Illinois and the nation

Foreword

The author has so organized his subject matter that the teacher has ready at hand an abundance of material for the acquiring of knowledge as to the machinery of govern¬ ment—local, state, and national. So far as possible the author has gone into the theory of government.

The teacher is a necessary supplement to any text-book. Try to bring this study home to the pupil by giving him questions to look up outside the class—such as “Who is the mayor? By whom elected? For how long? If he is not a good official how does that affect you?” Go through the form of holding a Presidential election, a meeting of the city council, and a nominating convention.

Above all, remember the pupil likes' a subject which is definitely presented to him. Some teachers are afraid to assign work which requires a definite statement of fact for the answer. Do not make this mistake. When a pupil has made a topical recitation follow this by simple direct questions to test not only what he knows, but how he knows it and what use he can make of this knowledge. Remember that every subject has its own vocabulary and that a pupil never becomes proficient in a subject until the peculiar vocabulary of the subject is at his command. Have pupils keep lists of the new words or words used in new meanings, and frequently review these words by using them in short, pointed sentences until their use becomes easy. For illus¬ tration : executive, ex post facto, enactment, habeas corpus,, enacting clause, jurisdiction, electoral, etc.

After a chapter has been studied, test for the main facts by using a series of questions which may be answered by a single word or phrase—as:

1. What official is the chief executive of the state?

2. Who presides over the House of Representatives?

3. How many senatorial districts are there in Illinois?

4 . In what congressional district do you live? Frequently review in this way, being careful to change the form and order of your questions.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Government in the Community and in the Nation 7

II. State Government. 13

Chapter I Government In The Community And In The Nation

What is “the government”? What is the necessity for government? To what extent are you a part of the government? What has the government to do with your personal safety? With your health? With the protec¬ tion of your brother, sister, or other relatives? With your education? With your care when you are sick or injured? With your safety in travel? With the security of your property? How is government exercised in the home? In the school? In the community? In the city? The county? The state? The Nation? What things can best be done for you by the National government? By the state government? By the government of the county or of the community? Which affects you more particularly, the National government or the state government?

How is the government to pay for the work which it has performed? For keeping the highways in order? For supporting the schools? For caring for the health of the people? For protecting the people from attack by other nations on land or sea?

What are taxes? How are they levied, collected, and expended? Why are taxes necessary? What is the ob¬ jection to taxes which are unnecessarily heavy or which are not equitably distributed?

In every community should not at least these things be done for the inhabitants of the community? Roads and walks, built and kept in repair; protection provided against danger by fire; officers to arrest and imprison thieves and other wrongdoers; schoolhouses built and kept in repair and teachers employed. If these things are to be done, are not officers necessary to see that they are done? How are these expenses to be met?

Suggest other things which must be done for the com¬ munity as a whole and which should be paid for by the community as a whole.

Necessity for Government. When you have deliber¬ ated upon the above questions you will have realized that government is necessary and that those who do the work of the government must be paid for their services, or at least must have the means of paying others for services rendered or for materials and property used for the pur¬ pose of the government.

Do you fully realize the significance of Lincoln’s ref¬ erence to a “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”?

How About Your Community? In your community have you good roads? If so what is the title of the officer or officers whose duty it is to look after the building of these roads? How are these roads paid for? If you do not have good roads, who is to blame? Is your money wasted on the roads in your community? If the roads are poor who is most to blame, the road officials or the people?

In your community is every effort put forth to have a good, commodious sanitary school building with proper grounds, water supply, etc., and with proper heating and

COMMUNITY GOVERNMENT lighting? What is the title of the officers whose duty it is to provide these things? If these things are not provided to what extent are the, people of your community to blame?

In your community is there a public library? If so how is it supported? What are its officers? If you have no library how might one be secured for your com¬ munity?

In your community is great care exercised to see that all water used, for drinking and cooking is entirely safe? Do your people understand thaj; each family feels that it has the best well in the community and yet that very well may contain water most dangerous to life?

Have you parks and playgrounds in your community? If not, can you do anything to awaken an interest in the buying and developing of parks?

From what has been said do you realize that you are a part of the government, that the government does its work for your welfare, and for the welfare of your family and friends, that to do this work taxes must be paid, that it is important that your parents take an active interest in seeing that the best people are nominated and elected to office, that they are reelected as long as they give good service and are defeated if they do not?

