerce commissions, with powers similar
to those of the National commission.
In 1911 the California Commerce Commission be-
came unique among similar boards by one of the most
extraordinary grants ever made to any body.
This grant, made by the Eshlemann bill, makes the
commission appointive, and gives it full power in the
36 A Political Primer
supervision of all public utilities within the State. Under
the provisions of this bill, the commission has power to
punish for contempt any corporation which disregards
its authority, and its decisions are not subject to review
by the courts unless they are claimed to amount to con-
fiscation of property, provided that the corporation which
is affected by the decision has had an opportunity to pre-
sent its side of the case before the decision is rendered.
This act gives the people of California almost
complete control of the State utilities. Its measures
are revolutionary. Just what it will mean to the future of
the State cannot yet be predicted, but it has already loos-
ened the grip of the iron hand of railroad control of Cal-
ifornia.
Conservation Measures
"Conservation" as a National issue is but a few years
old. In the prodigality of our natural resources we have
wasted much of them for two centuries. It is only re-
cently that we as a people have awakened to the necessity
of conserving our natural timber, power and water sup-
plies for the use of all the people.
In California conservation became recognized as a
definite purpose of legislation for the first time in 1911.
Three measures were introduced in the Legislature of
that year looking to the prevention of exploiting our
great natural resources for the benefit of a few at the
expense of the people.
A commission was created to list the natural resources
of the State, to investigate conservation legislation in
other States, and to decide upon the most effective way
of preserving the natural resources to the people.
The members of this commission receive no salary.
They work for the good of California.
So important is this measure considered that an ap-
propriation of $100,000 was made to carry on the work
A Political Primer 37
of the commission. The bill passed both houses of the
Legislature with but one dissenting vote.
Prison Reform
The spotlight of publicity is being turned upon the
prisons of the country. The result is an expose of condi-
tions that is causing a spontaneous demand on the part
of the citizens for the eradication of some of the most
flagrant evils of prison life.
The fact that such a large percentage of first-termers
who are discharged from the prison return later to serve
subsequent terms is sufficient proof that the state prisons
as reformatories are an absolute failure.
Men who go into the prisons novices in wrong-doing
come out past masters in crime. Even from the most
selfish point of view this is a dangerous system for society
to pursue.
Popular feeling concerning prison reform is growing
stronger daily. There is no doubt that in the near future
it will be crystallized into effective legislation.
Already several tentative measures have been passed
by the various states. Capital punishment has been
abolished in some states and more and more people are
voicing a protest against allowing a state to commit an
official murder because an individual has committed an
unofficial murder. Indications are that the day will come
when society will cease to wreak vengeance upon of-
fenders and will restrain them only so far as it is necessary
for the protection of society.
California made a beginning by authorizing the manu-
facture by the state prisoners of articles, materials and
supplies for the use of the prisons. This measure will
eventually save the state a large sum of money, but its
most important effect will be to relieve the prisoners from
the torment of idle confinement.
Trade schools for prisoners should grow out of this,
38 A Political Primer
enabling the prisoner to earn a livelihood honestly upon
his release.
Another desirable measure would be to make it pos-
sible for the prisoner, while serving a sentence to support,
at least in part, dependent members of his family.. These
helpless women and children are more injured by the
man's fault than society itself. In insuring its own pro-
tection society should also protect them.
CHAPTER VIII.
Further Progressive Measures
Woman's Eight-Hour Law
The measures which are proposed for the protection
of human life are fought more bitterly than any others.
To protect human life costs money. It cuts down profits.
When the eight-hour workday for women became
law as the result of the passage of a bill in 1911, the meas-
ure was more bitterly contested than any other proposed
in the session.
Some employers argued that it works a hardship upon
the women, because they can not earn enough to live on
by working only eight hours. Physicians claim that
eight hours is as much as any woman should work, and
that in some occupations longer hours than these are
suicidal. Many of the women workers are mothers, and
the majority of the others hope some day to be. Neither
class can best serve the State if they must ruin their
health and thus become unfit for the duties of most im-
portance to the common good.
It would seem then that the question for humanitar-
ians to consider is not how to make it possible for women
to work more than eight hours, but how they may secure
sufficient wages for eight hours' work to enable them to
live.
The bill, as it finally passed the Legislature, provided
that no female shall be employed in any manufacturing,
mechanical or mercantile establishment, laundry, hotel or
restaurant, or telegraph or telephone establishment or
office, or by any express or transportation company in
this State more than eight hours in any one day, or more
than forty-eight hours in any week ; provided, however,
that the provisions in this section shall not apply to nor
40 A Political Primer
effect the harvesting, curing, canning or drying of any
variety of perishable fruit or vegetable.
The Governor, in signing the eight-hour bill, after
hearing a storm of protest against it from California em-
ployers, said: "Strong men by unity of action have ob-
tained for themselves an eight-hour day. Shall we re-
quire greater hours of labor of our women?
"As long ago as 1872 it was enacted by Section 3244
of the Political Code that eight hours of labor should
constitute a day's work, and our law has gone to the ex-
tent of requiring that a stipulation to that effect shall be
made a part of all contracts in which the State or any
municipal corporation is a party.
"Now the policy, therefore, of the State is of long
standing, and while the sections quoted refer, of course,
to public work, they established what has been the set
policy of California for more than forty years that eight
hours shall constitute a day's labor.
"The argument against the eight-hour day for women
is purely economic. It is asserted that it will work hard-
ship upon various enterprises that these enterprises
will have to close and that financial disaster will follow.
"This has been the argument ever advanced against
legislation of this sort, and even against legislation de-
signed for the protection of the public, such as pure food
laws.
"When the first shorter hour law was adopted in Eng-
land, the English employers with the utmost vehemence
protested. None of the ills they prophesied occurred.
Many of us remember the first child labor laws. At the
time of the enactment of these in our State many of our
reputable business men protested with earnestness and
apparent sincerity that they could not compete with their
rivals, and the enactment of such laws meant their ruin.
