IRLF 
 
 273 fibb 
 
GIFT OF 
 
Key to 
 
 American 
 
 Citizenship 
 
 The result of three 
 years' teaching in the 
 Citizenship School of 
 the City of Oakland 
 
 LYMAN GRIMES 
 
 of the 
 SAN FRANCISCO BAR 
 
KEY TO 
 AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP 
 
 The result of three years* teaching in the 
 Citizenship School of the City of Oakland 
 
 BY 
 LYMAN GRIMES 
 
 Attorney at Law 
 613 Holbrook Building 
 San Francisco, California 
 
 Copyright, 1916 
 By LYMAN GRIMES 
 
 PERNAU PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 753 MARKET STREET 
 SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 
 
INDEX 
 
 Page 
 
 Eeasons for Becoming an American Citizen 1 
 
 What One Must do to Become a Citizen 1 
 
 Declaration of Intention and Second Papers 2 
 
 Oath of Allegiance 3 
 
 Early Development of Government in America. ... 4 
 
 Constitution of the United States 10 
 
 State Governments 73 
 
 Government of California 73 
 
 County Government 84 
 
 List of Counties 86 
 
 Town Government 87 
 
 City Government 88 
 
 Declaration of Independence 91 
 
 Words and Tjieir Mannings ; . ; 97 
 
 List of ^widents. ;..-,. > , , 99 
 
 Books on American ' Government .".. . 100 
 
Preface 
 
 The first duty of the future citizen is to familiar- 
 ize himself with the Constitution of the United 
 States. On this document the examination for nat- 
 uralization is based. For this reason I have ex- 
 plained the Constitution section by section, as 
 simply as possible. 
 
 The object of this book is to insure the reading 
 of the Constitution. The various questions asked 
 by the court are to be found interspersed between 
 the sections of the Constitution which are set out 
 in heavy type. 
 
Key to American Citizenship 
 
 REASONS FOB BECOMING A CITIZEN. 
 
 There are many reasons why the foreign born 
 person who comes here should wish to become a 
 citizen. 
 
 1. There are rights which are given to a citizen, 
 which are not given to one who is not a citizen. 
 
 2. I wish to vote, so that I may have a say in 
 the government in which I live and am bringing 
 up my family. 
 
 3. This is the country where I am getting my 
 living and I feel that I owe it my love and whatever 
 I can do for it. This I can best accomplish by 
 becoming a citizen. 
 
 4. I wish to become a citizen of this country 
 because this is my home and my adopted country 
 and one that I am going to live and die in. 
 
 5. All those rights guaranteed citizens in the 
 first ten amendments to the Constitution, and in 
 the fourteenth amendment are good reasons why 
 I wish to become an American citizen. 
 
 WHAT ONE MUST DO TO BECOME A CITIZEN. 
 
 An alien must have lived continuously within the 
 United States five years at least, and within the 
 state, territory or district where the court is held 
 one year at least before his application. During 
 that time he must have behaved as becomes a man 
 of good moral character, in sympathy with the 
 Constitution of the United States. 
 
DECLirtlTION OF INTENTION AND SECOND PAPERS. 
 
 At least two years before his admission to citizen- 
 ship, he must declare upon oath before a competent 
 court, and after he has reached the age of eighteen 
 years, that it is his intention to become a citizen, 
 and to renounce his allegiance to any foreign prince, 
 king or state. 
 
 The petition for second papers must be made not 
 less than two, nor more than seven years after the 
 intention to become a citizen. This time limit 
 does not apply to cases of intention expressed be- 
 fore September 27, 1906. 
 
 The petition must be filled out and filed in dupli- 
 cate, with the declaration of intention, and if his 
 immigration into the United States came after June 
 29, 1906, there must also be filed the certificate from 
 the department of commerce and labor stating the 
 date, place and manner of the applicants arrival. 
 The petition must be signed by the applicant in his 
 own handwriting, and must be verified, or sworn 
 to, by the affidavits of at least two credible wit- 
 nesses, who are citizens of the United States. It 
 must disclose that he has resided continuously with- 
 in the United States for at least five years, next 
 preceding the time of the filing of the petition, and 
 that he has also resided for at least one year with- 
 in the state in which the application was made. 
 
 Where he has not resided within the state for 
 five years, he may prove his residence within the 
 state by witnesses, and his remaining residence 
 elsewhere by deposition. 
 
Exceptions to the first rule of intention: 
 
 1. An honorably discharged soldier having the 
 necessary qualifications as to residence. This ap- 
 plies to aliens honorably discharged from the navy 
 or the marine corps ; 
 
 2. The widow or minor children of one who has 
 declared his intention to become a citizen but who 
 dies before he is actually naturalized; 
 
 3. Any person qualified to become a citizen, who 
 has resided within the United States for five years 
 next preceding May 1, 1910, and who because .of 
 misinformation, has acted under the impression that 
 he was or could become a citizen, and who has 
 exercised the rights of a citizen or an intended 
 citizen. 
 
 OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 
 
 It is essential that at the time of his applica- 
 tion that the alien renounce forever all allegiance 
 and fidelity to any foreign state, sovereignty, etc., 
 and that he will support the Constitution of the 
 United States. 
 
 It is essential that the citizen specify that he 
 is not an anarchist, that is one who believes in no 
 form of government, but rather the death of all 
 rulers. 
 
 He must believe in monogamy or the system of 
 one wife only. 
 
 He must be willing to fight for this new country 
 of his, even though we were at war with his mother 
 land. 
 
THE EAELT DEVELOPMENT OF GOVERNMENT 
 IN AMERICA. 
 
 Although America was discovered by Columbus 
 in 1492 (some say in the year 1000 by Leif the 
 Lucky, or Leif Ericksen) no English settlement was 
 made until the year 1607 when John Smith came 
 with a small party of Englishmen to Jamestown, 
 Virginia. Soon after this in 1620 the Pilgrim 
 Fathers founded Plymouth, Massachusetts. From 
 this time, until the final break with England in 
 1775, the outset of the Eevolutionary War, there 
 was a constant stream of colonists crossing the 
 Atlantic to try their fortune in the new land. 
 
 There were various reasons why people came to 
 America. Some wished to worship God in their 
 own fashion undisturbed by the interference of 
 kings, priests, or ministers of other churches. 
 Others came to seek gold and adventure; still 
 others, because they were sold as slaves to planters 
 to work out their freedom by years of service. 
 These were white men and women. 
 
 Men cannot live together without a government 
 of some kind, so these Englishmen were not long 
 in organizing and adopting the rules and regula- 
 tions they formerly lived under in England. 
 Englishmen had been fighting their kings for hun- 
 dreds of years for more and more liberty, and the 
 colonists in the new world did not wish to lose 
 these privileges. 
 
 To secure these, each of the thirteen colonies had 
 a written document or paper called a charter, 
 which set out the kind of a government the people 
 were to live under and what rights and privileges 
 
they were to enjoy. Most of these charters were 
 sent out by the King, the others were prepared by 
 the colonists themselves. Since these charters were 
 not all alike, the governments in the different col- 
 onies were not absolutely similar. Inasmuch, how- 
 ever, as the King of England was, with Parliament, 
 the head of them all, the government of one colony 
 did not differ very much from another. The 
 colonial governments were of three types or kinds: 
 Royal, whose governors were sent out by the King 
 himself; Proprietary, whose governors were sent 
 out from England by the owners of the colony or 
 were governed by the owner himself; Charter, 
 whose governors were either elected by the people 
 themselves or were sent out by the directors of the 
 great colonial corporations that helped manage the 
 affairs of some of the colonies. 
 
 While these governors saw that the laws of Par- 
 liament were enforced, they also executed the local 
 laws and regulations of the colonial assemblies. 
 
 So the affairs of these early Americans prospered 
 until by the year 1775 fully two million people had 
 migrated to these shores. Among these were Ger- 
 mans, Dutch and Swedes, but the great majority 
 were English. 
 
 England meanwhile was governed by German 
 Kings who did not understand the needs of either 
 England or her possessions. The result was that 
 the Home Government fell into the hands of a lot 
 of plundering politicians who used their offices 
 merely for the purpose of filling their pockets. 
 They knew nothing of America, so felt perfectly 
 
 5 
 
secure in oppressing the colonists. The numerous 
 grievances that were inflicted on the Americans are 
 found in the Declaration of Independence, which is 
 set out later. The chief grievance was that the 
 colonists were taxed without giving them a vote 
 as to the spending of their money. Since English- 
 men at home had this right of seeing what became 
 of their money, the Englishmen in America felt that 
 they were entitled to the same privilege. This and 
 the other reasons set out in the Declaration of 
 Independence caused the final separation from 
 England and the War of the Revolution, 1775 to 
 1783. 
 
 With the outbreak of the war, the central govern- 
 ment which had bound the states or colonies to- 
 gether disappeared, and the first thing to be done 
 was to organize the thirteen separate states into 
 one strong body. 
 
 Representatives from the thirteen states met and 
 discussed different plans during 1775 and 1776. 
 In 1777 the Articles of Confederation were adopted 
 which Hnked the states together into a Union. This 
 confederation united the thirteen governments more 
 strongly than an alliance, but not so strongly and 
 so intimately as later under the Federal Constitu- 
 tion. These articles were not formally ratified 
 by the states until 1781. They lasted thereafter 
 until 1789 when the present Constitution was put 
 into effect. The governing body during the war 
 was a group of men from the several states known 
 as the Continental Congress. 
 
The Articles of Confederation were a great help 
 to the people during the war serving to hold them 
 together in the face of the enemy, but when peace 
 came they were not sufficiently strong. The gov- 
 ernment under the Articles of Confederation was 
 very poorly organized. It had no executive branch 
 like our President and Cabinet, and instead of a 
 two-chambered legislature it had but one house. 
 All the powers were united in a single body with 
 the result that there was not the protection to the 
 people that is to be found in our government today. 
 
 Congress under the Articles could make treaties 
 but could not execute them, that is to say, see that 
 they were put into effect. 
 
 It could borrow money but could not pay it back. 
 
 It could appoint ambassadors but could not pay 
 them. 
 
 It could coin money, but could not buy gold and 
 silver. 
 
 It could declare war, but it could not raise 
 soldiers. 
 
 It could order a thing done, a law executed but 
 it could not fulfill the order. In other words the 
 power was lacking. 
 
 The result of such a weak government was that 
 treaties were not lived up to, debts not paid, state 
 fought with state and it seemed that there could 
 only be one result, that the old government would 
 have to return or there would have to be some other 
 complete change. 
 
The ablest men realized that there must be some 
 change and soon, so they met (representatives from 
 five colonies) at Annapolis in the year 1786 and 
 tried to secure some relief. As only five states 
 were represented, nothing could be settled, but the 
 fact that a similar meeting should be held the next 
 year in Philadelphia. 
 
 Next year, after four months ' hard work, the 
 Constitution was finally finished on September 17, 
 1787. It was sent out to the various states to be 
 ratified the following year, it being understood that 
 if nine of the thirteen states signed it, it should go 
 into effect. By the middle of 1788 the necessary 
 nine states had signed, and the Constitution was 
 established. 
 
 
CONSTITUTION 
 
 The Constitution of the United States is the high- 
 est law of the land. It is the solemn expression of 
 the people's will, which all three branches of the 
 government must obey. Should the legislature pass 
 a law contrary to the provisions or spirit of the 
 Constitution, such a law would cease to have any 
 effect after the judicial department had passed on 
 its constitutionality. So, also, if the judges or 
 executive act contrary to the Constitution such 
 action would be at once illegal and void and those 
 committing it punished. 
 
 The framework of the Constitution is as follows: 
 
 1. The preamble, which sets out the general 
 purpose for the establishment of the government ; 
 
 2. The legislative department, which is given 
 the power to make the laws for the United States ; 
 
 3. The executive department, which enforces the 
 laws made by the Legislature; 
 
 4. The judicial department, which decides how 
 the law shall be interpreted in particular cases 
 when disputes arise; 
 
 5. Certain provisions governing the relation 
 between the states and the United States, the 
 amending of the Constitution, and the amendments 
 themselves. 
 
