Book Reviews: Reorganizing State Government. (Chicago: The Council of State Governments. Pp. vi, 153. 1950. $2.00.)
| Date | 01 December 1952 |
| Author | Winston W. Crouch |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591295200500454 |
| Published date | 01 December 1952 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
721
In
his
final
chapter,
Mr.
Berger
discusses
some
of
the
social
scientific
studies
which
indicate
that,
under
certain
conditions,
law
is
capable
of
changing
some
types
of
individual
prejudices
which
lead
men
to
dis-
criminate
against
minority
groups.
However,
this
main
conclusion
on
the
educative
effect
of
law
has
only
limited
value;
for
Mr.
Berger
has
preferred
to
deal
with
the
enforce-
ment
rather
than
with
the
enactment
of
anti-discrimination
laws.
Con-
sequently
he
assumes
that
recently-enacted
anti-discrimination
laws,
including
the
Ives-Quinn
law,
already
are
supported
by
the
majority
of
public
opinion.
This
makes
unnecessary,
for
example,
a
determination
of
the
point
where
the
educative
effect
of
laws
might
be
completely
nullified
by
organized
rebellion
to
them.
Indeed,
his
psychological
demonstration
of
the
ability
of
law
to
curb
individual
prejudices
against
minority
groups
rests
on
the
assumption
that
the
great
mass
of
public
opinion
already
supports
these
laws.
What
he
says,
in
effect,
is
that
anti-discrimination
laws
recognized
by
the
majority
as
necessary
to
the
well-being
of
the
community,
if
their
enforcement
is
successful
in
accomplishing
the
desired
aims,
tend
to
extend
their
moral
authority
to
the
people
who
originally
opposed
them.
This
is
a
conclusion
already
well
established.
Mr.
Berger’s
secondary
conclusion
on
the
present
possibility
of
enforcing
anti-discriminatory
legisla-
tion
is
much
more
timely
and
valuable,
given
present
wide-spread
beliefs
to
the
contrary.
Kenyon
College.
ROSS
YATES.
Reorganizing
State
Government.
(Chicago:
The
Council
of
State
Govern-
ments.
Pp.
vi,
153.
1950.
$2.00.)
This
is
a
convenient,
brief
analysis
of
recent
administrative
reorganiza-
tion
efforts
in
twenty-three
states
and
two
territories.
It
also
provides
a
useful
set
of
references
to
such
factual
matters
as
tabulations
of
the
organization
of
state
planning
agencies,
state-wide
civil
service
systems,
and
state
officers
in
charge
of
preaudit
and
postaudit
activities.
There
is
also
a
liberal
number
of
references
to
official
state
reports
and
to
periodical
literature
concerned
with
state
administrative
reorganization.
While
the
report
discovers
that
&dquo;the
desirability
of
a
central
budget
office
is
now
well
established
in
the
states,&dquo;
it
finds
that
many
states
have
staffs
too
small
to
give
the
governor
effective
budget
assistance.
The
item-veto
and
&dquo;post
appropriation
controls,&dquo;
although
important
tools
for
the
individual
governor
who
would
protect
the
integrity
of
his
budget
proposals,
are
still
relatively
undeveloped
in
the
states.
To continue reading
Request your trial