Elected.

The House of Representatives represents the How people of the United States, and its members are chosen directly by the people of the various states every two years. In such elections all are permitted to vote who are qualified by state laws to vote for members of the lower branch of their state legislature. The right of suffrage is not a natural right, but is a gift of the state, and each state bestows this privilege on such persons as it deems qualified to exercise it, subject to the provisions of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution that "the right of suffrage shall not be denied or abridged to any person on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude," and the nineteenth amendment provides that citizens of the United States shall not be denied the privilege of voting by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

A member of the House must possess these Qualificaqualifications:

(1) A representative must be at least twenty-five

years of age.

(2) A representative must have been for seven years a citizen of the United States.

(3) A representative must be, when elected, an inhabitant of that state in which he is chosen.

tions.

The number of members of the House of Rep- Memberresentatives is determined by Congress. Every ten ship. years a census is taken to ascertain the population of the country, and as soon as possible thereafter

Congress enacts a law regulating the size of the House, dividing the population by this number and apportioning the representatives among the various states. Each state then divides its territory into districts which Congress insists must each be compact, contiguous, and of population nearly equal to each of the others which elect a representative. To save re-districting, state representatives may be elected at large.1 Every state, however, is entitled to one representative, even though its population is less than the number required to form a congressional district; otherwise, the people in some of the smaller states would not be represented in the lower branch of Congress. The forty-eight states have at the present time four hundred thirty-five representatives. Each territory is entitled to one representative, who enjoys all the rights of members except that of voting.

tation.

The Constitution provides that the ratio of rep- Ratio of resentation shall not exceed one representative to Represenevery thirty thousand people. Were the basis of representation to-day as it was after the first census, the House would consist of over three thousand members, a number far too large for the transaction of business. To keep the number within reasonable limits, the ratio of representation has been changed by an apportionment act after each census. The present apportionment is on the basis of the 1910

census.

Since taking the 1920 census several un

"At large" means from the entire state. Every voter in the state is entitled to vote for a member at large.

successful efforts have been made to increase the number of members above 435. Objections were based on the fact that a larger number would make the body unwieldy and cumbersome, and each additional member would increase the expense of government.

The following table shows how the ratio of representation has changed at each decade, the number of population to a representative being given to the nearest thousand only.

The
Speaker.

1 Includes representatives assigned to states admitted to the Union after apportionment according to census.

The House chooses its own officers, the most important of whom is the presiding officer, called the Speaker. The Speaker's position until a few years ago was one of vast influence and power.

He appointed all the committees to whom all bills

were referred for consideration. He thus had it in his power to arrange the committees so as to secure the approval or disapproval of measures of any particular class.

He still has a considerable influence on the work of the House since no member has the right to address the House until recognized by the Speaker. By recognizing, or refusing to recognize a member, the Speaker actually determines what business the House considers.

In a body of 435 members it is necessary that a great deal of the business must be done by committees. There are now nearly sixty of these committees, the most important being those on rules, appropriations, ways and means, interstate and foreign commerce, post-offices, military and naval affairs, and agriculture. Since 1910 these committees have been elected by the members according to a complicated plan. The majority party controls the committees.

Following the colonial theory that taxes can be Exclusive levied only by authority of the people as voiced Powers. through their representatives, the Constitution provides that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House of Representatives. In addition to this power the House also has exclusive power in:

(1) Judging of the qualifications and elections of its own members.

(2) Electing the President in case the electoral college fails to elect.