CHAPTER V
THE GOVERNMENT OF MEXICO: THE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
The constitutions of Mexico have attempted to set up states with a sphere of action in large degree similar to that of the states in the United States but the system has never taken root. There has never been a vigorous system of local self-government. Public opinion, here as in the central government, has been inactive and unorganized. The absorption of functions by the central government left the localities little to do. The choice of local officials in the elections was seldom more free from the influence of the central executive power than was the selection of members of Congress and the same influence exerted after the elections made the deliberations of local bodies trivial. They did not have sufficient freedom of action, nor sufficient command of funds to put through the legislation needed by their localities or to arouse public interest in their proceedings.
Most of the state legislatures consisted of a single house of from 12 to 30 members. Their sessions under the old régime were normally two per year, each lasting nominally three months. On the days when the houses met, the sessions were ordinarily limited to two hours. Their proceedings were often brilliant, and the members were often exceptionally able parliamentarians. When
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