Chapter X: Preface (3)

=Objections to Direct Primaries= are made that few voters take the trouble to vote at them, and that the choice of candidates is very limited and is still controlled by party leaders. They are also very expensive for a candidate, especially if he is not backed by these leaders. To stand any chance of nomination a candidate has to canvass the voters and make himself known to them. A poor man cannot afford to enter a contest in a direct primary unless funds are supplied him or unless he expects to recoup himself later at the public expense. Also, as that candidate wins the primary election who receives the largest number of votes, the successful candidate may be one who has had the votes of only a small proportion of the party which is expected to support him later at the polls.

So far in New York State the primaries, even in city elections, are largely party affairs. The suggestion has been advanced that city primaries should be strictly non-partisan, and that party emblems should be eliminated from the primary ballots.

=Nomination by a Convention= is a method still used in some States, and until it was superseded by the direct primary it used to be the manner of nominating candidates in New York. An official party convention is made up of delegates elected by members of the party from the different parts of the State. Names of possible candidates are presented to the members in open convention, who express their choice by ballot.

=Objections to the Convention System= are based on the fact that the regular party convention is usually controlled by a few leaders who decide beforehand every detail of the business of the convention and make up the slate. They may trade with another group and concede part of the ticket to them in return for certain concessions which they may obtain for themselves. The delegates are often there simply to follow orders and to nominate the men agreed upon by the party bosses.

The “slate” is the list of candidates for the various offices to be filled. Nominations for these positions are usually influenced not so much by the qualifications of the men proposed for office, as by the ability of the proposed candidates to get out the vote and to add strength to the ticket, also by geographical considerations, that each part of the State or district may be represented on the ticket.

Unofficial State conventions are still held by the leading parties in New York. Their principal business is to frame a platform. This convention also appoints the central committee.

=The Primary Is Important to Every Voter= because it is there that policies are determined and party leaders elected, as well as candidates nominated for offices. Unless the members of the party take the trouble to vote at the primary, the choice of candidates is left to the few leaders who make a business of politics. This leaves the field clear for “the boss” to put up candidates whom he can control after election.

The vote at the primary election is always small. The proportion of voters who vote for the nomination of candidates is often as low as 18 or 20 per cent. of the vote cast at the election. The reason for this is not difficult to understand. The primary election comes at a time when little public interest has yet been aroused in the coming election. By election-time the voters have been circularized and canvassed and the newspapers have devoted much space to the subject. Also much more effort is made by the party to get out the vote at election-time than at the primary. Party leaders can count on the faithful coming to the primary election without urging, and they are the ones who often choose the candidates.

=Nomination by Petition=: Most candidates on the ballot are nominated by a party, but a man may also be nominated by a petition of independent voters. The petition must contain the title of the office to be filled, the name and address of the candidate, and be signed by a certain number of voters.

X

ELECTIONS

Laws concerning the holding of elections have grown much more stringent in the last few years. Every detail of the casting of a ballot is now prescribed by law and every precaution taken to insure honesty of elections. The precautions apply more to cities than to rural communities, with the result that more corruption may sometimes be found to-day in country elections than in those in cities.

=Registration of Voters=: In large places or densely populated districts it is impossible for the election officials to know every voter, therefore the law requires that in cities and villages of over five thousand inhabitants every voter shall appear every year before the board of registration and have his name put on the registration list. He is required to answer certain questions as to his age, his exact residence, his business, and where his last vote was cast, and to sign his own name for purposes of identification and to prevent fraud.

In smaller places and in rural districts, the signature is not required, and after a man’s name is once registered it remains on the book as long as the voter remains in the district. In practice it remains on the book until some one takes it off; and the names of men who have died or moved away are frequently found in a rural registration book.

=Time of Elections=: The general elections take place in the fall, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. National elections for President and Vice-President take place every four years, in the year that ends with the figure four or its multiple. Elections for representatives to Congress and State elections are held the same day every two years, in the even-numbered years. City elections are held the same day in the odd-numbered years. City elections are held separate from State elections in order to keep National and State issues from intruding in the election of municipal officers. Local elections usually take place the same day, with the exception of the spring village election and town meeting.

=The Election District=: For convenience every county or city is divided into election districts, each with one polling-place. The average number of voters to an election district in New York State is from two hundred and fifty to four hundred. When a district grows to five hundred voters it is usually divided. In Chicago, since women were given the vote, an election district contains from five to six hundred voters. It has been found that the women vote at the hours when men are busy, and that the same election officials can handle many more votes than is customary in New York.

