Book Reviews : The Congressional Conference Committee, Seventieth to Eightieth Congresses. Vol. XXXII, Nos. 3-4. By GILBERT Y. STEINER. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 1951. Pp. x, 185. $3.00 and $4.00.)

• Published date: 01 December 1951
• Date: 01 December 1951
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591295100400430
• Subject Matter: Articles

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this one should fill the bill; but for those desiring a text with the &dquo;life-
blood&dquo; in it, the volume leaves something to be desired. Unfortunately,
the &dquo;sources&dquo; to which the student is referred are none too extensive, and
the condensation is by no means consistent.
Chapter VII, &dquo;Political Parties and Elections,&dquo; affords an example
of the inconsistencies in condensation. While the discussion of pressure
groups, public opinion and propaganda, and nomination of candidates
each receive 2 pages or less, that of ballots is treated in 7 pages, and
Negro suffrage in the South gets 4 pages. Other instances of too-brief
or disproportionate treatments may be found elsewhere in the book. A
description that reminds one of a government manual follows a brief
introduction to the executive departments and independent regulatory
agencies, the subjects which comprise the bulk of Chapter XI, &dquo;National
Administration.&dquo; It is to be regretted that the final chapter, &dquo;State and
Local Government,&dquo; comprising but 16 pages, was included at all.
I doubt that the text with no minor mistakes in fact will ever be
written; and certainly this one is not the exception. For example, in listing
the Presidents who have received a majority of electoral votes but not
of popular votes (pp. 207-208), the authors failed to include Mr. Truman.
Again, in discussing the naturalization procedure (pp. 144-145), the
authors state that the petition for naturalization may be filed &dquo;from two
to ten years after the declaration of intention.&dquo; In the Nationality Act
of 1940, Sec. 332, two to ten years was the period provided. But the word
ten was a typographical error not discovered until after final enactment
of the law. The word should have been seven. The Act of June 25, 1948
(8 U.S.C. 732), finally corrected the mistake; but, in the interim, the
Immigration and Naturalization Service &dquo;as a matter of practice&dquo; limited
the period to seven...