When a law limiting the hours of miners was enacted,
many mine owners appeared and insisted that the indus-
A Political Primer 41
try would be entirely destroyed. Today the same mines
are running with the same profit and the same employes.
"The economic argument also fails because experience
has shown that productivity will not be materially de-
creased under an eight-hour law."
Employers' Liability
Industry in the United States kills each year from
thirty thousand to fifty thousand persons and injures
nearly two million more.
How to cut down this terrible toll of human life and
limb sacrificed to commercialism, and the poverty and
suffering of countless others resulting therefrom is one
of the great problems of the age.
Employers' liability legislation is the remedial ex-
pedient being tried in the most progressive States.
There is in force in California a law, faulty in some re-
spects, yet a vast improvement as a protective and com-
pensatory measure upon anything on the statute books of
the State, until 1911. It is the purpose of this law to
furnish prompt and reasonable compensation to an in-
jured employe, provide him with medical attention, give
aid to those dependent upon him during his inability to
work, utilize for him and those dependent upon him the
large sums of money now paid out for litigation, and re-
duce to a certainty the nebulous legal responsibility of
the employer, and finally so systematize all commercial
enterprises that each industry shall provide for its own
injured in its general expense account.
The things that made employers' liability little more
than a name so far as the workers were concerned were
the "fellow servant" and "assumption of risk" defenses.
The employer was not responsible to the employe for
damages except for gross negligence or wrong-doing,
and then the slightest contributory negligence on the
42 A Political Primer
part of the injured, or a fellow workman, defeated any
attempt at legal redress. The employee was legally re-
sponsible for accidents that might occur to him where no
particular person or thing could be charged with negli-
gence or misconduct, the law holding that the employe
assumed a risk when he accepted employment and must
bear the burden. The new California law modifies the
common law defenses in the following terms:
"It shall not be a defense :
"1. That the employe either expressly or impliedly
assumed the risk of the hazard complained of ;
"2. That the injury or death was caused in whole or
in part by the want of ordinary or reasonable care of a
fellow servant."
The present California law is divided into two parts
liability and compensation. At present it is elective
with the employer whether or not he will come under
compensation. The law provides a certain fixed scale
of compensation to be paid for loss of life or limb based
upon loss of earning capacity, fixing the maximum in any
case at $5000, and establishes an Industrial Accident
Board for the adjustment of all disputes or controversies
concerning compensation.
CHAPTER IX.
The Legal Status of Women
"Women do not need rights ; they have privileges."
Mention the subject of woman and law in any gather-
ing, and some one is certain to make this answer.
It leads us to the discussion of a subject that is full of
surprises. Comparatively few women realize until some
twist of circumstances robs them of their privileges, how
many of the things which they took for granted as rights
under the law have no relation whatever to law.
The woman who leads a happy, protected life, with a
generous and honorable man, may never know the need
of rights, yet again, she may find herself tomorrow rob-
bed of the protection of that man, robbed of her priv-
ileges, and face to face with the very serious prob.lem of
her lack of rights.
The protected woman, who has privileges, may, per-
haps, be able to retain those privileges to the end of her
life ; but the woman is rare who, realizing the facts, would
not give up her privileges gladly that her unfortunate
sister, who is not surrounded with love and protection,
might be saved from injustice and sorrow.
This is an age in which we look askance at privilege
of all kinds. We know that special privilege demands its
price. It is because the fortunate women of America
have always enjoyed so many privileges that the unfortu-
nate have so few rights.
Men are not to blame for the fact that there are laws
on the statute books which are unjust to women and that
there are not laws there which must be there if justice
is to be secured to women.
Laws have not kept pace with changing conditions.
Indeed, it would seem odd if they had kept pace, consid-
ering the rapidity with which the change in the relation
44 A Political Primer
of woman to the community has come about. It is true
that in most cases these unjust statutes are dead letters,
still they are laws. All too frequently they are invoked,
and the judge has no alternative but to enforce them.
The influence of the old English common law is still
felt in the majority of States in America today. Thus we
find that so far as the law is concerned, the body of a wo-
man, the property of a woman, and even the earnings of
a woman, belong to her husband, according to the statutes
in force in many States.
Legally, woman has no political status except that
which her husband gives her. We have seen that when
she marries a foreigner she loses her citizenship. We
have seen also that no matter how much she may desire to
become a citizen in her own right, she cannot do so un-
less her husband wishes to be naturalized.
The right to homestead Government land is also de-
nied a married woman.
Few women pause to consider the legal aspect of their
marriage. Yet in seventeen States the ceremony during
which the man nominally gives to his wife all his worldly
goods really takes from her all her property rights. In
all but ten States a woman has no legal right to her chil-
dren. In two States she may be a co-guardian of her own
children, if she supports them. In all other States chil-
dren belong to their fathers, who may give or will them
away, so far as the law is concerned.
In California, Arizona, Idaho, Texas, Tennessee,
Louisiana and North Dakota, the husband not only con-
trols the wife's property, but may draw her wages. In
seven other States women have to register as "traders"
if they want to control their own business property. In
at least three States a married woman must gain permis-
sion from the courts to engage in business.
In seven Southern States women cannot be admitted
A Political Primer 45
to the bar, and in Florida and Alabama they may not
practice medicine.
In the South, where we have always been told blos-
soms the flower of chivalry, the legal injustices to women
are greater than anywhere else in the country. In Louis-
iana, even the clothing, the wedding presents and dowry
belong to the husband. There are countless instances
where girls, by marrying, have ignorantly given to their
husbands and their husband's families all their personal
property. In one case of record, a girl with considerable
property in her own right, whose husband was killed in
an accident two weeks after their wedding, was legally
robbed by the husband's family, not only of her property,
but of all her clothes and even of her engagement ring.
Ask any lawyer and he will tell you that in California
women have more legal protection than in any other
State in the Union, except Colorado.
Yet in California the only child to whom its mother
has any legal right is an illegitimate child. Children of
legal marriages belong absolutely to the husband.
