The establishment of equitable rules whereby the constitutional rights of affected interests may be protected against arbitrary invasion from laws adopted by the electorate under the reserved legislative powers of the initiative and referendum remains the most important procedural question in the whole field of direct legislation. In reserving the authority to initiate constitutional and statutory measures without the approval or consent of the popular assembly, and to enact such measures through the medium of a popular referendum, the popular sovereign has created a mechanic of legislation coördinate in authority with the legislature. But in erecting barriers against fraudulent and corrupt practices upon the part of those engaged in the initiation of proposed measures, the state constitutions and laws present the possibility of obstructionist tactics by opponents of the proposals and undue delay in the presentation of the measures to the electorates for decision. The recent political imbroglio in Oklahoma over the adoption of an old-age-pensions amendment to the state constitution emphasizes the difficulties of reconciling these conflicting interests.

The summer school was first adapted for political purposes in Great Britain by the Fabian Society early in the present century. In the period before the World War, the only other political organization that sponsored summer schools—and in this case only intermittently—was the Independent Labor party. The Liberal party, beginning with the establishment of the Liberal Summer School in 1921, was the first major party to take up the idea. Neither the Fabian nor the Liberal summer school was founded as part of the official organization of the respective parent bodies; both, in their inception, were spontaneous movements initiated by enthusiastic members of the rank and file. The Fabian Summer School, however, soon became an integral part of the organization of the Fabian Society, while the Liberal Summer School has remained throughout its existence an auxiliary party organization.

Of all criticisms of the New Deal, the one most frequently emphasized is the lack of coördination. Headlessness in policy-framing and sprawling aimlessness in policy execution are twin charges which the Administration has been forced to admit. The recent report of the President's Committee on Administrative Management is an indication that the Administration intends to leave to posterity a good record on this score; but both practitioners and students of government are well aware that no reorganization can be so complete, so perfect in its functional allotment of duties to departments, that the problem of horizontal integration will not still need to be faced and solved. This reminder is less an apologia than an indication of the frame of reference of the present note; those who have been administering the government for the past four years have never been unaware of the need for concerted action among the executive departments, and many attempts have been made to achieve it. A device often employed for the purpose has been the interdepartmental committee.

Housing has at last come into its own. Not housing for its own sake, but housing as a means of “increasing employment quickly,” was the avowed purpose of the housing provisions of the three acts under which the national government's low-rental housing program has to date been carried forward.

In spite of the enormous literature on propaganda recently surveyed by a committee of the Social Science Research Council, there has not as yet emerged a generally accepted definition of propaganda. Consequently, any discussion in this field requires at the outset some statement or general indication of what one is dealing with, in order to reduce misunderstanding. As political scientists, we are taking a strictly pragmatic view of propaganda, as completely removed as possible from the area of psychological controversies. We have, for the purposes of our studies, considered only such propaganda as is manifested in the organized activities involved in efforts to get people to take a particular step, such as to vote for Roosevelt, or to abstain from objecting to a particular step, such as the United States’ entry into the World War. These efforts, when promotional, may be denominated “a propaganda campaign.” Such a campaign proceeds by the organized dissemination of propaganda appeals. But these same appeals can, and do, operate without any organized promotion; and still they tend to influence those whom they reach. Many different kinds of individuals carry these appeals—teachers, writers, gossips, etc. From the viewpoint of propaganda analysis, they may be called “propagandizers.” In the course of a typical campaign, there appear propagandizers who indulge in various activities which are significant in spite of their unorganized nature. Different is the propagandist who participates in a propaganda campaign.

Notwithstanding the vital importance of the cabinet, it has been one of the anomalies of British government that this institution has heretofore been unknown to English constitutional law. Writers have said correctly that “neither Parliament nor the courts have provided for the cabinet and the prime minister. The whole system of cabinet government is founded not on laws but on practices …” However, this view can no longer be held. In the session of Parliament concluded recently, an act was passed which laid down new principles pertaining to the executive. The cabinet, the prime minister, and the ministers of the crown have at last been recognized by statute and have been given a status in British constitutional law.

Municipal officials in 40 states are today coöperating with one another through leagues of municipalities to provide means whereby they may bring the needs of the urban population to the attention of their state legislators and inform themselves as to most efficient practice in the field of public business. These leagues include some 7,000 municipalities as league members, and many more are using league services. The first league was organized 46 years ago, the fortieth in February, 1937. The degree of service, of course, varies as between leagues, owing to differences in strength and financial ability. A few have little more than an annual meeting and limited legislative work. Most leagues, however, carry on a wide range of services such as training schools for city employees, complete information exchange, legislative counsel, monthly magazine, radio programs, legal services, regional meetings, and an annual convention of several days' duration.

In the administration of public affairs in Great Britain, several government departments have found it convenient to divide the country into varying numbers of regional districts, each covering a group of counties. These districts vary a good deal in number and in area for the different departments, though in some cases a similar area is used by more than one department. The largest area is Scotland, with an extensive organization of public administration under the Secretary of State for Scotland, and its own judicial system, while other departments also have branch headquarters for Scotland. Northern Ireland forms another important region, with a large degree of autonomy, under a separate parliament; while, as in the case of Scotland, several departments of the United Kingdom have branch headquarters in Belfast. Wales is also a distinct district for several departments.

The primary objective of a political propaganda campaign is to establish an attitude of mind, a climate of opinion. When such a campaign is successful, the point of view which it has created acts as a censor or interpreter of news. The anti-German attitude displayed by the American press between 1914 and 1917 was the result of such a campaign. It was not accidental, and it was not the result of guilt resting exclusively upon Germany.

In that revolutionary movement by which slowly and unobtrusively the government of England has been made over in the last twenty years, no institution has changed more perceptibly than the Church of England. Church and State: The Report of the Archbishops’ Commission on the Relations between Church and State, dated 1935 but withheld from the public by the Commission until after the general election of that year, sets forth the latest stage in a notable constitutional development.

Hostilities now in progress in the Far East may produce significant changes in the status of foreign concessions and settlements in China. It may be useful, therefore, to classify these areas and to survey their status prior to the present “undeclared war.” Among the several privileges gained by Great Britain, the United States, and France in their treaties with China in 1842–44 was the right of foreign residence in the five ports opened to trade by these treaties: Amoy, Canton, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai. Arrangements for the residence of foreigners and their families in these ports were to be made by the consular officials and the local Chinese authorities acting “in concert together.” These arrangements resulted in the delimitation of areas for foreign residence, generally called “settlements,” which grew into municipalities exempt from Chinese jurisdiction and completely under foreign control. As more ports were opened for trade by the various treaties negotiated after 1844, certain nations requested exclusive areas in many of them. Such areas were generally called “concessions.”