Elements of Civil Government Part 25

It will be seen that the calling of the various conventions connected directly or indirectly with the selection of candidates for President and Vice President proceeds from the highest downward. The same order is observed in other conventions, the call always beginning with the highest committee concerned and proceeding to the lowest.

LOCAL AND STATE CONVENTIONS.--The order of holding a system of conventions, however, proceeds from the lowest to the highest. The township holds a convention and sends delegates to the county convention. The county convention sends delegates to the State convention, and the State convention sends delegates to the national convention.

DELEGATES CHOSEN BY PRIMARIES.--In many states the delegates to all conventions are elected by the members of the party at primary elections. In some states even the delegates to the national convention are chosen in this manner.

NATIONAL CONVENTION.--A national convention is an important a.s.semblage.

It contains many distinguished men, and exerts great influence on the history of the country. A national convention usually consists of more than a thousand delegates. In a Democratic convention, for instance, there are four delegates from each State, two from each congressional district, and a few from the Territories.

In the selection of delegates to the national convention, the State convention often selects four, representing the two United States senators, and the members of the convention from each congressional district select two, representing the lower house of Congress. For each delegate the State convention also selects an _alternate delegate_, who attends the national convention in case the regular delegate can not be present.

The national convention is called to order by the chairman of the national committee. It then elects a temporary chairman, and afterward a permanent president. The convention appoints the national committee, calling upon the delegation from each State to name its member; adopts a declaration of principles, called a _platform_, for the approaching campaign; nominates candidates for President and Vice President, and performs various other work connected with the party organization.

PLATFORM.--The declaration of party principles adopted and issued by a convention is called a platform, and each separate statement of a principle is popularly called a _plank_.

The platform is an announcement of the policy to be pursued by the party if its candidates are elected, and is presumed to contain all the important principles upon which the voters of the party are agreed.

Upon these principles the party claims the right to administer the public affairs of the country.

The platforms of State and local conventions are usually based upon the national platform of the same party, but also contain statements of principles upon local questions.

NOMINATIONS.--To _nominate_ a candidate is to name him for office; that is, to place his name before the public. The person nominated is called the nominee, and all the nominees for a certain election const.i.tute a ticket.

A nomination usually secures to a candidate the general support of the party. Voters may vote for other persons than the nominees, but the great body of voters usually support the tickets of their respective parties. Nomination serves to prevent a great number of candidates, and thus simplifies the election.

PRIMARY ELECTIONS.--Candidates for township, county, and other offices are frequently chosen by means of primary elections.

A _primary election_ is an election in which the members of a party choose their candidates for office. As a rule, none but the members of the party holding it can vote in a primary election. Many persons prefer the primary, to a convention, believing the former to be a fairer and more impartial method of ascertaining the choice of the party. The voting is usually by ballot.

In many States primary elections are under the control of the law, and are guarded by the same restrictions that pertain to other elections.

CAUCUSES.--A meeting composed of the members of a legislative body who are of the same party, and a.s.sembled for party purposes, is called a _caucus_. _Ward conventions_ in cities are sometimes called by the same name.

The usual purpose of a caucus is to nominate candidates for offices within the gift of the legislative body, or to consider questions of legislation. A caucus elects a chairman and other officers, but rarely if ever adopts a platform of principles. The great political parties of the country have caucuses in each branch of Congress, and usually in the legislatures of the several States.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

1. Name the great parties that have existed in the United States.

2. Who are the respective chairmen of the national executive committees of the two great parties?

3. Read the last national platforms of the two great parties.

4. Which do you like better, primary elections or conventions? Why?

5. Should a member of a legislative body be influenced in his vote by the decision of the caucus of his party?

CHAPTER XXI.

LEGISLATION.

Legislation, the act or process of making laws, is the most important function of government. It is the most important, because it is the first step, and the enforcement and interpretation of laws depend upon their enactment. The laws of a country should be as few in number, as simple in construction, and as uniform in their application, as will meet the needs of the people. It is a great misfortune for the laws to bear unequally upon the people; to grant special privileges to one cla.s.s, or to impose special hardships upon another cla.s.s.