Do you realize that the government of your own com¬ munity, city, and county and particularly of your state is of paramount importance, and that while you should be interested in who is chosen president of the United States you should be equally interested in even the smallest com¬ munity election.

The Family, the Community, the State, and the Nation

Many of the affairs of life are controlled by the family government of which the father and mother are the head. Several families living near each other make up a com¬ munity where questions arise which concern more than a single family. If the community be small it may be organized into a village and certain officers chosen to see that the interests of the community are cared for and safe¬ guarded. If the community increases in size, a city with its mayor, council, fire department, police department, etc., takes up the more complex matters of community control. To control the relations between communities, villages, and cities, which are near together, counties are organized which construct and maintain highways and establish courts of justice for settling difficulties between the citizens of different communities. These counties .also elect officers to enforce the law and to arrest those who offend against the law. Above the county, is the state, too little thought is ordinarily given to the state and its laws. To a very great degree, it is the state which regulates the great affairs of our lives. It controls com¬ merce within the state. It provides the general laws for the incorporation and control of villages and cities. It largely governs us in all of the great relations of life in¬ cluding those of husband and wife, parent and child, guardian and ward, and principal and agent. Above the state, is the Nation which has to do with our relations with other nations in peace and in war.

The Nation provides for post offices and post roads, issues money and regulates its value; provides national

COMMUNITY GOVERNMENT courts, regulates commerce between the several states and with foreign natioris. It provides and supports the army and navy.

In many respects the town and city are independent of. the state, and the state is independent of the Nation. The founders of our government have sought to take no power from the local community unless it can be better exercised by one of the larger units of government.

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are re¬ served to the states respectively or to the people.” (Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.)'

THE SENATE CHAMBER, SPRINGFIELD

Chapter II

Three Departments. As in the nation, so in the state, there are three departments of government: The legis¬ lative, executive, and judicial. The first makes the laws, the second executes the laws, the third interprets the laws and decides disputes arising under them.

The three departments, however, are not entirely distinct. The governor, an executive officer, has the power to veto all laws passed by the legislature. The legislature has judicial power in cases of impeachment and executive power in confirming appointments made ; by the governor. The judiciary have a form of executive power in compelling men to obey the laws and officers to perform their duties, as in cases of mandamus.

The State Legislature. The law making body of Illinois is the General Assembly, which consists of two Houses: The Senate, or “Upper House,” and the House of Representatives, or “Lower House.” The General Assembly is commonly known as the “legislature.”

How Designated. The different General Assemblies are designated by number, as the First General Ass'embly, the Thirty-eighth General Assembly, etc. Each

General Assembly lasts two years, and in that time holds but one regular session. What is the number of the present General Assembly? Has it held its regular session ?

Time and Place of Meeting. The General Assembly holds its regular session at Springfield every two years, the sessions commencing at twelve o’clock noon on the Wednesday next after the first Monday of January of the odd numbered years.

Senatorial Districts. Every ten years, at the first ses¬ sion after the taking of the census, the General Assembly divides the state into fifty-one senatorial districts. These districts must contain as nearly as practicable the same number of inhabitants, must be formed of contiguous and compact territory, and be bounded by county lines. But a county containing not less than one and three-fourths of the senatorial ratio may be divided into separate dis¬ tricts according to the number of times it contains the ratio. No district can contain less than four-fifths of the senatorial ratio. The senatorial ratio is found by dividing the number expressing the population of the state by fifty-one.

The districts are numbered from one to fifty-one. In what district do you live?

Number of Senators and Representatives. One Sen¬ ator and three Representatives are elected from each senatorial district. How many members are there in each house?

Election of Members. Members of the General As¬ sembly are elected on the Tuesday next after the first Monday of November of the even numbered years. At every election all of the members of the next Lower House are elected, and half the members of the next Senate, the Senators from the even numbered districts being chosen at one election, and those from the odd numbered at the next. Because half of its members “hold over” at each session, the Senate is sometimes called the “permanent” house of the General Assembly. Were the Senators chosen at the last election from the odd or even numbered districts?

Vacancies. When a vacancy occurs in either house, if the legislature is in session, or if there will be a session before the next regular election of members to the Gen¬ eral Assembly, the Governor orders a special election in the district affected to fill the vacancy. If the vacancy does not occur under these conditions it is not filled until the next regular election.

