Government and Administration of the United States Part 3

This order was changed by the act of 1886, which provided that the succession to the presidency should be as follows:

1. President.

2. Vice-President.

3. Secretary of State.

4. Secretary of the Treasury.

5. Secretary of War.

6. Attorney-General.

7. Postmaster-General.

8. Secretary of the Navy.

9. Secretary of the Interior.

In all cases the remainder of the four-years' term shall be served out.

This act also regulated the counting of the votes of the electors by Congress, and the determination of who were legally chosen electors.

Note.--The Const.i.tution made no provision in case of a contested election, or when no one should be elected. Such a contingency seemed to have been overlooked in the framing of the Const.i.tution.

CHAPTER VIII.

Election of Senators.

The provisions of the Const.i.tution regarding the election of senators were as follows: "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six years; and each senator shall have one vote." (Article I, section 3, paragraph 1.) "The times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof, but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators."

(Article I, section 4, paragraph 1.)

Until 1866 this matter was left entirely to the States, as permitted by the section of the Const.i.tution just given. In that year an act was pa.s.sed by the Federal Congress regulating the election of senators by the State Legislatures. By it was provided that the Legislature of each State, which is chosen next preceding the expiration of the term of either of their senators, shall on the second Tuesday after a.s.sembling elect a senator in the following manner: Each House shall by open ballot (_viva voce_) choose some man for senator, and he who receives a majority of the total number of votes cast in such House is entered on the journal of that House. At noon on the following day the members of the two Houses convene in joint a.s.sembly, and the journal of each House is then read, and if the same person has received a majority of the votes of each House he is declared duly elected senator. But if not, the joint a.s.sembly then proceeds to choose by a _viva voce_ vote of each member present, a person for senator, and the person who receives a majority of all the votes of the joint a.s.sembly--a majority of all the members elected to both Houses being present and voting--is declared duly elected. If no person receives such a majority on the first day, the joint a.s.sembly meets at noon on each succeeding day during the session of the Legislature, and takes at least one vote until a senator is elected. In case of a vacancy occurring in the Senate during the recess of the State Legislature, the governor appoints a man to fill the place, his appointee holding until a successor shall be chosen in the above method by the State Legislature.

In the House, when vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the Governor issues an order for a new election in the congressional districts in which such vacancies occur. The representatives thus elected hold office for the unexpired terms of their predecessors.

CHAPTER IX.

Congressional Government.

The Const.i.tution created Congress and conferred upon it powers of legislation for national purposes, but made no provision as to the method by which these powers should be exercised. In consequence Congress has itself developed a method of transacting its business by means of committees.

The Federal Legislature consists of two Houses--the Senate, or Upper and less numerous branch, and the House of Representatives, or the Lower and more numerous popular branch.

The Senate is composed of two members from each State elected by the state legislatures for a term of six years, one-third of whom retire every two years. The presiding officer is the Vice-President. Early in each session, the Senate chooses a President _pro tempore_, so as to provide for any absence of the Vice-President, whether caused by death, sickness, or for other reasons.

The House of Representatives is at present composed of 332 members and four delegates from the Territories. These delegates, however, have no vote, though they may speak. The House is presided over by a speaker, elected at the beginning of each session. A quorum for business is, in either House, a majority.

Congress meets every year in the beginning of December. Each Congress lasts two years and holds two sessions--a long and a short session. The long session lasts from December to midsummer. The short session lasts from December, when Congress meets again, until the 4th of March. The term of office then expires for all the members of the House, and for one-third of the Senators. The long session ends in even years (1880 and 1882, etc.), and the short session in odd years (1881 and 1883). Extra sessions may be called by the President for urgent business.

In the early part of the November preceding the end of the short session of Congress, occurs the election of Representatives. Congressmen then elected do not take their seats until thirteen months later, that is, at the rea.s.sembling of Congress in December of the year following, unless an extra session is called. The Senate frequently holds secret, or, as they are called, executive sessions, for the consideration of treaties and nominations of the President, in which the House of Representatives has no voice. It is then said to sit with closed doors.

An immense amount of business must necessarily be transacted by a Congress that legislates for nearly sixty-three millions of people, inhabiting a territory of over three and a half millions of square miles.

Lack of time, of course, prevents a consideration of each bill separately by the whole legislature. To provide a means by which each subject may receive investigation and consideration, a plan is used by which the members of both branches of Congress are divided into committees. Each committee busies itself with a certain cla.s.s of business, and bills when introduced are referred to this or that committee for consideration, according to the subjects to which the bills relate. Thus, for example, affairs relating to Was.h.i.+ngton are handed over to what is known as the District Committee, a regular appropriation bill to the Committee on Appropriations, etc. These committees consider these bills carefully, frequently taking the testimony of outside persons to discover the advisability of each bill.

The regular course through which a bill has to go before becoming an act--_i.e._, to pa.s.s both houses and receive the signature of the President--is as follows: On Mondays there is a roll-call of the States, and members may then introduce in the House or Senate any bill they may desire. These bills are then referred by the presiding officer to appropriate committees. These committees, meeting in their own separate rooms, debate, investigate, and, if necessary, as has been said, ask the opinion of outside persons. After such consideration bills are reported back to the House or Senate. But very few bills reach this stage, for the committee does not get time to report any save the more important ones, and thus the majority of them disappear, or, as the saying is, "are killed in committee." If a bill receives the approval of the committee it is favorably reported to the Senate or House, as the case may be--_i.e._, the bill is returned, accompanied by a report advising the pa.s.sage of the accompanying bill. If the bill is not approved by the committee, an unfavorable report is made; bills are seldom pa.s.sed after such an adverse report. These reports which accompany the bills, are printed, often at great length, giving reasons for the proposed action in regard to the bills. When reported by the committee back to the house in which it was introduced, a bill is voted upon, and, if pa.s.sed, is sent to the other branch. If pa.s.sed there, it is ready for the President's signature; if vetoed, the bill is lost, unless pa.s.sed over the veto by a two-thirds vote of both houses. But frequently one house, while not wis.h.i.+ng to defeat a measure sent to it from the other house, may desire to change it by some amendment. If this is done, the bill, as amended, is sent back to the house from which it came, and if then agreed to as amended by it, it is sent to the President for his approval. Thus by repeated amendments it may pa.s.s to and fro between the House and Senate several, times. In the House of Representatives, many bills are pa.s.sed through all their various stages by a single vote, by what is known as a "suspension of the rules," which may be ordered by a two-thirds vote.

The Senate is now divided into between fifty and sixty committees, but the number varies from session to session. The princ.i.p.al committees are those on (1) Foreign Relations, (2) Privileges and Elections, (3) Judiciary, (4) Commerce, (5) Finance, and (6) Appropriations. The Senate selects the members for the different committees by ballot, though it is pretty well determined beforehand how each committee shall be const.i.tuted by means of party caucuses (informal meetings of members of the same party to determine upon lines of action that will be supported by all). A committee is always composed of an odd number of members, and both political parties are always represented on every committee, though the majority is, in almost all cases, from that party which has the majority of the members of the Senate.

The House of Representatives is organized into sixty committees, ranging, in their number of members, from thirteen down. As regards party representation, their const.i.tution is similar to that of the Senate Committees. The Committee of "Ways and Means," which regulates customs duties and excise taxes, is by far the most important.

Other important committees are those on (1) Elections, (2) Appropriations, (3) Judiciary, (4) Foreign Affairs, (5) Manufactures, (6) Commerce, (7) Labor. Every Representative is on one committee, and most of them on several. Unlike the custom in the Senate, in the House the presiding officer has the sole power of appointment, which makes him, next to the President, the most important and powerful government official. The chairman of each committee has, of course, a large power over affairs with which his committee is concerned, and for this reason it is often said that it is the chairmen of these committees who rule the land.

The precise amount of effective work done by Congress during the two sessions of the Fiftieth Congress was as follows: There were 4,000 bills introduced in the Senate and 145 Senate joint resolutions: of this number 1,127 bills and joint resolutions pa.s.sed the Senate, and 554 were either postponed indefinitely or referred to the Court of Claims, so that the total number on which final action was taken by the Senate was 1,681. The committee on enrolled bills examined 667 Senate bills and joint resolutions and sent them to the President and 591 became laws, the number of vetoes, including "pocket vetoes," being 76.

The House of Representatives pa.s.sed 1,561 House bills and sent them to the Senate, and the Senate pa.s.sed 1,347 of them, leaving 214 to perish.

The House pa.s.sed 56 House joint resolutions and the Senate pa.s.sed all of them but eight. The House pa.s.sed, therefore, 2,284 House and Senate bills, and the Senate pa.s.sed 2,522.

The first session of the Fifty-first Congress (1889-90) was, with one exception, the longest ever held.[1] During the session there were introduced in the House 12,402 bills and joint resolutions, and in the Senate 4,570, making a total of 16,972. The total number of acts pa.s.sed was 1,335 as against 1,790 for _both_ sessions of the Fiftieth Congress.

Of these 881 were pension bills.

[Footnote 1: The longest session was the long session of the Fiftieth Congress.]

Congress ordinarily a.s.sembles at noon, and remains in session until 4 or 5 p.m., though towards the end of the term it frequently remains in session until late in the night. The first thing upon a.s.sembling in the morning is prayer. On Mondays, as stated, there is next a roll-call of States for the introduction of bills. Sometimes a committee is instructed to prepare and bring in a bill of its own, without waiting to have one introduced and referred to it. Reports from committees are heard during morning hours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and on Mondays after the introduction of bills. Friday is a day usually set apart for the consideration of private measures. On Sat.u.r.days Congress seldom sits.

There is still one feature of Congressional government which needs explanation, and that is the caucus. A caucus is the meeting of the members of one party in private, for the discussion of the att.i.tude and line of policy which members of that party are to take on questions which are expected to arise in the legislative halls.

