sent of the Senate he appoints a governor for the term of four years, and without the consent of the Senate he appoints other officials for an indefinite term. There is no legislature for the zone, but there is a district court with a judge appointed by the President for four years and local courts conducted by justices who are appointees of the governor.

Because of the President's influence in the governing of the Canal Zone it has been called a 66 crown colony."

142. Other Insular Dependencies. —Like Porto Rico and the Philippines, Guam was acquired in 1899 as a result of the war with Spain. The Samoan Islands were acquired by treaty in 1900. Each of these possessions is commanded by a naval officer.

Wake, Midway, Howland, Baker, and Guano islands are claimed by the United States, but as they are totally or prac tically uninhabited they need no government.

In 1917 the United States purchased the islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John from Denmark by treaty for $25,000,000.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

HARRISON, F. B. The Cornerstone of Philippine Independence. 1922. WOOD, LEONARD. Report of the Special Mission on Investigation to the Philippine Islands. 1921.

Annual Report of the Bureau of Insular Affairs.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

1. What was the main reason for annexing Hawaii in 1898? 2. The government of Hawaii is somewhat similar to that of what former territories of the United States?

3. Are Hawaiians American citizens?

4. Into what three branches is the Hawaiian government divided?

5. How is the governor of Hawaii chosen? The Senate?

House of Representatives?

6. What laws may be enacted by the legislature of Hawaii?

The

7. By whom is the territory of Hawaii represented in Washington? May he vote?

8. How and when did the United States acquire Alaska?

9. How is the governor of Alaska chosen ? The Senate? The House of Representatives?

10. In what respect do Alaskan laws differ from Hawaiian laws as to the method of making them?

11. How is Alaska represented in Washington?

12. How and when did the United States acquire Porto Rico?

13. How do Porto Ricans differ from Hawaiians and Alaskans in their relationship to the United States?

14. How is the governor of Porto Rico chosen? The Executive Council? The House of Delegates?

15. How is Porto Rico represented in Washington?

16. How and when did the United States acquire the Philippine Islands?

17. Are Filipinos citizens of the United States?

18. How is the Governor General of the Philippine Islands selected? The Philippine Commission? The Assembly?

19. How are the Philippine Islands represented in Washington? 20. How and when did the United States acquire Panama? 21. How is Panama governed? colony"?

66

Why is it called a crown

22. What other insular dependencies does the United States own? 23. Name the foreign possessions of the United States in the order of their degree of local self-government.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Do you approve of the recent appropriations by Congress of $52,000,000 for the building of a government railroad in Alaska? Why?

2. Do you think Filipinos should be given full United States citizenship? Why?

3. Do you think the Filipinos should be given their independence, or do you think the Philippines should become a state of the Union? 4. President Wilson issued an executive order prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquor in the Canal Zone. Why can he not issue a similar order for the Philippines?

5. Could the House of Representatives grant cabinet members the right to speak on the floor of the House and to serve on committees ? 6. If the question as to the constitutional privileges of a citizen of any of these possessions arises, to what court may the questions in dispute be finally appealed?

7. Prepare a report on any one of these possessions.

CHAPTER XVII

POLITICAL PARTIES AND POLITICS

143. National Parties. A political party is an organization C" of many people, united by common principles or a common policy, and having for its immediate end the control of the government through the carrying of elections and the possession of office. A political organization, like any other organization, perpetuates itself by representative men known as

f

committeemen.

For each of the national parties there is a National Committee composed of one member from each State, chosen by different methods for terms of four years. The National Committee elects a National Chairman for the same period of years, and he is the real party manager.

In each State there is a State Committee and a State Chairman to coöperate with the National Committee and its chairman. It is the duty of these party representatives to promote harmony, to arouse enthusiasm by speeches and literature, to arrange for the selection of party candidates for public office, to instruct the voters concerning the merits and virtues of their own principles and leaders and the mistakes of their opponents, to enlist new voters such as naturalized foreigners — in short, to capture the government.

An old party may have no principles differing from the opposing party, and may be said to be "looking for an issue." "A party may hold together 'long after its moral life is extinct. Parties go on contending because their members. have formed habits of joint action, and have contracted hatreds and prejudices, and also because the leaders find advantage in

...

f

The

using these habits and playing on these prejudices. . . . mill has been constructed and its machinery goes on turning even when there is no grist to grind.'" 1

However, when a political party with a large membership has been in control for a long period and has had no formidable party to oppose it, sectional or economic differences of opinion tend to "split" it into "factions." During Taft's administration the Republican Party split into two factions, — the “insurgents" and the "standpatters." Their differences of opinion were irreconcilable, and the insurgents, after "bolting" the Republican Convention of 1912, organized the Progressive Party with Roosevelt as its leader.

The immediate end of political parties is the control of the government. This control may be honest or it may be corrupt. If the voter is wide awake the parties out of power will assist. him in obtaining good government by exposing any improper acts committed by the party in power and by educating him to an understanding of the reforms advocated by them. Therefore, political parties are useful to democratic government, and as there is no provision for them in the Constitution of the United States they have developed as extra-legal institutions.2 Laws distinctly recognizing the existence of parties and attempting to regulate their activities are very recent, but State primaries provided by law have in many States displaced the old extra-legal conventions.

144. Party Platforms. A party platform is a statement of principles or policies for which the party stands. A national party platform is framed every four years by the Committee on Resolutions at the National Convention of the party. Each party platform contains a somewhat detailed statement of the principles and policies which it advocates, though its statements are not always clear.

1 Ray, P. Orman, "An Introduction to Political Parties and Practical Politics," page 7.

2 Extra-legal means outside of the law; not illegal or contrary to law, but simply not regulated at all by law.

If the delegates of the convention cannot agree upon specific public questions, ambiguous or non-committal "planks” will be adopted rather than offend any large faction of the party. As platforms are partisan documents and not judicial, their value depends much upon the character of the party leaders and candidates who indorse them. It has been cynically said that platforms are good things to get in and out on, but not to ride on.

145. Summary of the 1920 Platform of the Republican Party.

Tariff: Protective tariff as soon as industries need it. Business: Provision of better means for determining in advance whether a proposed combination is unlawful; development of water transportation; encouragement of export trade; exemption from Panama Canal tolls for American coastwise vessels and all vessels of our Merchant Marine. Labor: Denial of the right to strike against the Government; opposition to government ownership and operation or employee operation of railroads.

Agriculture: Long term credits to farmers; comprehensive reclamation policy; liberal appropriations for highway construction.

Finance: Rigid economy by the Government; executive federal budget; simplified form of income return.

Political: Woman suffrage; right of free speech, free press, and free assembly, but advocacy of overthrow of Government (anarchy) denied.

Social: Prevention of lynching by action of Congress; generous care for those disabled by the War.

Foreign Relations: League of Nations plank ambiguous; protection to our citizens and property in foreign countries; firm but consistent policy towards Mexico; annual registration of aliens until naturalization; restriction of immigrants to number that can be assimilated, but practical exclusion of Asiatics.