Readjusting Governmental Areas and Functions
| Date | 01 January 1940 |
| Published date | 01 January 1940 |
| Author | W. Brooke Graves |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624020700126 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
203
Readjusting
Governmental
Areas
and
Functions
By
W.
BROOKE
GRAVES
THIS
volume
undertakes
for
the
first
time
to
present
a
fairly
compre-
hensive
survey
of
the
problems
of
inter-
governmental
and
interjurisdictional
re-
lationships
in
the
United
States.
In
earlier
times,
when
life
itself
was
rela-
tively
simple
and
government
was
geared
to
the
needs
of
a
predominantly
rural
mode
of
life,
relatively
few
problems
of
this
character
arose.
Quite
the
oppo-
site
is
the
case
today.
On
every
hand,
changes
in
political
boundaries
and
new
types
of
governmental
machinery
are
being
proposed
or
adopted,
in
an
effort
to
accomplish
the
adjustments
required
if
government
is
to
serve
adequately
the
people
of
our
time.
It
is
the
present
purpose
to
view
this
general
situation
in
broad
perspective,
depending
upon
the
preceding
articles
for
the
elaboration
of
the
various
devices
mentioned.
FEDERAL
RELATIONS
WITH
THE
STATES
Much
popular
misunderstanding
ex-
ists
regarding
the
problem
of
Federal-
state
relations.
It
is
often
assumed
that
this
is
some
new
question
that
has
risen
to
plague
the
people
of
our
time.
As
a
matter
of
fact,
the
question
of
the
rela-
tions
between
the
central
government
and
the
political
subdivisions
is
not
pe-
culiar
to
the
American
federal
system,
nor
to
the
era
in
which
we
live.
It
rises
in
every
country
in
which
federalism
prevails,
and
it
has
been
intermittently
a
subject
of
controversy
in
the
United
States
from
the
date
of
the
independ-
ence
of
the
colonies
to
date.
It
would
be
silly
to
suppose
that
any
permanently
satisfactory
solution
of
it
will
ever
be
achieved;
since
the
question
has
to
be
answered
anew
by
each
succeeding
gen-
eration,
it
is
important
that
some
serious
effort
be
made
to
find
out
what
has
been
happening
and
what
tendencies
are
be-
ing
established.
It
is
well
known
that
in
a
period
of
over
a
century
and
a
half,
great
changes
in
the
American
federal
system
have
taken
place.
It
is
plain
that
these
have
not
often
come
about
through
the
formal
amendment
of
the
Federal
Constitution.
Other
and
less
direct
methods
have
been
used.
The
rise
and
growth
of
the
grant-
in-aid
system,
the
uses
to
which
the
tax
power,
the
commerce
power,
the
postal
power,
and
the
treaty
power
have
been
put,
and
the
influence
of
Federal
legis-
lative
and
administrative
agencies
upon
the
corresponding
agencies
in
the
states,
have
all
contributed
to
the
net
result.
The
development
of
a
variety
of
fiscal
controls
has
been
important.
The
Fed-
eral
Government
has
assumed
responsi-
bility
for
expensive
functions
formerly
performed
by
the
states;
it
has
devel-
oped
the
device
of
Federally
collected,
state-shared
taxes;
and
it
has
liberalized
the
conditions
attending
grants-in-aid,
even
to
the
extent
of
giving
uncondi-
tional
grants.
Since
the
advent
of
the
depression
in
1929
extensive
developments
have
taken
place,
first
under
President
Hoover,
and
in
more
marked
degree
under
President
Roosevelt,
all
of
which
have
tended
to
extend
the
Federal
influence
over
both
states
and
cities.
In
addition
to
ex-
penditures
for direct
relief
and
the
public
works
program,
legislation
of
far-
reaching
importance
in
the
fields
of
agri-
culture,
labor,
social
security,
and
power
development
are
shifting
the
balance
in
the
American
federal
system
at
a
con-
stantly
accelerating
pace.
Federal
departments
and
agencies
have
sought
state
co-operation
in
the
form
of
legislation
supplementary
to
or
supporting
that
of
Congress.
With
a
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