Government and Administration of the United States Part 5

Their influence has been used in political offices through the issuing of free pa.s.senger tickets, etc. Various other minor abuses have centered around these corporations. The States have been powerless to provide a remedy for the roads have been mostly engaged in interstate commerce with which the States are forbidden by the const.i.tution to interfere. To provide a remedy for the princ.i.p.al of these abuses Congress pa.s.sed the act of February 4, 1887, regulating the practice of railroads and creating the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce the provisions.

The Commission is composed of five commissioners appointed by the President. The Commission sits as a court and adjudicates complaints arising between railroads or between citizens and railroads, involving principles covered by the act. It has rapidly attained its present position as one of the most important courts in the United States. A statistician, attached to the Commission, publishes annual statistics of railroads, covering the extent, the amount, and value of their stock and bonds, expenses of management, receipts, &c. The act, of course, applies only to those railroads lying in more than one State.

_#The Fish Commission.#_--The Fish Commission was created by act of Congress in 1870. Its chief is the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries.

There is also an a.s.sistant Commissioner. This Commission stands in the same relation to the fishery interests of the country as does the Department of Agriculture to agricultural interests. Both are scientific and practical departments. The former investigates the food, habits and enemies of fishes; experiments concerning the best methods of their capture, the best kind of baits, apparatus, etc. It collects statistics of fish and fisheries of the whole country. Probably its most important service is the propagation and distribution of food fishes. Under its direction are hatched and liberated millions of the young of the best food fishes in the various inland waters of the United States. Rivers suitable for black ba.s.s, shad, carp, or other food fishes, but not having them in their waters, are supplied. For these purposes the Commission owns and manages various fish hatcheries, fish distributing vessels and cars, propagating ponds, etc.

The yearly appropriation for carrying on this work amounts to nearly a quarter of a million of dollars.

_#The Civil Service Commission.#_--To correct the wasteful and demoralizing spoils system, in vogue ever since the first administration of Jackson, Congress pa.s.sed, January 16, 1883, "an act to regulate and improve the Civil Service of the United States." Under the provisions of this act, the President appoints three commissioners, only two of whom may be of the same political party, to administer the act. It is one of the duties of this Commission to provide examinations for testing the fitness of applicants for public service. Appointments in those branches of the government coming under this act can only be made from persons who have pa.s.sed the civil service examination successfully. Adherence to one or the other political parties has little weight in the selection of employes. Under the regulation of this act are: the nine executive departments at Washington, the Civil Service Commission itself, the customs districts, eleven in number, in each of which there are fifty or more employes, all postoffices in which there are fifty or more employes, and the Railway Mail Service; including altogether about 28,500 clerks.

_#The Government Printing Office.#_--In order that there may be intelligent legislation and administration, an extensive system of reports is required. The publications of the federal government are of course very numerous. Each department, bureau, and division makes an annual report. The proceedings of Congress are reported verbatim and published. This printing and binding are done by the government through the government printing office, established for that purpose. The Bureau of Printing and Engraving, which is under the Treasury Department, does no part of this. Its duties are limited to those of engraving and printing banknotes, etc. The chief of the Government Printing Office is styled the Government Printer, and is appointed by the President.

_#The National Museum, Smithsonian Inst.i.tution and Bureau of Ethnology.#_--In 1829 James Smithson, bequeathed by his will the whole of his property, something over half a million dollars, "to the United States of America to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." This fund held by the United States now amounts to $702,000 yielding six per cent, per annum. In 1846 Congress determined to devote this gift of Smithson to the founding and support of a museum. The National Museum was established in 1846, and is supported by annual appropriations by Congress.

In 1879 Congress created a special bureau under the Secretary of the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, to be called the Bureau of Ethnology, to make researches in North American anthropology. This work is supported by annual appropriations. The National Museum, Smithsonian Inst.i.tution and Bureau of Ethnology, though distinct inst.i.tutions[1] are under substantially the same management. Their reports are of great scientific value.

