must be presented to the board and the same must be allowed or rejected within thirty days. Very broad auditing functions are permitted with respect to the money in the state treasury which must be counted by the board without previous notice to the state treasurer at least once a month. The board has charge of the sale of bonds, real estate and other property of the state and has authority to authorize the payment of deficiencies when an appropriation made by law has not been sufficient for actual necessities. In fact, such general powers of supervision over all matters concerning the financial and business policies of the state are given it that investigations and proceedings may be instituted by the board at any time when deemed necessary for conserving the rights and interests of the state. All contracts entered into by any state officer, board, commission, department, or bureau for the purchase of supplies and materials, or either must before the same becomes effective be transmitted to the board for approval, and it may also grant permits to purchase in the open market. In connection with the board of control a department of public accounting is established and a uniform system of accounting and reporting for any and all officers, charged with the custody and handling of public money or its equivalent, must be devised, installed and supervised. Biennial reports are made by the board to the legislature.

Illinois (Revised Statutes. 1909, Ch. 23) provides for a board of administration. There are five members, one of whom must be an expert, qualified to advise the board with regard to the treatment of the insane, feeble-minded and epileptic. The term of office is six years, the annual compensation $6000 each, and traveling expenses. This board exercises executive and administrative supervision over all state charitable institutions and succeeds to all the property rights of the boards of trustees hitherto in charge. It exercises control over all contracts for the purchase of supplies for state institutions.

In Ohio in 1911 a bill passed creating a state board of administration for the management of all state benevolent, penal and correctional institutions, except the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Orphan Home, and this act went into effect in August, 1911.

Oregon (Laws, 1911. p. 170-171) has a state purchasing board consisting of the governor, secretary of state, and state treasurer, with authority to purchase supplies for certain specified state institutions. The secretary of state buys supplies for certain offices specially provided for by law, usually the law creating the office, and other offices buy independently out of their own appropriations.

By Chapter 825 of the Public Laws of 1912 the Rhode Island Legislature created a board of control and supply, numbering five members, for five year terms. The salaries of the chairman and the secretary are $3000 each, the other members receiving $2000 each. This board. may purchase supplies and make contracts for repairs and alterations at the state institutions in Cranston, the state sanitorium, the state home and school for dependent children, the institute for the deaf and the school for the feeble-minded. It has charge of all the construction and furnishing of all buildings for any of the said institutions, and the power hitherto exercised by the board of state charities and corrections over the labor or prisoners and other inmates of the institutions is transferred to this board. It must provide for a uniform system of accounting, may appoint certain disbursing agents, and may also make purchases required by any state officer, board or commission in excess of $500 at any one time.

In Connecticut along many lines the comptroller does the purchasing for the state. Indiana has no purchasing and issuing agent for provisions, for the state board of accounts is systematizing the matter considerably, especially on the accounting side. In New Hampshire, although there is no restriction upon the purchasing of supplies of any sort other than state printing and binding, there is a law which provides that contracts for supplies in excess of a certain amount shall be let out to bids. In New Jersey there is an approach to official control in the commissioner of charities and corrections, and the state architect and the commissioner practically control extensions and enlargements to institutions. In New York there is no general law covering this subject, but there are provisions for the purchase of supplies for state charitable institutions. (Consolidated Laws, 1909. v. 5. p. 5390. Sec. 48.)

In Vermont a state officer, known as the Printing Commissioner, purchases all office supplies, such as paper, pens, pencils, typewriter supplies and the like. These are in charge of the sergeant-at-arms and are delivered by him to the different officers on requisitions issued to him. There is no fixed rule as to larger items though this is generally done through the sergeant-at-arms. Supplies for the state charitable institutions are looked out for by the several boards of trustees.

The subject of a board of control and supply has been agitated at times in several states although no affirmative action has been taken. This has been the case particularly in Connecticut, Maine and Michigan. GRACE M. SHERWOOD.

Presidential Primary Elections-Legislation of 1910-1912. The most notable characteristic of primary election legislation during the past two years is the rapid extension of the application of the direct primary to national party machinery and nominations, through state, not national, action. For years the steady advance of the direct primary movement confined itself entirely to state party organization and nominations for offices elective within a single state. The selection of state party representatives in national party councils was passed over in silence, or expressly exempted from the direct primary, or legally to be exercised indirectly through delegate conventions. The only influence exerted by the direct primary on national party operations was indirect and roundabout. Hence the application of the direct primary to the choice of national committeemen, delegates to national conventions, and the instruction of delegates through a presidential preference vote is a distinct innovation. It marks the loosening of the bonds of excess-control by national over state party organization, and constitutes a long stride toward making national party machinery and nominations subject to legal regulation and more truly representatives of the will of the rank and file of the party. The introduction of the direct primary into the field of national party activities began as early as 1906 with the Pennsylvania provision for the choice of delegates to national conventions at primary elections.1 Wisconsin (1907), Oklahoma2 (1908), and South Dakota (1909) adopted the innovation, and extended its application. In 1910, Oregon enacted the first law providing for a distinct presidential prefererence primary election. These pioneers having blazed the way, there followed during the next two years the passage of similar acts by nine or ten states, five, in 1911 and four or five in 1912, making at least one-fourth of the states having such legislation.

