The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip., September 01, 1925, Page 8, Image 8

THE UNITED AMERICAN
Page Eight
SEPTEMBER 1925
Becoming an American
By A. C. STRANGE, Oregon State Director of Americanization Schools.
[This article which is the sixth in a series of letters written
by A. C. Strange, former Superintendent of City Schools in
Astoria, Oregon, and published under the title “Becoming an
American”, are particularly written for the benefit of those
who are seeking citizenship and studying for naturalization.
The letters which began in January were published monthly
until May, when insertion was discontinued for the three
summer months of June, July and August. With the beginning
of the school year and the opening of classes for adults, the
concluding articles of this series, which will run for the
balance of the year, will be of greater value to those who
are preparing themselves for naturalization. Mr. Strange
who recently accepted the appointment of State Director of
Americanization Schools in Oregon will from now on give
his entire time and attention to the problems of the thousands
of aliens in this state who are’ seeking citizenship and necessarily
need the training which must precede their naturalization.
These letters may primarily be for those who seek the technical
knowledge of our government and our institutions, but they
should also furnish interesting and beneficial reading to a
great many people, men and women, foreign-born and native-
born citizens who have forgotten much of the essentials in
citizenship since they became “old enough to vote” or were
naturalized, oh, so many years ago. Follow the series from
now on till its conclusion and if you are interested in the
preceding articles, subscribe for back-numbers until the supply
has been exhausted.
—Editor.]
VI.
THE EXECUTING GF THE LAWS
TN THIS letter I shall write about carrying into effect
1 of the laws. In my last letter I said that there are
three distinct functions of government,—the law-mak­
ing, the law-executing and the law-explaining and
justice-enforcing departments. Furthermore, I stated
that of these the law-making is the most difficult re­
sponsibility.
It is not enough, however, to make laws. They
must be put into execution. Ordinarily when a law is
passed, if the machinery for its execution is not already
in existence, money will be set aside and officers pro­
vided to put it into effect. The offiicers who make up
this machine are the executive officers. Highest of
all is the president, but in addition there are thousands
of others, such as cabinet officers, state governors,
state secretaries and attorney generals, county judges,
clerks and auditors and members of numerous commis­
sions. All of these operate parts of the great machine
of government. Upon the faithfulness and thoroness
with which they do their work depends the economy
and efficiency with which the machine works.
Let us consider for a little while the head of the ma­
chine, our president. His term of office is four years
and he can be reelected as many times as the people
are willing to reelect him. In the Constitutional Con­
vention there was considerable difference of opinion
about the length of his term of office and the manner
of his election. Many members of the Convention were
very fearful that the government might grow into a
monarchy, a type of government which they distrusted.
Hence they were unwilling to consent to the long term
urged by the few advocates of a strong central govern­
ment. We must remember that there were two lines
of cleavage in the Convention. One party strongly de­
sired a strong central executive power, the other strong
state governments merely confederated or allied to­
gether, the central government to be more largely ad­
visory than executive. To settle this difference of
opinion it was finally agreed that the term should be
only four years and that the number of times the pres­
ident could be reelected should not be mentioned. The
great patriot and military leader, George Washington,
became the first president. He was reelected for a
second term but declined a third, thus setting a prece­
dent of two terms only for the president, which has
always been followed.
There was also much difference of opinion about the
manner of electing a president. There were a few dele­
gates who favored the direct election method, but most
of the delegates believed the plan impracticable because
of the difficulty of communication among the states at
the time making it almost impossible for the voters to
learn or know much about the candidates and because
the large, thickly settled states would be able to elect
whom they pleased. So another compromise plan was
adopted. This provided for an electoral college or con­
vention to which there should come from each state as
many electors or delegates as the state had representa­
tives and senators. In this convention a president and
a vice-president should be chosen. The plan, however,
did not work out as well as the makers of our Constitu­
tion thought it would. Hence the electoral college has
grown into a mere device for counting the popular vote
and for giving the smaller states a little advantage be­
cause of their equal representation in the senate.
Presidents at first were nominated by little groups
of party leaders. This placed too much power in the
hands of the few so about one hundred years ago there
was devised the Convention plan. By this plan each
party holds a convention to nominate president and
vice-president. These conventions are held usually in
June or July of election year, the election is held the
following November and the newly elected president
and vice-president take their seats the following March
the fourth.
If the president dies, the vice-president succeeds
him in the office, and if he die the members of the
Cabinet in a certain order are in the line of succession.
If the president is guilty of some serious misde­
meanor, such as treason or bribery, he may be im­
peached or charged with the crime by the House of
Representatives. The Senate then becomes a court pre­
sided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
to try him. If he is found guilty by a two-thirds vote,
he is removed from office. One president, Andrew
Jackson, was impeached but he was acquitted in the
trial which followed.
The president is in many respects the most power­
ful ruler in the world, in that his powers are not only
executive but also, to some extent, legislative and ju­
dicial.
As the head executive, it is his business to put the
laws into effect. In this capacity he directs the work of
his departments, he appoints to office many important
officials and he issues many important regulations.
He shares in the law-making power in that he may
call Congress together in special session, may make
recommendations to them and may approve or veto
bills passed by Congress.
His judicial power lies in the fact that he is allowed
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