_#The Librarian of Congress.#_--The Librarian of Congress is an independent officer and reports directly to Congress. He has complete control of the Congressional Library, now situated in the Capitol building. The books now collected in this library have been purchased from time to time by Congress. There is a law requiring that two copies of every book, pamphlet, newspaper, photograph, etc., copyrighted in the United States, shall be sent to the Congressional Library. It thus receives large and valuable additions yearly. The Library now numbers over half a million volumes. A new building for the library is in process of construction, and it will have cost when completed between seven and eight million dollars.

[Footnote 1: A valuable and suggestive paper on The Origin of the National Scientific and Educational Inst.i.tutions of the United States, by Dr. G. Brown Goode, a.s.sistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, was published by the American Historical a.s.sociation. Vol.

IV, Part 2. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1890.]

CHAPTER XI.

The Federal Judiciary.

In forming the Const.i.tution the framers of our government were controlled by the principle that the powers which belong to all governments can be most safely and satisfactorily exercised by dividing them according to their nature among three separate branches, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. Under the Articles of Confederation this maxim of government had been disregarded. The old Continental Congress had been given under that plan, not only legislative powers, but also those executive and judicial powers which the States had yielded to the central government.

The lack of a Federal judiciary was, as Justice Story says, "one of the vital defects of the old confederation." Hamilton, the expounder of the Const.i.tution, said: "Laws are a dead letter without courts to enforce and apply them."

The reasons why a national system of courts was necessary were in order that there might be some power:--

1. To give to laws an interpretation that would be uniform throughout the land. If there were thirteen independent courts, each giving Federal decisions on the same causes arising under the same national laws, what but confusion and contradiction could arise?

2. To settle disputes between the States and citizens of different States.

3. To construe and interpret the Const.i.tution itself, and decide all disputes arising under it act of either Congress or of a State legislature contrary to the Const.i.tution can therefore be valid. Hence, the necessity of some power which should have authority to determine the const.i.tutionality of an act when brought into question, and--

5. There should be the power of determining the const.i.tutionality of any act of a State legislature, and thus enforce upon State legislatures the restrictions laid upon them, such as, for example, the inability to lay impost duties, to pa.s.s laws violating the obligation of contracts, etc., or to regulate objects given exclusively to Congress. The manifest necessity of such a power may be best stated by using Hamilton's own words (Federalist, 30):

"What would avail restrictions on the authority of the State legislatures without some const.i.tutional mode of enforcing the observance of them? The States, by the plan of the Const.i.tution, are prohibited from doing a variety of things, some of which are incompatible with the interests of the Union; others with the principles of good government. The imposition of duties on imported articles, and the emission of paper money are specimens of this kind. No man of sense will believe that such prohibition would be scrupulously regarded, without some effectual power in the government to restrain or correct infractions of them. This power must be either a direct negative on the State laws, or an authority in the Federal courts to annul such as might be in manifest contravention of the articles of Union." * * * "These courts are to be the bulwarks of a limited const.i.tution against legislative encroachments."

These reasons were so strong that there was little or no objection in the const.i.tutional convention to the creation of a national judiciary, but difficulty arose in determining its precise nature and powers. As we have learned, the difficulty to be overcome in drafting our new scheme of government was to satisfy State jealousies and interests, and preserve State rights of government, and yet to obtain a strong central government; and to harmonize State rights with Federal strength.

In forming the national judiciary, the objects to be obtained, difficult of achievement, were, to use the words of Judge Curtis (Federal Courts of United States): "To construct a judicial power within the Federal Government, and to clothe it with attributes which would enable it to secure the supremacy of the general const.i.tution and all of its provisions; to give to it exact authority that would maintain the dividing line between the powers of the Nation and the States, and to give to it no more: and to add to these a faculty of dispensing justice to foreigners, to citizens of different States and among the sovereign States themselves, with a more even hand and with a more a.s.sured certainty of the great ends of justice than any State power could furnish--these were objects not readily or easily to be obtained, and yet they were obtained with wonderful success."

The establishment of the federal judiciary is given in a few words in the Const.i.tution: "The judicial powers of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such inferior courts as Congress may from time to time ordain and establish."