=Election Officers=: Boards of elections, appointed by the county board of supervisors, are in general charge of the elections in the county, and there is a State Superintendent of Elections appointed by the Governor. At each polling-place on Election Day there is an election board consisting of four election inspectors, two ballot clerks, and two poll clerks. The law provides that election boards and boards of registration shall consist of equal representatives from the two political parties that cast the highest number of votes at the last election. This does not apply to town and village elections. Each party also is allowed two watchers. A railing shuts in the voting-booths and tables, and no one but the election board and the official watchers is allowed under the law to be inside this railing.

The polls are open from six o’clock in the morning until five o’clock in the afternoon. Before voting begins the ballot-boxes are opened and inspected to see that they are empty. The official watchers have a right to see everything that is done. Electioneering is forbidden within one hundred feet of the polls. The voting-booths are constructed so as to insure privacy while the voter is marking his ballot, and the ballot is folded so that no one but the voter himself knows how he has voted.

=The Election=: When the voter appears to cast his ballot, he gives his name and address, and the registration book is consulted to see that he is registered, the number of the ballot given to him is called out by the ballot clerk, and his name and the number of his ballot are entered in the poll-book.

Official ballots are provided for every polling-place, twice as many as there are registered voters in the district.

All the candidates for one office are grouped together on the ballot, each name with a blank square beside it. To vote for a candidate the voter must make a cross with a lead-pencil (not ink) inside of the box beside the name of the candidate: . If the cross extends beyond the box, or if the word “yes” is written, if the ballot is erased or in any way defaced, it will be thrown out at the count as void. If a voter spoils a ballot he should ask for another one. An illiterate person is allowed assistance in marking his ballot.

When the voter comes out of the booth, where he has marked his ballot in secret and folded it so it cannot be read, he gives the ballot to an election official, who announces the name of the voter and the number of his ballot, tears off the stub, and drops the ballot unopened into the box. A person’s vote may be challenged by an inspector or watcher, or at the written request of any voter. If, under oath, he is questioned and swears that he is eligible, his vote is recorded, but is marked challenged.

=The Count=: At five o’clock the polls are closed and the ballots are counted. They must not be handled by any one but the election officials, although the watchers may see every ballot and watch the count. The count for each office to be filled is made separately, and if there are many candidates it may take many hours to complete the count and know the result. Official tally sheets are provided. The result is filed with the County Clerk. The board of supervisors meet as a board of canvassers to canvass the result, and the returns are sent to the State board of canvassers.

=The Australian Ballot= is the only one used in New York State elections. It has on one ballot the names of all candidates of all parties for all the offices to be voted for. The names are grouped by offices, and the first name in each group is the candidate of the party that cast the largest vote at the last election. The only ballots shown before Election Day are sample ballots printed on pink paper, while the ballots used at the election are white. They are all numbered, and every one must be accounted for.

Until recently the ballot was printed with a column for each party, so that the easiest thing the voter could do was to put a cross within a circle at the head of the column, and thus vote for every candidate of that party—what is called a “straight ticket.” The ballot used at present requires a separate cross for every separate candidate, and so encourages independence and intelligence on the part of the voter. There are blank places so the voter may write in any name he wishes for any office.

=Short Ballot=: It is evident from the brief outline of the structure of government contained in the earlier chapters, that there are a great many officers to be elected. It is impossible for even the most intelligent and most interested voter to know the merits of as many candidates as often appear on one ballot. In some elections ballots are used which can be measured only in feet, and sometimes even in yards. To remedy this evil there is a strong movement toward a _short ballot_. This would mean cutting down the number of elective offices.

The tendency of government to-day is to concentrate the responsibility on one man or a few men, to let them make appointments, and to hold them accountable for results.

=Corrupt Practices Act=: The cost of campaigns and elections to the political parties and to many candidates is great. While there are many legitimate expenses connected with an election, the uncontrolled use of large funds leads to grave corruption and has brought about careful regulation by the State of money used at election-time. Contributions from corporations are prohibited.

A public statement of campaign funds must be made by every candidate and every organization taking part in a campaign, of all money received for campaign purposes and how it has been expended. This statement must be filed with the Secretary of State within twenty days after the election, and be open to public inspection. Even these precautions, while more severe than those found in most States, have not succeeded in putting an end to the corrupt use of money in elections.

It has been proposed recently that an addition to the Corrupt Practices Act should be made to require all candidates and campaign managers to file, five days _before_ election, instead of twenty days _after_, a list of receipts and expenditures, so that voters might know before the election the sources of political contributions and the use to which the money is put.

A second proposal has been made in regard to the personnel of the election officers, that instead of these boards being party appointees they should be appointed from the civil service lists. It is argued that with civil service appointees handling the count of ballots there would be less likelihood of mistakes or deliberate fraud.

