Government in the United States, National, State and Local Part 28

_The Bureau of Lighthouses_ is charged with the construction and maintenance of lighthouses, light vessels, beacons, fog signals, buoys, and other aids to navigation. The seaboard is divided up into lighthouse districts, in each of which is a naval officer who serves as inspector and has immediate charge of the supply, maintenance, and administration of the lighthouses in his district. At each lighthouse there is a keeper and one or more a.s.sistant keepers. The establishment now consists of more than 1,500 lighthouses and beacons, a fleet of light-ships, and more than 6,000 buoys. Since 1910 the service has been under the supervision of a commissioner.

_The Bureau of Standards_, established in 1901, is charged with the custody of the national standards, the testing of measuring apparatus, and the investigation of problems relating to standards of weighing and measuring.

_The Coast and Geodetic Survey_ is charged with the survey of the coasts and of rivers to the head of tide water, and the publication of charts of the same; the investigation of questions relating to temperature, tides, currents, and the depths of navigable waters; the making of magnetic observations; the determination of geographic positions, and the like. The results are published in annual reports and special publications. It prepares tables, sailing directions, charts of the coasts, harbor charts, notices to mariners, and other publications for the use of mariners.

_The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce_ is charged with fostering and developing the various manufacturing interests of the United States and extending the markets for manufactured articles abroad, by collecting and publishing all available and useful information concerning such markets and industries. It publishes statistics of commerce, finance, etc., consular and trade reports, and an annual volume known as the "Commercial Relations of the United States."

_The Bureau of Corporations_, created in 1903, was intended mainly to furnish an agency for the investigation of corporations suspected of violating the anti-"trust" laws of the United States.

It was authorized to investigate the organization and methods of any corporation or joint-stock company engaged in foreign or interstate commerce (except common carriers subject to the interstate commerce act) and to report to the President such information as might be of value in enabling him to enforce the anti-"trust" laws. It was abolished in 1914 and its duties were devolved upon the newly created Federal Trade Commission, which has already been described (see p. 245).

=The Department of Labor= was created in 1913, and is charged with fostering, promoting, and developing the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, especially the improvement of the conditions under which they work and the advancement of their opportunities for profitable employment.

_The Bureaus of Immigration and Naturalization_, formerly consolidated in the department of commerce and labor, were divided in 1913 and transferred to the new department of labor. They are charged respectively with the administration of the immigration laws and the administration of the naturalization laws of the United States.[95]

[95] See also pp. 238-239. The increase in the number of immigrants by decades is shown by the following table:

-------------------------+-------------------------+----------------- DECADE | POPULATION AT BEGINNING | TOTAL NUMBER OF | OF DECADE | IMMIGRANTS | | -------------------------+-------------------------+----------------- 1821-1830................| 9,633,822 | 143,439 1831-1840................| 12,866,020 | 599,125 1841-1850................| 17,069,453 | 1,713,251 1851-1860................| 23,191,876 | 2,598,224 1861-1870................| 31,443,321 | 2,314,824 1871-1880................| 38,558,371 | 2,812,191 1881-1890................| 50,155,783 | 5,246,613 1891-1900................| 62,622,250 | 3,687,564 1901-1910................| 75,994,575 | 8,793,386 -------------------------+-------------------------+-----------------

In 1916 naturalization certificates were issued to 93,911 persons and declarations of intention to become citizens were made by 207,935.

_The Bureau of Labor Statistics_, formerly known as the bureau of labor, was transferred from the former department of commerce and labor in 1913. It is charged with collecting and diffusing among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with labor in the most general and comprehensive sense of that word, and especially upon its relations to capital, the hours of labor, the earnings of laboring men and women, and the means of promoting their material, social, intellectual, and moral prosperity.

It is especially charged with investigating the causes of and facts relating to all controversies and disputes between employers and employees. It publishes from time to time the results of elaborate investigations on various subjects relating to labor and industry, and also issues a bimonthly bulletin on special topics within the same field.

