Our Government: Local, State, and National: Idaho Edition Part 8

Such actions are called _obstructive tactics_, or _filibustering_.

The Lobby, Log-rolling, and Patronage.--Not all the bills that come before Congress are pa.s.sed or rejected because they are wise or unwise. The influences that determine the course of legislation at Washington are very numerous and complicated. Some of these influences are to a greater or less extent legitimate, and others are totally bad. The _lobby_, in its broadest sense, is composed of all those persons who go to Washington in order to exert pressure upon Congressmen in favor of or against certain measures. Some of the best laws and some of the worst are enacted through the influence of the lobbyist. _Log-rolling_ is an important influence in determining legislation; a member votes for the pet measure of his fellow Congressman on condition that the latter will vote for the bill in which he is particularly interested. Political _patronage_ is a great factor in determining votes in Congress; the power of members to recommend appointments, and the influences exerted in their favor by the appointees, often determine the question of their continuance in office. Consequently, there is a great temptation to use patronage in exchange for votes. The use of money directly in _bribery_ is difficult of detection, but other favors and privileges of money value are no less effective in the purchase of the votes of those members who are so unscrupulous as to be open to such influences.

Debate in Congress.--It is now apparent that many other things besides the arguments used in debate determine which bills shall pa.s.s and which shall fail. In the House the time for debate is strictly limited, on account of the amount of business. The chairman of the committee reporting a bill generally has one hour in which to urge the pa.s.sage of his measure; for a portion of the time he may _yield the floor_ to other members, both friends and opponents of the bill. Of course, much more than one hour is given to debate on important bills.

Many of the speeches which are printed in the _Congressional Record_ have not been delivered; but they are intended for circulation among the const.i.tuents of representatives, and for use as campaign doc.u.ments. Many of the speeches that are actually delivered receive scant attention; the lack of interest in them is made evident by the noise and confusion that very often prevail during sessions of the House.

Senate Procedure.--In the Senate debate is not limited. Senators are expected to regard each other's rights with respect to the amount of time and attention they may demand; yet a bill may be "talked to death"

in the Senate. As a result, the Senate is less business-like in its procedure than the House, and some means of checking unlimited discussion have often been proposed for it.

Conference Committees.--A bill which has pa.s.sed one house must be sent to the other. Here it is introduced and goes through the stages above described. If one house amends a bill which has already pa.s.sed the other, it must be returned for re-pa.s.sage to the house where it originated. This is a frequent cause of conflict between the two houses, and each tries to insist on its rights.

When such a dispute cannot be easily adjusted, a _conference committee_ must be appointed. This is composed of members from each house, and they endeavor to arrange a compromise which will be acceptable to both houses. Generally their decision is ratified without question, but sometimes even this method of settlement fails.

Methods of Voting.--There are three methods of voting in Congress.

(1) Members respond "aye" or "no" by acclamation. (2) If a _division_ is called for, a rising vote is taken and the members are counted. In the House the counting is done by two tellers, who stand near the speaker's desk, while the members pa.s.s between them in single file, first those voting in the affirmative, and afterward those opposing the motion. (3) When the "yeas and nays" are called for, or whenever the rules of either house require them, the roll is called and each member votes as he responds to his name. This vote is entered on the Journal.

After the roll-call is completed, the presiding officer announces the _pairs_. Members who belong to different political parties may agree that they shall be recorded on opposite sides of party questions, whether they are present or not. Or pairs may be arranged for particular votes only. This device enables a member to be absent from his seat without feeling that his vote is needed.

The President's Power in Law-Making.--A bill which has received a majority vote in both houses is next sent to the President.

Article 1, Section 7, Clause 2. _Every bill which shall have pa.s.sed the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections, to that house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two-thirds of that house shall agree to pa.s.s the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that house it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law._

There are then three ways in which a bill may become a law. (1) It may pa.s.s by majority vote in both houses and be signed by the President. (2) It may, after being vetoed by the President, be pa.s.sed by two-thirds vote in both houses. (3) It will become a law if the President neither signs nor vetoes it within ten days, unless these are at the end of the session.

The framers of the Const.i.tution intended that the veto power should be a check, though not an absolute one, upon hasty or unwise legislation. The President may cause a bill to fail by neither signing nor vetoing it during the last ten days of a session. The term _pocket veto_ has been applied to this method of defeating bills.

SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS AND REFERENCES.

1. Copies of the Congressional Record and the Congressional Directory furnish interesting ill.u.s.trations of the topics treated in this chapter.

2. What difference is there in the granting of recognition in the Senate and House? Harrison, This Country of Ours, 45-48.

3. How are obstructive tactics carried on? Alton, Among the Law-makers, Chapter 20.

4. Reinsch, Young Citizen's Reader, 198-213. Marriott, Uncle Sam's Business, 8-16.

CHAPTER X.

SOME IMPORTANT POWERS OF CONGRESS.

I. NATIONAL FINANCES.

The Power of Taxation.--When we speak of the finances of a country, we mean its revenues and expenditures. Revenues have their origin chiefly[20] in taxation, and the power vested in Congress by virtue of which taxes are imposed and collected is found in the following clause:

Article I, Section 8, Clause 1. _The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States._

[Footnote 20: Considerable sums are derived by our National government from the sale of public lands. See Chapter on Territories and Public Lands.]