Oregon has adopted the plan of having a pamphlet printed by the State for both the primaries and the elections, in which is set forth the claims of candidates of all parties, and both sides of all public questions to be voted on. This pamphlet is sent at public expense to every voter in that State.

=Voting-machines= are expensive, but they do away with the necessity for voting-booths, and require fewer election officials. Perhaps that is one reason they have not been more popular. They register the number of votes cast for each candidate, and the result of the election is known as soon as the polls are closed, and does not have to await the long, tedious, and often incorrect count by hand.

=The Use of School-houses= and other public buildings for registration- and polling-places is growing more common. It not only saves the large rent usually charged for the use of other buildings for polling-places, but it also gives more room and more convenient surroundings than are afforded by the kind of place often rented for use on Election Day. Unless provision is made by a city charter or some special permission school-houses may be used in this way only by a vote of the people of the district.

=The Cost of Elections= in proportion to other expenses of government is small. In the budget for New York City it figures less than 1 per cent. of the total budget. At the same time it could undoubtedly be lowered by economy. High rent is paid for polling-places, double the number of ballots necessary and liberal supplies are given to each district. It was found in Chicago, when women became voters, that the cost of elections was increased very little. The supplies furnished, and the same number of election officials, were found to be able to care for a large increase in the number of voters.

XI

TAXATION

It is evident that to carry on the necessary business of a city, a county, the State, or the nation requires money. Also, since everybody shares in the benefits of government, every one should help pay the bill.

One of the most difficult problems of government is to devise a system of taxation that cannot be evaded, that will raise sufficient money for expenses, and that will treat every one with equal justice.

Taxation may be divided into two general classes, direct and indirect. _Direct taxes_ are those imposed directly upon property or persons; such as taxes imposed upon land, personal property, or income. The term _indirect tax_ is applied to taxes upon activities such as carrying on some business or upon buying, selling, manufacturing, or importing certain articles.

A direct tax, as a rule, cannot be evaded or shifted to some other person. Indirect taxes can be evaded by abstaining from the activity that is taxed. They can usually also be shifted to others, and are generally paid by the consumer, or user of the article that is taxed. In general, direct taxes are levied by the State and municipal governments, while the National government derives its revenue (with the exception of the income tax) mainly from indirect taxes.

Taxes for local purposes are levied largely on houses and land, on what is called _real property_. _Personal property_, which is movable property, such as mortgages, live stock, furniture, etc., is also subject to taxation, but it is assessed only upon the balance of its value in excess of the indebtedness of the person taxed. It is a more difficult tax to collect than the tax on real property, and is evaded to such a large extent that many economists believe that it should be abolished, and some tax substituted more possible to impose equally and to collect.

Village and school taxes are usually collected independently by village and school officials.[A] Town, county, State, and city taxes are assessed and collected at the same time.

=Tax Districts=: The State is divided into tax districts which have usually the boundaries of the township or city, and there are three tax assessors in each tax district elected by the people in the town, and usually appointed in the city.

=How Taxes Are Assessed=: The State Legislature decides the amount needed for carrying on the government of the State. The largest part of these expenses are met by special indirect State taxes. The remainder of the amount to be raised is apportioned among the counties according to the value of taxable property in each (see State Board of Equalization).

The county board of supervisors decides how much is needed for county affairs. The town meetings, or the town boards and the voters through voting on propositions submitted by the town boards, decide how much money is needed for the business of the towns. This sum is added to the total amount of taxes necessary for the county government, and to the county’s share of taxes for the State government, and the combined sum is the amount that must be levied on the property in that county. The amount needed to carry on the government of a city in the county is reported to the county board of supervisors and to this sum is added in the same way the proportion of county and State taxes which the city must pay.

Assessing the amount each taxpayer shall pay is the duty of the assessors. They make up an _Assessment roll_ which must contain the name of every person in the district who owns property, and the assessed value of his property. The way the assessors do this work varies largely. The policy governing assessments in rural districts is to place as low a valuation on property as possible, in order that the total assessed valuation for the county shall be kept down, so that the apportionment given to the county for State taxes shall be low, and the larger burden of taxation shall fall on the cities. When the assessment roll is completed the assessors notify the public that it is open for inspection, and a time and place are fixed for a hearing, when any one who thinks he has been unfairly treated may complain. If such a person is not satisfied with the decision of the local assessors he may appear before the County Board of Equalization with his complaint.

=The County Board of Equalization= is the county board of supervisors. They have power to equalize the assessed value of the real property in any tax district in the county. They apportion the amount of State and county tax due from each town or city, add the town or city tax, then ascertain the amount each person shall pay according to the assessed valuation of his property. This sum is noted on the assessment roll opposite each person’s name and the roll then becomes the tax roll of the district.

_A practical example_: Suppose X owns a house and lot which the assessors value at $5,000. The county board of equalization finds that the city where X lives must raise $100,000 in taxes; $90,000 is required for the city government; $9,000 is the sum the city is required to contribute to the expenses of the county, and $1,000 is the share the city has to pay toward the government of the State. The value of taxable property in the city is $5,000,000. Every dollar of assessed property in the city must therefore pay two cents in taxes, and X’s taxes will be $100, of which $90 will go to the city, $9 to the county, and $1 to the State. A mortgage on the property does not decrease the amount to be paid.

=Collecting Taxes=:[3] If a person fails to pay his real-estate taxes the county treasurer is authorized to sell his property for the unpaid taxes. The property may be redeemed by the former owner on payment of back taxes with interest due and the cost and expenses of the tax sale.

Public buildings, religious and charitable institutions, are usually free from taxation; they are for the benefit of the entire community.

=State Taxes=: The ordinary expenses of the State government are met by revenues derived from special indirect State taxes, so that for years there was no direct State tax. State revenues are provided through taxes on stock transfers, mortgage taxes, inheritance taxes, excise, franchise, and corporation taxes. One-half the amount derived from the excise tax goes to the State and one-half to the community from which it comes.

Every stock company incorporated under any law of the State must pay a tax upon the amount of its capital stock and upon any subsequent increase. The earnings of corporations doing business in the State are also taxed.

=An Inheritance Tax= is a tax imposed on the transfer of property at death by will, or by operation of law in case of intestacy. The rate of this tax varies according to the value of the property or share of the recipient and his kinship to decedent. A higher rate is levied on a large bequest or share than on a small one, and a larger percentage is levied when the bequest or share goes to distant kin or to a stranger than when it goes to a close relative.

The direct property tax is now used to pay off the interest and gradually the principal of the State debt.

The estimated resources and revenues, not including the direct tax, for the State for 1918 are:

Cash balance, July 1st $11,084,423
Stenographers’ tax 431,607
Excise tax 5,750,000
Corporation tax 20,000,000
Incorporation tax 1,400,000
Inheritance tax 14,000,000
Stock transfer tax 6,100,000
Investment tax 2,500,000
Mortgage tax 1,180,000
Motor Vehicle tax 2,375,000
Canal maintenance receipts 150,000
Other revenues 4,554,150
———————————
Total $69,525,180

=The Board of Equalization= meets in Albany once a year to examine the reports from the different counties of the value of their taxable property, and to equalize the amount of their taxation. The State tax commissioners, who must personally visit the counties and examine the local rolls, and the land office commissioners form this board.

=Federal Taxes=: The United States government even before the war required an enormous amount of money with which to conduct its business. In the past its chief sources of revenue have been custom duties and internal-revenue taxes.

=Custom Duties= are taxes levied on the importation of articles into the United States from foreign countries. The tariff, which fixes the rates of the impost taxes, has been a constant subject for dispute between the major political parties. Whether the tariff should be imposed “for revenue only,” or whether it should be “a protective tariff” to protect American industries and American labor from the cheap labor of other countries, has been the chief point of difference between Republicans and Democrats at National elections. Impost taxes are indirect taxes which eventually come out of the pockets of the people in increased prices of the articles imported, and incidentally they raise the prices of similar articles of domestic manufacture.

=Internal Revenue= or =Excise Taxes= are taxes imposed on business or on the manufacture and sale of articles in the United States. The most important taxes of this character are those on the manufacture and sale of liquor and tobacco. The manufacture and sale of cosmetics, perfumes, oleomargarine, and playing-cards are also subject to internal-revenue taxes. In many cases these taxes are paid by the sale of stamps to the manufacturer, who has to affix them to the article before it is sold. As with many other kinds of taxation, the public, the ultimate consumer, pays this tax.

=The Income Tax= is a tax on the income of a person. Many who do not own land or other tangible property enjoy an income. As a farmer has to pay a tax on his farm, so a lawyer who has a lucrative practice, but does not own land or stocks, and the man who has an income from investments, are all required to pay their share of government expenses.

The income-tax law of 1916 taxes all incomes of married couples in excess of $4,000, and all incomes of unmarried persons in excess of $3,000. To provide further war revenue, an additional tax was imposed in 1917 on the income of every unmarried person in excess of $1,000 a year, and of every married couple in excess of $2,000 a year. The rate of these taxes increases with the size of the income. The combined income taxes may amount to as much as 67 per cent. in case of the largest incomes.

=Public Debt; Bonds=: If the government needs more money than it wishes to raise by taxation, it can borrow it by issuing bonds. A bond is a promise to pay a certain definite sum of money at a certain time with a fixed rate of interest. United States government bonds are the safest investment in the world. The State and municipalities may also issue bonds, although the amount a city may borrow may be limited by the value of its assessed property. The interest on bonds and the payment of the principal must be met by taxation.