The great variety and volume of laws made by the national and the State legislatures of the United States have led to a close study of legislation. In no other country is the process of making laws so thoroughly mastered, or parliamentary law so generally understood.

BILLS.--The process of enacting a law, from its introduction to its final approval, is an intricate and interesting study. Until its pa.s.sage and final approval, a measure is called either a _bill_ or a _resolution_.

Bills and resolutions are very similar, the latter usually being simpler, and beginning with the words, "Be it resolved" or simply "Resolved," while the former begin with the words, "Be it enacted." A joint resolution as well as a bill requires the concurrence of both houses of a legislative a.s.sembly to make it a law.

INTRODUCTION.--The introduction of a bill is the first presentation of it to a legislative body for action. This is usually done by asking "leave" of the body, either orally or in writing, to bring the measure before it. This leave to present is rarely if ever refused.

The rules require that after its introduction it shall be three times read aloud before its pa.s.sage. These three readings do not refer to readings for information as to its provisions. The const.i.tutions of nearly all States require that the three readings shall be on three different days; but in most of them this rule, may be suspended by a two thirds, three fourths, four fifths, or unanimous vote, the requisite majority varying in different States.

COMMITTEES.--When a bill or resolution is introduced, it is usual to refer it to a committee for a critical consideration. A _committee_ usually consists of from three to thirteen members, of whom the first named is usually chairman, presumably selected for their knowledge of the subjects to come before them.

A _standing committee_ lasts during the entire session. Most legislative bodies have from twenty to forty standing committees.

A _special_ or _select committee_ is raised for a special purpose, and is usually adjourned when its report is made.

A _committee of the whole_ consists of all the members of a body sitting as a committee. In committees of the whole the regular presiding officer usually vacates the chair, calling some other member of the body to act as chairman. The princ.i.p.al part of the work of a legislative body is perfected by its committees. They discuss the merits and demerits of bills, and perfect such as, in their judgment, should pa.s.s.

REPORTS.--The committee to whom a bill has been referred critically examines it, and usually reports it to the body, either _favorably_ or _unfavorably_, recommending that it should pa.s.s or should not pa.s.s. If the members of a committee are equally or nearly equally divided as to the merits of the bill, it may be reported without an expression of opinion.

When important bills are reported by a committee they are usually discussed by the members of the body. The debate on the measure usually brings out the reasons for, and those against, its pa.s.sage.

Many bills are several times recommitted--that is, again referred to a committee--before their pa.s.sage.

In some legislative bodies, especially in the Congress of the United States, a great many bills are _pigeon-holed_ by committees; that is, are filed away and never reported. The reports of the committees, whether favorable or unfavorable, are usually adopted by the body, and therefore have an important bearing upon legislation.

AMENDMENTS.--In most legislative bodies a bill may be amended at the pleasure of the majority, before it is read the third time. Amendments are made for the purpose of perfecting the measure. A bill may be amended by striking out some of its provisions, by striking out and inserting, or by inserting.

A bill pa.s.sed by one house of a legislature maybe amended by the other house, but, if amended, must be returned with the amendment to the house in which it originated, in order that the amendment may be considered. If one house amends and the other refuses to accept, the bill is often referred to a _conference committee_ of members of both houses. If this does not secure agreement, and both adhere to their original action, the bill fails.

Pa.s.sAGE.--When a bill pa.s.ses the house in which it originated, the clerk transmits and reports it to the other house for action. The house to which it is transmitted may pa.s.s it without commitment, but usually refers it to a committee, and, when reported, may pa.s.s it or reject it, or amend it and return it with the amendment to the house in which it originated.

When pa.s.sed by both houses, the bill is engrossed--that is, rewritten without blots or erasures--and transmitted to the President or governor, as the case may be, for his approval. If approved and signed, or if not returned within a fixed time, the bill becomes a law.

If vetoed, it must be again considered by both bodies, and is lost unless again pa.s.sed by each, and in Congress and in many States by a two thirds vote.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

1. Obtain from any convenient source and present in the recitation a sample of a bill, and also of a resolution.

2. Why should a bill have three separate readings on three different days?

3. Why is the report of a committee generally adopted by the body?