ance commissioner, industrial commissioner, factory commissioner, highway commissioner, health commissioner, public service commissioner, etc., etc. BIBLIOGRAPHY MATHEWS, J. M. Principles of American State Administration. 1917. QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 1. By what title is the chief executive officer of each State known? 2. What did Madison mean when he said, "The Executives of the States are in general little more than ciphers; the legislatures are omnipotent"? Does this condition remain true? 3. How do the powers of a governor compare with those of the President? 4. What executive powers has the governor? 5. What is meant by the statement that "a governor is the captain of a Ship of State, which is navigated by a crew that he does not select, and over which he has few powers of command"? 6. Describe the manner in which the State police of several States assist the governor in enforcing the laws. By what name are these police known in Pennsylvania? 7. Is the appointive power of the governor on the increase or decrease? 8. Have the legislative or executive powers of the governor increased more rapidly? 9. Name the three legislative powers of the governor. 10. Explain the use which a strong governor makes of messages. 11. Under what circumstances does a governor call an extra session of the legislature? 12. Under what condition may a bill become law in the State in which you live if vetoed by the governor? 13.. What advantage results from the power possessed by most governors to veto specific items in appropriation bills? What unpleasant duty is often shifted from the legislatures to the governor as a result of this power? 14. What judicial powers has a governor? 15. Under what conditions should a governor grant pardons? QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Who is the governor of the State in which you live? May he succeed himself as governor ? 2. In New Jersey no executive officers of the State are elected by the people except the governor. With all the interest centred in the governor it is easy for the people to express intelligent opinions at the polls. Would you favor having the State executive officers appointed by the governor ? 3. The People's Power League in Oregon proposed a constitutional amendment giving the governor power to appoint a cabinet consisting of all State executive officers who are now elected and also all sheriffs and district attorneys throughout the State the latter, however, being subject to a recall by the local electorate. This scheme also provides for a legislature of one house in which the governor and his cabinet have a right to propose their measures and take part in debates. It further proposes that the governor may introduce the appropriation bill which might not be increased by the legislature but might be reduced. What do you consider the merits and de merits of this scheme? 4. Governor Wilson of New Jersey broke all precedents by appearing at legislative hearings and by participating in the meetings of members of the legislature. He urged the passage of "administration bills" and "took the stump" when his measures were not passed. By the force of "pitiless publicity" this independent and courageous governor forced the legislature to give what legislation the people desired. Do you favor this type of governor? 5. New Jersey has no lieutenant-governor. The president of the Senate becomes governor if the elected governor dies or resigns. Does the State in which you live need a lieutenant-governor? 6. What executive officers are elected in the State in which you live besides the governor? 7. In 1913 the Illinois House of Representatives adopted a rule providing that a bill which the governor has had introduced shall have precedence in the consideration of the House over all other measures except appropriation bills. Would you favor similar action by the lower house of the legislature in the State in which you live? 8. Twenty-seven of the States maintain residences for their governors. Is the State in which you live one of them? 9. When a new governor elected on a party platform finds an organized opposition in the legislature, what steps can he take to carry out the platform pledges? 10. In comparing the executive powers of the governor with those of the President we find the governor at a great disadvantage. The present population of a number of States is greater than that of the Nation when the United States Constitution was framed, and the number of State employees (10,000 in New York State) and of State functions is much greater than those of the Federal government during Washington's administration. What changes would have to be made by your State to give the governor the same control over State administration that the President has over federal administration? 11. Each applicant for the Pennsylvania State Police Force is required to pass a mental and physical examination and to prove his honesty, moral character, and sobriety before he is admitted for instruction from the School Troop in cavalry drill; horsemanship; practical self-defense; marksmanship; criminal law; fish, game, and forestry law; criminal procedure; investigation of crimes; methods of handling individuals, crowds, and mobs; geography; and civil government. New York State has a school for police which trains police for any locality. Would you consider such training worth while for the policemen of your State? 