Part 61 (2/2)

At the head of each department is a director, who is appointed by the governor, is responsible to him, and whose term of office is the same as that of the governor.

Each department is organized into various bureaus, or other subdivisions, with officers in charge who are directly responsible to the director of the department. Thus, in the department of agriculture there is an a.s.sistant director, a general manager of the state fair, a superintendent of foods and dairies, a superintendent of animal industry, a superintendent of plant industry, a chief veterinarian, a chief game and fish warden, and a food standard commission of three members.

All subordinate employees in all departments are appointed under a civil service law which requires compet.i.tive examinations.

a.s.sociated with most of the departments are ”advisory boards”

consisting of citizens who serve without pay. Thus, the department of agriculture has a board of agricultural advisers composed of fifteen persons, and a board of state fair advisers of nine persons, not more than three of whom shall be appointed from any one county.

The things aimed at in this reorganization are: (I) fixing responsibility for the entire service-organization in one place-- with the governor; (2) responsible, trained leaders.h.i.+p in each department of service; (3) responsiveness of leaders.h.i.+p to the people's wants, as provided for by the advisory boards; (4) a system of accounting and records that will make for efficiency and economy, and that will inform the people as well as the officers of government.

Investigate and report on:

The name of the governor of your state, his political party, when elected, for how long a term.

Advantages and disadvantages of a long term for the governor.

The const.i.tutional powers of the governor of your state.

The influence of the governor of your state with the people.

The princ.i.p.al executive and administrative officers of your state.

Those that are elective and those that are appointive.

A complete list of the administrative bureaus, boards, commissions, and other state agencies, with their duties.

The application of Governor Lowden's statement regarding Illinois to your state.

Any proposed reorganization of the executive branch of your state government.

THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

The legislative branch of government consists, in all states, of a legislature (”general a.s.sembly,” ”legislative a.s.sembly,” or ”general court”) composed of two ”houses” or ”chambers,” the house of representatives and the senate. The senate is the ”upper house,” and is usually from one-third to one-half the size of the ”lower house”; in Ma.s.sachusetts only one-sixth the size.

THE TWO HOUSES

A bill to become a law must pa.s.s both houses separately, each house acting as a check upon the other, thus securing greater deliberation in lawmaking. The senate is supposed to be, and usually is, a more conservative, or cautious, body than the house of representatives, partly because of its smaller size which makes possible a more careful consideration of business. Its members are elected from larger districts, thus increasing the opportunity to select able men. A higher age qualification is required for members.h.i.+p in the senate than in the house of representatives; and only a part of the senate is elected at each election, so that it is a continuing body, always containing members of experience, while the lower house may be almost entirely changed at each election.

DEFECTS IN DISTRIBUTION OF REPRESENTATION

It is a theory of our representative government that representation should be proportional to population. To secure this result, each state is divided into election districts presumably of as nearly equal population as possible, the senatorial districts being the larger. In practice, however, these districts do not always have representation proportional to their population. The county is often the unit of representation, or in New England the town, and these districts vary greatly in population. An attempt is made to equalize the difference by providing that no district shall have less than one representative, and often that none shall have more than a certain number. Inequalities nevertheless exist. In Connecticut, thirty- four of the most populous towns and cities have sixty-eight members in the lower house, whereas if the distribution were made on the basis of population they would be ent.i.tled to 186 members.

Again, four of the smallest Connecticut towns, with a total population of 1567, have five members; four of the most populous cities, containing 309,982 inhabitants, have only eight members, whereas on the basis of population they would be ent.i.tled to eighty-seven. [Footnote: C.A., Beard, America Government and Politics, p. 521.]

Partisan influences often enter into the districting of states for representation, the party in power trying to fix boundaries so as to ensure keeping their majority in the legislature.

Investigate and report on the following:

Number of members in the lower and upper houses of your legislature.

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