The Constitution of the United States 
 
 PREAMBLE. 
 
 We, the people of the United States, in order to form 
 a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic 
 tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote 
 the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to 
 ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish 
 this Constitution for the United States of America. 
 
 Q. What is the Preamble? 
 
 A. It is an introduction of or foreword to the 
 Constitution, in which the reasons for the establish- 
 ment of the Constitution are set out. 
 
 Q. What is meant by "a more perfect union "? 
 
 A. One that remedied the mistakes of the Articles 
 of Confederation. One that provided for an execu- 
 tive head and strong central control. 
 
 Q. What does " insure domestic tranquillity " 
 mean? 
 
 A. Secure peace at home, in the United States. 
 Q. What are some of the blessings of liberty? 
 A. The right to worship God as you desire. 
 
 The privilege of a free press. 
 
 The right of free speech. 
 
 All those guarantees provided us in the first ten 
 amendments to the Constitution, commonly known 
 as the Bill of Eights, and many others too numerous 
 to mention. 
 
 10 
 
THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 The legislative branch of the government is in 
 some respects the most powerful and important of 
 the three departments. It expresses the will of the 
 people in the form of laws. The welfare and safety 
 of the people depend in great measure on the laws 
 which are made. 
 
 AETICLE I. 
 
 Section 1. All legislative powers herein granted, shall 
 be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall 
 consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives. 
 
 Q. What is Congress? 
 
 A. The law making body of the United States. 
 It consists of two houses, the Senate and the House 
 of Representatives. 
 
 Congress is what is known as a two-chambered 
 house, having an upper and a lower house. Some 
 states have had single houses to make their laws, 
 but experience has taught that the bicameral system 
 as the two-chambered system is known, is best. 
 The reason for this rests in the fact that one house 
 balances the other. When the constitutional con- 
 vention was framing the Constitution the question 
 arose, How many houses shall Congress have, one 
 or two! After a discussion the delegates agreed 
 that the two-house system was the better, but here 
 a difficulty arose. The large states insisted that 
 the members of both houses should be elected pro- 
 portionately to the population, which would, of 
 course, give the large states a greater influence in 
 Congress. The small states, on the other hand, 
 wished to give each state an equal vote irrespective 
 of size. The discussion grew very heated, and 
 weeks passed with no result, until at length a com- 
 
 11 
 
promise was suggested by the Connecticut delega- 
 tion. They suggested that the House of Represen- 
 tatives be selected according to the population, 
 while the Senate was to have two delegates from 
 each state irrespective of size. This was adopted 
 and is ordinarily known as the Connecticut Com- 
 promise. 
 
 Sec. 2. 1. The House of Representatives shall be 
 composed of members chosen every second year by the 
 people of the several states, and the electors in each 
 state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors 
 of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature. 
 
 Q. What is the term of a representative? 
 
 A. Two years. 
 
 Q. What is a congressman? 
 
 A. A member of the lower house is commonly 
 known as a Congressman, although strictly speak- 
 ing, members of either may be called that. The 
 members of the upper house always go by the term 
 Senator. 
 
 Q. Do all the representatives come into office 
 and go out of office at the same time? 
 
 A. Yes, although this does not mean that an 
 entirely new body goes into session every two years, 
 because many of the incumbents (those already in 
 office) are re-elected. 
 
 Q. What is an elector? 
 
 A. A voter is known as an elector. Presidential 
 electors are not meant in the above section. 
 
 Q. Who are electors of the most numerous 
 branch of the state legislature? 
 
 A. In California, they would be all those who 
 could vote for members of the state assembly. 
 
 12 
 
2. No person shall be a representative who shall not 
 have attained the age of twenty-five years and been 
 seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall 
 not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in 
 which he shall be chosen. 
 
 Q. What is a citizen of the United States? 
 
 A. A person born or naturalized in the United 
 States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, is a 
 citizen. Members of the Asiatic race are not per- 
 mitted to become citizens, although of course their 
 children if born here become citizens automatically. 
 
 3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be appor- 
 tioned among the several states which may be included 
 within this Union, according to their respective num- 
 bers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole 
 number of free persons, including those bound to serv- 
 ice for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, 
 three fifths of all other persons. The actual enumera- 
 tion shall be made within three years after the first 
 meeting of the congress of the United States, and with- 
 in every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner 
 as they shall by law direct. The number of representa- 
 tives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but 
 each state shall have at least one representative; and 
 until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New 
 Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, Massachu- 
 setts eight, Ehode Island and Providence Plantations 
 one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, 
 Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Vir- 
 ginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and 
 Georgia three. 
 
 The above section is practically obsolete; that is, 
 out of date today. It is another example of a corn- 
 is 
 
promise made by the members of the Constitutional 
 Convention in 1787. The members of the southern 
 states whose population consisted largely of negro 
 slaves wished to count them equal to one white 
 person. The northern states refused to consider 
 this, so that the following compromise was finally 
 agreed to: five slaves were to be the equivalent of 
 three whites, and the slave trade with Africa was 
 to be permitted to go on for twenty years in return 
 for concessions made by the south in favor of tax- 
 ation and commerce. 
 
 Q. How often is there a census taken? 
 
 A. Every ten years. 
 
 Q. What is the number of representatives in 
 Congress ? 
 
 A. At the last session 435. 
 
 Q. How many people are there to each repre- 
 sentative? 
 
 A. Approximately 235,000. 
 
 Q. How many representatives are there from 
 California? 
 
 A. Eleven. 
 
 Q. Who are they? 
 
 1st District John E. Kaker, Democrat. 
 
 2nd " William Kent, Progressive. 
 
 3rd " C. F. Curry, Eepublican. 
 
 4th " Julius Kahn, Republican. 
 
 5th " John I. Nolan, Prog. Eepublican. 
 
 6th " Arthur Elston, Progressive. 
 
 7th " Denver S. Church, Democrat. 
 
 8th " Everis A. Hayes, Eepublican. 
 
 9th " Charles W. Bell, Prog. Eepublican. 
 10th " Wm. D. Stephens, Prog. Eepublican. 
 llth " William Kettner, Democrat. 
 
 14 
 
Q. Who is the congressman from Oakland,. 
 Alameda County? 
 
 A. Arthur Elston. 
 
 Q. When is the next congressional election? 
 
 A. The first Tuesday after the first Monday of 
 November in every even year, as 1914, 1916, etc. 
 
 Q. Does a state like Nevada get a representa- 
 tive in Congress, when it has less than 235,000 in- 
 habitants ? 
 
 A. Yes, at least one for the 235,000 people or 
 less. 
 
 Q. How are representatives elected? 
 
 A. Directly by the votes of the people. 
 
 Q. Do all the people of the state vote for each 
 Congressman? 
 
 A. No, only the voters in each Congressional 
 district vote for each representative. 
 
 4. When vacancies happen in the representation from 
 any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue 
 writs of election to fill such vacancies, 
 
 Q. What is meant by the executive authority 
 thereof? 
 
 A. The governor of the state from which the 
 representative is chosen. 
 
 Q. What is a writ of election? 
 
 A. A document signifying that one has been 
 chosen to a certain office. 
 
 5. The House of Representatives shall choose their 
 speaker and other officers, and shall have the sole power 
 of impeachment. 
 
 Q. Who is the Speaker? 
 
 A. The leader of the House of Eepresentatives. 
 
 15 
 
Q. What is his name? 
 
 A. Champ Clark. 
 
 Q. How is he selected? 
 
 A. He is elected by the representatives out of 
 their own number, and is, of course, a member of 
 the ruling majority. He may, if he is a strong man, 
 dictate the policy of the house, inasmuch as he fills 
 all committees and makes many appointments in 
 the house. His salary is twelve thousand a year. 
 
 Q. What is meant by impeachment? 
 
 A. Impeachment is the charging of high public 
 officers with misconduct in office as, for example, 
 where the President does not enforce a law, or 
 where a federal judge fails to do his duty. Just 
 as the grand jury of a county indicts a criminal, 
 while the petit jury tries him, so the House of 
 Representatives indicts the public official by a two 
 thirds' vote, leaving the Senate to try him. Here 
 a two thirds' vote is necessary to impeach also. 
 The purpose of the impeachment is to remove 
 wrongdoers from office, not to punish them. The 
 punishing is left to the civil authorities. 
 
 Sec. 3. 1. The Senate of the United States shall be 
 composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by 
 the legislature thereof, for six years, and each Senator 
 shall have one vote. 
 
 The above method of electing senators has been 
 replaced by that found in the seventeenth amend- 
 ment, which provides for the direct election of 
 senators, by the voters of each state. The reason 
 for the adoption of this amendment in 1913 was 
 
 16 
 
that the state legislatures have been at times con- 
 trolled by the vested interests, and these corpora- 
 tions sent their men to the United States Senate 
 to represent them directly, and the people in- 
 cidentally. 
 
 Q. Are the senators chosen from senatorial dis- 
 tricts ? 
 
 A. No. The voters throughout the state vote 
 for each senator directly. 
 
 Q. How many senators are there from each 
 state? 
 
 A. Two. 
 
 Q. Who are the senators from California! 
 
 A. John D. Works, Eepublican, from Los An- 
 geles, and James D. Phelan, Democrat, from San 
 Francisco. 
 
 2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in con- 
 sequence of the first election, they shall be divided as 
 equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the 
 Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expira- 
 tion of the second year, of the second class at the expira- 
 tion of the fourth year, and of the third class at the ex- 
 piration of the sixth year, so that one third may be 
 chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen, by 
 resignation or otherwise, during the recess of the Legis- 
 lature of any state, the executive thereof may make 
 temporary appointments until the next meeting of the 
 Legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies. 
 
 Q. What is the purpose of having these three 
 classes? 
 
 A. This secures a perpetual working Senate. 
 By this arrangement there are always two thirds 
 of the senators in office, leaving only one third to 
 
 17 
 
be selected every two years. The Senate is thus 
 partly a continuous body, "always changing it is 
 forever the same' 7 . It does not have to be reorgan- 
 ized at the commencement of each Congress. 
 
 Q. Why is the Senate known as the Upper 
 House? 
 
 A. Because of the permanency of its organiza- 
 tion, the age and experience of its members and the 
 fact that the Senate does not have to rush through 
 its business in two years, but can wait four years 
 if it so desires, it has been called the Upper House. 
 The Senate has been known to ignore the rights of 
 the Lower House, if the House does not defend it- 
 self, just as the House will do to the Senate if the 
 opportunity presents itself. An instance of this is 
 seen in the Senate's refusal to consider the question 
 of changing the method of their election. This pro- 
 posal passed four consecutive Houses before adop- 
 tion, only to be turned down by the Senate. There 
 is more freedom of debate on the floor of the 
 Senate, inasmuch as the Senate is a smaller body 
 and the opportunity to hear one another is better 
 than in the House. Also each member can talk as 
 long as he wishes, the Senate believing that the 
 more discussion there is had on a question, the 
 better for the people. Advantage is taken of these 
 liberal rules by members who wish to sidetrack an 
 issue, by reading and talking for hours at a time. 
 One year a senator talked as long as fourteen hours 
 for this purpose. 
 
 3. No person shall be a Senator who shall not have 
 attained the age of thirty years, and been nine years a 
 citizen of the. United States, and who shall not, when 
 
 18 
 
elected, be an inhabitant of the state for which he shall 
 be chosen. 
 
 Q. Does a senator have to be a native born 
 citizen? 
 
 A. No; senators may be either native born or 
 naturalized citizens. 
 
 Q. Why are the qualifications of senators higher 
 than those of representatives'? 
 
 A. Probably because the Senate must check the 
 hasty action of the House, and also because they 
 are advisers of the executive department in the 
 appointment of important executive officers and the 
 ratification of treaties. 
 
