Government in the United States, National, State and Local

by James Wilford Garner

Some state governments are controlled by one party, and some by the other. Since 1875 the Democratic party has usually been in power in nearly all of the Southern states, and the Republican party in more than half of the other states; but in some states control often shifts from one party to the other.

The Progressive Party was organized in 1912 mainly but not wholly by those members of the Republican party who felt that this party was not sufficiently progressive in its policies and that it attached rather too much importance to the interests of special classes and too little to the rights of the masses of the people. First of all, it advocated a larger social and industrial justice for men and women, especially the working classes. It favored national jurisdiction over such matters as cannot be effectively regulated by the states; public ownership of forests, coal and oil lands, and water power; and suffrage for women. At the election of 1912 the new party polled a total vote of 4,100,000 for its presidential candidate, Theodore Roosevelt; but a few years later the party went out of existence.

The Prohibition Party.—Besides the Democratic, Republican, and Progressive parties, there are several minor parties with organizations of a national character. The oldest of these is the Prohibition party, organized in 1872 to promote the movement for the abolition of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors. Since its organization, it has regularly nominated candidates for President and Vice President of the United States, and in many states it nominates candidates for state offices and for the legislature. Not infrequently it has succeeded in electing some of its candidates to the legislature, and it has been instrumental in securing the enactment of local option laws and even state-wide prohibition laws in several states.

The Socialist Labor Party, organized in 1892, advocates government ownership of land, railways, telegraph lines, and other means of production and transportation. The Socialist Party, organized in 1904 mainly from the Socialist Labor party, advocates essentially the same views. At the election of 1912 it cast about 900,000 votes throughout the country, and in 1916 about 600,000. In 1919 a large section of the party, composed of radicals who advocate the Bolshevist régime of government by the working class, split off and formed the Communist Party.

Party Organization.—Political parties, like other associations which have ends to promote, must have organization. For the conduct of national campaigns, each of the parties has a national organization; for state purposes there is a state organization; and usually there are a county and a district organization. The characteristic feature of party organization is the use which is made of committees. The organization everywhere consists of a committee, at the head of which is a chairman, and which has also a treasurer and usually a secretary. The chairman is usually an experienced political leader; sometimes he is at the same time an office holder.

The Convention.—The policies of the party are formulated by a convention which is a representative gathering composed of delegates chosen directly by the members of the party or by local conventions. The national convention, to be described hereafter, is composed of a certain number of delegates from each state, while the state convention is composed of delegates chosen from the counties, the legislative districts, or other units. The county convention is composed of delegates from the districts into which the county is divided, and the city convention of delegates from the wards or precincts. This is the usual rule, but here and there are variations. The state convention formulates the principles of the party and sets them forth in a document called the platform; it nominates the candidates of the party, except in those states where they are nominated by a direct primary; and it appoints the central committee, selects the chairman, and transacts such other business as may come before it. It is, in short, the supreme sovereign authority of the party in the state. It is usually a large body, sometimes comprising 1,000 or more delegates, and in Massachusetts as many as 2,000.

Committees.—The committee is a select body for carrying on the campaign and attending to such other matters as may be intrusted to it. The national committee is composed of one member from each state; the state committee, usually of delegates from the counties or legislative districts. The New York Republican state committee is composed of one delegate from each congressional district in the state, while the Democratic committee consists of one delegate from each of the fifty-one senatorial districts of the state. Similarly, the county committee is made up of delegates representing the political units into which the county is divided, towns, precincts, etc. Sometimes the county committee is a very large and representative body. The Republican committee of New York county is made up of about 700 delegates, each delegate representing 200 Republican voters in the county.

In the cities, there is not only the general city committee, but also a local committee for each ward or precinct. These ward committees come into close relation with the voters, and the success of the party depends to a large degree upon their activity.

Primaries.—As soon as political parties were definitely formed it became necessary to devise some sort of machinery for selecting the candidates which the party desired to put forward. In the beginning candidates for local offices were presented to the voters upon their own announcement or by a caucus (an informal meeting of the leading men of the party) or a primary (a mass meeting of the members of the party). In time the caucus, except as a means of selecting candidates for offices in legislative bodies, fell into disrepute, and the method of nomination by a convention composed of delegates representing the party became the accepted method. The delegates are chosen by the members of the party at an election called a primary, so called because it is the first or original meeting of the party voters in the process of choosing public officials.

Former Lack of State Control.—The calling of the primary, the manner of conducting it, and the fixing of the party test, that is, the determination of who may take part in the primary, are matters which for a long time were regulated by each party according to its own notions, without interference upon the part of the state. In short, it was assumed that the state had no interest in the manner in which political parties nominated their candidates, and it therefore kept its hands off. The control of the primaries, particularly in the more populous centers, fell into the hands of a small number of political leaders, or "bosses," who virtually dictated the nominations. Sometimes the primaries were held at times or places unknown to the bulk of the members of the party, or at inaccessible places, or in rooms inadequate to accommodate the mass of the voters. They were sometimes packed with henchmen of certain candidates; sometimes large numbers of the voters were kept away by "sluggers" or were intimidated by domineering leaders; sometimes the qualifications for participating in the primary were fixed in such a manner as to exclude the great mass of the voters. Men of other parties were sometimes brought in to aid in effecting the nomination of particular candidates, ballot boxes were "stuffed" or other frauds committed, and often the votes were fraudulently counted. In short, the abuses became so intolerable as to create a widespread demand for the regulation of primaries by law so that the results might more truly represent the real opinions of the members of the party.