Bonds should not be issued to pay for the running expenses of government, because that is putting on future generations the unjust burden of paying for something for which they receive no return. Their legitimate use is to meet the cost of some improvement which will continue to benefit those who go on paying for it.

When bonds are issued provision should be made for the redemption of their principal. This is done in New York State by raising annually by direct taxation a fixed sum to be invested and kept as a separate fund called a “sinking fund,” to be used only for this purpose. A sinking fund for the payment of the interest and for the redemption of the debt of the State is required by the State constitution.

=The Budget=: Before undertaking an enterprise a wise man considers how much it is going to cost, and where the money is coming from. A budget is a summary of the estimated expenses for the following year of the different departments of the government. It is a business-like method of determining the amount of money which should be raised by a State or municipality to meet its necessary expenses. The budget for New York State is made by the Legislature from an estimate furnished by each of the administrative departments of the State. It includes in detail the amount of salaries, traveling expenses, and maintenance of each department.

The making of a budget for a city is of the greatest importance to the taxpayers. Public hearings are held on it, when taxpayers may be heard for or against the use of the money in the designated way, and when they may ask for additional appropriations for some city activity. Public servants in this, as in every other department of service, work best under supervision. The taxpayer owes it to himself to maintain adequate representation at these hearings. It is on the basis of the budget as finally adopted that taxes are adjusted for the following year. (See Chapter IV on Greater New York.)

The National government has not yet adopted the budget plan, and the President has not the power to veto any item of an appropriation bill unless he vetoes the entire measure.

This is a limitation which is greatly deplored, as it prevents him from cutting out any provision in the bill which he may think unwarranted or extravagant, or which has come out of the “pork-barrel.” This is a term applied to appropriations given by Congress to certain local communities for some Federal building or for the development of some local resource which is not of advantage to the National government, and which is given not because there is any need for it, but because the representative from that district in Congress wants to make himself popular with his constituents by getting for them some public plunder.

=Every Dollar That Is Spent in Any Department of Government Comes Out of the Pockets of the People=: It is not easy for the public to realize this. The Congressman who gets an extra appropriation for a post-office or other public building that is not needed, in order to please his home people, may get more votes, but he is adding to the public burden. In return for a vote for his post-office he may have to give his vote to a fellow-Congressman for an unnecessary expenditure in another State. The chain so formed is practically endless, and its inevitable effect is to raise the cost of government unwarrantably. Every such expenditure, every unnecessary public salary, every dishonest public official, every tax-dodger, every incompetent piece of public work, adds to the burden of taxation which the people have to pay.

FOOTNOTES:

[3] In some counties local arrangements make it difficult for absent owners of property to know when and where taxes are due. Every tax-collector should be obliged to follow the usage of any good business house and mail a bill for taxes.

XII

PUBLIC HIGHWAYS

Road-making has been a function of government since the early ages. The old Roman roads still exist as evidence of the labor and care that were put into them.

Ease of communication, which permits people to journey from home and see what the rest of the world is doing, is a great factor in binding people together, and tends to promote progress.

Good roads are important to every citizen, not only because of the increased use of the automobile, but because they are a vital part of the business life of the country. The farmer needs them to move his crops to market. Without them he may be unable to sell his produce at the time it is most needed and when he could get the best prices for it. The merchant needs them to receive supplies and make deliveries; the manufacturer needs them for the moving of his raw material; the city-dweller needs them so that food may come into city markets. Public highways are the connecting arteries between city and country.

New York State has recognized the need of good roads, and has spent an immense amount of money to secure them. Some years ago a bond issue of $50,000,000 was authorized in the belief that such a large sum of money would put the roads in a condition to meet all requirements for many years.

In 1907 the Legislature approved contracts for 8,300 miles of county highways, believing that the money available would be sufficient. The following year it approved contracts for 3,600 miles of State highways and another bond issue of $50,000,000 was found necessary. Not only had the cost of labor and material greatly increased, but in addition the use of motor-trucks and motor-buses was beginning to put a strain on roads and road-beds which had not been anticipated.

Old roads began to go to pieces rapidly and needed constant repair and often replacing. Even the new roads, where the road-beds were of stone only six inches deep, soon spread and disintegrated under trucks weighing from one to fifteen tons. This use of motor-trucks is increasing, and is necessary for the traffic requirements of the State, but highways are being subject to a strain hitherto unknown, and this strain will increase in both quantity and severity.

How to meet the requirements and maintain and repair roads built for light traffic which are giving way under the new demands, and how to build new roads strong enough to stand up under the strain, are problems the State finds it difficult to meet. New road-beds are now required of stone from nine to twelve inches deep.