 Q. Why should a senator be a resident of the 
 state which he represents? 
 
 A. By living in that state he is aware of the 
 needs of the people and is influenced by the love 
 he has for his home. In England a member of 
 Parliament need not live in the district from which 
 he is chosen, but may come from elsewhere; the 
 English thinking that there might be more than one 
 able man living in the same district, and he should 
 have a chance to work for the country. But one 
 must remember that the whole of England could 
 be fitted into the State of California and that the 
 districts there are much smaller than correspond- 
 ing districts here. 
 
 4. The Vice-President of the United States shall be 
 president of the Senate, but shall have no voice unless 
 they shall be equally divided. 
 
 Q. Does this section mean that the Vice-Presi- 
 dent loses his vote! 
 
 A. No, as he can use it in case of a tie vote. 
 
 19 
 
Q. Should the Vice-President die or become 
 President, who takes his place at the head of the 
 Senate? 
 
 A. A temporary president of the Senate is 
 chosen out of their own body, to fill this vacancy, 
 as provided in the next section. 
 
 5. The Senate shall choose their officers, and have a 
 President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-Presi- 
 dent, or when he shall exercise the office of President of 
 the United States. 
 
 Q. When did this situation last arise? 
 A. In the case of the death of Vice-President 
 Sherman, who served under President Taft. 
 
 6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all 
 impeachments; when sitting for that purpose, they shall 
 be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the 
 United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside; 
 and no person shall be convicted without the concur- 
 rence of two thirds of the members present. 
 
 Q. What is necessary to secure an impeach- 
 ment ? 
 
 A. The two thirds vote of the House together 
 with the same vote of the Senate. 
 
 Q. Why does the Chief Justice preside in the 
 case of impeaching the President? 
 
 A. Because the Vice-President who presides 
 over the Senate takes the President's place during 
 these proceedings. 
 
 Q. Has a President of the United States ever 
 been impeached? 
 
 A. Yes ; one. Andrew Johnson, -who took Pres- 
 ident Lincoln's chair following the assassination. 
 
 20 
 
President Johnson quarrelled with Congress on the 
 question of reconstruction after the Civil War. 
 The immediate reason for the impeachment was 
 his removal of the Secretary of War without the 
 consent of the Senate, according to the provisions 
 of the Tenure of Office Act, which passed over his 
 veto, and was enacted for the purpose of tying the 
 President's hands by the Senate and House. He 
 was impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors 
 but the necessary two thirds vote was lacking and 
 he remained in office to the end of his term. 
 
 7, Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend 
 further than to removal from office and disqualification 
 to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit 
 under the United States; but the party convicted shall, 
 nevertheless, be liable and subject to indictment, trial, 
 judgment, and punishment according to law. 
 
 By impeachment an officer is removed from office 
 and can never hold one again, unless the disqualifi- 
 cation is removed by some action on the part of 
 Congress. 
 
 Sec. 4. 1. The times, places, and manner of holding 
 elections for Senators and Representatives shall be pre- 
 scribed in each state by the Legislature thereof; but the 
 Congress may at any time, by law, make or alter such 
 regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators. 
 
 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every 
 year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in 
 December, unless they shall, by law, appoint a different 
 day. 
 
 Q. How often does Congress meet? 
 
 A. Every year, beginning the first Monday in 
 
 21 
 
December. The first session begins with the new 
 Congress, and ends late in the spring or early in the 
 summer of the following year. This is called the 
 long session. The second or short session begins 
 when the Congress meets in December for the sec- 
 ond time, and ends at twelve o'clock noon March 
 fourth of the following year. Extra sessions may 
 be called by the President. 
 
 Q. When did the first Congress meet? 
 
 A. March 4, 1789. 
 
 Q. How are the Congresses numbered? 
 
 A. By every two-year period, the first Congress 
 serving two years; the second Congress the next 
 two, etc, 
 
 Q. What advantage is there in these regular 
 meetings of Congress? 
 
 A. Congress meeting regularly protects the in- 
 terests of the people. They do not have to depend 
 on an executive to call a session together, as the 
 Kings of England did to Parliament years ago. 
 
 Sec. 5. 1. Each house shall be the judge of the elec- 
 tions, returns, and qualifications of its own members, 
 and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do 
 business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day 
 to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance 
 of absent members, in such manner and under such pen- 
 alties as each house may provide. 
 
 As each house is the judge of its own members, 
 if the senators or congressmen desire, they may 
 refuse to admit as members those whom the people 
 have elected. It rarely happens that the majority 
 will turn out one of its own party politics; but if 
 the person be of the opposite political belief, then 
 
 22 
 
if there be any reason for refusing his admission, 
 the controlling party will take advantage of it. 
 
 " Returns " mean the result of the election. 
 
 "Qualifications" refer to the age, residence, etc., 
 of the candidate. 
 
 "Majority", as applied to votes, means more 
 than half of all the votes cast. 
 
 "Quorum" is that number of persons necessary 
 to be present before business can be transacted. 
 
 This section gives Congress the necessary power 
 to compel its members to attend its sessions and 
 work. 
 
 2. Each house may determine the rules of its proceed- 
 ings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, 
 with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member. 
 
 The above section is merely an additional club 
 that Congress may exercise if it is necessary to 
 keep order and discipline. Needless to say it is 
 rarely necessary to adopt such severe measures, as 
 most of the members realize their grave responsi- 
 bilities to the people of the United States. 
 
 3. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, 
 and from time to time publish the same, excepting such 
 parts as may, in their judgment, require secrecy; and 
 the ayes and noes of the members of either house, on 
 any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those 
 present, be entered on the journal. 
 
 Q. What is this publication called? 
 A. The Congressional Record. 
 Q. What is the advantage of having the yeas 
 and nays published? 
 
 A. This enables the people who elect the mem- 
 
 23 
 
bers of Congress to find out how these men are pro- 
 tecting their interests, and whether they are work- 
 ing for or against the welfare of the state and 
 nation. 
 
 4. Neither house, during the session of Congress, shall, 
 without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than 
 three days, nor to any other place than that in which 
 the two houses shall be sitting, 
 
 Q. Where does Congress meet? 
 
 A. In the Capitol at Washington, D. C. (District 
 of Columbia), the Senate occupying the north wing 
 of the building, and the House the south wing. 
 
 Sec. 6. 1. The Senators and Representatives shall 
 receive a compensation for their services, to be ascer- 
 tained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the 
 United States. They shall, in all cases, except treason, 
 felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from 
 arrest during their attendance at the session of their 
 respective houses, and in going to and returning from 
 the same; and for any speech or debate in either house, 
 they shall not be questioned in any other place. 
 
 Senators and representatives receive $7,500 per 
 year, and travelling expenses known as mileage 
 of twenty cents per mile. 
 
 Q. Why are members of Congress privileged 
 from arrest? 
 
 A. This immunity is given them in order that 
 the people's business will not be interfered with. 
 If they had to answer for their speeches elsewhere 
 many would not give their honest opinions in 
 Congress and the country would suffer accordingly. 
 
 24 
 
Q. What is treason? 
 
 A. Treason consists in waging war against the 
 United States or helping their enemies. 
 
 Q. What is a felony? 
 
 A. Any crime which is punished by death or a 
 term in the penitentiary. 
 
 Q. What is a breach of the peace? 
 
 A. This is a disturbance of the public order, 
 as an act of violence or any act which disturbs the 
 tranquillity of the citizens, or their quiet enjoyment. 
 
 2. No Senator or Representative shall, during the 
 time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil 
 office under the authority of the United States, which 
 shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof 
 shall have been increased, during such time; and no per- 
 son holding any office under the United States shall be 
 a member of either house during his continuance in 
 office. 
 
 Q. What is the purpose of this section? 
 
 A. This section protects the country from that 
 member of Congress who would take advantage of 
 his position to make for himself a good position, 
 which he might fill on leaving Congress. 
 
 Q. What is meant by emolument? 
 
 A. Salary or return for services. 
 
 Q. Why should not a person be permitted to 
 hold two positions as suggested in the last section? 
 
 A. No person can do justice to two positions. 
 
 Sec. 7. 1. All bills for raising revenue shall originate 
 in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may 
 propose or concur with amendments as on other bills. 
 
 Q. What is a bill? 
 
 A. A draft of a proposed statute or law sub- 
 mitted to the legislature for enactment. 
 
 25 
 
Q. Why should the power to raise revenue be 
 in the House? 
 
 A. The House is supposed to more truly rep- 
 resent the people than the Senate, inasmuch as there 
 are more of them, and they are elected for a shorter 
 term. The historical reason for the entrusting this 
 power to the House is that the lower house of 
 Parliament in England had control of the money 
 affairs. 
 
 2. Every bill which shall have passed the House of 
 Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it becomes 
 a law, be presented to the President of the United 
 States; if he approve, he shall sign it, but if not, he 
 shall return it, with his objections, to that house in 
 which it shall have originated, who shall enter the ob- 
 jections at large on their journal, and proceed to recon- 
 sider it. If, after such reconsideration, two thirds of 
 that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, 
 together with the objections, to the other house, by 
 which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved 
 by two thirds of that house it shall become a law. But 
 in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be deter- 
 mined by ayes and noes; and the names of the persons 
 voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the 
 journal of each house, respectively. If any bill shall not 
 be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays 
 excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the 
 same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed 
 it, unless the Congress, by their adjournment, prevent 
 its return, in which case it shall not be a law. 
 
 3. Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the con- 
 currence of the Senate and the House of Representatives 
 may be necessary (except on a question of adjourn- 
 
 26 
 
ment), shall be presented to the President of the United 
 States; and, before the same shall take effect, shall be 
 approved by him, or, being disapproved by him, shall 
 be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of 
 Representatives, according to the rules and limitations 
 prescribed in the case of a bill. 
 
 Q. How does a bill become a law! 
 
 A. It takes a majority vote of the House, with 
 a majority vote of the Senate together with the 
 signature of the President. The President is given 
 ten days to sign the bill exclusive of Sundays and 
 holidays. If he signs it in ten days it becomes a 
 law, if he does not sign it in ten days it also be- 
 comes a law. If he vetoes it the bill is temporar- 
 ily killed. 
 
 Q. How may a vetoed bill become a law? 
 
 A. By being referred to the house where it 
 started and being repassed by a two thirds vote of 
 both houses. 
 
 Q. Does the President have to sign it this 
 second time! 
 
 A. No. 
 
 Q. What is the veto! 
 
 A. This word comes from the Latin meaning 
 "I forbid." The President forbids the bill to be- 
 come a law when he vetoes it, although the action 
 of Congress may pass it over his veto. This is the 
 President's check on the legislative power. 
 
 Q. What is the pocket veto! 
 
 A. At the end of the term when less than ten 
 days remain of Congress, if a bill is passed up to 
 the President for signature and he forgets it, or 
 lays it away until Congress adjourns, the bill does 
 
 27 
 
not become a law, just as though the President 
 put it in his pocket and forgot all about it. 
 
 Q. How does Congress work? 
 
 A. Congress works through committee systems. 
 Congress is so large that business could not be 
 transacted unless it was divided into groups and 
 these groups are called the committees. There are 
 over fifty in each house, and a bill must be con- 
 sidered by some committee before it is recom- 
 mended to the consideration of the House. This is 
 necessary as there are over twenty thousand bills 
 proposed each year. The committees sift out the 
 best bills. The principal standing committees 
 which are provided for by the rules, and which con- 
 tinue in existence throughout the entire session 
 are: those on ways and means, which has control 
 of bills for raising revenue, appropriation, the 
 judiciary, foreign relations, currency, commerce, 
 pensions, military affairs, elections, manufactures, 
 agriculture and rivers and harbors. Where a bill 
 is introduced for which there is no standing com- 
 mittee, a special committee is appointed to handle 
 it. The most important work of Congress is thus 
 done in the committee rooms. 
 
