J. Alton Burdine

PORTER, KIRK H. State Administration. Pp. xi, 450. New York: F. S. Crofts & Co., 1938.

The retention of the Committee of the Whole House was not the &dquo;only&dquo; objection raised against the report of the Rules Committee, though the most important one. The decision to keep the Committee of the Whole House was based not only upon questions of principle, but also upon certain local political factors, and furthermore, it was abolished in the last month of the session and for future sessions. The author neglects to point out that at the end of the session the legislature restored the old twenty-day limit for the introduction of bills. The Legislative Council has fifteen members, including the Speakernot eleven. In analyzing the short-ballot proposal, it is not pointed out that the few remaining elective state officers are to be elected in off-presidential years, and further, the author is in error in stating that the secretary of state, the treasurer, and the attorney-general are to be selected by the legislature, for they are to be appointed by the governor. The Committee on Committees had eleven members, not twelve. The lobbyists were not &dquo;assigned&dquo; seats, but sat wherever they could find places. Furthermore, several new and important devices established by the unicameral legislature are not mentioned at all: the constitutional bill reviewer, the permanent secretary of the legislature, and the state planning board. Finally, Mr. Johnson pays little attention to the question of the relationship of the governor to the legislature-surely an important point. A proper evaluation of Nebraska’s ven-