The purpose of this paper is a re-examination of the thesis set forth by Otto von Gierke: that in medieval political theory there were certain organic tendencies which, because the jurists failed to develop the concept of the real personality of the group, ultimately gave way to an atomistic construction of the state. The paper is not concerned with the actual structure of medieval society, nor with the legal concepts of jurists, but with the theoretical doctrines of the publicists which Gierke interprets in that section of Das deutsche Genossenschaftsrecht which, in Maitland's translation, has become a classic for students of political theory. It is my contention that, while his treatment of subordinate issues of medieval political theory is often masterly, Gierke's main theses in regard to the medieval concepts of the nature of the group, the relation of officers to the group, and the relation of groups to one another are fundamentally inaccurate.

Woodrow Wilson long ago recognized the value of the comparative approach in studying public administrative processes. Moreover, in recent years the recognized scope within which fruitful comparisons may be made has been considerably broadened, and public administration has benefited from studies of the experience of large-scale industrial, commercial, and other enterprises. Thus far, however, relatively little attention has been paid by students of public administration to the administrative experience of armies. Military organizations have long dealt with the problem of combining men and materials to produce coördinated and effective action. Out of centuries of experience have emerged certain doctrines, forms, and methods concerning control and coördination which are recognized and accepted by all modern armies. Details and applications change rapidly, but these basic concepts, which have virtually achieved the dignity of principles in their own sphere, change slowly, if at all.

As part of the most basic process in democratic government, the laws of the various states having to do with absentee participation in elections merit consideration. In the election of November 3, 1936, it is estimated that nearly two per cent of the total of forty-five millions were absentee votes. Furthermore, all available evidence indicates a steady expansion of this figure. The number of federal employees in Washington is on the increase; from this source alone the number of absentee voters in the election of 1936 was over eighty thousand. The revival of business and industry, especially in the fields of transportation and communication, and the growing mobility of Americans generally, can be expected to add their quotas to the total number of absentee voters.

Two cases which are concerned with the diversion of the waters of interstate streams were before the United States Supreme Court in the October term of 1937. One of them, Texas v. New Mexico, will be withdrawn from the Court docket when the Rio Grande compact signed by representatives of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas and a representative of the United States on March 18,1938, enters into effect. The other case, Nebraska v. Wyoming and Colorado, was first argued before the Supreme Court in 1935. In May, 1938, the Court granted the petition of the United States for permission to intervene. Further written briefs and oral arguments were to be considered by the Court when the fall term of 1938 opened.

The first instances of the office of lieutenant-governor in the history of American political institutions are found in the governments of the colonial period, when in its most usual form the colonial government, like that of the trading company, consisted of a governor, a deputy-governor, a council, and a general assembly. The office was permanent, however, in only two colonies, i.e., Connecticut and Massachusetts. In other colonies, it existed only when there was a particular need for it. For instance, Lieutenant-Governor Pownall was sent to New Jersey in order to have a competent person “upon the spot” to act whenever the infirmities of the governor made it “painful and hazardous if not impossible” for him to attend to the affairs of his office.

Among the problems touched upon by the President's Committee on Administrative Management is that of the role of administrative discretion in the governmental process. Both Professor Hart and Professor Cushman have contributed to the statement of, and have suggested solutions for, this problem.1 Professor Hart is concerned with the exercise of a rule-making discretion at the administrative level, and has ably defended the exercise of this type of decision-making by personnel under the control of the Executive rather than Congress. In other words, the mere fact that administrative action takes the form of general rules does not relate it functionally to the legislative department, and once the notion that rule-making is “legislation” in a separation-of-powers sense is got out of the way, the case for a complete integration of such powers under the control of the President can be pushed through to unqualified conclusion.

As in previous lists, mention is here confined generally to units specifically authorized by law or established by the President by executive order under general authority vested in him. Changes in units created by heads of departments or independent establishments are excluded unless of major importance.

Air Commerce Bureau, Department of Commerce. Duties transferred to Civil Aëronautics Authority by Civil Aëronautics Act of 1938 (Public Act No. 706, 75th Congress), approved June 23, 1938.

Air Mail Bureau, Interstate Commerce Commission. Duties transferred to Civil Aëronautics Authority by Civil Aëronautics Act of 1938 (Public Act No. 706, 75th Congress), approved June 23, 1938.

Problems of county and township government continued, during 1937, to attract considerable attention from state legislators, political scientists, and the general public. The legislative sessions of the year were productive of a large number of statutes relating to various aspects of local government and administration; and in several instances local units acted under powers previously granted in adopting governmental forms or procedures more suitable to their needs. Notwithstanding a few backward steps and the fact that progress continued to be slow, the general trend was in the direction of improvement. Clearly in evidence was a tendency to confer additional powers and duties upon the local units; and accompanying this increase in functions were efforts to supply additional revenue, modernize the machinery of government, and provide effective means of control.

The developments of the year will be summarized, as were those for the biennium 1935–36, under the following headings: (1) areas; (2) organization and personnel; (3) functions; (4) finance; (5) optional charters; and (6) intergovernmental relations. To facilitate comparison, the subdivisional arrangement of the article of last year, in so far as it is applicable, will also be followed.

Territorial Consolidation. The need for reducing the number of local government units through consolidation was given most attention in Pennsylvania. Existing laws governing the formation of new townships were amended to preclude the division of existing townships and to expedite consolidation. Other legislation was intended to facilitate the annexation of first-class townships or parts thereof to contiguous cities or boroughs. First legislative approval was given to a proposed constitutional amendment providing that no new counties shall be created except through the consolidation of existing counties. A proposed amendment for the consolidation of Philadelphia county with the city of Philadelphia was given second legislative passage, only to be rejected by the voters in the November election.

Canadian federalism in recent years has been passing through the sharpest crisis in its history, a crisis which emerges out of its legal structure and the new financial strains to which it has been subjected in the decade of depression. The appointment in 1937 of a Royal Commission to investigate extensively federal and provincial relations was a tardy recognition by the government at Ottawa that the complex economic and constitutional problems of the Canadian state require thorough study, and informed treatment on the basis of such study. In an article necessarily brief, the background to the malady of the federal system can be sketched in only the broadest outlines.

The years between ten and eighteen constitute a formative period in the lives of all. The mind is then plastic, and it is important to see that the wax gets the right impression. There have been, in the past, numerous youth movements which in some degree have attempted to pour youth into a national mould, but never before have there been official movements embracing the whole youth of a nation as now exist in Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union.

The Hitler-Jugend was founded in 1926, when Hitler assigned Kurt Gruber the task of organizing a party youth movement. The first five years of spade work exceeded in results even the expectations of the most optimistic.