Government in the United States, National, State and Local Part 14

_Power of Expulsion._--When a member has once been admitted to his seat, he can be deprived of it only by expulsion, and to prevent the employment of this power for party purposes, the Const.i.tution provides that the concurrence of two thirds of the members shall be necessary to expel a member. Several instances of expulsion have occurred in the past. Senator Blount of Tennessee was expelled from the senate in 1797, and a number of other cases occurred in each house during the Civil War.

=Compensation of Members of Congress.=--The Const.i.tution declares that senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, the same to be paid out of the treasury of the United States.

Under the Articles of Confederation, each state paid its own members of Congress, and there was no uniformity in respect to the scale of compensation. Some states paid much smaller salaries than others and in order to reduce the burden of maintaining their representatives, the states generally sent to Congress the fewest number of representatives required, and as each state had only one vote, nothing was lost by having a minimum number present. One other objection to the method of state payment was that it tended to make the representative dependent upon his state and caused him to feel that he was the representative of a state rather than of the country as a whole.

In fixing the amount of the compensation of its members, Congress is subject to no restrictions. It may fix the salary at any amount it pleases, may make it retroactive in effect or may increase the amount at any time during the term for which the members are chosen. The present salary of senators and representatives is $7,500 per year, but the Speaker of the house receives $12,000 per year. In addition, each member receives an allowance for a secretary, a small sum for stationery, and mileage of twenty cents per mile going and coming by the nearest route between his home and the national capital. This mileage is intended to cover the traveling expenses of the member and his family.

In some of the countries of Europe until recently members of Parliament did not receive any compensation from the public treasury unless they happened to be members of the cabinet; this was the rule in Great Britain prior to 1911. Sometimes, however, members who represented the socialist or labor party were paid by voluntary contributions by the members of their party. The advantage of paying members of Congress a reasonable compensation is that it enables competent men without private incomes to serve the state equally with the well-to-do, who are not dependent upon their public salaries for a livelihood.

_The Franking Privilege._--Another privilege which Congress allows its members is to send their mail through the post office without the payment of postage. The spirit of the law restricts the privilege to the official correspondence of members, but the privilege is generally abused. Thus a senator from South Carolina was recently criticized by the post-office department for franking his typewriter through the mails. President Taft in his annual message to Congress in December, 1910, dwelt upon the abuses of this privilege by members of Congress and other government officials. The postmaster general in 1914 called attention to a recent instance in which more than 300,000 pamphlets were circulated under the frank of a member of Congress, the postage on which would have amounted to $57,000. They related not to public business but to the interest of a certain industry in which he was concerned.

=Rights and Privileges of Members of Congress.=--The Const.i.tution provides that members shall not be arrested in any case except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, during their attendance at the sessions of their respective houses and in going to and from the same; and for any speech or debate in either house, they cannot be questioned in any other place. The purpose of the first provision is to prevent interference with members in the discharge of their high and responsible duties, through arrest for trivial offenses or trumped-up charges. If a member, however, commits an offense amounting to a breach of the peace, his immunity from arrest ceases and he may be dealt with by the courts as any other offender. The object of the second provision is to secure to members absolute freedom of speech on the floor of Congress by relieving them from the liability to prosecution for slander for anything they may say in the course of debate.

_Disqualifications._--On the other hand, the Const.i.tution provides that no person holding any office under the United States shall be a member of either house of Congress during his continuance in office. This provision was adopted in pursuance of the view that the executive and legislative departments should, as far as practicable, be kept separate.

Moreover, no senator or representative may, during the time for which he is elected, be appointed to any civil office which shall have been created or the emoluments of which shall have been increased during such time. The purpose of this provision is to prevent Congress from creating new offices or increasing the salaries of existing offices for the benefit of members who might desire to be appointed to them.

=Special Functions of the Senate.=--The senate is not only a coequal branch of the national legislature but it possesses in addition certain powers not enjoyed by the lower house.

_Share in the Appointing Power._--First of all, it shares with the President the power of appointment to federal offices. The Const.i.tution makes its approval necessary to the validity of all appointments made by the executive, the idea being that the partic.i.p.ation of the senate would serve as a restraint upon the errors or abuses of the President and thus insure the appointment of honest and capable men to office. But it was never intended to give the senate anything more than the negative power of rejecting the nominations of the President. It is his power to nominate and that of the senate to approve or disapprove the nomination.

Nevertheless, there has grown up in the senate a practice by which the senators from a particular state in which an appointment to a federal office is to be made, claim the right to select the appointee themselves and when they have agreed upon him to present his name to the President for appointment; provided, of course, that they are of the same party as the President. If the President refuses to comply with the request of the senators from a particular state, and nominates an official who is unacceptable to them, the custom of "senatorial courtesy," which has become one of the traditions of the senate, requires that the senators from the other states shall stand by their a.s.sociates in question and reject the nomination of the President. In this way the senate has, in effect, a.s.sumed the power of dictating to the President appointments to many federal offices in the states, such as those of postmaster, federal judge, attorney, revenue collector, and the like. If the two senators from a state belong to different political parties, the one with whom the President is in political sympathy controls the federal patronage in the state.