 Q. Does Congress often pass a bill over the 
 President's veto? 
 
 A. No, although when the President is of a 
 different political party than Congress, and they 
 can not agree as to policies, then, as in Cleveland's 
 first administration, many bills are passed over 
 the President's veto. 
 
 28 
 
POWERS OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Congress has only those powers conferred upon 
 her by the Constitution in article one, section eight. 
 All other powers belong to the states and to the 
 people. 
 
 Sec. 8. 1. The Congress shall have power to lay and 
 collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the 
 debts and provide for the common defense and general 
 welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts, 
 and excises shall be uniform throughout the United 
 States. 
 
 2. To borrow money on the credit of the United 
 States. 
 
 3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and 
 among the several states, and with the Indian tribes. 
 
 4. To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and 
 uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout 
 the United States. 
 
 5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof and of 
 foreign coins, and fix the standard of weights and 
 measures. 
 
 6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting 
 the securities and current coin of the United States. 
 
 7. To establish post offices and post roads. 
 
 8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts, 
 by securing, for limited times, to authors and inventors, 
 the exclusive right to their respective writings and dis- 
 coveries. 
 
 9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme 
 Court. 
 
 10. To define and punish piracies and felonies com- 
 mitted on the high seas, and offenses against the laws 
 of nations. 
 
 29 
 
11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and 
 reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land 
 and water. 
 
 12. To raise and support armies; but no appropria- 
 tion of money to that use shall be for a longer term than 
 two years. 
 
 13. To provide and maintain a navy. 
 
 14. To make rules for the government and regulation 
 of the land and naval forces. 
 
 15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute 
 the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel 
 invasions. 
 
 16. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplin- 
 ing the militia, and for governing such part of them as 
 may be employed in the service of the United States, 
 reserving to the states, respectively, the appointment of 
 the officers, and the authority of training the militia 
 according to the discipline prescribed by Congress. 
 
 17. To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases what- 
 soever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles 
 square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the 
 acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government 
 of the United States, and to exercise like authority over 
 all places purchased by the consent of the Legislature 
 of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection 
 of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other need- 
 ful buildings. 
 
 18. To make all laws which shall be necessary and 
 proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, 
 and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the 
 government of the United States, or in any department 
 or officer thereof. 
 
 30 
 
NOTES ON THE VARIOUS POWERS OF CONGRESS. 
 
 1. This provision to lay and collect taxes is of 
 the utmost importance, as it was the lack of this 
 power that caused the failure of the Articles of 
 Confederation. 
 
 Q. What are duties and imposts? 
 
 A. These are taxes laid on the importation or 
 exportation of goods. 
 
 Q. What are excises? 
 
 A. Taxes or charges levied on commodities and 
 other goods, particularly liquors, 
 
 Q. Does the clause " provide for the common 
 defense and general welfare of the United States ", 
 permit Congress to exercise any power it desires, 
 so long as the welfare of the Union is involved? 
 
 A. No; the interpretation given this section is 
 a narrow one, and not as broad as the above, which 
 is that desired by former President Eoosevelt; it 
 is confined merely to matters of defense. 
 
 2. Congress usually borrows money by issuing 
 bonds. 
 
 3. This clause gave rise to the celebrated Inter- 
 state Commerce Commission which more than any 
 other body has controlled the railways, pipe line 
 companies, express, telegraph and other interstate 
 businesses. The Indian tribes are placed on the 
 same footing as foreign nations, thus securing them 
 freedom from state legislation. 
 
 4. The procedure that every foreigner must go 
 through before becoming a citizen is the same, no 
 matter where he takes his papers out or his exam- 
 ination. 
 
 Bankruptcies are those legal controversies aris- 
 ing out of the affairs of a bankrupt, that is to say, 
 
 31 
 
one who indicates that he is unable to pay his 
 debts, or desires to avoid the payment thereof. 
 
 5. It is necessary that the national government 
 control the coinage of money, as otherwise each 
 state would coin its own money, and money of one 
 state would differ in value from that of the next, 
 with confusion as a result. The same applies to 
 standard weights and measures. 
 
 6. Along with power to coin money must go the 
 power to punish the making of money by private 
 individuals. 
 
 7. The post office is an example of what the 
 government service can do under efficient manage- 
 ment, and is pointed to by socialists as the coming 
 remedy for industrial mismanagement. Post roads 
 were necessary at the beginning of the last century, 
 when there were no railroads and the states too 
 poor to build roads. Therefore the national gov- 
 ernment took measures to see that they were built 
 in the interests of the mail service. This necessity 
 no longer exists. 
 
 8. Inventors are protected under the United 
 States patent law, while writers have the United 
 States copyright laws to protect them. 
 
 9. So rapidly did the United States grow that 
 we soon outgrew the early federal courts, and 
 additional ones were provided under this section, 
 the circuit courts and the district courts. 
 
 10. Piracy is an act of robbery or depredation 
 committed on the high seas. 
 
 Q. What are the high seas? 
 A. The waters of the sea outside the three-mile 
 limit. 
 
Offenses against the law of nations are those 
 crimes which every country punishes. 
 
 11. This is an important power of Congress 
 which many confuse with the power of the Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 Letters of marque are licenses issued by Con- 
 gress in war time to merchant ships, authorizing 
 them to go to sea and capture enemy ships and 
 otherwise cripple them. These are not of much 
 importance today with the inventions in the last 
 century of speedy warships and new guns. 
 
 Reprisal is any form of punishing the enemy, as 
 by seizing shipping, subjects, etc. 
 
 12. The purpose of this section limiting the 
 appropriations for the army to two years is to 
 prevent the military power gaining control of the 
 government. 
 
 15. The militia is the state soldiery. 
 
 Insurrections are organized attempts to resist 
 the established government which come from with- 
 in the country itself. 
 
 Invasions on the other hand are from without. 
 
 17. This district is the District of Columbia 
 wherein is situated the Capitol of the United States. 
 It was originally ten miles square and was the 
 result of a cession on the part of Virginia and 
 Maryland. 
 
 Strictly speaking, the District of Columbia is not 
 a territory nor a dependency of the United States, 
 but is a municipal corporation. It is governed by 
 a board of three commissioners appointed by the 
 President. Two of the commissioners are ap- 
 pointed from civil life and one is an officer of the 
 army. The rules and regulations of this body have 
 
the effect of laws. Besides these men, Congress 
 keeps a watchful eye on the district so that it does 
 not suffer from lack of supervision. When Con- 
 gress acts for the city, it takes the place of the city 
 council and acts as such. 
 
 The district has a separate judicial system, con- 
 sisting of a court of appeals, a trial court called 
 the supreme court, and a police court for petty 
 offenders. 
 
 Eesidents of the District of Columbia have no 
 vote for representatives in Congress nor for the 
 President, as a consequence. 
 
 Sec. 9. 1. The migration or importation of such per- 
 sons as any of the States now existing shall think 
 proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by Congress 
 prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight ; 
 but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, 
 not exceeding ten dollars for each person. 
 
 Q. To whom does the above section refer? 
 
 A. These persons were the negro slaves who 
 were imported from Africa for the tilling of south- 
 ern fields. The result of this section was to stop 
 all importations from Africa after the year 1808. 
 
 2. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall 
 not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or 
 invasion, the public safety may require it. 
 
 Q. What is the writ of habeas corpus? 
 
 A. This is the process provided by law for a 
 speedy delivery of the individual from illegal im- 
 prisonment. It tolerates no delay except of neces- 
 sity. This is one of the old common law writs 
 
 34 
 
dating back to the days when a man could be 
 thrown into jail and forced to remain there until 
 he died or the court felt like hearing his case. 
 
 3. No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be 
 passed. 
 
 Q. What is meant by the above? 
 
 A. A bill of attainder has the effect of a judicial 
 act on the part of the legislature. The effect of 
 this bill was to confiscate the property of the ac- 
 cused 1 , and deprive him of all civil rights and 
 privileges. 
 
 An ex post facto law is one which punishes an 
 act not punishable when it was committed or which 
 imposes an additional punishment, or changes the 
 rules of evidence. 
 
 4. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, un- 
 less in proportion to the census or enumeration herein- 
 before directed to be taken. 
 
 Q. What is a capitation tax? 
 
 A. One that is laid on everyone. 
 
 Q. Why was the income amendment necessary 
 
 when the Constitution contained the above provi- 
 sion? 
 
 A. The income tax is not a capitation tax but 
 affects only a limited class. 
 
 5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported 
 from any state. 
 
 Q. Why not? 
 
 A. To tax exports would be to tax the manufac- 
 turers who send the goods from the country. It 
 
 35 
 
would be taxing business industry and ourselves 
 rather than the people to whom we sell the goods. 
 
 6. No preference shall be given, by any regulation of 
 commerce or revenue, to the ports of one state over those 
 of another; nor shall vessels bound to or from one state 
 be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another. 
 
 Q. Why not! 
 
 A. This is a union of states each having equal 
 rights, and to give one state privileges and not 
 another would be to destroy the spirit of the Con- 
 stitution. To force a vessel to pay taxes thus, 
 would be to compel it to pay double or triple 
 taxes, the result of which would be a consequent 
 rise in prices, or the giving up of sea trading. 
 
 7. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in 
 consequence of appropriations made by law ; and a regu- 
 lar statement and account of the receipts and expendi- 
 tures of all public money shall be published from time 
 to time. 
 
 The purpose of this section is to check the pay- 
 ing out of the public funds. 
 
 8. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United 
 States; and no person holding any office of profit or 
 trust under them shall, without the consent of the 
 Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or 
 title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or 
 foreign state. 
 
 A title of nobility is an honor granted or special 
 privilege conferred on an individual by reason of 
 some service to the king or the state. It is some- 
 
 36 
 
times hereditary, often dies with the person. They 
 are done away with in this country by the above 
 section of the Constitution, the reason therefor 
 being that such honors are empty when inherited 
 and not to be tolerated by a free people. The rea- 
 son why no officer of the government should accept 
 of favors from a foreign state is simply that one 
 man cannot serve two masters, and the receipt of 
 gifts would obligate him to the giver, possibly to 
 the injury of the interests of this country. 
 
 Sec. 10. 1. No state shall enter into any treaty, alli- 
 ance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and re- 
 prisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything 
 but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; 
 pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law 
 impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title 
 of nobility. 
 
 2. No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, 
 lay any impost or duties on imports or exports, except 
 what may be absolutely necessary for executing its in- 
 spection laws; and the net produce of all duties and 
 imposts, laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be 
 for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all 
 such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of 
 the Congress. 
 
 3. No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay 
 any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time 
 of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with an- 
 other state or with a foreign power, or engage in war, 
 unless actually invaded or in such imminent danger as 
 will not admit of delay. 
 
 37 
 
This section contains limitations on the powers 
 of the states, which are very natural ones, inasmuch 
 as Congress possesses practically all the powers 
 which the states are denied, and to grant the states 
 powers that Congress has, such as coining gold and 
 silver money, would be to upset the scheme of 
 government. 
 
 38 
 
THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 The executive department is composed of the 
 President (who is the highest political officer in 
 the United States), his Cabinet and the members 
 of their respective bureaus. The highest and chief 
 duty of the President is to see that the laws are 
 faithfully executed, that is, put into effect. 
 
