SECTION 5. THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH AND RESEARCH 



By William F. Willoughby 



INTRODUCTION 



In the study that follows the attempt has been made 

 to do four things : To survey the extent to which Ameri- 

 can legislative bodies have engaged in research, using 

 that term to cover the assembling and rendering avail- 

 able of data as well as the examination of data with 

 a view to determining causes, tendencies, results of 

 action, etc.; to list the more impoi'tant documents in 

 which the results of such research have been given pub- 

 licity; to describe the character of agencies set up, 

 or made use of, by the legislatures in carrying on their 

 research work; and to offer certain recommendations 

 in respect to how existing methods of organization 

 and methods for prosecuting research by these bodies 

 may, with advantage, be modified. 



It is, it is believed, amply shown that our legislative 

 bodies have important responsibilities with respect to 

 research other than that of creating and supporting 

 administrative services having research as one of or 

 their major function, and that they have, in fact, done 

 much in this field. It is hoped, moreover, that the 

 analysis here presented by this work, and the sugges- 

 tions made for modifications in organization and meth- 

 od, will lead to a better appreciation of what has been 

 and is being done by American legislatures in facili- 

 tating, and engaging in, direct research work and to 

 the taking of the steps that will lead to this work 

 being prosecuted under more favorable conditions. 



I. CONSTITUTIONAL DOCUMENTS 



The Federal Constitution, the constitutions of the 

 several constituent States, the organic acts providing 

 govermnental systems for the dependencies and the 

 records of the conventions that have been from time 

 to time convened for their formulation or revision con- 

 stitute the most important body of source material 

 regarding the American jjolitical system and its de- 

 veloi^ment that can be provided the student. Upon 

 the legislative branch rests the responsibility of seemg 

 that these documents and records are properly prepared 

 and rendered available. This responsibility is one that 

 in general has been satisfactorily met by the Federal 

 Congi-ess and the State legislatures. 



Constitutions 



Both the Federal Congi-ess and the State legislatures 

 make provision for the publication of the constitution 

 in a way that makes it a matter of comparative ease 

 for the student to secure access to it. Tlie Federal 

 Constitution may be secured in pamphlet form from the 

 United States Superintendent of Documents for the 

 price of 5 cents and is reproduced in such compilations 

 as the United States Code and the Senate and House 

 Manuals. The constitutions of the States may, in like 

 manner, usually though not invariably, be secured in 

 pamphlet form and are reproduced in the State codes 

 or compiled statutes and in the State manuals, which 

 latter compilations usually reproduce the Federal 

 Constitution as well. 



The student of history or of the development of our 

 political sj'stem frequently desires to know, not only 

 existing constitutional provisions, but those which ex- 

 isted in the past and have been subsequently modified 

 by the process of revision and amendment. To meet 

 this need. Congress, by act of June 30, 1906, directed 

 that a compilation be made of all State charters and 

 constitutions from the beginning of their political sys- 

 tems to date. This work was entrusted to Francis New- 

 ton Thorpe and resulted in the publication, in 1909, as 

 a House document, in seven volumes, of the work the 

 full title of which is : The Federal and State Canstitu- 

 tions, Colonial Charters and Other Organic Laws of 

 the States, Ten^itories, and Colonies Now or Hereto- 

 fore Forming the United States of America, compiled 

 and edited under the act of Congress of June 30, 1906, 

 by Francis Newton Thorpe. (H. Doc. 357, .57th Cong., 

 2d sess., 1909.) The first volume of this work con- 

 tains an elaborate and valuable bibliography of the 

 authorities used by the compiler in the preparation of 

 his work. 



Two other documents prepared and published under 

 Congressional auspices having for their purpose to 

 furnish similar information are : The Federal and State 

 Constitutions, Colonial Charters and Other Organic 

 Laios of the United States, compiled by Ben Perley 

 Poore (G. P. O. 1877) and Organic Acts for the Terri- 

 tories of the United States With Notes Thereon, Com- 

 piled from the Statutes at Large. Also Appendices 



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