Minority Representation. There are three members of the Lower House elected at the same time in every senatorial district. Every voter has the right to vote for the three men, giving each one vote; for two men, giving to each one and a half votes; or for one man, giving him three votes. A voter may also give two votes to one man and one to another, or distribute his votes in two or three other ways, but he is not likely to do so. By this plan the party in the minority can usually elect one man by having but one candidate and giving him all the votes. How large must the minority be to elect one man?

Usually the party in the majority nominates two can¬ didates, and the one in the minority nominates one candidate. In this case a nomination is equivalent to an election unless a second minority party develops unex¬ pected strength in voting for a single candidate. When two parties are nearly equally strong each one may nom¬ inate two candidates. In this case, the friends of one candidate will give three votes for their favorite, instead of one and a half for each candidate on the ticket. This is called “plumping,” and may sacrifice party to personal interests.

In 1870, by a special vote, the section of the Consti¬ tution relating to minority representation was adopted. What are its advantages? Its disadvantages? Do you know of any other state that has minority representation?

Term of Members. The members of the Lower House are elected for two years, and those of the Upper House for four years.

Eligibility of Members. Senators must be twenty-

five, and Representatives twenty-one years of age. Both must be citizens of the United States, residents of the state five years, and of their respective districts the two years preceding their election.

Neither Senators nor Representatives can hold any office under the state, the United States, or any foreign government, excepting appointments in the militia, and the offices of notary public and justice of the peace.

No person can be a Senator or Representative after he has been convicted of bribery, perjury, or other infamous crime, or after he has failed to account for and pay over all public moneys collected or held by him at any time. The laws of Illinois name the crimes which are “infa¬ mous” in this state.

What is bribery? What is perjury?

Oath of Members. In addition to the usual oath of office, every Senator or Representative is required to swear (or affirm) that he has not paid anything, or made any promise in the nature of a bribe, to influence any vote at the time of his election; and that he has not received, and will not accept, anything from any cor¬ poration or person for any vote or influence he may give or withhold on any bill, resolution, or appropriation, or for any official act.

The oath is subscribed by each member, and is filed in the office of the Secretary of State. If any member should refuse to take the oath as prescribed by the Con¬ stitution, he would forfeit his office.

What is it to subscribe an oath?

Privileges of Members. Senators and Representa¬ tives are privileged from arrest in all cases except trea¬ son, felony, or breach of the peace, during the session of the General Assembly, and in going to and returning from it.

Treason is defined in the third article of the Constitu¬ tion of the United States. (See appendix.)

In Illinois a felony is an offense punishable with death or with imprisonment in a penitentiary.

What is a breach of the peace?

No member of either house can be called to account at any other place for any speech or debate made in the house to which he is elected. This gives freedom of speech. A similar provision is found in the national Constitution.

Disabilities of Members. No Senator or Representa¬ tive can be appointed by the Governor, with or without the consent of the Senate, to any civil office within the state during the term for which he is elected.

Members of the General Assembly cannot be inter¬ ested in any contract with the state, or with any county, which is authorized by any law passed while they are members, or for one year after their terms have expired.

What reasons can you give for these disabilities?

Salary of Members. Members of the General Assembly receive $3,500 for their services for the two years’ term, also mileage for one round trip necessarily traveled in going to, and returning from, Springfield. The mileage is computed by the auditor of public accounts. Fifty dollars per session is allowed each member for stationery, postage, newspa¬ pers, and other incidental expenses. Both the pay and the mileage allowed each member are certified to by the presiding officer of his house, and, having been entered upon the journal, are published at the close of the session.

The pay of members can be changed, but not for those elected for the term in which the change is made.

Quorum. A majority of the members elected to each house constitutes a quorum.

What is a quorum?

Rules. Each house determines the rules of its own proceedings.

When the legislature meets, one of the first things that demands the attention of each house is the rules that are to govern its proceedings. Usually upon motion of some member, the rules of the last Senate or House, as the case may be, are adopted temporarily, and a com¬ mittee on permanent rules is appointed. This committee soon reports, giving the proposed rules in detail. The rules as reported by the committee are discussed, perhaps amended, and adopted. Some book on parliamentary practice, as Cushing's Manual or Roberts' Rules of Order, is then adopted as authority in all questions not touched upon by the rules adopted.

