of intention, renunciation of former allegiance and titles, more specific mention of courts empowered to naturalize, and proof of attachment to country. No requirement of the former law was omitted.

Except for the short interval between 1798 and 1802 the provisions of this act have, with slight changes, controlled the admission of foreign-born persons to citizenship in the United States.

XV. THE INFLUENCE OF PARTY UPON LEGISLATION IN ENGLAND

AND AMERICA.

By A. LAWRENCE LOWELL,

PROFESSOR, HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

THE INFLUENCE OF PARTY UPON LEGISLATION IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA.

By Prof. A. LAWRENCE Lowell.

The extraordinary development and permanence of political parties in every large democratic country has of late years attracted universal attention; and in America the growing sense of the importance of party in public life has been shown not only in the discussions of observers and reformers, but also by the laws now enacted in almost every State in the Union to regulate the party machinery. Political organizations have emerged from the twilight of private collections of men whose proceedings concern no one else, into the strong glare that falls on associations of a public character whose action affects the entire community. And yet we are singularly ignorant of the real influence which party exerts upon public affairs. We hear much general denunciation of its action, much talk of party dictation, and recently some political theories have been based upon the assumption that political action in America is almost entirely determined by the party machines. But a careful observation of current politics seems to show that the vehemence in the outery against party and in the complaint of its despotism by no means always corresponds with the actual extent of its power.

It seems useful, therefore, to examine carefully the control of party over the work of legislative bodies; for this is at the same time one of the most vital fields of political activity, and one in which it is difficult to form an accurate estimate of the extent of party influence without thorough statistics. With that object in view, a study has been made of the English Parliament, the Congress of the United States, and several State legislatures; the number of members of each party who voted for or against every question in the course of a session

H. Doc. 702, pt. 1-21

321