head of the two great party organizations have been recognized as a constant force in the government of the country, and have been consulted upon matters of state, not as public officers, but as representatives of a national party.

The proceedings of the national conventions of the two parties furnish the one source of official information upon the work of the national committee. This committee receives increasing attention in current literature. See article in The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. LXXXIX, p. 76, by R. Ogden.

"The Republican National Committee: How It Works for Votes." Review of Reviews, Vol. XXII, p. 529.

Recent References:

"Cortelyou and the Republican Campaign," by A. Halstead. Review of Reviews, September, 1904.

"Geo. B. Cortelyou," by L. A. Coolidge. Review of Reviews, December, 1904.

"Taggart and the Democratic Campaign," by J. P. Hornaday. Review of Reviews, September, 1904.

"Chairman Hitchcock," by S. Smith. Review of Reviews, October, 1908.

"Campaign Chauffeurs," by F. H. Hitchcock. Literature, October, 1908.

Current

CHAPTER VII

THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE

THE origin of the congressional committee, as was mentioned in a previous chapter, belongs to a time of sharp conflict between the executive and legislative branches of the government. The Union convention of 1864 was called by the national Republican committee appointed by the Republican convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln in 1860) It included and represented many supporters of the Lincoln administration who were not Republicans, and it was on account of the Union Democrats in the convention that Mr. Johnson's name was placed upon the ticket. When, after the assassination of Lincoln, Johnson became President, the great body of the Republicans in Congress were driven into opposition, and the support of the Executive came mainly from the Democrats. This was the situation when the time approached for the election of a new Congress in 1866. The President, having control of the public patronage, was using it to strengthen his administration. The national committee, closely identified as it was with the Executive, was an unsatisfactory agency for the use of the Republicans in Congress.) In this emergency the Republican members of the two Houses agreed upon the ap

pointment of a national committee of their own, organized and conducted a campaign, and secured a strong enough representation in Congress to enable them to overcome the President's veto.

In the beginning, then, the congressional committee was an emergency tool, adopted by one of the great parties only. But it was not long before it had so commended itself to the party leaders as to be accepted and made a permanent part of the organization, and was soon adopted by the Democratic party likewise. It meets a real party need.) The national convention and the national committee, though nominally and truly representing the entire party, are, in respect to their peculiar duties, more specifically associated with the Executive. The committee is, indeed, in a way, the especial agent of the presidential candidate, appointed to secure his election and identified with his interests. Now, as has been already explained, members of Congress, even of the same political connection, have duties and interests quite distinct from those of the Executive, and the national congressional committee is an institutional recognition of a patent and significant fact. It not infrequently happens that serious differences arise between the President and his party in Congress, and it is highly important that these dissensions should not be allowed to mar the party unity in the voting constituencies. Conceding the President's prior claim upon the original national committee, Congress can place full confidence in a committee of its own members connecting it directly with the local organizations in each congressional district.

Especially is the usefulness of the congressional committee demonstrated at the time of the important election occurring midway between presidential elections, when an entire lower House is chosen and one third of the Senate is also subject to change. Members of the national committee also may, as individuals, take an active part in these elections, but the committee does not organize and take charge of the campaign as in presidential years. This is now left to the congressional committee, which prepares and issues a campaign text-book and other literature, and assists doubtful districts by supplying speakers and funds for campaign purposes. The committee does not put forth a formal platform. It assumes that the declaration of principles adopted by the last preceding national convention is in force so far as it is applicable to the conditions. But when new issues have arisen, as in the case of the war with Spain in 1898, the attitude of the two parties toward those questions will find expression in the campaign literature prepared by the congressional committees of the two parties.

No fixed rules define the relations of the two national party committees to each other. They are expected, of course, to work in harmony for the triumph of the party. In presidential years the congressional committee holds a relatively subordinate place. It issues no text-book of its own, but may assist the national committee in the preparation of such a work. While it may raise funds and aid doubtful districts, it must not, in the exercise of these functions, interfere with the plans of the national campaign committee. Some fluctuations appear in the comparative influ

ence and importance of the Republican congressional committee at different periods during the nearly forty years of its existence. The committee was particularly active in the campaign of 1880, and there was at the same time a lack of harmony with the national committee, which gave rise to the question of the utility of the double organization. During the twelve years following, the Republican congressional committee was less conspicuous and less active but in 1894 it assumed new life and has ever since been the prominent and efficient agent of the party for the election of congressmen in the "off" years. Indeed, it is apparent that within the last decade the congressional committees of both parties have taken a place of increasing importance. During this same period the national committees of both the parties have been shown to manifest a growing activity and influence, and it may now be accepted as the settled policy of party organization to maintain the two committees permanently. The one is peculiarly the organ of the quadrennial national convention, and closely associated with executive leadership in national politics, while the other, emanating directly from Congress, becomes an organ for legislative leadership, and is more particularly useful to the House of Representatives.

After a new House of Representatives has been elected the congressional committee is reorganized, the former committee having expired with the Congress which created it. The new committee is, in the Republican party, called into existence by a joint caucus of the members of the party in the two Houses, which is called in the ordinary way, that is, by petition