The property rights of a woman in California are
more just than in most States. All property acquired by
either husband or wife after marriage is considered com-
munity property, and is held by them jointly.
Upon a husband's death without children, one-half
of this community property goes to the wife as her share,
together with one-half of the remainder, which belongs
to her as her husband's heir. The remainder, or one-
quarter of the whole, is divided among the husband's
other heirs.
If there are children of the marriage, one-half of the
whole property is divided among them and the remaining
half is the wife's.
These laws apply, of course, in the event of there be-
ing no will.
A wife has also what is called the homestead right,
46 A Political Primer
which allows her to choose from the community property
a homestead, of value not to exceed five thousand dollars,
which is given to her out of the estate and to which she
has a right prior to that of any creditor, except of one
holding mortgage upon it.
When the husband dies, the estate must be probated.
This is a process of law by which the estate is appor-
tioned according to the statutes, by a probate court, a
guardian is appointed for the children and other legal
matters attended to.
Acting upon the assumption true in most cases that
the husband is the provider and original property pro-
ducer for the family, the entire estate reverts to the hus-
band upon the wife's death, without probate proceedings.
If there are children, one-half the estate is supposed to be
held in trust for them by the husband.
The defect in this law is readily seen. In cases where
the wife is the producer, at least a portion of the com-
munity property which she has produced should revert to
her heirs, as the husband's does to his. This is, however,
a contingency likely to be brought about only by the re-
adjustment of a society which is giving woman more
economic independence daily. It can work hardship only
in isolated instances as yet.
Sixth among the States to do so, California, by a con-
stitutional amendment of 1911, gave her women political
equality with men. This opens up a new field for the
womanhood of the State.
Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Washington
are the other five in which women have the full elective
power. Women have held the municipal franchise in
Kansas since 1887, and in Louisiana women taxpayers
vote on questions of public expenditure. In Montana and
Iowa women vote at municipal elections and twenty-
seven States have either whole or partial suffrage.
In Australia, New Zealand and Finland, the Isle of
A Political Primer 47
Mann, and Pitcairn Island, women vote at all elections
on the same terms as men ; and in Switzerland, Sweden,
Norway, Russia, Westphalia, Brunswick, Roumania,
England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales certain classes of
women have certain classes of elective franchise.
In the centers of population where the financial in-
terests have most at stake the fight against this struggle
for a purer democracy is always relentless. Woman's in-
terest in humanitarian measures, which always pinch the
pockets of the big manufacturers, make these manufac-
turers fear the woman vote.
The woman creator of human life values human life
above everything else, and that she will sacrifice profit
to the protection of humanity is a certainty which has
withheld the ballot from her in many States.
The ethical reasons for granting the franchise to wo-
men are the same as the ethical reasons for allowing men
to vote.
In the beginning of American democracy, expediency
did not demand the woman franchise as strongly as it
does today. The changes in economic and other relations
between woman and society in the last hundred years
have made equal suffrage practical and expedient, as well
as just.
If there are abuses in laws which affect the happiness
and well-being of women as a class in California, it is
now in their power to protest as a class against them.
If in the future woman is injured by unjust law, she will
remember that she is one of those who make law.
The laws of all times have, through clumsiness or
wrong intent, expressed but poorly the justice for which
they are intended to stand. Constantly, through centuries
of making and re-making of law, men have struggled to
create through its help the ideal system of society which
would work injustice to none. California women have
been asked to help in that struggle, and their future legal
status is in their own hands.
CHAPTER X.
Economic Theories
Of the economic plans for the betterment of the world,
Socialism and the single tax occupy the foremost places
in the public eye. Although they are often considered as
representing extremes of individualism and communism,
as a matter of fact they both have the same end in view
the perfect liberty of the individual.
Socialism
Socialism as an economic theory has existed since
the early part of the sixteenth century. The Socialists
today advocate :
That the means of production that are socially used
should be socially owned;
That what the individual needs he should be guaran-
teed the opportunity to earn ;
That what the individual earns he should privately
own and freely use.
Socialism is a reiteration of the original American
principle promulgated in Virginia in 1607 by Captain
John Smith : "He who will not work shall not eat"
It is the opinion of the Socialist that society is evolv-
ing toward a co-operative social state in which the means
for the production and distribution of wealth will be
the collective property of the workers, while the goods
to be consumed become their private property.
The plan provides that all human beings shall become
producers. This means that the powers of government
and of society should be used in the interests of all human
beings.
Socialism, then, is the belief that human beings should
A Political Primer 49
control not only the Government which makes their laws,
but the industries which make their living.
The history of the world is a history of class strug-
gle, and the Socialists believe that the stage has been
reached where the exploited class cannot obtain emanci-
pation from the ruling and exploiting class, without at
the same time emancipating society at large from all ex-
ploitation and oppression.
The introduction of machinery as a substitute for hand
tools in the beginning of the nineteenth century gave ab-
solute control of the production of wealth to the owners
of that machinery. In the beginning, these owners the
capitalist class were valuable to industry. It was the
capitalist class which organized and developed.
With the development of centralized industry, how-
ever, the capitalist class became merely a share-holding
class, turning over the work of organization and direction,
as well as manual labor, to employes.
The capitalist having handed over his work to the la-
boring class, this working class becomes, then, the only
class essential to production.
From these premises the Socialist argues that the rem-
edy for existing evils lies in making all of humanity a
working class eliminating the idle at both extremities
of society. The Socialist would abolish a great army of
unemployed, including those who can not work because
they have no opportunity, and those who will not work
because they can make others work for them.
The advantages which, the Socialist claims, will re-
sult from thus putting society as a whole into the produc-
ing class and placing ownership of industry in the hands
of this class, are far-reaching.
If there are no idle individuals the burden of their sup-
port will be removed from the workers, thus shortening
the hours of labor necessary for each person.
If there is no share-holding class, deriving incomes
50 A Political Primer
from industries to which it gives nothing, everything pro-
duced will become the property of producers, thus in-
creasing the compensation for work.
If there are no rival industries meeting each other in
the strife of competition, there will be no waste, such as
accompanies industrial war today.