_Share in the Treaty-Making Power._--The senate also shares with the President the power of making treaties with foreign countries. The ordinary procedure is for the President, through the Department of State, to negotiate the treaty, after which it is laid before the senate for its approval. Approval by a two-thirds vote of the senators is necessary to the validity of the treaty. The purpose of giving the senate a share in the treaty-making power was to provide a check or restraint upon the possible abuses or errors of the executive. The extraordinary majority required for the approval of the treaty, however, has frequently proved a handicap and led to the defeat of a number of valuable treaties. Thus a small political minority can prevent the ratification of a treaty and sometimes does so when it sees an opportunity to reap political advantage thereby.

The Const.i.tution speaks of the "advice and consent" of the senate, but in practice all the senate does is to give its consent. In the early days, however, the President not infrequently requested the "advice" of the senate before starting the negotiation of a treaty, and if the advice was unfavorable the proposed negotiations were abandoned. Even now if the President has doubts as to whether a proposed treaty would receive the approval of two thirds of the senate he will sometimes consult with the members of the senate committee on foreign relations and with other influential members, before beginning the negotiations.

The senate may reject a treaty _in toto_, and has done so in many instances, or it may amend a treaty laid before it, in which case it must be sent back to the government of the other country which is a party thereto for concurrence in the amendments. After the senate has consented to the ratification of a treaty, the President may ratify it or not as he likes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WHITE HOUSE,--THE PRESIDENT'S HOME AND OFFICE]

_The Senate as a Court of Impeachment._--Another special function of the senate is that of acting as a court for the trial of impeachment cases. The Const.i.tution declares that the President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Military and naval officers are tried by court-martial and are not therefore liable to impeachment.[29] To impeach an officer is to bring charges against him. So far as federal officers are concerned this power belongs exclusively to the house of representatives, which acts somewhat as a grand jury does in finding indictments against ordinary criminals. When sitting as a court of impeachment the senators are under a special oath, and when the President is on trial the chief justice of the Supreme Court is the presiding officer instead of the Vice President, who, in such a case, would be directly interested in the outcome of the trial, since in the event of the conviction and removal of the President he would succeed to the office. Managers appointed by the house of representatives appear at the bar of the senate to prosecute the charges preferred by the house, witnesses are examined, evidence presented, and the accused is defended by counsel of his own choosing. In order to prevent the employment of the impeachment power for party purposes, the Const.i.tution provides that the concurrence of two thirds of the senators shall be necessary to convict.

[29] That members of Congress are not liable to impeachment was determined in the case of William Blount, a senator from Tennessee in 1797, the senate deciding that it had no jurisdiction of the case.

The punishment which the senate may inflict in case of conviction is limited to removal from office and disqualification from holding office in the future. The Const.i.tution makes it mandatory upon the senate to remove the convicted official, but whether he shall forever be disqualified from holding office in the future is left to the discretion of the senate. In England the House of Lords, which tries impeachment cases, is not limited in the extent of punishment which it may inflict, but may, at its discretion, sentence the convicted official to imprisonment or the payment of a fine. While the senate of the United States cannot do this, the person convicted and removed may, nevertheless, be indicted and tried by the courts as any other criminal may.

The procedure of removing an officer by impeachment is so c.u.mbersome and unwieldy that it has rarely been resorted to. During our entire history there have been only eight impeachment trials of federal officers, and of these there were convictions in but three cases.[30] If this were the only method of removal it would be difficult to get rid of corrupt and incompetent officials, but it must be remembered that any federal official except the judges may be removed from office by the President for any reason that to him seems fit and proper; and the power is frequently exercised.

[30] The first was that of Judge John Pickering of the United States District Court of New Hampshire, March, 1803. The second was that of Judge Samuel Chase, of the Supreme Court, March, 1804. James H. Peck, District Judge of Missouri, was impeached in April, 1830; West H.

Humphreys, District Judge of Tennessee, May, 1862; Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, February, 1868; William W. Belknap, Secretary of War, March, 1876; Charles Swayne, Judge of the United States District Court for Florida, 1905; and Robert W. Archbald, Judge of the Court of Commerce, 1912. Of these, Pickering, Humphreys, and Archbald were convicted and removed from office, while Humphreys and Archbald were in addition disqualified from holding federal office in the future. Belknap resigned before impeachment charges were preferred, but the senate decided that it had jurisdiction, nevertheless, and the trial was proceeded with only to result in his acquittal.