In pursuance of this clause, Congress pa.s.sed in 1789, what is known as the "Judiciary Act," the first section of which reads: "The Supreme Court of the United States shall consist of one chief justice and five a.s.sociate justices." This act also established the inferior federal courts, the circuit and district courts, and also defined and fixed their fields of jurisdiction, i.e., the cla.s.s of cases which these courts could have power to try.

The Supreme Court stands at the head of our national judiciary. Its field of jurisdiction is the construction and exposition of the Const.i.tution of the United States. Hon. S.F. Miller, senior justice of this court, speaking of the high character of the duties performed by this court, said: "This court, whether we take the character of the suitors that are brought before it, or the importance of the subjects of litigation over which it has final jurisdiction, may be considered the highest the world has ever seen. It has power to bring States before it, States which some of our politicians have been in the habit of considering sovereign, not only when they come voluntarily, but by Federal process they are subjected, in certain cases, to the judgment of the court. Whatever these States may have been at the time of the formation of the Const.i.tution, they now number their inhabitants by the millions, and in wealth and civilization are equal to many of the independent sovereignties of Europe."

There have been considerable changes in the structure and duties of the Supreme Court since its formation. At present there are nine justices, instead of six. There is now one annual term of the court held, beginning on the 2d Monday of October and continuing until about May 1.

Of the nine justices six const.i.tute a quorum.

The Supreme Court first met in February, 1790. Since its organization it has had eight chief justices, in the following order.

John Jay, 1789-1795.

Oliver Ellsworth, 1795-1801.

John Marshall, 1801-1835.

R.B. Taney, 1836-1864.

S.P. Chase, 1864-1873.

M.R. Waite, 1873-1888.

M. Fuller, 1888.

In 1795 John Rutledge was appointed to succeed Jay, received his commission, and held one term of the court, but was not confirmed by the Senate.

During the early years of the existence of the Supreme Court few cases arose requiring its jurisdiction. During the first term there was no business to be transacted. In 1801 there were only ten cases on the docket, and for some years the average annual number of cases was twenty-four; but in later years the number rapidly increased. From 1850 the average number of cases decided was seventy-one, while from 1875 to 1880 the average was three hundred and ninety-one per annum, and now there are more than a thousand cases awaiting a hearing, and the court is so far behindhand in its work that it takes from three to four years for a case to come up for trial after having been entered upon the docket. At present there are about four hundred cases granted a hearing yearly.

Almost immediately after the adoption of the Const.i.tution began struggles and disputes between the States and the Federal Government. In this contest the Supreme Court steadily upheld the central power, and did much by its decisions to enforce and establish the power of the Const.i.tution. Especially was the court powerful during the years 1801 to 1835, when Marshall was chief justice, to whose wisdom and prudence it is difficult to ascribe too much influence in fixing the present stability of our government.

The Supreme Court has been an invariable supporter of the Federal Const.i.tution. During the early years of our government it was our firmest barrier against the efforts of the States to lessen the federal power. It has always maintained the balance of power between the States and the Union.

The annual term of the Supreme Court begins the second Monday of October and lasts until about May. Daily sessions, with the exceptions of Sat.u.r.days and Sundays, are held, beginning at 12 o'clock, in the Capitol building at Washington. The present justices are Fuller, chief justice, and Lamar, Bradley, Field, Harlan, Gray, Blatchford and Brewer, a.s.sociate justices. Every Sat.u.r.day morning the justices meet in consultation and decide cases argued during the week. The decisions are announced on Monday mornings. The justices are appointed by the President, hold office for life, and are removable only by impeachment.

The following are a few cases decided by the Supreme Court with which it is important that we should be acquainted owing to the influence which their decision has had upon our history:

1. In 1793 the case of _Chisolm_ vs. _Georgia_ came before this court.

Chisolm, a citizen of North Carolina, sued the State of Georgia for a sum of money, and under the second section of Article III of the Const.i.tution, which says that the judicial power of the United States shall extend to disputes between a State and citizens of another State, the court gave judgment in his favor. This decision that a State government could be sued against its will created so much dissatisfaction that the Eleventh Amendment was adopted, which says, "the judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign State." The effect of this amendment has been to enable a State to repudiate its just debts.