All the tremendous waste involved in advertising, du-
plication of plants and power, inconvenient geographical
placing of factories and other industries, undue cost of
distribution, would be avoided were the Socialist theory
of government carried out to its completion.
The Socialist contemplates a higher individualism as
the ultimate result of a collectiveism which will provide
opportunity for every human being.
Single Tax
"What the individual makes is his. What nature sup-
plies is the birthright of all. Since land in itself is not
the result of labor, no man has a right of ownership in it.
It belongs to the community at large."
Out of this general argument has grown the theory of
single tax.
The value of the land is fixed by the demands of the
community, and since the community fixes its value the
community should have the benefit of its increase, says
the single-taxer.
The occupant of the land is entitled to the results of
his own labor, but the community generally the Gov-
ernment is entitled to whatever rent or tax he should
pay for using it.
Herbert Spencer, in a chapter called "The Right to
the Use of the Earth," advanced the ethical argument in
favor of single tax in 1850, and a group of brilliant
Frenchmen nearly a century before had discussed and ad-
vocated a tax on land only.
But it was Henry George who reduced the idea to
A Political Primer 51
what appears to be a working basis and gave impetus to
a world movement.
Henry George, in describing his theory, said :
"We propose to abolish all taxes save one single tax
levied on land, irrespective of the value of improvements
in or on it.
"What we propose is not a tax on real estate, for real
estate includes improvements. Nor is it a tax on land, for
we would not tax all land, but only land having a value
irrespective of its improvements, and would tax that in
proportion to that value.
"To carry it out we would have only to abolish all
taxes save the tax on real estate, and to abolish all of
that which now tails on buildings or improvements, leav-
ing only that part of it which now falls on the value of the
bare land. This we would increase so as to take as nearly
as may be the whole of the economic rent, or what is
sometimes styled the unearned increment of land values."
Mr. George claimed that it is the taxation of the pro-
cesses and productions of labor on the one hand and the
insufficient taxation on land values on the other hand
that produces the unjust distribution of wealth which is
building up in the hands of a few, tremendous fortunes,
while the masses are getting steadily poorer.
In the efforts of the past to force each person to con-
tribute his proportionate share of the public purse and
minimize the possibility of exemption, many schemes
have been put forward. The levying of the tax on per-
sonal expenditure, later a tax on houses, then a tax on
incomes, and finally a tax on capital, had all been serious-
ly advocated at different times as the single tax before
Mr. George advanced his system.
The single-taxer claims that when we tax houses,
crops, money, furniture, capital or wealth in any of
its forms, we take from individuals what rightfully be-
longs to them ; we violate the right of property and in the
name of the State commit robbery; but when we tax
52 A Political Primer
ground values, we take from individuals what does not
belong to them, but belongs to the community, and can-
not be left to individuals without the robbery of other in-
dividuals.
In illustration of what the single-taxer terms the un-
earned increment of property, we may suppose that a
small piece of unimproved property in the outskirts of a
city is owned by a few individuals. A fair valuation for
this land is $100 an acre. Assume that a railroad com-
pany buys a portion of this ground upon which to erect a
depot for a proposed road. Immediately there is a de-
mand for contiguous ground by hotel, restaurant and
other business men. The result is that the price of the
land jumps from the original figure of $100 an acre to
many times that per lot. Thus, while the original owners
of the land have performed no act that would cause an
increase in its value, they reap the entire profit. The
single-taxer advocates that this profit, the difference be-
tween the original value of the land and its accrued value,
should be participated in by the entire community.
Wonderful advances in the solution of the social prob-
lems are claimed by the single-taxers should their plan
of raising revenue be substituted for the present meth-
ods. These are perhaps best epitomized in the platform
of the Single Tax League, of which the following is an
extract :
"It would solve the labor problem, do away with in-
voluntary poverty, raise wages in all occupations to the
full earnings of labor, make over-production impossible
until all human wants are satisfied, render labor-saving
inventions a blessing to all, and cause such an enormous
production and such an equitable distribution of wealth
as would give to all comfort, leisure and participation in
the advantages of an advancing civilization."
The single-taxer, like the Socialist, also contemplates
a higher individualism as the ultimate result of his theory.
PART THREE.
GOVERNMENT
CHAPTER XL
Our Present Government
Most of us, whether we are men or women, know
something of the growth of government, but it is not
until some one puts a question to us, or until we take
down the old civics book from the shelf that we realize
how much we can forget between school days, when
government is theory, and days of maturity, when we
have actually become a part of government.
Perhaps the reason that we have retained so little of
that which we learned about government in our school
days is because the subject is so tremendous. Whether
or not we believe that our form of government fulfills the
ideal mission of government, we must admit that, view-
ed in its entirety, all its different parts fitting into one
another, it is an awe-inspiring mechanism.
We think we have traveled far in the centuries, yet
500 years before Christ there was in existence the germ
of the system dividing governmental power, which is
used in the United States today. In Athens, lawmakers,
judges and executives administered the affairs of gov-
ernment as they do now. Although they had not the
same well defined powers, they contributed the nucleus
of our present system and gave us the pattern for our
legislative, executive and judicial branches.
It is interesting to trace these three divisions through
all our local, State and National Governments.
Because the legislative department voices the direct
will of the people, at least in theory, it is most important.
If it does not voice the direct will of the people, it has
failed in its mission. If it advances the will of a few
special interests rather than the will and welfare of the
whole people, it is not justifying its reason for being.
As citizens our first concern is with the things that
56 A Political Primer
will make for the common good of the whole people, and
our next with the choice of men pledged to those issues,
and with sufficient intelligence, integrity and courage to
carry our ideals from the realm of theory into the realm
of fact.
We are concerned, then, so far as the legislative is in-
volved, with the kind of government we want and the
kind of men who can construct it for us.
We are concerned next with the kind of man who
will execute the kind of man who will carry out the
wishes of the people as expressed by their representa-
tives.
