The local government divisions of the State are the creation of the legislature, which, unless expressly restrained by the constitution, can make and change them as pleases. Legally they are political divisions erected by the legis lature for the purpose of assisting in the gov ernment of the State. Historically the principle of local self-government lies deeply embedded in our political life and this fact has been recog nized in numerous recent constitutional enact ments, which limit the hitherto unrestricted control of local government by the legislature. A dozen States give cities and in some cases counties the right to frame their own charters.
Among the numerous miscellaneous pro visions of the modern State constitution several deserve especial mention. Formerly edu cation was a purely local concern, but the in creasing recognition of the political importance of education in a democracy has led the State to grant extensive aid and to assume a large degree of control. Practically all of the States now have a State superintendent or commis sioner, generally elected and nearly always a constitutional officer, and State boards of education. All but a few of the older States, in addition to financial assistance to primary and secondary schools, maintain State uni versities. So vital is the subject considered that the people embody the most important reg ulations in the constitution. Even the revenues for the support of the universities are usually secured beyond the chance of hostile legislation by a constitutionally fixed rate of taxation.
The growth of great transportation and in dustrial corporations in recent years has been the cause of a vast amount of restrictive and regulative legislation. Popular fear of the rail road combination and of the industrial trust and distrust of the legislature as an efficient and incorruptible agent for dealing with capitalistic monopolies have led the voters in many States to incorporate provisions in their constitutions forbidding the combination of competing rail road and telegraph lines, while a multitude of anti-combination laws have been passed by the remaining States. The lack of power to regu late interstate commerce has made most of these efforts at control of transportation ineffective and a demand for more effective Congressional legislation has consequently arisen. Anti-trust agitation has been so widespread that a large majority of States have now passed laws against trusts and of these about one-half have anti-trust clauses in their constitutions. Nearly
all of the States have provisions against mono polies, either in constitution or statute, and every State of the Union has found the regu lation of corporations necessary. The subject of corporation control has aroused more interest than any other State question that has been before the American people since the era of reconstruction. Even in the recently adopted Southern constitutions, the control of corpora tions was second only to the disenfranchise ment of the negro as an object of popular desire.
Administrative boards or commissions, with administrative, ordinance-making and even quasi-judicial powers for the effective regula tion of public utilities and in some cases of vital industries are found in nearly every State. Public opinion tends to regard the extension and intensification of this means of control and regulation as the most promising method of safeguarding public interest against the evils resulting from powerful corporations.
Labor legislation has begun to find expres sion in State constitutions, although the prob lem is still very largely a matter of regulation by statutes. Provisions regulating hours, con ditions of employment, especially of women and children; authorizing a minimum wage; establishing labor bureaus, boards, commission ers and arbitration courts and modifying in the interest of the wage-earner some of the old common-law principles, such as the fellow-serv ant rule, have made their appearance here and there in State constitutions.
Bibliography.— Baldwin, S. E., (The Amer ican Judiciary> (New York 1905) ; Bryce, J., The American Commonwealth' (2 vols., rev. ed., New York 1910) ; Dodd, W. F., The Re vision and Amendment of State Constitutions) (Baltimore 1910) ; Dealey, J. Q., (Growth of American State Constitutions) (Boston Finley, J. H., and Sanderson, J. F., The Ameri can Executive and Executive Methods) (New York 1908) ; Holcombe, A. N., 'State Gov ernment in the United States' (New York 1916) ; Mathews, J. M., of American State Administration' (New York 1917) ; Munro, W. B., (editor), (The Initiative Referendum and Recall' ; Reinsch, P. S., Legislatures and Legis lative Methods' (New York 1907) ; Stun son, F. (Law of the Federal and State Constitutions of the United States' (Boston 1908) ; Thorpe, F. N., (The Federal and State Constitutions' (7 vols., Washington 1909) ; Wilcox, D. F., (Government by all the People' (New York 1912) ; Willoughby, W. W., (The American Constitutional System' (New York 1904).