 One of the great faults with the Articles of Con- 
 federation was the lack of an executive to see that 
 the laws were enforced. This weakness has now 
 been done away with by the centralization of power 
 in the hands of the President. Not only has the 
 President executive power, but he also possesses 
 legislative power to a considerable degree, in his 
 ability to veto laws made by Congress and thus 
 influence legislation. He possesses law-making; 
 power to a greater degree in his treaty making 
 capacity. But greatest and most important of all 
 comes his duty to carry out the laws as made by 
 Congress. 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Section 1. 1. The executive power shall be vested in 
 a President of the United States of America. He shall 
 hold his office during the term of four years, and to- 
 gether with the Vice-President chosen for the same term, 
 be elected as follows: 
 
 2. Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the 
 Legislature therof may direct, a number of Electors 
 equal to the whole number of Senators and Representa- 
 tives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress ; 
 but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an 
 
 39 
 
office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be 
 appointed an Elector. 
 
 3. The Electors shall meet in their respective states 
 and vote, by ballot, for two persons, of whom one at least 
 shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with them- 
 selves. And they shall make a list of all the persons 
 voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which 
 list they shall sign and certify, and transmit, sealed, to 
 the seat of the government of the United States, directed 
 to the President of the Senate. The President of the 
 Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House 
 of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes 
 shall then be counted. The person having the greatest 
 number of votes shall be the President, it such number 
 be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; 
 and if there be more than one who have such majority, 
 and have an equal number of votes, then the House of 
 Representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one 
 of them for President; and if no person have a majority, 
 then from the five highest on the list, the said house 
 shall, in like manner, choose the President. But in 
 choosing the President the vote shall be taken by states, 
 the representation from each state having one vote; a 
 quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or 
 members from two thirds of the states, and a majority of 
 all the states shall be necessary to a choice. In every 
 case after the choice of the President, the person having 
 the greatest number of votes of the Electors shall be the 
 Vice-President. But if there should remain two or more 
 who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them, 
 by ballot, the Vice-President. 
 
 Q. Who is the chief executive? 
 A. The President. 
 
 40 
 
Q. What is his name I 
 
 A. Woodrow Wilson, from New Jersey. 
 
 Q. What party does he belong to? 
 
 A. The Democratic Party. 
 
 Q. Who is the Vice-President? 
 
 A. Thomas Marshall of Indiana. 
 
 Q. How long does the President and Vice-Pres- 
 ident hold office. 
 
 A. Four years. There has been much discus- 
 sion as to the merits of the four-year term as 
 opposed to the six or eight-year term, but the 
 majority opinion is satisfied with the present ar- 
 rangement. Of course big business claims to be 
 hurt by frequent elections but this injury is ques- 
 tionable while the good done in arousing public 
 sentiment to bettering public conditions is not to 
 be calculated. 
 
 Q. What is an elector? 
 
 A. One who elects the President. Section three 
 above set forth no longer applies for the election 
 of the President and Vice-President. Its place is 
 now supplied by the twelfth amendment, found 
 hereafter. The method of choosing a President 
 and Vice-President as set forth in section three 
 failed and had to be replaced. The electoral system 
 was chosen by the founders of the Constitution as 
 a means whereby the people would not get a direct 
 voice in the election of the President, but would 
 have to vote for electors first who would in their 
 turn select a President. The reason for this was 
 a fear on the part of the framers that the people 
 could not be trusted with the ballot. They are not 
 to be blamed for lacking confidence in the people, 
 for up to this time the people had never governed 
 
 41 
 
themselves. However, from the first the people 
 insisted on the electors voting for the men, they 
 the people, wished, so the President is a real choice 
 of the people. 
 
 Q. How are the electors chosen! 
 
 A. They are nominated by the respective poli- 
 tical parties. 
 
 Q. How many electors are there? 
 
 A. As many as there are Eepresentatives and 
 Senators from the state in Congress. 
 
 Q. How many electors has California! 
 
 A. Thirteen. (yT) 
 
 Q. Does each party in California nominate 
 thirteen ? 
 
 A. Yes; and out of all these various candidates 
 finally thirteen are chosen by the people at the 
 presidential election. 
 
 Q. Is it possible for a state's delegation to con- 
 sist of members of different parties? 
 
 A. Yes ; as those electors are chosen who receive 
 the highest number of votes. 
 
 Q. Do the people vote directly for the Presi- 
 dent! 
 
 A. No; for the electors who in turn vote for 
 the President. 
 
 Q. Do the electors have to vote for the presi- 
 dential candidate they have promised to support? 
 
 A. Yes. 
 
 Q. How is the President and Vice-President 
 elected! 
 
 A. The people vote for electors who in turn 
 vote for the President. The candidate getting the 
 majority vote of the electors becomes President or 
 Vice-President. 
 
 42 
 
Q. Suppose they are not elected on the first 
 ballot? 
 
 A. Then the three highest candidates for the 
 Presidency have their names placed before the 
 House of Representatives, and there they are voted 
 on by states, each state getting one vote. The man 
 getting the majority is elected. If no one gets a 
 majority by the fourth of March following, the 
 Vice-President takes his place. Meanwhile for the 
 Vice-Presidency, the two highest names are placed 
 before the Senate and the man securing the major- 
 ity vote is chosen Vice-President. A quorum con- 
 sists of two thirds of the states. 
 
 Q. Why do they vote by states this second time? 
 
 A. Because the electors representing the people 
 failed to select one the first time. 
 
 Q. Is this second method often used? 
 
 A. No; the candidates are elected generally by 
 the first ballot. 
 
 Q. How are the candidates for these offices nom- 
 inated or named? 
 
 A. By delegates chosen at primary elections, 
 and by county or city conventions and state con- 
 ventions who go to the national convention and 
 nominate the President. 
 
 4. The Congress may determine the time of choosing 
 the Electors, and the day on which they shall give their 
 votes; which day shall be the same throughout the 
 United States. 
 
 5. No person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen 
 of the United States at the time of the adoption of this 
 Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; 
 neither shall any person be eligible to that office who 
 
 43 
 
shall not have attained the age of thirty-five years, and 
 been fourteen years a resident within the United States. 
 
 There are two offices within the gift of the 
 American people that can only be filled by Amer- 
 ican born citizens, that of the President and the 
 Vice-President. The qualifications of both officers 
 is the same. 
 
 6. In case of the removal of the President from office, 
 or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the 
 powers and duties of the said office, the same shall de- 
 volve on the Vice-President, and the Congress may, by 
 law, provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, 
 or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, 
 declaring what officer shall then act as President, and 
 such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability is 
 removed, or a President shall be elected. 
 
 Q. Who takes the Presidency in case of the 
 death of both President and Vice-President 1 ? 
 
 A. It then falls first to the Secretary of State, 
 and if he is unable to fill the position for any rea- 
 son, to the Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary 
 of War, Attorney General, etc., to the end of the 
 Cabinet. If any one of the Cabinet be of foreign 
 birth he cannot of course hold the position. 
 
 Q. What is the Cabinet? 
 
 A. This body is composed of ten members, being 
 the group of ten secretaries appointed by the Presi- 
 dent. The duty of the Cabinet is to advise the 
 President when he asks their opinion. He is not 
 bound by this opinion, as he is free to take any 
 course he sees fit. But as the Cabinet is composed 
 
 44 
 
of members of the President's own party and selec- 
 tion he is generally in sympathy with them. 
 
 Q. Who are the ten secretaries? 
 
 A. Secretary of State, Eobert I. Lansing. 
 
 " " Treasury, Wm. G. McAdoo. 
 
 " War, N. D. Baker. 
 " " Navy, Josephus Daniels. 
 
 " " Agriculture, Wm. B. Wilson. 
 
 " ll Commerce, Wm. C. Bedfield. 
 
 " " Labor, David Houston. 
 
 " " Interior, Franklin K. Lane. 
 
 Post Master General, Albert S. Burleson. 
 Attorney General, Thos. W. Gregory. 
 Q. What is the salary of these executives! 
 A. Twelve thousand dollars per year. The Sec- 
 retary of State is the highest officer of the above 
 list. None of these secretaries get a vote in Con- 
 gress as they are members of the executive depart- 
 ment and as such separate and distinct therefrom. 
 
 7. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his 
 services a compensation, which shall neither be in- 
 creased nor diminished during the period for which he 
 shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within 
 that period any other emolument from the United States 
 or any of them. 
 
 Q. What does the President receive? 
 A. Seventy-five thousand dollars a year and 
 twenty-five thousand dollars for travelling expenses. 
 
 8. Before he enters on the execution of his office, he 
 shall take the following oath or affirmation: "I do sol- 
 emnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute 
 the office of President of the United States, and will, to 
 
 45 
 
the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the 
 Constitution of the United States." 
 
 The word affirm was placed in the Constitution 
 to be used instead of the word swear, by those per- 
 sons like Quakers who think the use of such a 
 word is contrary to their religious doctrines. 
 
 Sec. 2. 1. The President shall be commander-in-chief 
 of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the 
 militia of the several States when called into the actual 
 service of the United States ; he may require the opinion, 
 in writing, of the principal officer in each of the execu- 
 tive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties 
 of their respective offices, and he shall have power to 
 grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the 
 United States, except in cases of impeachment. 
 
 Q. Can the President declare war? 
 
 A. No; that is one of the powers of Congress. 
 But he might bring on war, by commanding the 
 army to attack a foreign country. He also has the 
 power to call out United States troops in times of 
 disorder to protect the government's property, or 
 the people in time of great disaster as the San 
 Francisco fire. He can of course call out the 
 militia also. 
 
 These powers of the President need no further 
 explanation save perhaps the definition of the 
 reprieve, which is a respite or stay by the President 
 from a sentence of death. It would also be impos- 
 sible to give the President power to pardon im- 
 peachments, when he might have to sit on his own 
 case, and besides to so pardon would be to cancel 
 the two third opinion of Congress. 
 
 46 
 
2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and 
 consent of the Senate to make treaties, provided two 
 thirds of the Senators present concur ; and he shall nomi- 
 nate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the 
 Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers 
 and consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other 
 officers of the United States whose appointments are 
 not herein otherwise provided for and which shall be 
 established by law; but the Congress may, by law, 
 vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they 
 think proper in the President alone, in the courts of law, 
 or in the heads of departments. 
 
 This power of appointment of the President is a 
 very important one inasmuch as there are five thou- 
 sand appointive offices to be filled. But as all these 
 appointments, even those of the Cabinet have to be 
 ratified by the Senate, much of the power resides 
 with that body. 
 
 Q. What is the spoils system? 
 
 A. This system was inaugurated by President 
 Andrew Jackson in 1828, when on coming into office 
 he replaced those officers already in by his own 
 friends. This was the old doctrine of "to the victor 
 belongs the spoils ". This started a precedent that 
 other Presidents followed, that of filling places of 
 old officeholders with the friends of the newly- 
 elected President. The result of such a policy was 
 to fill the government offices with many incompe- 
 tents so that at length the situation became so acute 
 that in 1883 the Civil Service bill, known as the 
 Pendleton bill was passed. This bill provided for 
 a commission to examine into the fitness of ap- 
 pointees and also gave those who qualified, their 
 
 47 
 
position for life on good behavior. This took thou- 
 sands of positions out of politics. 
 
 The power of the President to remove officers is 
 a very great one which most people forget. 
 
 3. The President shall have power to fill up all vacan- 
 cies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, 
 by granting commissions, which shall expire at the end 
 of their next session. 
 
 Sec. 3. He shall, from time to time, give to the Con- 
 gress information of the state of the Union, and recom- 
 mend to their consideration such measures as he shall 
 judge necessary and expedient ; he may, on extraordinary 
 occasions, convene both houses, or either of them, and, 
 in case of disagreement between them with respect to 
 the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such 
 time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassa 
 dors and other public ministers; he shall take care th?i 
 the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all 
 the officers of the United States. 
 