12. The New York State Police Force patrols the Canadian border for smuggled liquor, patrols highways with loadometers to prevent injury to the roads by overloaded trucks, protects railroads against freight thefts, enforces sanitation and fire protection of moving picture houses and dance halls in small towns, prevents cruelty to animals, looks after poor and destitute families, recovers millions of dollars' worth of stolen property including hundreds of automobiles, reduces crime, etc. Do you consider this Force and the Pennsylvania Force worth their cost- each about a million dollars a year? 13. New York towns can have State Police permanently by paying their salaries. Why may these State Police be superior to police chosen locally? 14. The Pennsylvania State Police Force photographs and files the fingerprints of Pennsylvania criminals. What is the importance of this? 15. The Pennsylvania Force also uses a wireless telephone for the broadcasting of criminal data such as descriptions of stolen automobiles and persons wanted for crimes. Why is this method superior to the use of ordinary phones and telegraphs? CHAPTER XXI STATE COURTS 178. Dual System of Courts. Each of the forty-eight States of the Union has its own system of courts to interpret its laws, apply them to controversies brought into court, and to administer justice. The primary duty of the highest State courts is to interpret the laws and that of the lower courts to apply them to the controversies brought to them for settlement. Besides these State courts, and independent of them, is a system of federal courts extending throughout the United States. These federal courts have jurisdiction of a limited class of cases enumerated in the Constitution of the United States. (See U. S. Constitution, Art. III, Sec. 2.) The State courts hear all other cases. 179. Organization of State Courts.-The lowest courts of each State are commonly called Justices' Courts. Each township or other local district has at least one such court presided over by a magistrate, usually called the justice of the peace. He generally has jurisdiction1 over most misdemeanor cases and small controversies between man and man civil cases 3 con 1 Jurisdiction (Lat. jus and dictio) is the right or power of a court to hear and determine cases brought before it. 2 Crimes are of two kinds, misdemeanors and felonies. A felony is the greater crime and may be punished by death or imprisonment; a misdemeanor is the lesser crime and is punished by a fine or a relatively short term in jail. 8 A civil case is a suit brought by one person against another for the enforcement or protection of a private right, or for the prevention or redress of a private wrong. It is distinguished from a criminal case, which is a suit brought by the State against one who is accused of having committed a crime. Officers of the government always prosecute the accused in a criminal case. (See Sec. 184.) In a civil case the counsel (lawyer) must usually be paid by the person who employs him. cerning money demands (seldom over $50 or $100), the ownership of personal property and wrongs or injuries to property. He is generally denied jurisdiction to determine questions of title to real estate, titles to office, torts to the person, and other like matters of great importance. Above these local courts are County Courts (called Courts of Common Pleas, or District Courts in some States) which have jurisdiction of civil cases involving greater sums, and of major misdemeanors and minor felonies, or of all felonies. Appeals from the judgments of the justices of the peace can be taken to these County Courts unless it is a matter of the most minor character over which the justice of the peace has final jurisdiction. In many States Superior Courts exist above the County Courts. These are commonly called Circuit Courts because the judge goes on circuit to the county seats of the counties composing his circuit. In some States these Circuit Courts take the place of the County Courts. These courts have jurisdiction over civil cases involving unlimited sums and over major felonies, or all felonies, in many States. As the capstone to a State's judicial system there is always one appellate court of last resort, the name of which varies from State to State. For instance, in some States it is known as the "Court of Appeals," and in others as the "Supreme Court of Appeals." This court is appellate because practically all of its cases are appealed to it from the lower courts, few if any originating in it. In addition to the regular State courts just enumerated, nearly half of the States have a special court for each county known as the Probate Court (called Orphans' Court or Surrogate Court in some States) to probate (prove) wills and qualify executors to execute the wills, or to appoint administrators to administer the estates of persons who have died intestate (without a will). In the other States the County Courts usually perform these functions. Every State provides special courts for its cities, especially |