These twelve laws present many marked similarities and some decided differences in scope and method. Two provide for the direct

Applies only to congressional district delegates, those at large being chosen by state conventions, the delegates to which are elected directly by the respective party voters.

Provision repealed in 1909.

Proposed by initiative petition and approved at the November election.

N. J., N. D., Nebr., Wis., Cal. Wisconsin added the presidential preference vote to her law of 1907 for the direct choice of delegates.

Md., Mass., Ill., Mich., and probably Maine. For want of a few votes the Michigan act failed to become effective in time for use in 1912.

Pa., S. D.

choice of delegates to national conventions without a distinct presidential preference vote; three for a presidential preference vote without a direct choice of delegates; while seven provide for both a presidential preference vote and the direct choice of delegates. Three states 10 require the selection of national committeemen by direct vote of the party electors; one, New Jersey, by the state central committee; while the others leave the selection to party usage. Finally, two states, Oregon and North Dakota, emphasize the public character of the functions of delegates to a national convention by providing that every delegate of a legally defined political party "shall receive from the State Treasury the amount of his traveling expenses necessarily spent in actual attendance upon said convention, but in

.

no case to exceed two hundred dollars for each delegate." The provisions respecting delegates and committeemen are mandatory upon all legally recognized political parties. The presidential preference primary is merely permissive in five states, while in five others12 it is essentially mandatory, at least in spirit. "The qualified electors of the political parties subject to this law shall have opportunity to vote for their preference, on ballots provided for that purpose, among those aspiring to be candidates of their representative parties for president," reads a typical provision. One-half13 of these laws provide for a separate presidential primary election every four years, the other half, 14 for a combined presidential and general state primary election. The dates for holding these various presidential primaries range over a period of eleven weeks from March 19 to June 4. Only two, those of Oregon and Nebraska, fall on the same day. In every one of these states all political parties hold their presidential primaries on the same day and at the same polling places. They are conducted in the same general manner as regular elections, and entirely

Md., Ill., Mich.

Ore., N. D., Wis., N. J., Nebr., Cal., Mass.

In all but two states, the direct choice of delegates includes alternates, both district and at large. California provides for the choice of alternates by the regular delegates and Wisconsin by the state central committee. In five states, Ore., Nebr., N. D., Wis., and Mass., the presidential preference primary applies to the vice-presidency also.

10S. D., N. D., Nebr.

"Wis., N. J., Md., Mass., Ill.

12Ore., N. D., Nebr., Cal., Mich.

13Wis., N. D., N. J., Cal. Mass., Mich.

14S. D., Ill., Pa., Ore., Nebr., Md., the last four by advancing the date of their general primary in presidential years.

at public expense. The party test and other qualifications for voting at presidential primaries are in every case exactly the same as those required at the general state primary election. Without exception a direct plurality vote suffices to instruct, nominate, or elect as the case may be.

Candidates for national committeemen may have their names placed on the primary ballot only by petitions signed by their respective party voters. 15 In South Dakota, the names of candidates for election as delegates to national conventions are printed on the ballot upon written request and a declaration of candidacy. But in the other states providing for direct choice, a place on the ballot is secured by such candidates only by petitions containing the signatures of a specified number16 or percentage of party electors. With only two exceptions, the names of presidential candidates are to be printed on the ballot "solely on the petition of their political supporters" in the state. "No signature statement, or consent shall be required to be filed by any such candidate." Two states, California and New Jersey, expressly provide that any person thus put forward as a candidate may withdraw his name by a written declination filed with the secretary of state. In marked contrast with the above policy, Illinois provides for a personal petition by presidential candidates to be indorsed by at least three thousand party voters; while Maryland requires both the filing of a certificate of candidacy and the payment of a fee in each of her twenty-seven counties and legislative districts.

The names of individual candidates, whether for president, national committeemen, or delegates to national conventions, are to be arranged on the ballot as follows: in two states, in the order of the filing of petitions; in four, in alphabetical order; in four more, according to a system of rotation. In six states, the names of candidates for the positions of delegates to national conventions appear on the ballot only individually and with absolutely no indication of their presidential preference with the one exception of Pennsylvania. There, would-be delegates may have placed on the ballot opposite their individual names, that of the candidate they prefer and wish to support for president. In New Jersey, South Dakota and California can1sNebr. requires 500 signatures in each of her 6 congressional districts, if not more than 5% of total party vote; S. D. and N. D., only 1% of state party vote.

16 Varies greatly in different states: only 100 in N. J. and 250 in Mass. for all delegates, while 500 in Nebr. for district delegates and 3,000 for those at large.

17Number required in Nebr., 25; Mich., 100; Mass., N. J., Ore., Wis., 1,000; Cal. and N. D., 1% of state party vote.