We are concerned next with choosing for the judic-
iary men who are learned in law, yet who will not sub-
jugate the spirit of the law to technicalities. The nation
is awakening more and more to the realization that men
are not made for laws, but laws for men.
The desire for justice is the creator of law. Law is
a worthy thing only so far as it expresses justice.
The base of all government is law, which is created
to satisfy this longing for justice. In the United States
this law-base is embodied in the Constitution.
The ideal of our government is democracy. It is this
ideal which the Constitution was created to express,
which it did express in the terms of the times.
For more than a century this epoch-making docu-
ment has met the demand of the American people for a
concrete expression of our ideal of democracy. It has
stood as the bulwark of our National liberty and inspired
us, as a people, to strive for the best in self-government.
It is "this very ideal, fostered by the Constitution,
which has grown beyond the Constitution, and is now
demanding fuller expression.
Every tendency of modern government is to put more
power into the hands of the people, to regard public offi-
cials and institutions as answerable to the people.
A Political Primer 57
Change in the Constitution, or suggesting a change,
is no longer considered treasonable. We are beginning
to realize that the amazing thing is not that the Consti-
tution may in the future need changing, but that it has
served so long with so little change.
The change in the attitude of the average man toward
long-existing institutions is not confined to his new view
of the Constitution. It is no longer considered lese
majesty to apply the gauge of every-day common sense
and reason to any laws that have been or may be enact-
ed, to propose the revision of existing statutes, or the
submission of proposed new measures to a vote of the
electorate.
This latter-day ascendancy of the democratic spirit, in
so far as it is expressed in a closer relation between the
voter and the office-holder, may be taken as a cause of
the progress of the initiative, referendum and recall.
Students of civil government differ as to the significance
of these measures. The conservative element contends
that they necessitate a radically different conception of
government from that embodied in the Constitution.
Their proponents declare that they are merely a logical
following out of democratic principles.
Through all the changes in various systems of gov-
ernment, throughout the entire history of civilization,
government itself has remained substantially the same
as to form. The changes which have been coeval with
civic progress have been expressed in the adaptation of
governments to the needs of the people, rather than struc-
tural changes in governmental institutions. This adapta-
tion has been in response to the development of the in-
dividuals who have composed the various common-
wealths.
The structure of government, however, remains the
same. The life of a nation, as the life of the individual,
is governed by three things the desire, the judgment
and the act.
58 A Political Primer
These three principles of action are embodied in gov-
ernment in its legislative, judicial and executive
branches.
CHAPTER XII.
Legislative Department
The legislative principle in government stands in the
same relation to the acts of government as individual
desire stands in relation to the acts of the individual.
The legislative departments of our local, State and Na-
tional governments exist for the purpose of expressing
our desires in the form of law.
In the beginnings of democratic government in Amer-
ica all the citizens came to the town meeting and ex-
pressed individually their desires. In time the commun-
ity outgrew the town meeting. The next step was the
choice of a certain few delegated to represent the whole
citizenry.
Representative government in various forms existed
in the colonies, but it was not until after the revolution
that we had a representative National Government.
At that time, the two-house plan of representation,
borrowed from England, and previously in practice in
the States, was considered the best for securing true rep-
resentation of the States.
Congress
The original plan of the framers of the Constitution
was that both Senators and members of the House of
Representatives should be apportioned to the States in
proportion to population. The smaller States objected
to this, and maintained that each State should have equal
representation in the National Congress. So determined
were they in their adherence to this belief that they
threatened to block the whole project of reconstruction.
The Connecticut Compromise arrived just in time to
save the Union. Under its terms the upper house was to
represent the States, the lower house the people.
60 A Political Primer
The Senate
Each State is represented in the upper house of Con-
gress by two Senators, who, to be eligible for office, must
be thirty years of age and must have been for nine years
citizens of the United States. They must be residents of
the State from which they are elected.
Senators are elected for a six-year term, and their
salary is $7,500 a year.
The Lower House
Representatives are allotted to the States according to
the population, in the proportion of one to every thirty
thousand people, but each State shall have at least one
representative.
To be eligible for the lower house of Congress, a
candidate must be twenty-five years of age, and must
have been seven years a citizen. The compensation is
the same as that paid the Senators.
On the second Monday in December of every year,
Congress assembles. Soon afterward it receives from
the President his annual message concerning the affairs
of the nation and recommending such legislation as he
favors. Congress then proceeds to the business of law-
making.
Each house makes its own rules, passes upon the
qualifications of its members, punishes them, if necessary,
for disorderly behavior, and may, by a two-thirds vote,
expel a member. Neither house may, without the con-
sent of the other, adjourn for more than three days dur-
ing the session of Congress. The presiding officer of
the Senate is the Vice-President of the United States.
The House of Representatives elects its speaker.
A Political Primer 61
The Passage of Bills
All bills providing for the collection and expenditure
of money must originate in the House of Representa-
tives. To the lower house also belongs the right of orig-
inating and preparing articles of impeachment, while the
trial of impeachment and the approval of appointments
of foreign ambassadors and Supreme Court judges are
duties of the Senate.
Bills other than those mentioned above may be pre-
sented by any member of either house. They must be
referred to committee, argued on the floor, and finally
passed by a majority of both houses before they become
law. A two-thirds vote of both houses is required to pass
a bill over the President's veto.
The State Legislature
The general plan of procedure followed by the Fed-
eral Congress is used in the Legislatures of the various
States, with more or less uniformity. In local govern-
ments, too, we find that the community puts the import-
ant business of law-making into the hands of an organiza-
tion of representatives.
California's Legislature will serve as a pattern of the
general method used in the States.
Forty members compose the upper house, called the
Senate, and twice that number the lower house, known as
the Assembly.
Members of both houses are chosen by direct vote,
and in numbers proportioned to the population. Every
ten years, following the Federal census, the Legislature
re-apportions the representation to the various counties.
In theory, every fortieth part of the State population is
entitled to one Senator, and every eightieth part to one
Assemblyman.