=References.=--ANDREWS, Manual of the Const.i.tution, pp. 47-68. BEARD, American Government and Politics, chs. xii-xiii. BRYCE, The American Commonwealth (abridged edition), chs. ix-xii. HARRISON, This Country of Ours, ch. ii. HART, Actual Government, ch. xiii. HINSDALE, American Government, chs. xvii-xxiii. WILSON, Congressional Government, secs.

1273-1293.

=Doc.u.mentary and Ill.u.s.trative Material.=--1. Copy of the Congressional Directory. 2. Copies of the Congressional Record. 3. A map showing the Congressional districts of the state.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. How many representatives in Congress has your state?

2. Is there any evidence that your state is "gerrymandered"?

3. In what congressional district do you live? How many counties are there in the district? What is its population? How much does the population vary from the congressional ratio? Who is your representative? How many terms has he served? What is his party? By how large a majority was he elected?

4. Who is the senior senator from your state? The junior senator? How many terms has each served? To which of the three cla.s.ses does each belong?

5. If the first congressional ratio of one member for 30,000 inhabitants were now in force, what would be the number of representatives in the house? Give arguments for and against the proposition that a house of 435 members is too large.

6. Is the present salary of members of Congress sufficiently large to attract the best men? Do you think the European custom of not paying salaries to members of Parliament a wise one?

7. Do you think members of Congress are morally ent.i.tled to "constructive" mileage, that is, for mileage not actually traveled, as where one session merges into another?

8. Members of the British Parliament are elected for a term of five years, those of the German Reichstag for five years, those of the French Chamber of Deputies for four years. In view of these rather long terms, do you think a two-year term for American representatives is too short?

9. Do you think the practice of members of Congress of distributing large quant.i.ties of garden seed among their const.i.tuents at public expense a wise or a vicious one?

10. Do you think public doc.u.ments printed by authority of Congress should be distributed free of cost to all who desire them?

11. What is your opinion of the practice of members of Congress of printing in the Congressional Record long speeches never delivered in Congress?

12. Would the nomination of members of Congress by direct primary be a better method than nomination by convention?

13. What would be the advantage in requiring a newly elected Congress to a.s.semble shortly after the election instead of about thirteen months thereafter, as is the present rule?

14. Ought the qualifications for voting for representatives in Congress to be determined by national authority instead of by the states?

15. Ought a representative to be required to be a resident of the district from which he is elected?

16. Do you think the states should be equally represented in the senate?

CHAPTER XI

ORGANIZATION AND PROCEDURE OF CONGRESS

=Organization of the Two Houses.=--_Officers._--Each house of Congress is free to organize itself in such a manner as it pleases, and to choose its own officers, except that the Vice President of the United States is, by the Const.i.tution, made the presiding officer of the senate. The presiding officer of the house of representatives is called the speaker; that of the senate, the president. Each house has one or more clerks who keep the journals, call rolls, read bills, and have custody of all bills, resolutions, pet.i.tions, and memorials; a sergeant-at-arms who preserves order, has charge of the halls, pays members their salaries, and performs various other duties[31]; a postmaster; a doorkeeper; a chaplain; and other minor officials.

[31] The sergeant-at-arms of the house of representatives has custody of the mace which is the symbol of the authority of the house. It is a representation of the Roman _fasces_ in ebony, and is surmounted by a globe and an eagle in silver. During the session it is kept in the place provided for it near the speaker's desk, but when disorder breaks out in the course of the debates, the sergeant-at-arms takes the mace from its accustomed place and proceeds, bearing it aloft, to the part of the house where the disorder prevails. He then commands order in the name of the house, and if the display of the mace is not sufficient to restore order, the house may order the disorderly member or members to be arrested.

_Opening of a New Congress._--When a new Congress a.s.sembles, the house of representatives is called to order by the clerk of the preceding house. He then calls the roll of the members whose credentials or certificates of election have been filed with him, and if a quorum is present the house proceeds to the election of a speaker. The members of each political party represented in the house have already in caucus agreed upon their candidates, and they are now put in nomination before the house by some member representing each party. Usually the action of the caucus of the majority party is equivalent to an election, and the house has only to ratify its choice. In several instances, however, the election of the speaker involved long and bitter contests. Thus in 1849, 63 ballots were taken, and again in 1855-1856, 133 ballots were necessary, and in each case a special rule was adopted permitting a plurality to elect.

The senate, on the other hand, is always an organized body. The presiding officer--the Vice President--at the opening of a new Congress calls the senate to order, and the other officers, who hold during the pleasure of the senate, resume their duties. The senate elects one of its own members as president _pro tempore_ to preside over its deliberations during the absence of the Vice President or in case there is no Vice President, as has often happened.

_The Oath of Office_ is usually administered to the speaker by the oldest member in point of service,--called "the Father of the House,"--after which the speaker calls the other members to the front--usually by state delegations--and administers the oath to them.