Membership. Each house is the judge of the elec¬ tions, qualifications, and returns of its own members.

It sometimes happens that two men claim election as Senator, or four as Representatives, from the same dis¬ trict. In such cases those having the proper certificates of election signed by the Governor are usually seated until the proper house can investigate the matter and decide between the contestants. The houses are not always impartial judges in cases of contested elections of their respective members, sometimes permitting poli¬ tics to influence their vote. But it is thought that no other body should decide these cases.

Certificates of election are called “credentials.”

After every election for members of the General Assembly, all county clerks make abstracts of the elec¬ tion in their respective counties, showing the number of votes received by each candidate. The abstracts are called the “returns” of the election, and may be ques¬ tioned as to their genuineness or accuracy.

The Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, Attorney- General, or any two of them, in the presence of the Governor, examine and count all the returns, and publish the result of the election.

Officers, How Chosen. Each house chooses its own officers.

Officers of the House. The usual officers of the House are speaker, clerk and three assistants, door¬ keeper and three assistants, postmaster and one assist¬ ant, enrolling and engrossing clerk and two assistants. The speaker is a member of the House.

Officers of the Senate. The usual officers of the Senate are president, president pro tempore, secretary and two assistants, sergeant at arms, postmaster and one assistant.

Speaker. It is the duty of the speaker to preside over the House, to sign all bills passed by the House, to appoint the standing committees and most of the special committees.

Committees. There are about forty-five standing committees of the House, each consisting of from three to twenty-five, or more, members. Usually a majority of each committee are members of the same political party as the speaker. The chairman of the committee is named in the appointment.

All measures concerning the state’s finances are re¬ ferred to the Committee on Finance. It examines them separately, and reports on them to the House. In the same way, measures concerning matters of education are referred to the Committee on Education. Every bill is considered by its appropriate committee. Only slight changes to the reports of committees are usually made by the legislature, so the committees practically control the legislature. For this reason chairmanships of impor¬ tant committees are much sought after by the friends of the speaker.

President of the Senate. The duties of the president of the Senate are about the same as those of the speaker. He is elected by the people under the title of Lieutenant- Governor, and is not a member of the Senate. He has no vote, except when the Senate is evenly divided. The speaker is always a member of the House, and, as such, has a vote on all questions. Many people think that if a member of a body is chosen chairman he has no vote except in case of a tie. This is a mistake. If the chair¬ man be a member of the body over which he presides, his right to vote on any question is just the same as though he were not chairman.

President Pro Tempore. The president pro tempore is a member of the Senate who is chosen to preside in the absence of the president; he does not lose his right to vote.

Clerk and Secretary. The clerk of the House and the secretary of the Senate perform similar duties for their respective houses. They read the proceedings of the pre¬ vious day, call the roll, read bills, resolutions, and keep a record of the proceedings from day to day. The clerk is required to furnish the state printer with an exact copy of each day’s proceedings, so that a copy of the proceed¬ ings of the preceding day may be placed upon the desk of each member every morning.

Doorkeeper and Sergeant at Arms. The doorkeeper of the House and the sergeant at arms of the Senate serve the processes, execute the orders of their respective houses, maintain order among the spectators, and pre¬ vent the interruption of business. They may arrest, with or without a warrant, any person guilty of any breach of the peace or crime in or about the State House and its grounds.

The doorkeeper of the House announces the secretary of the Senate and the private secretary of the Governor when they wish to deliver communications and mes¬ sages ; he also announces the Senate when that body is to convene with the House in joint session.

Enrolling and Engrossing Clerk. This officer prop¬ erly engrosses all bills and resolutions when ordered to do so by the House. When a bill originates in the House and is passed by both the House and the Senate, he enrolls it before it is laid before the Governor for his approval.

Postmasters. The postmasters receive the mail for the members of their respective houses from the govern¬ ment postoffice and distribute it into the boxes of the members at the postoffice of the General Assembly.

Other Officers. Sometimes the House has a reading clerk, and the Senate a bill clerk, whose duties may be inferred from their titles. The president and speaker have each a private secretary.

Employees. Besides the officers, there are several employees. There are about twenty clerks of commit¬ tees ; also a number of policemen and pages. The pages are boys who wait upon the members, and carry mes¬ sages for the speaker and president. Sometimes girls serve as pages. Each house may employ a chaplain.

