Library References. Macy, chap. xxxiii, pp. 211-217; Macy, First Lessons, chap. xvii; Dawes, chap. ii, pp. 119-127, 139–141; Bryce, Vol. I, chaps. x, xii-xiii, xix; Hinsdale, chaps. xvii-xx, xxiii; Wilson, §§ 1054-1061, 1064-1073; Federalist; Madison, Journal of Convention; Fiske, pp. 220-228; Harrison, chaps. ii-iii; Curtis, Vol. I, chaps. xxii-xxiii, xxv; Wilson, Congressional Government, pp. 219-230; Dole, chap. xii; Alton, chaps. ii-iii, viii; Lalor, Articles on Gerrymander, Senate, House of Representatives; Woodburn, pp. 196–210, 214–222, 230–231, 239-243, 246–255.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

1. Describe the legislative department of the national government.

2. Why was it thought best to have Congress consist of two Houses? What are the advantages of having two branches in Congress?

3. Give in substance the provision of the Constitution in reference to apportionment of representatives.

4. How is the number of members composing the House of Representatives determined? State the number composing the present House. When may this number be increased?

5. What state has the largest number of members in the House of Representatives? Why?

6. How are members of the lower House elected?

7. State the qualifications required for membership in the House of Representatives, and explain the importance of two of these requirements.

8. How long is the term of office of a member of the House of Representatives?

9. How are vacancies in the office of representative filled? 10. Define bribery.

11. Mention the principal duties of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

12. State the basis of representation in (1) the Senate; (2) the House of Representatives. Why this difference?

13. State the conditions of eligibility to the office of senator. 14. Give with respect to a senator (1) length of term; (2) minimum age; (3) salary; (4) duties.

15. One third of the members of the Senate are chosen once in two years. Give reasons for the gradual change in membership.

16. Explain why the Constitution provides that the term of a member of the House of Representatives shall be shorter than the term of a senator.

17. How are senators elected? By what amendment was this secured? Give the principal arguments for and against the election of senators by direct vote of the people.

18. State how the president pro tempore of the Senate is chosen, and mention one duty.

19. How do the two Houses of Congress differ as to the way in which the presiding officer is chosen?

20. Under what circumstances are the presiding officers in Congress entitled to vote?

21. Mention two privileges conferred by the Constitution on senators and representatives in Congress, and give a reason for each provision.

22. What privilege have members of Congress as to arrest, and why is this privilege given them?

23. How often does Congress meet?

24. Define "quorum"; "majority"; "plurality.' meant by the "Sixty-fourth Congress"?

What is

25. In what respects did Congress under the Confederation differ from Congress under the Constitution?

26. Explain the following: "Each Congress exists for two years and has two sessions."

27. When may the president adjourn Congress? Has this ever occurred?

1

CHAPTER XX

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT: ITS POWERS AND

LIMITATIONS

The Taxing Power. When the makers of our Constitution, in drafting the document, came to assign powers to the Congress for which they had provided, they dealt first of all with those powers relating to the matter of money, and they placed at the head of the list the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises." Experience under the Articles of Confederation had taught them the absolute necessity of placing the power of taxation in the hands of the central government, if it were to continue to exist. They had learned that no government can in any true sense be a government that it cannot even continue to be-unless it has the power of securing the means for its own continuance. This power is to a government what the power of securing food is to an individual of the animal world. However highly endowed in other respects, if it lacks this, it must soon succumb. The power of taxation is the ultimate means through which government accomplishes the objects for which it exists. This the framers of the Constitution recognized, for in clothing Congress with this power they stated that it was in order that it might "pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States."

Taxes: Classification. What, then, are these taxes, duties, imposts, and excises" that Congress is empowered to

THE ARROWROCK DAM, BOISE, IDAHO (above), AND ONE OF THE GREAT GOVERNMENT IRRIGATING CANALS (below) These great projects, constructed by our government, have made fertile hundreds of thousands of acres of desert land

lay and collect? How do they differ from each other, and how are they laid and collected? "Tax" is the general name for money demanded by government for public purposes from those under its authority. Duties, imposts, and excises are all taxes. Taxes are divided into two general classes direct and indirect. A tax is direct when it is paid by the person from whom government demands it— for example, poll taxes and taxes on land, property, or income. Indirect taxes "are those which are demanded from one person in the expectation and intention that he shall indemnify himself at the expense of another," that is, they are levied on goods before they reach the person who uses them, and are paid by him as a part of the price, not as a tax. Duties, imposts, and excises are indirect taxes. With the exception of an income tax, provided for by the Sixteenth Amendment, direct taxes in the United States are levied only by state and municipal governments, the revenue for the general government being largely derived from indirect taxes; but Congress has at various times levied direct taxes. The reason for the discontinuance of direct taxes is that under present constitutional requirements a direct tax is apt to work injustice to some sections. Congress may levy an income tax but is forbidden by the Constitution to lay any other direct tax except in proportion to population. If, then, one state has twice as many inhabitants as another, it must pay twice as large a share of any direct tax that may be levied. That seems just at first sight, but as a matter of fact the state that has twice as large a population as another has in general more than twice as much wealth, so that the tax falls more heavily on the less populous states.

Indirect Taxes: Duties. It is, then, in indirect taxes that we are chiefly interested. Duties (also called