aliens who have signified their intention of becoming citizens to take part in their elections. Not merely are all the rights of citizens thus protected but certain provisions of the Constitution make the enforcement of these privileges more secure and easy. The clause in Article IV which declares that "full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State" has greatly facilitated interstate relations. It has been held to apply only to civil judgments and decrees, and, while not extending the jurisdiction of the courts of one state into the territory of another, allows the judgment of the first court to be offered as evidence in the courts of another state. Such evidence is conclusive and no reëxamination of the merits of the case is necessary. For example, if A obtains a judgment against B, both being subject to the jurisdiction of a court within the same state, A may use this judgment as conclusive evidence to obtain a decree from the court of another state to attach the property which B may have in that state. No new suit is necessary; all that A has to do is to offer the properly authenticated decree of the court in which the suit was first brought, and the court of the second state must execute it.1 In like manner Article IV, Section ii, clause 2, provides for the surrender of persons charged with treason, felony, or other crimes, upon the demand of the authorities of the state where the crime was committed. This extradition clause has made possible the enforcement of the criminal law of the states. Yet as there is no penalty defined either in the constitutional requirement or in the congressional act which declares that "it shall be the duty of the executive authority of the state to cause the fugitive to be seized and delivered to the agent of the demanding state," it rests with the discretion of the executive of the state — the governor to determine whether such a request shall be honored. Several cases have arisen where the governors have exercised this discretion and have refused to return fugitives, one of the most notable being the refusal of the governor of Indiana to return Governor Taylor of Kentucky, who was indicted for 1 W. W. Willoughby, The Constitutional Law of the United States, Vol. I, p. 199. complicity in the murder of Governor Goebel of the state. In 1918 Governor McCall of Massachusetts refused to honor a requisition from the governor of West Virginia, on the ground that the negro criminal for whom the extradition was asked would not receive a fair trial. This brought a violent protest from West Virginia, but the state was obliged to acquiesce in Governor McCall's decision. 1 W. W. Willoughby, The Constitutional Law of the United States, Vol. I, pp. 222-224, and C. A. Beard, Readings in American Government and Politics, p. 148, give examples of extradition proceedings. Politics, the conscious life of the state, is the direction of the government established by the Constitution Voters and officials try to control and direct state action CHAPTER V. • POLITICAL ISSUES AND PARTY HISTORY In spite of the oft-repeated declaration that our government is one of laws and not of men, the actual operations of the government are those of men working under the Constitution. The Constitution by itself would be an interesting and instructive document setting forth political theories; it would be like any scheme for an ideal Utopia. Without the activities of men it would be cold and inert, like a steam engine without steam. It is men in their political activities who operate the government and change the Constitution from an expression of political philosophy into the charter of a going concern. Politics is the guidance of the government established by the Constitution. It is the utilization of the discretionary power confided by the Constitution to the government. Politics is the conscious life of the state. For example, the Constitution provides for the choice of a president, but no president would be chosen unless the political activity of individual citizens determined who should be chosen and performed the necessary operations prescribed by the Constitution. Again, Congress may levy taxes and appropriate money, but political activity determines what tax shall be levied and how much money shall be appropriated. All legislative and most executive action is political, and the very laws which the courts apply are the result of political activity. To decry politics, therefore, is to decry the government performing its functions. The political activities of the citizen are generally performed both outside and inside the formal government. They comprise the countless conferences and the numerous understandings and agreements, and the molding of public opinion, all of which lead towards a certain action by the government. The putting forward of a candidate, the popularization of a measure, the contribution of money, and the appeal to a Congressman are all parts of the political activity. of a citizen outside of the formally established government. The veto of a president, the vote of a senator, the appointment of an officer and many of his acts, are political activities within the formal government. Briefly it may be said that the unofficial citizen attempts to choose as officials men who will direct the action of the government according to his desires. The official, as far as it lies within his power, compels the agencies of the state to act in accordance with his wishes and the desires of his supporters. The political activity of both the individual citizen and the official thus has as its aim the attempt to control the activity of the state and to produce some action. Since a single individual has little influence by himself, he Definition of seeks coöperation. In politics this coöperation produces a polit- party ical party. Professor A. D. Morse has thus rather exhaustively defined a party: A party is a durable organization which, in its simplest form, consists of a single group of citizens united by common principles, but, in its more complex forms, of two or more such groups held together by the weaker bond of a common policy; and which, contrary to the view usually held, has for its immediate end the advancement of the interests and the realization of the ideals, not of the people as a whole, but of the particular group or groups which it represents.1 a political zation The organization of a party may be loose or strict. In its Party organisimplest form it consists of common agreements to act in a definite way. In its complex form it covers the multitude of committees and leaders, bosses and party workers, who popularize the party, propagate its ideals, and control, more or less successfully, the activities of its members. The aim of the party is to Party policy control the action of the government by possession of the offices. The purposes for which the party desires to get control of the government constitute its principles or policy. These may deal with moral, social, or economic questions, but the action of the party is political. It attempts to get possession of the government to realize its aims. In England, where the parliamentary system is held to work in an ideal way, the party organization and the government are 1 Political Science Quarterly, Vol. XI, p. 68. English party identical. This is so, because, as far as Parliament is concerned, organization ernment is an instru- the Cabinet is the party organization. The responsible executives, ment of gov- that is, the ministers, are the leaders of the party and control the party organization. The party organization is thus an instrument of the government. Therefore, not merely does complete harmony between the government and the party organization exist but by no possibility can disagreements arise, for the government and the party are one. Parties necessary in the United States Parties in the United States formu and select officials The framers of the Constitution of the United States did not understand parties; they feared and distrusted them. Therefore they made no provision for their action in their plan of government. Yet the system they established necessitated parties. The selection of the president from a single constituencythe largest in the world, the whole country required the action of parties to solidify public opinion and to name the candidates. The vast power in the hands of the president made his choice of supreme importance since he could determine such questions as war and peace. Declarations of policy must therefore be made as to what the party behind the candidate proposed that the government should do. And since there was a separation of departments- since no parliamentary system was possible -it was desirable that the legislature should be in harmony with the executive. To bring about this harmony in the absence of parliamentary control, party control was developed. Thus it happens that our system, designed to minimize the power of factions," as parties were called, would fail to operate without parties. Yet unlike the English system there was no opportunity provided whereby a party could exercise its functions through the late policies regular organs of the state. There were no means provided whereby a party could formulate and carry through its policy, select its candidates for high office, or insure that they should be treated as the real leaders of the party and control its action." 2 Party organization therefore exists outside of and independently of the organs of the government in the United States. Therefore parties are, or to be more accurate were until recently, private 1 A. L. Lowell, The Government of England, Vol. I, p. 458. |