Duties on Imports.--The two forms of taxes relied upon by the United States for its revenues are (1) duties and (2) excises.[21] A duty is a tax levied upon goods that are imported into the United States.[22] The merchant doing business in New York, for example, cannot obtain possession of the goods he has imported until the officers of the custom-house at that port have examined the _invoice_, or the list of articles in each package, with their prices; and the officers may examine the goods, also, to see if they correspond in amount and quality to the statements of the invoice. The importer then pays to the collector of the port of New York the amount of the duty levied on his importation.

[Footnote 21: The terms _duties_ and _imposts_ have nearly the same meaning.]

[Footnote 22: Duties on exports are prohibited in Section 9, Clause 5, of Article I: _No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State_.]

Kinds of Duties.--These are of two kinds. (1) _Specific_ duties are fixed amounts levied on certain units of measurement of commodities, as the pound, yard, or gallon. Under the tariff law of 1909 the duty on tin-plate was one and two-tenths cents for each pound. (2) _Ad valorem_ duties are levied at a certain rate per cent on the value of the articles taxed. The law of 1909 laid a duty of 60 per cent on lace manufactures.

On some articles both kinds of duties are levied. Under the law just mentioned, the duties on carpets and rugs were 10 cents per square foot and 40 per cent _ad valorem_ in addition.

Pa.s.sengers on steamships coming from foreign countries are required to declare what dutiable goods they have among their baggage, each person being allowed to enter $100 worth of goods free of duty.

Upon landing, their baggage is examined; trunks and valises are opened, and in suspected cases the persons of travelers are searched for concealed dutiable goods. The temptation to undervaluation and to smuggling, in order to escape this form of taxation, is so great that constant vigilance is necessary at custom-houses and along the borders of the United States to prevent these frauds. Special agents and revenue cutters are employed to detect violations of the law.

Tariff Laws.--A _tariff_ is the list of the rates of duties fixed by law. An importer of foreign goods must consider the amount of the duties he has paid as part of the cost of the goods when he sells them.

If a higher price is caused in this way, less of such goods will be imported and the production of the goods in this country will be encouraged. Consequently, high rates of duties may have a decided influence upon the industries of a country. When the rates of duties are so fixed as to bring about this result, we have a _protective_ tariff; i.e., one under which persons can produce in this country certain articles which otherwise they could not produce, because of their cheapness when imported from a foreign country. The duties are made so high that it is not profitable to import the articles. When rates of duties are fixed primarily with the object of raising revenue, and without regard to their effect upon the industries of the country, we have a _tariff for revenue_. This kind of tariff is generally meant when the term _free trade_ is used. Articles on which no duties are imposed are said to be on the _free list_. There is no country which fails to collect duties on some of its importations.

Reciprocity Agreements.--The United States has entered into _reciprocity treaties_ with various countries for securing the reduction of tariff rates. Each country agrees to admit certain products of the other country at reduced rates, or free of duty.

These are generally commodities in the production of which there is little or no compet.i.tion between the parties to the treaty.

Internal Revenue Taxes.--Excises are taxes laid upon the manufacture and sale of certain products within the country. At the present time these _internal revenue_ taxes are levied by the National government upon liquors,[23] tobacco, snuff, opium, oleomargarine, filled cheese, mixed flour, and playing cards. The greater number of these taxes are paid by the purchase of stamps, which must be affixed, in the proper denominations, to the articles taxed. When the packages are broken, the stamps must be destroyed so that they cannot be used again.

[Footnote 23: Taxes are levied, not only upon the liquors themselves, but upon the business of brewing and rectifying; of selling by wholesale and by retail; of manufacturing stills; and upon the stills themselves.

A list of these taxes may be obtained from the collector of any internal revenue district.]

War Taxes.--Because taxes of this kind are so easily collected, the government has extended them to a great number of articles when it suddenly needed a large revenue, as in the War of 1812, the Civil War, and the Spanish War of 1898. The law of 1898 increased the taxes on liquors and tobacco, and imposed new taxes on (1) proprietary articles, and (2) doc.u.ments. Under the first heading fall patent medicines and compounds of various kinds.

Doc.u.mentary taxes[24] were imposed upon legal papers, such as deeds, mortgages, etc., and also upon bank checks and drafts, telegraph and telephone messages, and express receipts. Under this law the internal revenue receipts rose from $170,000,000 in 1898, to $273,000,000 in 1899. Congress has repealed these special war taxes.

[Footnote 24: These were exactly like those imposed by Parliament in the Stamp Act of 1765.]

Corporation Tax.--In 1909 Congress levied a tax upon corporations. Every corporation doing interstate business is required to report its earnings and its expenses. The difference between these amounts is its _net earnings_. The law requires the payment of one per cent of the net earnings that are in excess of $5000.

Rules for Levying Taxes.--The Const.i.tution contains three rules by which Congress must be guided in the levying of taxes. We have seen, Article I, Section 8, Clause 1, that _duties, imposts and excises must be uniform throughout the United States_; that is, the same rates must prevail everywhere. Another provision, Article I, Section 2, Clause 3, is that _representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States ... according to their respective numbers_.[25]

[Footnote 25: See also Article 1, Section 9, Clause 4: _No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid unless in proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken._]

The third provision is the Sixteenth Amendment, which became a part of the Const.i.tution in February, 1913: Article 16. _The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration._