Socialists, claiming that it should manage everything, even own, control and operate all forms of business. In America, although this discussion has been carried on for a generation, we are not Socialists in principle; the real underlying force which has finally caused the increase in State regulation has been a series of mechanical inventions. To-day we admit without question that that immense and ever-growing mass of tangled problems that we call "the industrial system," and which includes the factory question, the labor problem, the corporation problem and other questions of large scale production, may be traced directly back to the invention of the steam engine. The mechanical discovery creates the social problem. The perfection of the passenger elevator, or "lift" has created the modern office building whereby a population equal to that of a small town may be gathered under one roof and the greater concentration of business within a city made possible. Similarly the invention of the trolley motor has built up the "suburban city" with all the changes in government and social life which accompany it. Equally interesting is the political influence of medicine. The growing idea that we should prevent disease rather than merely cure it has brought with it a fresh view of the State's duties to the people; it is to be traced to the germ theory in medical science. Finally the educators of the country have observed the effects of our mechanical and industrial progress, have seen the need of new kinds of school and college training and have broadened and extended the educational system to meet these demands with the result that the activity of the State governments has again expanded. In all these fields, scientific inventions have so changed the conditions of health, of education, of factory and of city life that the work of the State in regulating these questions has grown to enormous proportions. From a quiescent, almost decadent body the State has been transformed into a powerful and essential influence in the life of the people. Yet the people have not been convinced of Socialism as a general principle-they have taken little interest in the Socialistic movement; they simply demand that the State shall make itself more useful. The name "Socialism" is of course often used as a stigma to frighten the timid from any and every extension of State powers but it is safe to say that no useful change in government can be either adopted because it is Socialistic, or defeated because it is called such. The real influence behind government changes is the determination of the people to make that immense body of scientific inventions, discoveries and devices, which is now so rapidly coming to us, more serviceable and helpful to all classes.

We shall consider first the constitution and machinery of commonwealth government; second and more important, what the State is doing for its people,-its work.

State Constitutions.-The State constitution, like that of the nation, divides government into three departments, Executive,

Legislative and Judicial. The executive power, however, is divided among the Governor, the Senate, and a number of other officers, some of whom are appointed by him and some elected by the people. The legislature like Congress, is composed of two Houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives, and the judicial department consists of a Supreme Court and local county or district courts. The constitution is usually a lengthy document in which the people have written a great many real principles along with many more crude devices intended to cure political ills. Most of these latter provisions ought to be ordinary laws, but the people's distrust of the legislature has led them to fix its powers as narrowly as possible. For example, we find that the State constitution not only guarantees such fundamental rights as

Freedom of Speech and Press,

Religious Liberty,

Honest Elections,
Jury Trial,

Habeas Corpus, etc.,

but it goes into great detail to forbid special laws affecting a particular person, place or corporation, granting special divorces, or giving to any person or corporation a special privilege; it also forbids any law which increases the compensation of contractors or State employés after the service has been rendered, or which changes the powers and duties of any local government without first giving due notice to all who may be interested.

Many constitutions also regulate the laws on corporations in such a way as to guard against legislative abuse. Some of them require the rights of shareholders to be fully protected, by cumulative voting or otherwise, and in general the greatest care is taken to prevent the predatory exploitation of corporate property by a small clique through majority control of the stock.

The Amendment of the State Constitution.—Most of the constitutions provide that single amendments must be passed by the legislature at two successive sessions, and then referred to the people for approval. Some States require the legislature every ten years to submit to popular vote the question whether the entire constitution shall be revised by a convention. Ordinarily however, a total revision can be made only by a convention called for this purpose after the legislature has voted favorably and the project been approved by the people. Some of the States have a method of amendment which is practically impossible to follow, that is, two legislatures must first pass the amendment; it must then be submitted to the people at a regular State election for officers, and can only become valid if a majority of those who voted for officers at the election approve the amendment. This is impossible because in almost any election the average voter overlooks the question of amending the constitution. It is usually printed at the bottom of the ballot and the ballot is so large that the constitutional question

attracts no attention. Accordingly, it is most improbable that a majority of those voting will vote on the amendment at all and still more improbable that a majority can be secured favorable to it regardless of its merits. Such a provision exists in the constitution of Illinois, and in Professor James W. Garner's opinion,' it "makes the Illinois system of amendment one of the most archaic and cumbersome in the world, and has already retarded the progress of the commonwealth." It is coupled with the provision that a constitutional change may only be submitted to the voters once in four years.

In Indiana the constitution provides that a majority of those voting at the election must favor the amendment and, furthermore, than an amendment, once submitted to the people, is before them indefinitely until either approved or disapproved by a majority; and, finally, that while an amendment is so pending no other change may be proposed. This has effectually bottled up all normal constitutional growth in Indiana for over fifty years. Some decades ago a proposal was made for a change in the requirements of admission to the bar; this, being a constitutional amendment, was submitted to the people but failed to secure the sufficient attention to obtain a majority and accordingly has been before the people indefinitely, but meanwhile blocking the proposal of any other constitutional change. In some of the New England States notoriously unequal systems of representation of the towns, in the State legislature, have existed since the Revolution; but owing to the impossibility of passing an amendment through the legislature to remedy this inequality, the States are still governed by minorities.

Desirable Provisions as to Amendment.-When constitutional conventions are to be held it is highly important that the Constitution itself should provide as fully as possible for the method of election, the organization of the body and other matters which affect its procedure; in general, the more completely this is prescribed in the Constitution, the better. Professor Garner shows the practical benefits which such a system offers in carrying out the popular will.-"The new provision in the New York Constitution is a notable example. . . . By the Constitution of that State the participation of both executive and legislature in constitution making is, as already remarked, reduced to a minimum. No legislative act is necessary to bring the convention into existence when once the people have voted in favor of revision. Moreover, the constitution itself fixes the number of delegates, the time and method of choosing them, their qualifications and compensation, the time and place of the meeting of the convention, the number of delegates necessary to make a quorum, and even prescribes some of the rules of procedure.2

1 American Political Science Review, February, 1907.

2 "The Amendment of State Constitutions," American Political Sci

In the States which have direct legislation, the people are allowed to propose amendments without the intervention of the legislature. A small proportion of the total number of registered voters, usually from eight to fifteen per cent, may sign a petition to which the proposed amendment is attached, asking that it be submitted to the approval of electors. If at the next election a majority approve the amendment, it then becomes a part of the constitution without legislative action. Severe criticism has been devoted by some publicists to the fact that the voters are constantly harassed by cranks and enthusiasts who want new features placed in the fundamental law. Yet of the two dangers the rigid, inflexible, unchanging constitution is certainly the greater. It tends to keep back the development of the government until some explosion of popular indignation takes place, when a hasty, ill prepared amendment may be passed, and thereby may become fastened on the government by the same difficulty of making a change.1

The Election Laws.-It is in the election laws of a State more than in the high-sounding phrases of its constitution, that the real political rights of the people are guaranteed. We may find the most flattering language of democracy in the fundamental document but if the laws do not secure the fair, just and accurate expression of the people's will at the polls, democracy becomes as sounding brass. The essential points in our State election laws are:

State regulation of party machinery to protect the voter,
Nomination of candidates,

The Ballot,

Corrupt Practices Acts.

The Right to Vote.-The State determines who may vote at both its own and national elections. The franchise requirements are the same for each office except that some States allow all property holders to vote for school and tax boards in the districts where their property is located. There is wide diversity in the qualifications of voters in different commonwealths. They all require electors to be 21 years of age and nearly one-half allow women to vote or will do so if pending constitutional amendments are approved. Several require educaview, February 1907, page 240. He also points out the value of having individual amendments proposed to the voters at a special election, as in New Jersey, rather than at the general election, when they will be ignored or overshadowed by other issues. His demand for a more facile method of constitutional change voices an opinion which is rapidly gaining ground in all the States,-"In conclusion it may be asked whether, in the effort to prevent too frequent and illadvised changes in the State constitution, the reactionary pendulum has not swung to the opposite extreme, and, instead of progress and growth, we are now confronted by constitutional stagnation, if not retrogression."

1 An admirable description of the methods of amendment may also be found in W. F. Dodd: The Amendment of State Constitutions. See also Prof. J. Q. Dealey's article on "Tendencies in State Constitutions," in the Political Science Review, February, 1907.

tional tests. Of these Connecticut is a type. Its constitution provides that no one shall vote unless he can read any section of the constitution or of the laws in the English language and can write his name. In Pennsylvania and many of the Southern States there is a small property qualification in the shape of a poll tax. This is 50c in Pennsylvania and from $1 to $2 in the South. Most of the Southern States located in the black belt have found it necessary to debar the negro from voting. This is done by an educational test or by the property qualification, notably the requirements that voters must have paid all poll taxes for five years, or by a clause which, as in Alabama, requires that electors to be registered must be persons of good moral character who understand the duties and obligations of citizenship under a republican form of government. The constitution of that State also authorizes the registering board to require the applicant to state under oath the name or names of all his employers for the last five years, any willfully false answer being perjury. As many of these clauses would debar the whites also, various devices have been invented to include the white vote. One of these is the grandfather clause. In Louisiana and North Carolina all men who were voters before January 1, 1867, and in Louisiana the sons and grandsons of such men and in North Carolina all lineal descendants of such persons, who were or might become voters before 1908, remain for life qualified to vote, regardless of the educational or property qualifications. In Virginia all adult male persons who do not own property and cannot pass the educational test may vote if they have served in the army or navy of the United States or of the confederate States, or if they are the sons of persons who did so serve. Although the 15th Amendment prohibits the States from denying the right to vote to anyone, on account of his race or color, it has been possible to exclude the great masses of negro voters by these provisions or by the peculiar interpretation which the registry boards give to them.1

It would be a calamity for the South to fall under the political control of a backward uneducated element, either white or negro, but it would seem desirable to exclude this element by some fairer means than those described. Such devices have resulted from the mistaken policy of the 15th Amendment. Its repeal would remove from the southern white race the fear of black domination, would enable the parties to vote on other than racial issues and would soon produce a fairer spirit towards the negro himself and a better cooperation between the races.

Woman Suffrage.-The State constitutions and legislatures are gradually providing for the enjoyment of the right to vote by women, upon equal terms with men. This change has followed a long and impressive agitation of the public mind, carried on in a way that shows the remarkable influence of public opinion and the modern means of arousing and molding such opinion. The suffrage has been 1 See the article, "Negro Suffrage" by J. C. Rose, American Political Science Review, Volume 1, page 17.