Thus, in Senate caucus, is decided who shall be members of the various committees. In these meetings is frequently discussed whether or not the whole party shall vote for or against this or that important bill, and thus its fate is decided before it has even come up for debate in Congress.

CHAPTER X.

The Cabinet and Executive Departments.

We have seen that the functions of government are divided into three distinct cla.s.ses, the legislative, the judicial, and the executive. The Const.i.tution provides as to the methods for the exercise of the first two, but none for the third. The only reference in the const.i.tution to executive departments is in Art. II, Sec. 2, where the President is given the power to require the opinion in writing of the princ.i.p.al officer in each executive department upon any subject relating to the duties of his office. The departments have in each case been created by an act of Congress and from time to time as convenience has demanded.

The duties of the executive are to enforce and apply the laws of the nation after they are made by the legislature and interpreted by the courts. This is the real business of government, by which the laws are put into effect, and the work of government is actually carried on. In the United States Government this power is placed in the hands of a body of men distinct from the legislative and judicial officers. At the head is the President, and hence his t.i.tle of "Chief Executive." It is evident that he must divide up the vast amount of work to be done, and delegate it to others. Congress directs how this shall be done. For this purpose Congress has created nine executive departments (1)State, (2)Treasury, (3)War, (4)Navy, (5)Interior, (6)Post Office, (7)Justice, (8)Agriculture, (9)Labor.

These departments have been created as required by the growth of government duties. Three departments, the State, Treasury and War, were created by the first Congress, in 1789. By the same Congress was created the office of Attorney-General of the United States, who, together with the Secretaries of the three departments, const.i.tuted President Was.h.i.+ngton's first cabinet. The Navy Department was added in 1798. Prior to that date, naval affairs had been managed by the War Department. A Post Office for the colonies was established by the Postal Act of Queen Anne's reign. The Post Office Department under the present government was established in 1789, but the Postmaster-General did not become a Cabinet officer until 1829. The Interior Department was created in 1849 by grouping together in one department several branches of the government service, which had formerly been distributed among the other departments. As early as 1839 the Patent Office, under the Interior Department, was intrusted with various duties concerning the agricultural interests of the country, among the chief of which was the distribution of seeds. In 1862 a separate Department of Agriculture was established, and these duties transferred to it. In 1889 the head of the Department became Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and a Cabinet officer. A Bureau of Labor under the Interior Department was created in 1884. In 1888 Congress const.i.tuted it a separate department, but did not make its head a Secretary, and therefore not a Cabinet officer.

The heads of the first eight of these departments together form a council of eight, called the "Cabinet," whose duty it is, in addition to the management of the departments, to advise the President on matters of importance. For this purpose regular meetings are held, at which the affairs of government are discussed, and lines of action decided upon.

The cabinet is neither the creation of the const.i.tution, nor strictly of law. The existence of a cabinet, however, was always taken for granted in the discussion and formation of the const.i.tution. It is a creation of custom and has no powers other than of advice and counsel to the President. The growth of executive and administrative business is not fully indicated by the increase in the number of departments. The growth within each department has been much greater. Separate bureaus and divisions have been created, which in some cases are, for all practical purposes, as independent and important as the departments themselves.

The organization of all the different departments is much the same. At the head of each is an officer appointed by the President, the President thus having control generally over the whole executive business of the government. These officers are called Secretaries, except in the cases of the Post Office Department, whose head is the Postmaster-General, and of the Department of Justice, whose head is the Attorney-General. In a number of the Departments there are also one, two, three or four a.s.sistant secretaries, according as the business of the departments requires. For convenience in the despatch of business, the departments are divided into bureaus, the bureaus into divisions, and the divisions into rooms, until, finally, the individual workers--the clerks--are readied. Each bureau and division has at its head an officer called Commissioner and Chief of Division, respectively. Each department and bureau, and, in some cases, the division also, has a Chief Clerk who has charge of the details of the administration, and immediate oversight over the clerks.[1] All work in one finely organized system. The clerk is responsible to his chief of division, the chief of division to his commissioner, the commissioner to the Secretary and he, finally, to Congress. Each man has his particular place in the system, and no one works at random.[2]

[Footnote 1: There are a number of officials and clerks who properly belong to no division or bureau, as, for instance, the librarian's private secretary and other clerical a.s.sistance in the Secretary's office, who are under his immediate supervision.]

[Footnote 2: This system is not always carried out perfectly in practice. In some cases an officer is termed commissioner who is more properly a chief of division, and _vice versa_. In other cases the t.i.tle of commissioner or chief of division is represented by a more technical designation as Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, Comptroller of the Currency, etc.] The President and heads of departments appoint all officers in the executive departments. It is manifestly impossible for them to base their appointments upon personal knowledge. Hence has arisen the custom of filling almost all offices not controlled by the Civil Service Commission upon the recommendation of congressmen, each of whom controls for the most part the patronage of his own district. Only the Secretaries, a.s.sistant Secretaries, Commissioners, and other chief officials are really appointees of the President on his own responsibility.