one party to another; they depend on the silent but effectual protest of leaving their party in the lurch. . . . To compel men to vote against their will is to tighten the control of party managers. The defect of the compulsory system, as of many proposed reforms which are expected to restore the Eden period of politics, is that it does not go to the root of the matter.

Questions on the foregoing Readings

1. What can be said as to the ethnic qualifications of the suffrage in colonial times?

2. What moral qualifications of the suffrage were imposed in the New England colonies?

3. What were some of the religious qualifications of the suffrage in colonial times?

4. What can be said as to the property qualifications imposed in colonial times?

5. What is meant by the doctrine of natural rights?

6. What fundamental rights existed previous to the formation of government, according to the advocates of the doctrine of natural rights?

7. Name two important amendments to the Federal Constitution, which affect the suffrage question.

8. Summarize the arguments advanced in behalf of woman suffrage. 9. What were some of the arguments urged against the extension of full suffrage to women?

10. What does experience prove as to merits and defects of the woman suffrage argument?

11. What is Professor Munro's conclusion as to woman suffrage? 12. What was the nature and purpose of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments?

13. In what respect has the suffrage movement developed differently in the North and in the South?

14. With respect to Negro suffrage, what is the significance of recent constitutional changes in the South?

15. How may an educational test be used to bar the Negro from the

polls?

16. Explain the nature and function of the "

in some of our southern constitutions.

grandfather clause "

17. Why was the Negro disfranchised after the Civil War? 18. What can be said as to the responsibility for the evils which have followed upon this disfranchisement?

19. Explain the statement that "the operation of the [Fourteenth] Amendment in its relation to the Negro race has in it all of the irony of history."

20. Explain carefully why the sudden enfranchisement of the Negro was a crime against the colored race.

21

What was the fundamental mistake in our Negro policy in Reconstruction times?

22. Is interest in elections decreasing or increasing?

23. Name some reasons why potential voters stay at home on election day.

24. To what extent would a compulsory voting law bring these potential voters to the polls?

25. What is Professor Hart's conclusion as to the value of legislation compelling the exercise of the suffrage?

numerous

elements.

There is no constitutional basis or provision for American political The political party parties, nevertheless each of the great parties has built up a powerful includes organization which coördinates its members in every part of the country. In practically every township, village, election district and and diverse city ward, there are local committees and party agents, whose work it is to promote the interests of the party. Above these local workers are county and state committees, and finally, at the top of the organization, the national committee. Altogether the organization of a political party is made up of numerous and diverse groups, as Lord Bryce points out in the following passage:

includes:

In America the Inner Circle, that is to say, the persons who make
political work the chief business of life, for the time being,
First. - All members of both houses of Congress.
Secondly. All Federal office-holders except the judges, who are

irremovable, and the "classified civil service."

The list of professional politicians includes, (1) Congressmen, (2) many Federal officeholders, (3) a large

state

Thirdly. A large part of the members of the state legislatures. How large a part, it is impossible to determine, for it varies greatly part of from state to state. I should guess that in New York, Pennsylvania, legislators, New Jersey, California, Maryland, and Louisiana, half (or more) the members were professional politicians; in Connecticut, Ohio, Virginia, Illinois, Texas, perhaps less than half; in Georgia, Kentucky, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, not more than one-third; in Massachusetts, Vermont, and some other states, perhaps even less. But the line between a professional and non-professional politician is too indefinite to make any satisfactory estimate possible.

1 From James Bryce, The American Commonwealth. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1914. Vol. 1, pp. 62-64.

(4) most

state office

holders,

(5) many

local officeholders,

and (6)

numerous officeseekers.

The above are professional politicians.

This group not clearly divisible from the non-profes

sional group.

Fourthly.

Nearly all state office-holders, excluding all judges in

a very few states, and many of the judges in the rest.

Fifthly. Nearly all holders of paid offices in the greater and in many of the smaller cities, and many holders of paid offices in the counties. There are, however, great differences in this respect between different states, the New England States and the newer states of the Northwest, as well as some southern states, choosing many of their county officials from men who are not regularly employed on politics, although members of the dominant party.

Sixthly.

A large number of people who hold no office but want to get one, or perhaps even who desire work under a municipality. This category includes, of course, many of the "workers" of the party which does not command the majority for the time being, in state and municipal affairs, and which has not, through the President, the patronage of Federal posts. It also includes many expectants belonging to the party for the time being dominant, who are earning their future places by serving the party in the meantime. All the above may fairly be called professional or Inner Circle politicians, but of their number I can form no estimate, save that it must be counted by hundreds of thousands, inasmuch as it practically includes nearly all state and local and most Federal officeholders as well as most expectants of public office. . . .

I have observed that there are also plenty of men engaged in some trade or profession who interest themselves in politics and work for their party without any definite hope of office or other pecuniary gain. They correspond to what we have called the Outer Circle politicians of Europe. It is hard to draw a line between the two classes, because they shade off into one another, there being many [persons] who, while pursuing their regular calling, bear a hand in politics, and look to be some time or other rewarded for doing so. When this expectation becomes a considerable part of the motive for exertion, such an one may fairly be called a professional, at least for the time being, for although he has other means of livelihood, he is apt to be impregnated with the habits and sentiments of the professional class.

The proportion between Outer Circle and Inner Circle men is in the United States a sort of ozonometer by which the purity and health

tion between professional

politicians

United

States.

iness of the political atmosphere may be tested. Looking at the The proporNorth only, for it is hard to obtain trustworthy data as to the South, and excluding Congressmen, the proportion of men who exert them- and nonselves in politics without pecuniary motive is largest in New England, professional in the country parts of New York, in northern Ohio, and the north- in the western States, while the professional politicians most abound in the great cities - New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Boston, Baltimore, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Louisville, Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans, San Francisco. This is because these cities have the largest masses of ignorant voters, and also because their municipal governments, handling vast revenues, offer the largest facilities for illicit gains.

The aims and purposes of the political party are various, but the most immediate objective of the party organization is to win nominations and elections. To this end a large use is made of methods designed to influence voters in favor of principles and candidates put forth by the party. Sone of these methods are legitimate, some are clearly illegitimate. Writing in 1906, Professor Hårt described as follows the methods by means of which the party might influence voters:

The most immediate

aim of the party is to win nomina

tions and elections.

influenced

by means
of (1) simple

(1) The most ordinary influence on voters is simple persuasion. Voters In some parts of the country, especially in the South, there is joint discussion of public issues, listened to by both sides. In the northern states, political meetings are usually attended only by members of persuasion, the party that holds them, who have not come to have their opinions changed, but to have them confirmed.

(2) The newspaper is of course of great influence over voters. (2) the Newspapers frequently take new ground, and sometimes in a hot newspaper, campaign change over from one side to the other; but, again, most Americans read only the newspapers of their own party, and hear very little of the argument of the other side. Hence the importance of special campaign literature; for instance, in 1896, the Republican National Committee deluged the state of Iowa with specially pre

1 From Albert Bushnell Hart, Actual Government. Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 1906; pp. 104-106.