Both houses have power to regulate the form of their
62 A Political Primer
proceedings and to choose their own officers, except in
the case of the presiding officer of the Senate, who is
elected by the people of the entire State in the person of
the Lieutenant Governor. The Assembly is given power
to prepare articles of impeachment, and impeached per-
sons are tried by the Senate.
Any member of either house may introduce a bill
which is the draft for a proposed law, into the house to
which he belongs. This bill is referred to a committee
for consideration. The committee may recommend its
adoption, report against it, or "kill it in committee" by
postponing action and thus prevent it from going to the
floor of the Legislature. Before it becomes a law each
bill must be given three readings in each house, receive
a majority vote in both houses, and be signed by the
Governor ; or, if vetoed by him, must be re-passed over
his veto by a thwo-thirds vote in each house. Any bill
may be amended by a vote of the house, and any member
has the right to propose amendment. A bill becomes a
law without the Governor's signature if it is not returned
to the Legislature, signed, within ten days after its pass-
age. If the Legislature has adjourned, the opposite is
the fact, and the bill, if it is not signed by the Governor
within ten days of adjournment, is considered to have
received a "pocket veto," by which it fails to become
law,
CHAPTER XIII.
Executive Department
Legislators make laws. Executives enforce them.
If we would become posessed of some right not grant-
ed by any existing law, we must go to the legislative
branch of the government and have that right made law.
If we wish to avail ourselves of a right or a privilege
granted by law, we must turn to the executive depart-
ment.
Laws in themselves are of no avail. They must be
enforced.
It is probable that our Constitution in its present form
would never have come into existence if it had not been
for the total absence of executive authority in the Arti-
cles of Confederation. The Continental Congress had
power to legislate, but its laws might as well not have
been made, for there was no power to enforce them.
Under the Constitution, this executive principle runs
through National, State and local government. In the
nation it is invested in the President, in the State in the
Governor, and in smaller divisions of government various
executive officers are provided.
The President
Chief of the public servants of the United States is
the President, who is elected for a term of four years. To
be eligible for the Presidency the citizen must have been
born in the country and must have lived within the
United States for fourteen years before his election.
Also he must not be under thirty-five years of age.
The President is commander-in-chief of the army and
navy, and of the State militia of all the States when called
into Federal service. He has the power to grant pardons
64 A Political Primer
and reprieves for offences against the United States; to
appoint ambassadors, judges of the Supreme Court, mem-
bers of his cabinet, and other important officers, with the
advice and consent of the Senate; with the advice and
consent of the Senate, also, he has power to make treaties
with foreign nations.
He has power to call special sessions of Congress, and
in case of disagreement between them as to time of ad-
journment, he shall adjourn them to such time as he
thinks proper.
The Presidential Message
The President influences legislation through his mes-
sages to Congress and possesses the veto power, which
acts as a check on the legislative department. In his an-
nual message, which is sent to Congress at the beginning
of each term, he reviews the nation's affairs and suggests
legislation which he thinks advisable. At other times,
when conditions require, he sends special messages bear-
ing directly upon those conditions.
All measures, having been passed by both houses of
Congress, go to the President for his consideration. If
he approves and signs them, they become law. If he
vetoes them, as he has the power to do, they may be pass-
ed over his head by a two-thirds vote of Congress. If
he neither signs nor vetoes them within ten days, they
become law, unless Congress has adjourned. In such
case, a bill ignored by the President for ten days is said
to have received a "pocket veto" and does not become
law.
For his services to the nation the President receives
a salary of $75,000 a year and a residence in the White
House. He is the host of the nation, and welcomes for
us all our foreign ambassadors, ministers and other
official guests.
A Political Primer 65
The Vice-President
The Vice-President is elected in the same way, at the
same time, and for the same term, as the President. His
qualifications for office must be the same as the Presi-
dent's. This is necessary, because in case of the Presi-
dent's death or impeachment, he becomes the chief ex-
ecutive. His salary is $12,000 a year.
The Vice-President is president of the Senate, but he
has no power to vote except in case of a tie.
The mayor of a city gathers around him various offi-
cers to assist him in his executive work, the Governor
is aided by State boards and the President divides the
tremendous responsibilities of the National executive
among the members of his cabinet and the departments
which they represent.
Departments of Government
These departments have been created from time to
time by Congress, but the heads of them are always
appointed by the President. These departments are:
State, War, Treasury, Postoffice, Navy, Interior, Justice,
Agriculture and Commerce and Labor.
The members of the cabinet are appointed by the
President and receive for their work $12,000 annually.
The Secretary of State conducts the foreign affairs
under the President's direction. He keeps the seal of
the United States, publishes the Federal statutes, and
preserves the originals of all treaties. His department
is divided into eight bureaus, presided over by a chief.
The Secretary of War has charge of all matters per-
taining to National defenses, fortifications, etc. He issues
orders for movement of troops, and has charge of West
Point military academy.
The Secretary of the Treasury supervises the Na-
tional finances, estimates public expenditure, collects the
66 A Political Primer
customs and internal revenue, and deposits public money.
The Attorney-General is the people's lawyer, at the
head of the Department of Justice. He provides legal
advice for the President and his cabinet, represents the
Government in all suits in which the United States is a
party and exercises general supervision over all offices
connected with the Department of Justice.
The nation's postman is the Postmaster-General, who
has supervision over the entire postal service. He ap-
points all postmasters whose compensation does not ex-
ceed $1000 a year.
The Secretary of the Navy guards the interests of the
nation on the high seas. He supervises the construction
of war vessels, has charge of the Naval academy, and gen-
erally oversees the naval service.
The cabinet officer who comes nearest to us, in sup-
plying our more immediate and pressing demands, is the
Secretary of the Interior. He has control of all public
lands, gives us our farm if we want to become home-
steaders, grants us our pensions and patents, takes care
of our National education, our Indian affairs and the geo-
logical survey. The Secretary of the Interior is aided in
these duties by the Commissioner of the General Land
Office, the Commissioner of Patents and the Commis-
sioner of Pensions.
The Secretary of Agriculture is the National farmer.