Some roads are built by the State, some by the county, and some by the town. In many cases the cost of the work is divided between county and town, or between county and State. The State may help a town build a road, but it can only contribute the same amount or less than the town appropriates.

All material that is used in road-building must be tested in the laboratories maintained by the State Highway Department, and constant experiments are being made to test materials and specifications to find out what will stand the hardest wear.

All roads must be built and repaired under the direction of the State Highway Commissioner, but whether these instructions are carried out often depends on local officials. The public believes that there has been no part of government in New York State more honeycombed with fraud than the one of road-building and maintaining; that specifications have been skimped or ignored, different materials have been substituted from those prescribed, cheaper construction of every kind passed by inspectors, and that the result has been that many roads of the State have cost vast sums of money for which the State is in debt and have not lasted even a few years.

In 1916 the State had a total of 4,027 miles of macadam roads and 5,836 miles of gravel town roads, and more than half of all the improved roads in the State had been constructed within five years. There were 728 patrolmen employed looking after repairs.

The entire cost of bridges is met by the towns with occasional aid from the county. If a State road goes through a village, the same amount is allowed as for the rest of the construction, and if the village wants another kind of a paving or a wider road it must pay the difference in cost. The State Highway Department gives as averages of cost: for macadam roads $10,000 a mile; first-class concrete, $15,000 a mile; and brick paving, $25,000 a mile.

The State highway law provides that all construction must be done by contract. Prison labor is not employed on State and county roads as in some States, but it has been used on roads built by towns.

In spite of the huge appropriations, the State roads are far from complete as planned. Nearly $750,000 will be available in 1918 from the National government as part of New York State’s share in the Federal appropriation for roads.

“Working out” a road tax was never a method which contributed to good roads. The earth roads on which the taxpayer puts his unskilled labor are usually impassable many months of the year.

=City Streets=: The local government decides where a road or street is needed, and with the consent of a sufficient proportion of the property-owners may purchase or condemn the necessary property. If the owner is not satisfied with the payment offered, appraisers must be appointed to decide the amount that should be paid.

City streets must be maintained by the city government. If a person is injured by the failure of the government to keep sidewalks in repair he has a right to sue the government for damages. The municipal government, on the other hand, may require property-owners to keep their sidewalks in good condition.

=Street-cleaning=: Since many thousands of children have no playground but the street, the condition in which city streets are kept is of great importance to their health and general welfare. Disease germs are heavy and are most numerous near the ground. If playgrounds could be arranged on the roofs of high buildings the children would be the gainers from the pure air. Unfortunately, the streets in which they play are not usually the ones which are cleaned most frequently by the street-cleaning department. Old and young are disorderly—newspapers, cigarette-butts, and fruit-skins are thrown down anywhere. Streets littered with papers, with dust-laden pieces blowing back and forth, increase the dangers from disease.

Carelessness on the part of the public in throwing things into the streets adds many thousands of dollars to the cost of street-cleaning departments. Every time that a person throws a paper or any object into the street eventually some one else must be paid to pick it up.

Most municipalities have ordinances against littering the streets, but they are often dead letters.

The cleanliness and good order of city streets pay in dollars and cents, in public comfort and convenience, and in a lowered death-rate.

=Parks=: With the congestion of population that is not confined to New York City or any one part of the State, parks large and small have become a necessity not only for pleasure and beauty, but for the health of the community. In the country people can be out of doors as much as they please, but when families are obliged to live close together, “breathing-places” are of actual physical benefit, especially if they can be green with grass and trees. Communities often awaken to the need of parks too late, after all available places are occupied, when in order to provide the necessary oasis property has to be condemned and often enormous sums of money paid for it.

=City Planning=: Most of our cities have grown up haphazard without any definite plan of development. As new industries have come in they have brought in large numbers of employees, who have had to be provided with living-places, and a new section of the city has been started. Or a real-estate boom, fostered by some private enterprise, will develop another quarter without consideration for the welfare of the incoming population. As land values advance, in order to squeeze all the profit possible out of this increase, high crowded buildings spring up, planned to house as many people as possible in a restricted area. New York City and many other places are continuing to create new tenement districts in outlying quarters of the city where land is still plentiful.

It is not easy to change congested areas built up in the past, but it is a wrong to coming generations to continue to allow considerations of health and decency to be ignored in the future growth of cities. Haphazard growth has cost the public dearly in actual money values. Unrestricted crowded living conditions have cost still more dearly in the moral and physical vitality of the people who have had to put up with them. These mistakes of the past cannot be remedied, but cities and villages are still growing, and the wise community is now developing a plan in advance for its future growth, which will safeguard public health and welfare, and the convenience as well as the beauty of the city.