2. In 1819 was decided the very important case of _McCulloch_ vs.

_Maryland_. The United States had established a national bank, which was objectionable to many of the States. Maryland attempted to destroy the bank by levying a very high tax upon a branch bank within the State. The question as to her right to do this was brought before the Supreme Court. To have allowed Maryland this right would have been to give to a State Government the power to oppose and render useless an inst.i.tution created by the Federal Government. The court sustained the Federal power, and it was declared unconst.i.tutional for any State to pa.s.s laws opposing the operation of any Federal statute.

3. In the case of _Dartmouth College_ vs. _New Hampshire_ was declared the unconst.i.tutionally of a state law which impaired the obligation of contracts.

4. A very important case decided by Chief Justice Taney was that of _Dred Scott_ vs. _Sandford_ in 1857. Dred Scott, a negro slave in Missouri, had been carried into the Territory of Minnesota, where, by the Missouri Compromise of 1820, slavery did not exist. Upon being carried back into Missouri by his master, Scott claimed his freedom upon the ground that he had been voluntarily carried into a Territory where slavery was not allowed. The Supreme Court in its decision declared that Congress had never had the power to pa.s.s any law which would forbid slave-owners settling in Territories and still retaining control of their slaves. The whole country was at this time in great excitement in regard to the question whether or not, in the organization of the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska into States, slavery should be prohibited, and this decision, whereby the Missouri Compromise Act was practically annulled, and which pointed directly forward to an establishment of slavery in the new Territories, raised public excitement to a fever heat. It was in this decision that the statement was made that at the time of the formation of the Const.i.tution the general opinion had been that the colored man had no rights which the white man was bound to respect. As a direct result of this case a more determined stand was taken at the North against slavery; the Anti-Slavery Republican party was strengthened, and their candidate for President, Abraham Lincoln, elected in 1861, and the catastrophe of civil war precipitated.

5. The Legal-Tender decisions, given in several cases soon after the civil war, are important. During the progress of the war the Government, in order to raise funds to meet its extraordinary expenses, had been forced to issue slips of paper which represented no deposits of coin in the Treasury, but only promises to pay certain sums by the Government.

These were declared legal tender, that is, made by law as good as gold and silver, and the people were forced to receive them in payment of debts and for commodities. It was questioned whether the Government had by the Const.i.tution power to do this. The legal-tender decisions declared that it had. Judicial System and Jurisdiction of the United States Courts.

_#District Courts.#_--The United States is divided into judicial districts. Many single States form a judicial district, while others are divided into two and others into three districts. The number of districts has varied. At present there are about sixty. To each of these districts is given a court and a district judge. These form the lowest grade of Federal courts.

_#Circuit Courts.#_--These judicial districts are grouped into nine circuits. For example, the Fourth circuit includes the districts of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

For each circuit is appointed one circuit judge. One of the justices of the Supreme Court is also allotted to each of the circuits, who, after the expiration of the Supreme Court term, visits his circuit, and tries the more important cases which may arise in that circuit. The Circuit Court may be held by the circuit judge, the Supreme Court justice, or the district judge of that district in which the court is sitting, or by any two of them, or all of them, sitting together. The Circuit Courts form the next series of the Federal courts higher than the District Courts.

_#Jurisdiction.#_--The relation between the Supreme, Circuit and District courts is easy to explain. Their jurisdiction is upon federal questions; that is, over those cases mentioned in the Const.i.tution over which judicial power has been granted to the United States, viz., questions arising under the Const.i.tution, federal laws, or treaties, between citizens of different States, between citizens and foreigners, between States themselves, etc., and all crimes punishable under the United States laws.

The Circuit Court is higher than the District Court, and to it cases involving $500 and over may be appealed from the District courts. The Supreme Court is the court of last resort, and to it all appeals from the Circuit Courts come, with the limitation that $5,000 be involved.