 Q. What are these informations called ? 
 
 A. The President's message. 
 
 Q. How often does he give one? 
 
 A. Whenever Congress meets in a regular or 
 special session, the President sends to the two 
 houses a message on public conditions and affairs. 
 Those sent at the opening of Congress contain 
 many matters dealing with foreign relations and 
 domestic problems. The President suggests laws 
 that are needed and leaves the adopting of them to 
 the wish of Congress. Special messages are seldom 
 sent and when they are, relate to one topic as for 
 example the passage of an amendment, or reform 
 
 48 
 
of the tariff, etc. President Wilson was the first 
 President in over one hundred years who appeared 
 before Congress in person, and recommended cer- 
 tain legislation. 
 
 All American army and navy officers receive their 
 commissions or licenses from the President of the 
 United States. 
 
 Sec. 4. The President, Vice-President, and all civil 
 officers of the United States shall be removed from office 
 on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, 
 or other high crimes and misdemeanors. 
 
 No officer is above impeachment. One President, 
 Andrew Johnson narrowly escaped removal from 
 office through impeachment. 
 
 Treason is described in the next chapter. 
 
 Bribery is the influencing of an officer to do what 
 is not his duty for a consideration. 
 
 A misdemeanor is an offense against the law not 
 punishable in the state penitentiary but in the 
 county jail. 
 
 49 
 
THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Section 1. The judicial power of the United States 
 shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such in- 
 ferior courts as the Congress may from time to time or- 
 dain and establish. The Judges, both of the Supreme 
 and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good 
 behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their 
 services a compensation which shall not be diminished 
 during their continuance in office. 
 
 When Congress first met in 1789 it had to provide 
 lower United States courts as the Constitution 
 established only the Supreme Court. 
 
 Q. How many members are there in the Su- 
 preme Court? 
 
 A. The Supreme Court consists of the Chief 
 Justice and eight associate justices. This court 
 meets in the Capitol at Washington, D. C., from 
 October to July. At least six judges must be pres- 
 ent at the trial of a case and a majority opinion 
 is needed in the rendering of an opinion. The chief 
 justice presides over the court but gets but one 
 vote on decisions. 
 
 Q. What is the salary of members of the 
 Supreme Court? 
 
 A. The salary of the chief justice is fifteen thou- 
 sand dollars per annum, that of other members is 
 fourteen thousand five hundred dollars. 
 
 Q. Who is the chief justice? 
 
 A. Hon. Edward D. White. 
 
 50 
 
Q. What are the other inferior courts! 
 
 A. The circuit court of appeals, and the district 
 courts. 
 
 Q. How many circuit courts of appeal are there? 
 
 A. Nine. 
 
 Q. How many judges in each circuit court? 
 
 A. Two, three or four, but judges of the district 
 court often sit with them. 
 
 Q. What circuit are we in? 
 
 A. The ninth consisting of the following states: 
 Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Ne- 
 vada, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii. 
 
 Q. How many district courts are there? 
 
 A. Ninety. 
 
 Q. How many in California? 
 
 A. Two; the district of the North and of the 
 South. 
 
 Q. How many judges in each district in Cali- 
 fornia? 
 
 A. Two. 
 
 Q. Who are the judges of the Northern District? 
 
 A. Hon. Wm. C. Van Fleet and Hon. Maurice 
 T. Dooling. 
 
 Q. What is the term of office of a federal judge? 
 
 A. He is appointed by the President with the 
 ratification of the Senate for life on good behavior. 
 
 Q. Are there any other United States courts? 
 
 A. Yes. There is the court of claims, which 
 meets in Washington and determines the validity of 
 claims on contracts with the United States. Then 
 there are courts known as territorial courts cor- 
 responding to state superior courts which are 
 appointed by the President. Also there are the 
 courts for the District of Columbia. 
 
 51 
 
Q. What is the chief duty of the Supreme 
 Court! 
 
 A. It defends the Constitution, interpreting the 
 laws, determining whether they are made in accord 
 with the letter and spirit of the Constitution. Any 
 laws made contrary to the Constitution, the Su- 
 preme Court has the power to declare void. The 
 Supreme Court has been called the guardian of 
 the Constitution. 
 
 Q. Does the Supreme Court judge every law 
 when it is made by the legislature? 
 
 A. No; and it does not seek out any law the 
 moment it is passed. The way laws come up to this 
 court is in connection with some case in which the 
 law has not been supported or abided by. When 
 the court does decide a case, then the people con- 
 cerned in the case, and the rest of the nation must 
 obey. For when the Supreme Court speaks it is 
 expressing the will of the people. If by any chance 
 the people are dissatisfied, they have their remedy 
 in their opportunity to amend the Constitution. 
 
 Sec. 2. 1 The judicial power shall extend to all cases, 
 in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the 
 laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which 
 shall be made, under their authority; to all cases affect- 
 ing ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; 
 to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to 
 controversies to which the United States shall be a 
 party ; to controversies between two or more States ; be- 
 tween a State and citizens of another State; between 
 citizens of different States; between citizens of the same 
 State claiming lands under grants of different States; 
 
 52 
 
and between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign 
 States, citizens or subjects. 
 
 2. In all cases affecting 1 ambassadors, other public 
 ministers, and consuls, and those in which a State shall 
 be a party, the Supreme Court shall have original juris- 
 diction. In all the other cases before mentioned the Su- 
 preme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to 
 law and fact, with such exceptions and under such regu- 
 lations as the Congress shall make. 
 
 3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeach- 
 ment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the 
 State where the said crimes shall have been committed; 
 but when not committed within any State, the trial shall 
 be put at such place or places as the Congress may, by 
 law, have directed. 
 
 The Constitution is not interpreted by .the court 
 giving special opinions, but by their work in the 
 decision of cases as they come up. When a person 
 thinks that he has been injured in the way a law 
 has been enforced, he brings suit, and should the 
 meaning of some phase of the Constitution be in- 
 volved, the court then and there determines it. 
 
 Q. What is equity? 
 
 A. Equity now means the law. 
 
 Q. What is a treaty? 
 
 A. A written contract between nations. 
 
 Q. What is an ambassador? 
 
 A. The political representative of one country 
 to another. 
 
 Q. What is a consul? 
 
 A. An agent of the government who looks after 
 the affairs of Americans abroad. 
 
 53 
 
Q. What are admiralty and maritime cases? 
 
 A. Those cases arising at sea ; or concerning 
 shipping contracts, etc. 
 
 Q. Why has the federal court jurisdiction over 
 controversies arising between states and citizens 
 thereof? 
 
 A. Because a state will not permit itself to be 
 sued in the courts of another state and there is 
 only one course left, that of trial in the Unied 
 States courts. 
 
 Q. Can an individual compel a state to appear 
 in a suit brought by him against it? 
 
 A. No; because each state is sovereign and as 
 such can refuse to be sued. The thing for the in- 
 dividual to do is to first obtain the consent of the 
 legislature to the suit. 
 
 Q. What is meant by original jurisdiction found 
 in section two above? 
 
 A. That cases are brought directly, or first to 
 the Supreme Court, without having to go as other 
 cases do, through the district and circuit courts 
 first. 
 
 Q. What crimes are referred to in section three 
 above ? 
 
 A. All those committed against the authority 
 of the United States, such as counterfeiting the coin 
 of the United States, stealing from the United 
 States mail, etc. 
 
 Sec. 3. 1. Treason against the United States shall 
 consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering 
 to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. 
 
 54 
 
This crime involves a breach of allegiance to the 
 government, by a citizen thereof, and is the great- 
 est crime known to the law. 
 
 2. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on 
 the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, 
 or on confession in open court. 
 
 Q. What is an overt act? 
 
 A. One tending to carry out some plan like 
 treason, etc. 
 
 3. The Congress shall have power to declare the pun- 
 ishment of treason; but no attainder of treason shall 
 work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during 
 the life of the person attainted. 
 
 Q. What is corruption of blood? 
 
 A. This is the old common law phrase, which 
 meant that the person convicted of a crime is 
 attainted and one of the results of attainder is 
 corruption on blood, which means a man cannot 
 bestow his estate, nor can his descendants claim 
 from him. 
 
 55 
 
THE STATES AND THE FEDERAL 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 THE STATES AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each 
 State to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings 
 of every other State. And the Congress may, by general 
 laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records 
 and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof. 
 
 Q. What is the effect of this section? 
 
 A. It indicates that although a state may estab- 
 lish any kind of a government it sees fit, so long 
 as it abides by the Constitution, still it must take 
 care of its relations with other states. One state 
 cannot treat another as it would a foreign country. 
 Under the above provision, there are several im- 
 portant duties owed one state by another. If one 
 state recognizes a law or a deed, or a will as good 
 and valid, the other states must do so. Although 
 the state law need not be obeyed outside Cali- 
 fornia, nevertheless other states must recognize it 
 as a California law and respect it as such. 
 
 Sec. 2. 1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled 
 to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the 
 several States. 
 
 In other words, a citizen of California may go 
 to New York and live there and do business under 
 the same laws and with similar privileges as those 
 enjoyed by a citizen of New York. 
 
 56 
 
2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, 
 or other crime, who shall flee from justice and be found 
 in another State, shall, on demand of the executive au- 
 thority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, 
 to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the 
 crime. 
 
 This section applies to the return of criminals 
 from one state to another. The governor of the 
 state where the criminal has taken refuge, is sup- 
 posed on the request of the state seeking the 
 criminal, to return him, but custom has established 
 the rule of interstate courtesy in this matter, so 
 that requests of sister states are rarely refused. 
 
 3. No person held to service or labor in one State, 
 under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in 
 consequence of any law or regulation therein, be dis- 
 charged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered 
 up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor 
 may be due. 
 
 This section applied to escaped slaves and since 
 the Civil War has not been in effect. 
 
 Sec. 3. 1. New States may be admitted by the Con- 
 gress into this Union; but no new States shall be formed 
 or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State; 
 nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more 
 States, or parts of States, without the consent of the 
 Legislatures of the States concerned, as well as of Con- 
 gress. 
 
 2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and 
 make all needful rules and regulations respecting the 
 territory or other property belonging to the United 
 States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so con- 
 
 57 
 
strued as to prejudice any claims of the United States, 
 or of any particular State. 
 
 Q. What is the jurisdiction of Congress? 
 
 A. Congress controls those matters which con- 
 cern the welfare of the whole body of the Ameri- 
 can people. The states manage those powers which 
 relate to matters of local and personal concern. 
 
 Sec. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every 
 State in this Union a republican form of government, 
 and shall protect each of them against invasion; and, 
 on application of the Legislature, or of the Executive 
 (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against 
 domestic violence. 
 
 Q. What is a republican form of government? 
 
 A. A government by the people through repre- 
 sentatives or delegates elected by them. It differs 
 from the pure democracy where the people make 
 laws not through representatives but by themselves 
 as a group. 
 
 AKTICLE V. 
 AMENDMENTS. 
 
 Section 1. The Congress, whenever two thirds of 
 both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amend- 
 ments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the 
 Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall 
 call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in 
 either case, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, 
 as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legis- 
 latures of three fourths of the several States or by 
 conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the 
 other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Con- 
 
 58 
 
gress; provided, that no amendment which may be 
 made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and 
 eight shall, in any manner, affect the first and fourth 
 clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that 
 no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its 
 equal suffrage in the Senate. 
 
 One of the great faults with the Articles of Con- 
 federation was that in order to amend them, it was 
 necessary to get the consent of all the states. 
 Although the two methods of amending the Consti- 
 tution above make it easier; yet it is by no means 
 the simple process that it seems. It is one of the 
 most difficult things imaginable to amend the Con- 
 stitution, the few amendments we have proving 
 this assertion. 
 
 Q. What is an amendment? 
 
 A. An addition to the Constitution. 
 
 Q. How can the Constitution be changed? 
 
 A. By amendment. 
 
 Q. How many ways are there to amend the 
 Constitution? 
 
 A. Two. 
 
 Q. What are they? 
 
 A. (1) The amendment must pass both houses 
 of Congress by a two thirds vote, and then be 
 ratified by three fourths of the legislatures of the 
 states, or by conventions called in the states for 
 that purpose, or 
 
 (2) failing to pass through Congress, there is 
 the alternative method of the states calling to- 
 gether a convention and passing the proposed 
 amendment by a vote of two thirds of the states, 
 afterwards ratifying this by a vote of three fourths 
 of the legislatures of the states or conventions 
 called for that purpose. 
 