=The Value of Beauty=: Streets and roads do not need to be bare and ugly. Some attention paid to appearance costs very little and is a distinct benefit to the public. Weeds are usually cut down along the roadside, but so, too often, are the trees. When one thinks of the many years it takes for a tree to attain a fine growth, one wonders at the carelessness with which they are sacrificed. A well-shaded road bordered by trees, or a shaded city street, testifies to the intelligence and thrift of the people responsible for them. Such care is apt to be repaid by increased property values.

XIII

COURTS

In the United States there are two classes of courts—State courts and United States or Federal courts. The State courts of each State derive their jurisdiction and powers from the constitution and laws of the State. The United States courts derive their jurisdiction and powers from the Constitution and laws of the United States.

The functions of the courts are to hear and decide criminal and civil cases.

=Criminal Cases= are prosecutions or proceedings by the State or Federal government to enforce the laws made for the preservation of peace, law, and order in the community, by the imposition of fines, or imprisonment, or the punishment of death, in case of their violation.

=Civil Cases= are suits or proceedings brought for the enforcement or protection of personal or property rights; as, for example, suits to recover compensation or damages for personal injuries, or the destruction of property, or for breaches of contract, or to recover property wrongfully taken, or to restrain by injunction threatened wrongful acts for which a suit for money damages would not be an adequate remedy.

At the trial of a criminal or civil case, the judge supervises and directs the proceedings, and decides any question of law which may arise. Questions of fact, arising in criminal cases, and in most civil cases, are decided by a jury of twelve qualified citizens drawn from a panel or list; but in certain classes of civil cases the judge decides questions of fact as well as questions of law.

Civil as well as criminal cases must be commenced and carried on in a manner prescribed by law or by rules of the courts. In New York the laws of procedure are commonly believed to be unnecessarily complicated and technical. Innumerable controversies have arisen as to their meaning and effect. They have been amended and supplemented by many statutes, and there is a strong movement among lawyers to secure the adoption of a simpler and more workable system of procedure.

In New York State the courts are of the following classes: _Justices of the Peace, or Justices’ Courts_, try petty criminal cases involving small thefts, drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and breach of the peace, and certain ordinary civil suits involving sums of not over $200. A person accused of serious crime before a justice of the peace may be held to await action of a grand jury.

In New York City, and in various other cities of the State, the functions of the justices’ courts are performed by courts called _Municipal Courts_, _City Courts_, _Magistrates_ or _Police Courts_, the latter having jurisdiction only over petty criminal cases. The powers and duties, as well as the names of these lower courts, vary in the different cities.

It is most important that honest, sympathetic men should preside over these lower courts, for in them are tried the small offenses which may be due to ignorance of law, and a large number of people come in contact with government in no other way.

Most arrests are for minor offenses such as drunkenness, disorderly conduct, etc. They are tried here, and many of them bring first offenders into court, where the treatment received by the person accused may determine whether he will become a habitual offender or whether he will be set straight. Many foreigners come into these courts, and receive in them their first impression of justice as administered in this country. Oftentimes the offense is committed through ignorance or stupidity. A kind word or a helping hand may make all the difference between a future good citizen or a crook. In these courts, as in the justices courts of the town or village, there is great need of a careful choice of magistrates.

=County Courts=: In every county except New York there is a county court presided over by the elected county judge. In these county courts may be tried civil suits in which the sum involved is not over $2,000 and all crimes except those punishable by death. They also hear appeals from the justices’ courts. The county courts in Queens, Bronx, Richmond, Kings, Ulster, and Albany counties may try cases involving the death penalty.

=Surrogates’ Courts=: In each county there is a surrogate court, held by a judge called “the Surrogate,” who is elected by the voters of the county for a term of six years (except in the county of New York). In this court wills are probated, the estates of persons deceased are settled, and guardians for minors and executors or administrators for estates of decedents are appointed. It is evident that a county surrogate should be a man of strictest probity as well as good business sense.

=Court of Claims=: Any one who has a claim against the State may take it to the Court of Claims, which consists of three judges appointed by the governor with the approval of the Senate. Appeals from its decisions may be taken to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

=The Supreme Court=: Above the county courts are the Supreme Courts, which, however, are not really supreme, as their decisions are subject to review, and may be reversed upon appeal by the Appellate Division or the Court of Appeals. The Supreme Courts may try any civil or criminal cases, including prosecutions for murder. There are more than one hundred Supreme Court justices in the State, elected by the voters of the various districts, and the entire State is divided into nine judicial districts, in which certain of these Supreme Court justices sit. In every county, at a certain time, a Supreme Court justice holds a _trial court_, where both civil and criminal cases are heard before a trial jury. He also holds a _special term_, where he hears and decides motions and civil cases in which no jury trial is required.

