CHAPTER XXXV THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 334. The Outline of a Constitution. We come now to the law which organized a government for our Union. Three organs of government are needed: a legislature to make laws, a court to try cases, and officers to enforce the law and do other work in which we coöperate. All of these organs must be described in the constitution so that we shall know how our officers are to be elected or appointed and so that they will know what their powers and duties are. If we form a union of Statés, and if in such a union the power of the States must be limited so that the union will be strong, then the constitution must mention those. things which the States may not do. But we must also make an arrangement for changing the constitution. Times change and so do our ideas about the powers of government. Therefore we shall find differences of opinion about the powers and duties of our Federal union. These differences can be safely settled only if we have a way of changing the government whenever it is in need of improvement. 335. The Legislature for the Union. We have already had some discussion of the Congress, but we did not discuss the methods of electing its members. We saw that the upper house or Senate has two members from each State. At first the constitution provided that the States should elect Senators through their legislatures. But a through laws against the shipment of unwholesome foods from one State to another. So much good has been done that it is now safer to eat candy which is shipped from one State to another than to take the kind manufactured and sold only in one city. Our Federal government has no control of it unless it is shipped in interstate commerce. All of this work to protect health is expensive and burdensome and we should not depend on private individuals to look out for it. 323. Panama and Cuba. What can be done for the health of a community is shown by the work of our Federal government in Panama and Cuba. In both of these places. disease was so general that white men could hardly live there. The French were prevented from digging the Panama Canal largely because the workmen died in such large numbers. Yet our government made both places as healthful as almost any other part of the world by making good laws and enforcing them. One doctor lost his life experimenting with the mosquito which carries yellow fever. The work of such a hero is important enough for our government to recognize it with full support. What we need is organization at the top of the government so that scientific leadership will be provided to give the President the best advice. SUGGESTIONS AND QUESTIONS 1. Ask the principal of your school to tell you some day about the work of the United States Bureau of Education. After he has done so, make a list of the kinds of help such a bureau can give to the teachers all over the country. 2. Go to the public library and ask for the report of the Commissioner of Education, who is at the head of this bureau of the Department of the Interior. To whom does he make this large report? Why is he required to make it? Does it help to keep his department interested in its work? 3. Education is given in many ways besides teaching in the schools. How can the Department of Agriculture help to educate the farmer? How can the Department of the Interior help to educate all of us in the need of conservation? How can the Department of Labor help to educate workmen and employers in the need of working together for the common good of all? Each of these departments collects information and sends it out, more cheaply and better than separate State departments could do it. What kind of expert civil servants does this educational work require? 4. Ask your family doctor to tell you something about the work of the public health service. After he has told you, make a list of the things the United States government is doing to make us a healthy people. Write a paragraph giving your opinion of the need of a Department of Health. If you wanted to decide whether we should have such a department, would you use your own information or would you ask some experts, such as the doctors, whose duty it is to care for health? 5. Examine some of the canned goods in your home and see if the labels on them make any reference to the work of the United States government. Ask your butcher whether the government of the United States does anything to protect you from having to eat unwholesome meat. CHAPTER XXXIV FEDERAL LAW 324. Work and Law. In the last three chapters we discussed some of the work the Federal government can do for us. But work cannot be done by the government without law or rules for doing it. We cannot conserve our resources without changing the law about property so that men who own land will use it for the good of others as well as for their own profit. We cannot aid good business unless we make laws against unfair business. We cannot protect health and education without making laws against those who would neglect both of these. The Federal government must make these laws and enforce them if it is to make the world a better place to live in. When we were discussing the law of the State we saw that much of it was brought over from England and that it has grown through more than a thousand years. Most of this old law is enforced by the State governments. The Federal government works mainly through statutes. 325. Federal Law-Making. When our forefathers created the United States many people opposed the union because they thought it would interfere too much with the governments of the States. These opponents of strong government did all they could to have the constitution so written that the Federal government would not have much power. Consequently it can do no work and make no rules except about those things which the constitution of the United States clearly places under its control. We call this a government of limited powers. The States can make laws about anything except what is forbidden in their constitutions or in the Constitution of the United States; and they can change their constitutions so that they can do almost anything. We say almost, because a few things are forbidden to them in the Federal constitution. But the Federal government can do only those things which the constitution tells it to do; and it cannot change its constitution except with the consent of three-fourths of the States. 326. Implied Powers. The constitution gives power to the Federal government in two ways. The first way is by expressly stating that it may do certain things such as collect taxes and establish post offices. The second way is by saying that it may do other things which are necessary in order that the power expressly given may be used. If the Federal government may supply postal service it must have the right to build roads where none exist. The power to establish a bank is implied in the statement that it may borrow money. Implied means folded up in. The second kind of powers are given to the Federal government folded up in the first kind. Those who believe in protecting our manufacturers claim that the power to protect them is implied in the power to levy duties on goods imported from other countries. If the Federal government may control interstate commerce it may control the kind of goods which are shipped in that commerce. Therefore it has an implied power to forbid the shipment of impure foods or drugs, or goods which are manufactured in dangerous conditions. 327. Increase of Federal Powers. We are not as much afraid of the power of the United States government now |