He decides what lands will grow the best alfalfa, what
seeds will bear the best fruit, and what shall be done with
the bug that eats our potatoes. He furnishes free in-
formation on these points, and free seeds to any of us
that ask for them.
The infant of all departments in our National family
is that of Commerce and Labor. It is a lusty child, and'
many corporation presidents have been kept awake by it.
It has charge of the investigation of corporations, labor
interests, promotion of American manufactures, the cen-
A Political Primer 67
sus, immigration, light-houses, coast survey and steam-
boat inspection.
Commissions
Supplementary to these departments are two commis-
sions, which have had a decidedly revolutionary effect in
their individual lines.
One is the Interstate Commerce Commission, which
has turned the spotlight on a number of dark places that
needed illuminating. Railroad rate regulation is the di-
rect result of the activities of this commission.
The other is the Civil Service Commission, which is
making it possible for thousands of men and women to
hold their positions through personal merit instead of
party affiliations. This commission is aiding the execu-
tive department of local, State and National Government
to execute more efficiently the affairs of government by
supplying us with competent workers. It is also doing
away to a very great extent with the great army of job-
less clerks that has been the result of each change in party
administration.
The activities of all these branches of the Federal ex-
ecutive are paralleled in State and local governments with
various degrees of fidelity to the National pattern, accord-
ing to the individual needs of localities.
State Officials
Individual States choose their executives according
to their various constitutions. A glance at California's
official blue book serves as a general illustration.
The Governor of California must be at least twenty-
five years of age, and must have lived five years in the
State. He is the commander-in-chief of the militia of
the State, can grant reprieves, pardons and commutation
68 A Political Primer
of sentence except for treason and in cases of impeach-
ment; he may call and adjourn special sessions of the
Legislature. His term of office is four years and his sal-
ary $10,000.
The Lieutenant-Governor, who is elected under simi-
lar conditions to the Governor, receives a salary of $4000.
He is president of the State Senate, and in case of the
death or impeachment of the Governor, and in the absence
of the Governor from the State, takes his place.
The Attorney-General, who is the State's legal advisor,
receives a compensation of $6000 a year, and the Secre-
tary of State, whose duty it is to keep the record of the
official acts of the legislative departments; the Comp-
troller, who manages financial affairs ; the Treasurer, Sur-
veyor-General, the Superintendent of State Printing and
the Superintendent of Schools each receive $5000 annually
from the State.
These officers are elected directly by the people, and
at the same time and for the same term as the Governor.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Judiciary
In theory the best judgment of a nation its "sober
second thought" is embodied in its judiciary.
Courts are created for the interpretation of law and
the administration of justice.
Like the legislative and executive departments, the
judiciary in the United States is intended to serve the
interests of the whole people. Only by so serving the
common good in the interpretation and administration of
law does it fulfill its proper functions. When it is divert-
ed from the service of the whole people to the service of
the few it is failing in its purpose.
The chief concern of the people with the judiciary,
then, is to see that the common good is being guarded.
There has been a tendency in the past to look upon
the decisions of courts, especially of the higher Federal
tribunals, as sacred, and to accept them as final, no matter
how much injustice to the whole people they may appear
to work. The change in the public attitude toward each
of the departments of government is perhaps most notice-
able as applied to the judiciary, because of the contrast to
this former feeling. The chief concern of the people, so
far as the courts are concerned, is to see that they are
composed of men whose gift is a gift of justice as well as
a gift of law.
For the interpretation of law and the administration
of justice we have city, county, State and National courts.
The Federal Judiciary
The Federal judiciary consists of the Supreme Court,
the Circuit Court of Appeals, nine Circuit Courts, eighty
District Courts and the Court of Claims.
70 A Political Primer
The Supreme Court of the United States
The Federal Supreme Court is the court of
last appeal. It has original jurisdiction in cases
to which a State or any foreign minister is a party,
and passes upon the constitutionality of law. If, in its
opinion, a law of any State of the United States is in
violation of the Federal Constitution, such a law becomes
void immediately upon the publication of a ruling to that
effect. Any question involving the constitutionality of
any law can be taken to the Supreme Court. It meets in
Washington upon the second Monday in October of each
year.
A Chief Justice and eight associates compose the Su-
preme Court. They are appointed by the President for
life, or during good behavior, but they may be retired at
the age of seventy upon full pay, if they have served ten
years. As a court, they have original and appellate juris-
diction, and individually each has charge of one of the
nine Circuit Courts.
The Chief Justice receives a salary of $13,000 a year,
and his associates $12,500 annually.
The Circuit Courts
Each of the Associate Justices and the Chief Justice
has under his jurisdiction one of the nine Circuit Courts.
Each circuit comprises several States, and matters under
its jurisdiction are divided among a number of District
Courts. Questions decided by these courts are those re-
lating to disputes between States, or between citizens of
different States, between citizens of the United States and
foreign states, citizens or subjects.
To aid the work of the Associate Justices and the Dis-
trict Courts a Circuit Court of Appeals was established
by Congress in 1891. The Chief Justice and the Associate
Justice assigned to any circuit, the Circuit judges and the
A Political Primer 71
District judges within that circuit compose the Court of
Appeals for that circuit.
Circuit judges are also appointed for life, with an an-
nual salary of $7000. Each Circuit Court has two or more
judges.
District judges, who are also appointed, receive $6000
a year. Their number varies with the increase in legal
business.
Five judges at annual salaries of $6000 comprise the
Court of Claims.
The State Judiciary
State law is interpreted and enforced in all States on
very much the same plan as that used to secure justice in
the nation.
The State Supreme Court
In California a Supreme Court composed of seven
judges is the court of last resort, except in such cases
as may be taken before the Federal judiciary.
Corresponding to the Federal District Courts, Cali-
fornia has the Superior Court, which is a trial court. Each
county has one Superior Court, but it may have as many
departments as are necessary to carry on the business of
that county, the number of departments being determined
by the Legislature.