=Appellate Divisions of the Supreme Court=: As judges are human and may make mistakes, the law provides a right of appeal from the court in which a case is tried. The whole State is divided into four judicial departments, in each of which there is an Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. From the Supreme Court justices the governor chooses the justices for the Appellate Divisions. These Appellate Divisions hear appeals from decisions of the county courts and of the Supreme Courts, and they may sit wherever the public interest demands. They do not try cases originally, but only hear appeals.

=The Court of Appeals= is composed of a chief judge and nine associate judges, but only seven judges sit at one time. This court is the State court of last resort, and it may reverse a decision of an Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. In most cases no appeal lies to the Court of Appeals from a decision of a question of fact by a lower court, but only questions of law can be reviewed; but in criminal cases where the sentence is death the entire case may be reviewed.

=Courts of Record= are those courts that have an official seal and keep an official record of all proceedings. The Surrogate’s Court, the County Court, the Supreme Court and its appellate divisions, and the Court of Appeals are courts of record. Justices’ Courts and Magistrates’ Courts are not courts of record.

=Federal Courts=: The jurisdiction of the United States or Federal courts extends to all cases in law and equity arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States, to all cases affecting ambassadors and other public ministers and consuls, to admiralty and maritime cases, and to controversies between States or between citizens of different States. Federal courts are organized in a similar way to State courts.

=The United States District Courts= hear, in the first instance, all classes of cases over which the United States courts have jurisdiction, except the cases mentioned below. The entire country is divided into ninety judicial districts, and each State has at least one district.

=The United States Court of Claims=, which is located in Washington, has jurisdiction over claims against the United States government.

=The Circuit Court of Appeals= is an appellate court by which decisions of the United States district courts may be reviewed.

=The United States Supreme Court= is the highest tribunal in the land. In cases affecting ambassadors and consuls, and those to which the State is a party, the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction. Other cases can come before it only upon an appeal, or writ of error, to review a decision of a lower United States court or a decision of the highest State court involving a question of Federal law. There is a chief justice and eight associate justices of the Supreme Court, who are appointed for life. To be a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is considered one of the highest honors in the land.

The judges of all the Federal courts are appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate.

=Constitutionality of the Law=: One important power which the courts have is to interpret the meaning of the Constitution and laws, but they have no power to do so except so far as necessary to the disposal of cases before them.

The constitution of the State is its fundamental law, as that of the United States (together with the laws made by Congress under it and treaties made by the United States) is the supreme law of the entire United States. A question may arise as to the precise meaning and scope of a constitutional provision. In this case the court may interpret its meaning, and may declare void a law because in violation of the constitution.

=An Injunction= is an order or decree issued by a court, restraining some person or persons or corporation from performing certain acts, on the ground that such acts would cause an injury or loss, for which a suit to recover money damages would not furnish adequate redress. A temporary injunction, or restraining order, may be issued upon affidavits, in advance of the final trial of a case, when it may either be dissolved or be made permanent. An injunction may also command the performance of some act. In such cases it is called a mandatory injunction. If an injunction is violated, the person disobeying can be arrested and sent to jail or fined “for contempt of court” without trial by jury. Many efforts have been made to limit this power of the courts. In Oklahoma, the law provides for jury trial in case of contempt of court for violation of an injunction.

Judges are elected for a longer term of years than are other public officials. County judges have a six-year term. Supreme Court justices and judges of the Court of Appeals are elected for a term of fourteen years. The reason for the longer term of service is that the increased experience is supposed to make a judge more valuable to the State; also, on account of the long term, he is supposed to be less affected by political considerations.

Whether _judges_ should be _appointed or elected_ has been a matter of considerable controversy. It is argued that if they are appointed, the appointment may be a reward for political service instead of because of fitness for the position. On the other hand, if judges are elected, it is objected that they must take part in political contests, and are apt to give decisions more with regard to popular favor than to actual justice. Many persons think that in practice better judges are obtained by appointment than by popular election. State judges are usually elected, but the Federal judges are appointed.

The election of proper men for the position of judge is one of the most important duties of an electorate. Whether the process of the law insures justice and increases public security depends often more on the judge than on the letter of the law. Decisions involving the happiness, rights, and lives of countless people go through the courts of the State. These decisions should not be in the hands of men to whom the office has been given as a reward for party service, or who have been put in the position by prejudiced interests. A wise, intelligent, public-spirited judge has enormous opportunity to add to the sum of public welfare.

XIV

THE PUNISHMENT OF CRIME

A crime is an offense against the people of the State. Also every action that is brought before a court costs the State money and adds to the burden of taxation borne by the people.