_The Children's Bureau_, established in 1912, is charged with the investigation of problems relating to the welfare of children, such as the conditions of the employment of children, the causes of infant mortality, etc.

In 1920 the _Women's Bureau_ was established to promote the welfare of wage-earning women.

=References.=--ANDREWS, Manual of the Const.i.tution, pp. 327-352.

BEARD, American Government and Politics, ch. xi. BRYCE, The American Commonwealth (abridged edition), ch. viii. FAIRLIE, National Administration of the U. S., ch. iv. HARRISON, This Country of Ours, chs. xi-xviii.

=Doc.u.mentary and Ill.u.s.trative Material.=--1. The Congressional Directory. 2. Annual reports of the heads of department and other officials, such as the commissioner of pensions, the commissioner of the general land office, the commissioner general of immigration, the civil service commission, the interstate commerce commission, etc.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is the origin of the term "cabinet"? On what days are cabinet meetings now held?

2. What are the princ.i.p.al differences between the American cabinet and the British cabinet?

3. Do you think the members of the cabinet should be members of Congress? If not, ought they to be allowed seats in Congress without the right to vote?

4. Do you think the President ought ever to disregard the advice of his cabinet?

5. Give the names of five distinguished secretaries of state since 1789.

6. Washington's first cabinet was composed of an equal number of members from both political parties. Would it be wise to follow that practice?

7. Why is the secretary of the treasury required to make his annual reports to Congress while the other heads of departments make theirs to the President?

8. Would it be wise to elect the heads of departments of the federal government by popular vote as those of the state governments usually are?

9. Do you think the secretary of war ought to be an army officer as is the usual practice in Europe?

10. Why is the postmaster-generalship usually given to an active party manager?

11. Why is an importer ineligible under the law to appointment as secretary of the treasury?

12. Why is the department of state really misnamed? Would the t.i.tle "department of foreign affairs" indicate more precisely the duties of the department?

13. What is your opinion of the movement to establish a department of public health?

14. Do you think the bureau of education should be raised to the rank of a department?

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SUPREME COURT ROOM]

CHAPTER XVIII

THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY

=Establishment of the federal Judiciary.=--The Articles of Confederation, as we have seen, made no provision for a national judiciary. Hamilton declared this to be the crowning defect of the old government, for laws, he very properly added, are a dead letter without courts to expound their true meaning and define their operations. During the period of the Confederation, the national government was dependent for the most part, as has been said, on the states for the enforcement of its will. Thus if some one counterfeited the national currency, robbed the mails, or a.s.saulted a foreign amba.s.sador, there was no national court to take jurisdiction of the case and punish the offender.

The only way by which he could be brought to justice and the authority of the national government upheld was through the kindly a.s.sistance of some state court, and this a.s.sistance was not always cheerfully lent nor was it always effective when tendered. Congress to be sure acted as a court for the settlement of disputes between the states themselves, but a legislative a.s.sembly is never well fitted for exercising judicial functions. In the absence of a national judiciary it proved impossible to enforce solemn treaty stipulations to which the United States was a party, a fact which led Great Britain to refuse to carry out certain of her treaty engagements with the United States.

=The Judicial Power of the United States.=--The framers of the Const.i.tution decided that the jurisdiction of the national courts should be restricted to questions of national interest and to those involving the peace and tranquillity of the Union, such as disputes between the states themselves and between citizens of different states, and that the jurisdiction of all other controversies should be left to the determination of the courts of the several states. The jurisdiction of the federal courts, therefore, was made to include all cases whether of law or equity arising under the national Const.i.tution, the laws of the United States, and all treaties made under their authority; all cases affecting amba.s.sadors, other public ministers, and consuls; all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; all controversies to which the United States is a party; all controversies between two or more states; and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states or citizens or subjects thereof.[96]

[96] In two cla.s.ses of these cases, namely, those in which amba.s.sadors, other public ministers, and consuls are parties and those in which a state is a party, the Supreme Court has _original_ jurisdiction, that is, the right to hear and determine the case in the first instance. But that does not mean that the Supreme Court has exclusive jurisdiction in such cases. Other federal courts may try such cases, and as a matter of fact few original suits have ever been brought in the Supreme Court. In the other cla.s.ses of cases mentioned, the Supreme Court has _appellate_ jurisdiction (with such exceptions as Congress may make), that is, such cases must be commenced in the lower courts, from which they may be taken on appeal to the Supreme Court.

