The world today is appallingly interesting. It is interesting, because it is changing so fast. It is appalling, because almost every change we have witnessed in the course of the last years has been a change for the worse. As mankind is ever proceeding from the past, through the present, toward the future, all change may, in the purely dynamic sense of the term, be called progress. If, however, we seek to estimate the value of change in terms of human welfare, as also if we consider it in the light of the goals pursued, the most significant recent changes in the political and economic spheres are clearly reactionary.

For generations, and in some cases for centuries, ail nations within the orbit of our Western civilization have, through wars and revolutions, been striving to secure for all their members greater physical and moral security, greater political equality, greater individual freedom. Greater security—that is, more assured protection against the violence of their fellow-citizens and against the arbitrary oppression of their governments. Greater equality—that is, less discrimination on grounds of race, of sex, of religious and philosophical creed and of social position. Greater freedom—that is, more latitude for the self-expression and self-assertion of the individual in the face of the authority of tradition and of the state. Guarantees for the protection of the fundamental rights of man, the abolition of arrest without trial and of imprisonment for debt, the suppression of slavery, the extension of the suffrage to all and thereby the subordination of the government to the will of the people (that is, of the majority of all the people), parliamentary control of the budget (that is, no taxation without representation), the recognition of freedom of thought, of speech, of assembly, of the press, the independence of the judiciary and the autonomy of the university—such are some of the ideals for which our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers fought, bled, and died. Such are some of the conquests of human dignity over barbarism, of knowledge over ignorance, of right over might, which they triumphantly achieved and which they proudly bequeathed to us.

A conflict of interests is implicit in most administrative problems, and the successful adjustment of these forces within a predicated legal framework means that the purpose of the governmental agency has been achieved. This consummation is beset with difficulties. The interplay of economic and political influences must be examined in connection with the statutory and formalistic competence of a given governmental bureau if any understanding of the process of administration is to be obtained. Only if the problem is first narrowed to one field, and then focussed upon a single agency, can the component factors be brought to direct and concrete analysis. An effort will be made here to examine the Interstate Commerce Commission in terms of the group pressures that are exerted upon it in its regulatory capacity. The purpose is to discuss the nature of the relations that arise between a regulatory body and the interests touched by its authority and to call attention to the possibilities and problems inherent in such a contact. In short, What political and economic forces make up the environment of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and how does it adapt itself to this environment?

Review of administrative authority and procedure has at times some strange and unfortunate results. Such was the case when the railroads protested the payment of taxes levied by the state tax commission of Washington. When the issue was brought to the courts, a special master was designated to secure evidence and to make preliminary findings of fact and conclusions of law. The master found no actual fraud, but concluded that there was constructive fraud in fixing base values and in allocating such values to the counties. He also found gross over-valuation and a grossly excessive ratio of assessed to actual value.

With the master's report before it, the federal district court made the usual deferential statement to administrative officers in this field in asserting that great care must be taken not unduly to interfere with the discretion which is confided to the assessing and taxing agencies; within their jurisdiction, except in case of fraud or a clearly shown adoption of wrong principles, they are the ultimate guardians of certain rights. Then the court proceeded to condemn the methods of procedure followed by the tax commission in assessing railway property, and also to disapprove of some of the conclusions of the master. Among these conclusions, the master believed that reproduction cost could not be used as a criterion for tax purposes; but the court held that such cost may be considered a relevant factor in such cases.

The presidential campaigns of 1928 and 1932 are a study in contrasts. In 1928, the United States was at the peak of the boom period; the incumbent Republicans were confident of victory; and the result was a Republican victory which “broke” the Solid South and swept all but two states outside that section into the Republican column. The 1932 campaign was fought in the midst of depression and disaster; confidence was with the Democrats for the first time in many years; and the result was a Democratic victory which put the party securely in control of both houses of Congress, as well as of the presidency. What effect did the changed economic and political outlook have upon the financing of the campaign?

The Civil War in the United States was a sobering object lesson to the fathers of Canadian federation. In drafting the British North America Act of 1867, they sought to forestall the development of those problems which the experience of their neighbor to the south had shown to be incidental to the federal system of government. The division of powers between central and local governments has been the rock on which most federations, sooner or later, have foundered, and Canadians sought to escape a similar fate by three different political devices.

Malaya is a peninsula in southeastern Asia, until recently of slight importance in the affairs of the world at large. During the present century, however, it has come to be of increasing significance for its output of rubber and tin, and its population has doubled since 1900. Economic and political affairs are in the main controlled by the British, but under different legal arrangements for different sections. The Straits Settlements form a British colony, comprising several islands, including Singapore and Penang, and two small mainland areas, at Malacca and Wellesley, with a total area of 1,508 square miles and a population of over a million. Rather more than half of the region is included in a federation of four Malay States, established in 1895, under a British protectorate. These have a total area of 27,500 square miles, with a population of about one and a half millions. There are also five other petty states, with a total area of 23,486 square miles and a population of 1,250,000, under special treaty arrangements with Great Britain. The total area of Malaya is 52,000 square miles, and the total population about four millions.