There are three appellate districts in California, each
of which has a District Court of Appeal, consisting of a
Chief Justice and two Associate Justices. Neither the
Districts Courts of Appeal nor the Supreme Court have
original jurisdiction ; they are courts of review and deal
only with appeals.
72 A Political Primer
City and County Courts
Each county has one or more Justice Courts, presided
over by justices of the peace. These justices try civil
cases involving sums of less than $300 and certain classes
of misdemeanors. The Justice Court is the lowest county
court.
Corresponding to the Justice Court in the county
there is the Police Court in the cities, which has jurisdic-
tion over offenses against the city ordinances. The police
judge tries only misdemeanors, but may sit as a commit-
ting magistrate in felony cases, in which case he merely
determines whether or not the evidence is sufficient to
warrant holding the defendant for trial in the Superior
Court.
Civil cases in which the amount in controversy is less
than $2000 may be carried from the Superior Court to the
District Court of Appeals. Capital cases are appealed to
the Supreme Court.
A person charged with crime and appearing before
any court is guaranted certain rights. He is entitled to
a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the dis-
trict and State in which the crime was committed ; to be
informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to
be confronted with the witnesses against him ; and to
compel the attendance of witnesses in his favor. The
Constitution also protects him from testifying against
himself, from excessive bail, from cruel and unusual pun-
ishment, and from being twice put in jeopardy for the
same offense.
CHAPTER XV.
Nation and State
As we have learned, three principles legislative, ex-
ecutive and judicial run through both our National and
State Governments. However, for convenience in the
operation of our governmental mechanism, the Constitu-
tion divided the powers in each branch into two classes
those to be exercised by the nation and those reserved to
the States.
Thus our system of government delegates certain pow-
ers to the nation, other powers to the States, and enumer-
ates certain other powers that may be exercised by either
or both. At the same time, it points out certain other
powers denied to both.
Neither can grant a title of nobility, neither can punish
for an act that was not criminal when committed, and
neither can inflict punishment without due process of
law.
If we have a local, personal concern, bearing upon our
personal relationships, we must look to the State for a
settlement of our difficulties.
Powers of the Federal Government
If the concern is one which affects the whole American
people, the Federal Government has jurisdiction.
The Federal Government has only such powers as are*
expressly given it by the Constitution, but the State, in
determining its powers, is within its rights if it does not.
encroach on the jurisdiction definitely outlined by the
Constitution as belonging to the nation.
The Federal Government borrows money on the credit
of the United States ; constitutes tribunals inferior to the
Supreme Court; punishes counterfeiters, governs natu-
74 A Political Primer
ralization, defines and punishes piracies and felonies on
the high seas, and offenses against the laws of nations ; de-
clares war ; grants letters of marque and reprisal ; lays and
collects taxes, duties, imposts and excises ; pays the debts
and provides for the protection and general welfare of
the United States.
It treats with other nations ; regulates our commerce ;
maintains our army and navy; controls territories, post-
offices, post roads, copyrights and patents, and regulates
coinage, currency, weights and measures.
When we buy a pound of butter at the grocery store
the whole power of the United States is behind us in
enforcing our demand that a pound shall weigh sixteen
ounces. The vendor of a bushel of potatoes which con-
tains less than eight pecks is an offender against the Fed-
eral law. These things concern the whole people.
The Federal Government controls navigable water-
ways and means of communication between States, such
as express companies, railroads, and telephone and tele-
graph lines. Many believe that in the extension of powers
of the Federal Government under the interstate laws
and the Constitution rest the chief power to remedy most
of the evils of distribution.
It is because we ship our foods from one State to an-
other that the Federal Government has the power to step
in and say that those foods shall be pure. If we kept them
at home and used them merely for State consumption, the
Federal Government could not touch them. Therefore,
we are under the necessity of protecting ourselves in the
States by local pure food laws.
The Federal Government acts directly upon the indi-
vidual, levying its own taxes and executing the decrees
of National courts by Federal officers.
In case of need the whole military power of the United
States may be employed against law-breakers, in cases
A Political Primer 75
where the local power is declared insufficient to cope with
the situation.
The protection of citizens against unlawful or dis-
criminating legislation by any State is also in the hands
of the Federal Government.
This very clause, perverted from its original purpose,
has blocked many a movement which might have meant
fairer working conditions for large classes of citizens. It
has been a blanket for covering a multitude of injustices
and presents one of the constitutional obstacles which
we must climb over or get around as the stream of human
progress flows on.
Power of the State Government
All legal, personal relations in home and business,
between husband and wife, child and parent, partners and
debtors and creditors are in the hands of the States. The
Federal Government has nothing to do with these.
The State also has complete charge of education and
of the elective franchise. The State creates and regulates
corporations. This is the reason why many corporations
doing an international business of millions annually from
one State have a legal residence in another. The cor-
poration picks out the State in which it can do business
with the least possible cost and discomfort to itself.
Again, as in the enforcement of the pure food laws,
the Federal Government is powerless, except where
corporations do an interstate business and thus place
themselves in direct relation to the National Gov-
ernment. When the Constitution was framed, corpora-
tions were not of such tremendous National importance
as they are today. Since their growth in power and in-
fluence has made it possible for them to jeopardize the in-
terests of the whole people, there arises a need either for
76 A Political Primer
an extension of the Federal power or for uniform legisla-
tion in the States.
The Federal Congress is prohibited from suspending
the writ of habeas corpus, except in time of war when the
public safety may require it; from passing bills of attain-
der; from taxing exports from any State, or from giving
preference to the courts of any State over those of an-
other.
States are prohibited from coining money, issuing bills
of credit, granting letters of marque and reprisal ; enter-
ing into treaties, alliances or compacts ; keeping troops or
ships of war in time of peace ; passing any bills of attain-
der ;, making anything but silver and gold coins a tender
in payment of debts ; laying any duties without the con-
sent of the Federal Congress ; engaging in war unless in-
vaded or in imminent danger.
Aside from these prohibitions, which were created to
centralize the nation's power, the States may make and
enforce any legislation not conflicting with the Federal
Constitution.
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