Organization of the House. The Secretary of State calls the House of Representatives to order at the open¬ ing of each new General Assembly, and presides until a temporary speaker has been chosen and has taken his seat. Since none of the Representatives hold over from the last session, no one of the members present is author¬ ized to call the House to order.

Immediately after the House is called to order by the Secretary of State, prayer is offered, and the roll of the House is called. The House then proceeds to elect a temporary speaker and other temporary officers. After the members have taken the oath of office, they decide what officers and employees the House shall have, and proceed to elect the former. The employees are nearly all appointed by the speaker after his election.

Expulsion of Members. No member can be expelled from either house except by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to that house, and no member can be twice expelled for the same offense. Members are expelled only for the most serious offenses.

How many votes are necessary to expel a Senator? A Representative?

If a member should be expelled, and his constituents should return him, he could not be expelled a second time for the same offense.

Contempt. Each house may punish by imprisonment any person, not a member, for disrespect to the house, or for disorderly or contemptuous behavior in its presence. But no person can be imprisoned more than twenty-four hours at one time, except for persisting in his objection¬ able conduct.

Open Doors. The doors of each house, and of com¬ mittees of the whole, must be kept open except in cases when, in the opinion of that house, secrecy is required. Can you think of a case that would require secrecy in either house?

Committee of the Whole. Sometimes, instead of re¬ ferring the matter to a committee, the whole house forms itself into a “committee of the whole,” and takes up the matter as a committee. When through with the subject, it reports to the house.

When a legislative body goes into a committee of the whole, the regular chairman takes his place among the members, and some one else is appointed chairman of the committee. When the committee rises to report, the regular chairman takes his place again, and receives the report of the committee through its chairman.

Adjournment. The Constitution says that neither house can, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days or to any other place than that in which the two houses are sitting.

It sometimes happens that one house is largely of one party and the other house of another. In such cases either house could delay and defeat the measures of the other by adjournments, were these not restricted.

For adjournment longer than two days and for sina die adjournments the two houses of Congress agree by reso¬ lution upon the date for adjournment. The Constitution provides that in case the two houses are unable to agree, the Governor may adjourn the legislature.

Journals. Each house keeps a journal of its proceed¬ ings, which is published for distribution.

Yeas and Nays. In the Senate, at the request of two members, and in the House, at the request of five mem¬ bers, the yeas and nays are taken on any question and are entered upon the journal. The clerk calls the roll of the house, every member votes yea or nay on the question, and his vote is recorded and published in the journal.. What are the advantages of this?

Protest of Members. If any two members of eithei house wish to protest again or dissent from any action or vote they think in injurious to the public or to any person, they are at liberty to do so in respectful language, and have their reasons entered upon the journal.

Style of Bills. All laws of this state begin as follows: Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, repre¬ sented in the General Assembly. This is called the “enact¬ ing clause.” Without this a law would be void.

Where Bills May Originate. Bills may originate in either house, but may be changed or rejected by the other.

Final Passage of Bills. On the final passage of all bills the votes are taken by yeas and nays and entered upon the journal.

Bills Voted upon Separately. The final vote is taken

upon each bill separately.

Vote Necessary. No bill becomes a law until it re¬ ceives the vote of a majority of all the members elected to each house. How many votes must a bill receive in the Senate? In the House?

Three Readings Necessary. Every bill must be read at large on three different days in each house.

Bills Must Be Printed. Every bill and all its amend¬ ments must be printed before the lastwote is taken upon it. The printed bills are distributed among the mem¬ bers, a copy of each bill being placed in the postoffice box of every member. No member can explain away or excuse his vote by saying he did not know exactly what the bill was about.

Signatures Necessary. After it has passed both houses a bill must be signed by the president of the Sen¬ ate and by the speaker before it is presented to the Governor.

Only One Subject. No act can embrace more than one subject, and that must be expressed in its title. If any bill embraces a subject which is not expressed in its title, the part relating to this subject is void, but the remainder of the bill remains in force.

When there was no limitation to the number of sub¬ jects that might be included in any bill, it was a common practice to put several subjects into one bill and then force members to vote for the objectionable parts in order to secure the passage of the rest of the bill.