The wisdom and propriety of giving the federal courts jurisdiction over all such cases are obvious, since they involve either national, interstate, or international questions. Manifestly, the state courts could not properly be left to determine finally controversies involving the meaning or the application of provisions of the federal Const.i.tution, laws, or treaties, since in that case they would not be what they are declared to be, namely, the supreme law of the land.

Conflicting decisions would be rendered by the courts of different states, and in case of inconsistency between state const.i.tutions and laws on the one hand and the federal Const.i.tution, laws, and treaties on the other, the state courts would be under the temptation to uphold the validity of the former.

_The Eleventh Amendment._--As originally adopted, the Const.i.tution permitted suits to be brought in the federal courts against a state by citizens of another state or by citizens of foreign countries, and when a suit brought against the state of Georgia in 1793 by a citizen of South Carolina named Chisholm for the recovery of a debt was actually entertained by the Supreme Court, widespread popular indignation followed the decision. The authorities of Georgia felt that it was derogatory to the dignity of a sovereign state that it should be made the defendant in a suit brought by a private individual, and a demand was made that the Const.i.tution be amended so as to prevent such "suits"

in the future. As a result of this demand, the Eleventh Amendment was adopted in 1798 which declared that the judicial power of the United States should not be construed to extend to suits brought against a state by citizens of another state or of a foreign country. Nevertheless while a state cannot be made a defendant in a federal court at the instance of a private individual of another state, the federal courts may entertain jurisdiction of suits between a state and a citizen of another state provided the state is the plaintiff.

_How Cases "Arise."_--A case "arises" under the Const.i.tution, laws, or treaties whenever a suit is filed involving a right or privilege thereunder. Until a case "arises," that is, until it comes before the courts in due form, they will take no notice of it. When President Washington in 1793 sought the opinion of the Supreme Court on certain points involving our obligations to France under the treaty of alliance of 1778 it declined to answer his question, holding that it could give opinions only in cases properly brought before it.

=The Regular Federal Courts.=--The Const.i.tution declares that the judicial power 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. The Supreme Court, therefore, is the only federal tribunal which owes its existence to the Const.i.tution, the others being created by statute. Even as to the Supreme Court Congress has considerable power of control, since it determines the number of judges of which it shall be composed, and the amount of their compensation. But it cannot remove any judge except upon impeachment, or reduce his compensation after he has once been appointed.

_The Supreme Court_ is at present composed of one Chief Justice and eight a.s.sociate justices. It holds its sessions in the city of Washington from October to May of each year. Practically all the cases which it hears are those appealed from the lower courts. When a case has been argued, the court holds a consultation at which the points involved are considered and a decision is reached. The Chief Justice then requests one of his a.s.sociates to prepare the opinion of the court, or he may prepare it himself, after which it is scrutinized by the court at a second conference and approved. Any member of the court who disagrees with the majority may file a dissenting opinion, a right frequently taken advantage of. The concurrence of at least five of the nine judges is necessary to the validity of a decision, and as a matter of fact, many important decisions have been rendered in recent years by a bare majority of the court. The opinions rendered are published as the _United States Reports_, of which there are now more than 200 volumes.

They const.i.tute the great authoritative source of the const.i.tutional law of the United States, are studied by lawyers and judges, and are relied upon by the courts as precedents for the decisions of future cases involving similar points of law.[97] There is a reporter who arranges and publishes the opinions, a clerk who keeps the records, and a marshal who attends the court, preserves decorum, and enforces its orders.

[97] The justices of the Supreme Court wear black silk gowns when holding court. The Chief Justice sits in the middle of a row of chairs, his a.s.sociates being arranged on his right and left in the order of seniority of service.