 59 
 
ARTICLE VI. 
 
 PROMISCUOUS PROVISIONS. 
 
 Section 1. 1. All debts contracted and engagements 
 entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, 
 shall be as valid against the United States, under this 
 Constitution, as under the Confederation. 
 Q. What was the effect of this section? 
 A. It guaranteed the payment of the old govern- 
 ment's debts by the new. 
 
 2. This Constitution, and the laws of the United 
 States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all 
 treaties made, or which shall be made, under the author- 
 ity of the United States, shall be the supreme law of 
 the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound 
 thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any 
 State to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 
 Q. What is the highest law in the land? 
 A. The Constitution, the laws of the United 
 States and the treaties. 
 
 3. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, 
 and the members of the several State Legislatures, 
 and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United 
 States and of the several States, shall be bound, by oath 
 or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no re- 
 ligious test shall ever be required as a qualification to 
 any office or public trust under the United States. 
 
 No matter what church a man belongs to he 
 has the right to hold a government office, so we 
 have Protestants and Jews and Catholics in office. 
 There is no better qualification outside of those 
 designated in this Constitution than ability, loyalty 
 to the country and good citizenship. 
 
 60 
 
ARTICLE VII. 
 KATIFICATION OF CONSTITUTION. 
 
 Section 1. The ratification of the conventions of nine 
 States shall be sufficient for the establishment of this 
 Constitution between the States so ratifying the same. 
 
 The Constitution was adopted at Philadelphia, 
 Pennsylvania, on the seventeenth day of Septem- 
 ber, 1787. 
 
 The Constitution went into effect the fourth day 
 of March, 1789. The thirteen states ratifying the 
 Constitution were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New 
 Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Mary- 
 land, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia and 
 New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island. 
 
 The Amendments to the Constitution 
 
 Q. How many amendments are there to the 
 Federal Constitution I 
 
 A. Seventeen. 
 
 Although it is much easier to amend the Constitu- 
 tion than it was to amend the Articles of Confed- 
 eration, still it is very difficult to accomplish, when 
 you remember that the first twelve were passed 
 before 1805, the next three after the Civil War 
 and then in order to establish the rights of the 
 negroes, while the last two were made part of the 
 Constitution in 1913. 
 
 The first ten amendments have been called the 
 American Bill of Eights, a name copied after the 
 English Bill of Eights. These include rights that 
 
 61 
 
Englishmen and Americans have enjoyed for hun- 
 dreds of years such as the right to free speech, to 
 carry arms, etc. After the Constitution was passed 
 the people discovered that these rights were not 
 included in it, so to prevent any action on the 
 part of Congress depriving the people of these 
 privileges they passed the first ten amendments. 
 
 The next amendment prevents a State being 
 sued against its will in a federal court. 
 
 The twelfth amendment explains how the Presi- 
 dent and Vice-President are elected. 
 
 The thirteenth freed the slaves, the fourteenth 
 gave them the citizenship, and the fifteenth be- 
 stowed on them the privilege of the ballot or the 
 vote. 
 
 The sixteenth is the income tax. 
 
 The seventeenth provides for the direct election 
 of United States senators. 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 
 FREEDOM OF RELIGION, OF SPEECH, OF THE PRESS, 
 AND EIGHT OF PETITION. 
 
 Congress shall make no law respecting an establish- 
 ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, 
 or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or 
 the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to 
 petition the government for a redress of grievances. 
 
 Q. Is there a state church in America? 
 
 A. No; this amendment prevents the establish- 
 ment of one. 
 
Q. Can a citizen or a foreigner say anything 
 they wish? 
 
 A. Yes, so long as they do not offend good 
 morals or create by their words a public disturb- 
 ance. 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 
 A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security 
 of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear 
 arms shall not be infringed. 
 
 Q. Can a person carry a gun on the streets! 
 
 A. Yes, so long as it is not concealed, and pro- 
 vided that there is no local ordinance or law against 
 this. 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 
 No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any 
 house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of 
 war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 
 
 Q. Why not! 
 
 A. Because in this country a man's house is 
 supposed to be his castle and a sacred place, which 
 can be entered by soldiers only in time of public 
 need. In Germany, France, Italy, the custom is 
 to provide for the care of troops in this way. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 PERSONS AND HOUSES SECURE FROM 
 UNREASONABLE SEARCHES. 
 
 The right of the people to be secure in their persons, 
 houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches 
 and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall 
 
 63 
 
issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or 
 affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be 
 searched and the persons or things to be seized. 
 
 By reason of this section no one may enter your 
 house without a properly made out search warrant 
 to look for a person or thing. 
 
 ARTICLE V. 
 TRIALS FOB CRIMES DUE PROCESS CLAUSE. 
 
 No person shall be held to answer for a capital or 
 otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or 
 indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in 
 the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual 
 service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any 
 person be subject for the same offense to be twice put 
 in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in 
 any criminal case to be a witness against himself; nor 
 be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due 
 process of law; nor shall private property be taken for 
 public use without just compensation. 
 
 This amendment secures the individual from 
 congressional abuse. 
 
 Q. What is a capital crime? 
 
 A. One punishable by death, such as murder. 
 
 Q. What is meant by being twice put in jeop- 
 ardy of life and limb? 
 
 A. Being tried for some crime and released, 
 then tried a second time for the same offense on 
 somewhat different evidence. In other words your 
 life is in danger twice. 
 
 Q. What is meant by due process? 
 
 A. A fair trial at law. 
 
 64 
 
Q. Should the property of a private person be 
 taken? 
 
 A. Yes, for a public purpose; for the rule is 
 that the few must give way in favor of the ma- 
 jority. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. 
 
 -* 
 
 In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy 
 the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial 
 jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall 
 have been committed, which district shall have been 
 previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of 
 the nature and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted 
 with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory pro- 
 cess for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the 
 assistance of counsel for his defense. 
 
 Q. What is compulsory process? 
 
 A. The law provides that when a person on 
 trial needs a witness to testify on his behalf, that 
 man will have to come to the trial. 
 
 Q. Suppose a poor man cannot hire a lawyer? 
 A. Then the government supplies one. 
 
 ARTICLE VII. 
 
 In suits at common law where the value in controversy 
 shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury 
 shall be preserved; and no fact, tried by a jury, shall 
 be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United 
 States than according to the rules of the common law. 
 
 65 
 
AKTICLE VIII 
 
 Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive 
 fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments in- 
 flicted. 
 
 Q. What is bail? 
 
 A. The security put up by friends of the accused 
 that he will appear when the court wishes him. 
 
 ARTICLE IX. 
 
 The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights 
 shall not be construed to deny or disparage others re- 
 tained by the people. 
 
 This simply means that the people have other 
 rights although not mentioned here. 
 
 ARTICLE X. 
 
 The powers not delegated to the United States by the 
 Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are re- 
 served to the States, respectively, or to the people. 
 
 This means that all powers not found granted to 
 the federal government in this Constitution, belong 
 to the states and to the people. 
 
 ARTICLE XI. 
 
 The judicial power of the United States shall not be 
 construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, com- 
 menced or prosecuted against one of the United States 
 by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects 
 of any foreign State. 
 
 Q. Why not? 
 
 A. Because a state is a sovereign body and 
 cannot be sued without its consent. 
 
 Q. How can this consent be secured! 
 
 A. From the state legislature. 
 
 66 
 
ARTICLE XII. 
 
 The electors shall meet in their respective States, and 
 vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of 
 whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same 
 State with themselves; they shall name in their ballots 
 the person voted for as President, and in distinct bal- 
 lots the person voted for as Vice-President; and they 
 shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as 
 President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, 
 and of the number of votes for each, which lists they 
 shall sign and certify, and transmit, sealed, to the seat 
 of the government of the United States, directed to the 
 President of the Senate. The President of the Senate 
 shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Rep- 
 resentatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall 
 then be counted. The person having the greatest number 
 of votes for President shall be the President, if such a 
 number be a majority of the whole number of Electors 
 appointed; and if no person have such majority, then 
 from the persons having the highest numbers, not ex- 
 ceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President, 
 the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, 
 by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, 
 the votes shall be taken by States, the representation 
 from each State having one vote; a quorum for this 
 purpose shall consist of a member or members from two 
 thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall 
 be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Repre- 
 sentatives shall not choose a President, whenever the 
 right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the 
 fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-Presi- 
 dent shall act as President, as in the case of the death 
 or other constitutional disability of the President. The 
 person having the greatest number of votes as Vice- 
 
 67 
 
President shall be the Vice-President, if such number 
 be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; 
 and if no person have a majority, then from the two 
 highest numbers on the list the Senate shall choose the 
 Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist 
 of two thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a 
 majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a 
 choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the 
 office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice- 
 President of the United States. 
 
 This amendment has been explained already 
 under the executive department. 
 
 ARTICLE XIII. 
 
 Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, 
 except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall 
 have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United 
 States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 
 
 Sec. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this art- 
 icle by appropriate legislation. 
 
 Q. To whom did this apply? 
 
 A. To the negro slaves, this secured their 
 freedom. 
 
 Q. What was the Emancipation Proclamation 
 of President Lincoln written in 1863? 
 
 A. This set the negroes free in territory oc- 
 cupied by Northern armies; but those negroes, in 
 the Southern states where the Confederates were 
 still in power, were not affected by the Proclama- 
 tion. After the war the thirteenth amendment 
 settled the question forever. 
 
 68 
 
ARTICLE XIV. 
 
 Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the 
 United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, 
 are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein 
 they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law 
 which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citi- 
 zens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive 
 any person of life, liberty, or property, without due 
 process of law, nor deny to any person within its juris- 
 diction the equal protection of the laws. 
 
 Sec. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among 
 the several States, according to their respective numbers, 
 counting the whole number of persons in each State, 
 excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to 
 vote at any election for the choice of Electors for Presi- 
 dent and Vice-President of the United States, Representa- 
 tives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a 
 State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is 
 denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, 
 being twenty-one years of age and citizens of the United 
 States, or in any way abridged, except for participation 
 in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation 
 therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the 
 number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole 
 number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in 
 such State. 
 
 Sec. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representa- 
 tive in Congress, or Elector of President and Vice-Presi- 
 dent, or hold any office, civil or military, under the 
 United States, or under any State, who, having pre- 
 viously taken an oath as a member of Congress, or as an 
 officer of the United States, or as a member of any State 
 Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any 
 State, to support the Constitution of the United States, 
 
 69 
 
shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against 
 the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. 
 But Congress may, by a vote of two thirds of each house, 
 remove such disability. 
 
 Sec. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United 
 States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for 
 payment of pensions and bounties for services in sup- 
 pressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be ques- 
 tioned. But neither the United States nor any State 
 shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in 
 aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, 
 or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; 
 but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held 
 illegal and void. 
 
 Sec. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by 
 appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. 
 
 This amendment defines what a citizen is, and 
 secures the individual from any aggression on the 
 part of the state. This together with the fifth 
 amendment which protects the citizen from Con- 
 gress are the great defenses of the individual. 
 
 Q. What is a citizen? 
 
 A. One born here or naturalized. 
 
 Q. Can a Chinese become a citizen! 
 
 A. No, as no Mongolian can become naturalized. 
 Their children born here are American citizens. 
 
 AKTICLE XV. 
 
 Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States 
 to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United 
 States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or 
 previous condition of servitude. 
 
 70 
 
Sec. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this 
 article by appropriate legislation. 
 
 This section gave the negro the right to vote. 
 
 AETICLE XVI. 
 
 Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on 
 incomes from whatever source derived without appor- 
 tionment among the several states and without regard 
 to census enumeration. 
 
 This tax is not a capitation tax, one that affects 
 everyone, but only those with an income of three 
 thousand dollars a year if single, four thousand if 
 married, pay. It is a good tax, in that it makes the 
 individual feel his responsibility to the government, 
 as he did not under the tariff and revenue taxes 
 which the importer paid directly and we paid in- 
 directly. 
 
 ARTICLE XVII. 
 
 The Senate of the United States shall be composed of 
 two senators from each state elected by the people 
 thereof for six years; and each senator shall have one 
 vote. The electors in each state shall have the qualifica- 
 tions requisite for the most numerous branch of the 
 state legislature. When vacancies happen in the repre- 
 sentation of any state in the senate the executive au- 
 thority of such state shall issue writs of election to fill 
 such vacancy; provided that the legislature of any state 
 may empower the executive thereof to make temporary 
 appointments until the people fill the vacancies by elec- 
 tion, as the legislature may direct. This amendment 
 shall not be so construed to affect the election or term 
 of any senator chosen before it becomes valid as part 
 of the Constitution. 
 
 71 
 
This provision gives the people an influence over 
 their senators that they did not have when senators 
 were selected by the state legislatures. Then the 
 corporations had more influence than the people, 
 and their wishes, and not those of the state, were 
 carried out. 
 
 While the Constitution has not been enlarged 
 much in the past hundred years by amendments, 
 yet by the construction placed on its sections by 
 Congress and the courts, its usefulness has been 
 increased and its powers broadened. It has been 
 changed, not so much in form as in the new inter- 
 pretations. 
 
 72 
 
General Features of the State 
 Governments 
 
 Besides the federal or central government there 
 are forty-eight smaller governments known as 
 states. The powers enjoyed by these small political 
 divisions are many, as the Constitution itself says, 
 that all powers not granted to Congress are re- 
 served to the states and the people. 
 
 Each state may set up that form of government 
 its people wish, but it must not conflict with the 
 Federal Constitution. The state governments are 
 all republican in character and do not differ very 
 much one from the other. 
 
 All the states have the following characteristics: 
 
 A written constitution. 
 
 Three departments of government. 
 
 A chief executive called the governor elected by 
 the people. 
 
 A two-bodied legislature chosen by the people. 
 
 A judiciary generally elected by the people, 
 although in some states the judges are appointed. 
 
 Each state governs itself. 
 
 Each state has a public school system. 
 
 CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The State of California was admitted to the 
 United States September ninth, 1850. 
 
 But this state had already adopted a state con- 
 stitution in the year 1849. This lasted until the 
 
 73 
 
present constitution was adopted in 1879, which 
 provides for three great departments of govern- 
 ment: executive, legislative and judicial. 
 
 The state legislature, as the law-making body is 
 called, meets in Sacramento, at the State Capitol. 
 It is divided into two houses the Senate and 
 the Assembly. 
 
 There are eighty members of the Assembly, 
 elected for a term of two years. They are elected 
 from Assembly districts. The Assembly like the 
 House of Eepresentatives is chosen every two years 
 and goes in and out altogether. The head of the 
 Assembly is called the Speaker. 
 
 The Senate is composed of forty members elected 
 from senatorial districts, for a term of four years. 
 This body, like the United States Senate, has half 
 its members, i. e., twenty, chosen every two years, 
 so that there are always experienced men in office. 
 The Lieutenant Governor is the presiding officer 
 of the Senate. 
 
 Should either Speaker or Lieutenant Governor 
 be unable to appear, temporary officers are chosen 
 out of the respective bodies. 
 
 The salary of senators and assemblymen is $1,000 
 per year and mileage consisting of ten cents per 
 mile. 
 
 The legislature meets every two years, with 
 special sessions at the will of the governor. 
 
 The authority of the state legislature is very 
 great and is limited only by the Constitution of 
 the United States, and that of the State Constitu- 
 tion. Some of the powers exercised by this body 
 are the following: The regulating of taxes, licenses 
 and fees, the granting of charters to cities, rail- 
 
 74 
 
roads, banks, colleges, and other corporations, 
 public and private, it makes laws concerning land 
 and its sale, mortgages, deeds, wills, estates, it 
 makes laws and punishes crimes such as murder, 
 treason, bribery, etc.; it provides for the safety of 
 public health, makes laws concerning marriage, 
 education, elections, manufacturing, etc. These are 
 only a few of the powers possessed and exercised 
 by this body. 
 
 . The following are lists of senators and asembly- 
 men at present in office with their various districts. 
 
 SENATOKS 
 (Forty-first Session, 1915.) 
 
 District 
 
 Name 
 
 County 
 
 39 
 
 Anderson, John N. 
 
 Orange 
 
 38 
 
 Ballard, John W. 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 18 
 
 Beban, D. J. 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 34 
 
 Benedict, H. S. 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 27 
 
 Benson, F. H. 
 
 Santa Clara 
 
 3 
 
 Birdsall, E. S. 
 
 Placer 
 
 15 
 
 Breed, A. H. 
 
 Alameda 
 
 37 
 
 Brown, W. E. 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 31 
 
 Butler, E. M. 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 17 
 
 Campbell, A. E. 
 
 San Luis Obispo 
 
 36 
 
 Carr, W. J. 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 26 
 
 Chandler, W. F. 
 
 Fresno 
 
 33 
 
 Cogswell, P. F. 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 7 
 
 Cohn, P. C. 
 
 Sacramento 
 
 75 
 
Senators (Forty-first Session, 1915) Contd. 
 
 District 
 
 Name 
 
 County 
 
 22 Crowley, J. J. 
 
 6 Duncan, W. E., Jr. 
 
 23 Finn, T. F. 
 
 24 Flaherty, L. J. 
 
 11 Flint, W. R. 
 21 Gerdes, F. C. 
 14 Hans, G. J. 
 32 Irwin, J. L. C. 
 
 28 Jones, H. C. 
 
 1 Kehoe, W. 
 30 King, L. M. 
 40 Luce, E. A. 
 
 29 Lyon, H. H. 
 
 12 Maddux, L. J. 
 
 25 Mott, D. W. 
 9 Owens, J. C. 
 
 4 Purkitt, C. F. 
 
 5 Bush, B. F. 
 20 Scott, W. S. 
 
 2 Shearer, W. B. 
 8 Slater, H. W. 
 
 13 Strobridge, E. K. 
 10 Stuckenbruck, J. W. 
 35 Thompson, N. W. 
 16 Tyrrell, E. J. 
 
 19 Wolfe, E. I. 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 Butte 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 San Benito 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 Alameda 
 
 Kings 
 
 Santa Clara 
 
 Humboldt 
 
 San Bernardino 
 
 San Diego 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 Stanislaus 
 
 Ventura 
 
 Contra Costa 
 
 Glenn 
 
 Solano 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 Siskiyou 
 
 Sonoma 
 
 Alameda 
 
 San Joaquin 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 Alameda 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 John M. Eshleman, President (died March, 1916), 
 N. W. Thompson, President pro tempore. 
 
 76 
 
MEMBEKS OF ASSEMBLY 
 (Forty-first Session, 1915.) 
 
 District 
 
 Name 
 
 County 
 
 39 
 
 Anderson, Frank W. 
 
 Alameda 
 
 35 
 
 Arnerich, Paul J. 
 
 Alameda 
 
 19 
 
 Ashley, George W. 
 
 San Joaquin 
 
 77 
 
 Avey, William A. 
 
 Riverside 
 
 63 
 
 Bartlett, Alfred L. 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 34 
 
 Beck, George 
 
 Alameda 
 
 66 
 
 Benton, Richmond P. 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 12 
 
 Boude, Knox 
 
 Sonoma 
 
 48 
 
 Boyce, A. E. 
 
 Monterey 
 
 42 
 
 Brown, Henry W. 
 
 San Mateo 
 
 47 
 
 Browne, Maurice B. 
 
 Tuolumne 
 
 11 
 
 Bruck, Bismark 
 
 Napa 
 
 76 
 
 Burke, Joe C. 
 
 Orange 
 
 29 
 
 Byrnes, James J. 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 33 
 
 Canepa, Victor J. 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 52 
 
 Gary, L. B. 
 
 Fresno 
 
 72 
 
 Chamberlain, Harry A. 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 14 
 
 Chenoweth, Walter W. 
 
 Sacramento 
 
 24 
 
 Collins, W. M. 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 79 
 
 Conard, Grant 
 
 San Diego 
 
 46 
 
 Dennett, Lewis L. 
 
 Stanislaus 
 
 73 
 
 Downing, George W. 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 20 
 
 Edwards, Lawrence 
 
 San Joaquin 
 
 60 
 
 Edwards, Roger G. 
 
 Ventura 
 
 49 
 
 Ellis, Edward S. 
 
 Merced 
 
 36 
 
 Encell, Harry A. 
 
 Alameda 
 
 38 
 
 Ferguson, Daniel 
 
 Alameda 
 
 67 
 
 Fish, Howard J. 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 15 
 
 Gebhart, Lee 
 
 Sacramento 
 
 
 77 
 
 
Members of Assembly (Forty-first Session, 1915) Contd. 
 
 District 
 
 Name 
 
 County 
 
 40 Gelder, George 
 
 25 Godsil, Charles W. 
 
 56 Harris, W. W. 
 51 Haws on, Henry 
 45 Hayes, D. E. 
 
 26 Hayes, J. J. 
 
 57 Johnson, George H. 
 80 Judson, Fred E. 
 
 22 Kennedy, William P. 
 
 16 Kerr, Robert I. 
 59 Kramer, Ira E. 
 54 Long, W. A. 
 
 68 Lostutter, L. L. 
 
 62 Lyon, Charles W. 
 
 3 McCray, C. C. 
 
 28 McDonald, J. J. 
 
 21 McDonald, Walter A. 
 
 75 McKnight, James S. 
 
 43 McPherson, H. E. 
 
 17 Manning, J. E. 
 30 Marron, Jos. E. 
 
 7 Meek, B. B. 
 
 74 Mouser, Frank H. 
 
 6 Pettis, J. A. 
 
 58 Phelps, John S. 
 65 Phillips, Peter C. 
 
 27 Prendergast, N. J. 
 2 Quinn, John F. 
 
 1 Beam, H. B. 
 
 53 Rigdon, E. S. 
 
 32 Rogers, Frank N. 
 
 78 
 
 Alameda 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 Kern 
 
 Fresno 
 
 Santa Clara 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 San Bernardino 
 
 San Diego 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 Amador 
 
 Santa Barbara 
 
 Kings 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 Shasta 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 Santa Cruz 
 
 Marin 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 Butte 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 Mendocino 
 
 San Bernardino 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 Humboldt 
 
 Siskiyou 
 
 San Luis Obispo 
 
 San Francisco 
 
Members of Assembly (Forty-first Session, 1915) Contd. 
 
 District 
 
 Name 
 
 County 
 
 70 Eominger, Joseph A. 
 9 Rutherford, F. M. 
 
 23 Ryan, James J. 
 
 13 Salisbury, George W. 
 
 37 Satterwhite, William T. 
 
 31 Schmidt, Milton L. 
 
 64 Scott, Charles E. 
 
 55 Scott, Fred C. 
 
 50 Scott, L. D. 
 
 18 Sharkey, William R. 
 
 4 Shartel, A. F. 
 
 5 Sisson, Elmer L. 
 
 71 Spengler, Lewis A. 
 8 Tabler, L. N. 
 
 10 Widenmann, H. J. 
 
 78 Wills, Robert E. 
 
 61 Wishard, Harry A. 
 
 69 Wright, Henry W. 
 
 44 Wright, T. M. 
 
 41 Young, C. C. 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 Nevada 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 Sonoma 
 
 Alameda 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 Tulare 
 
 Fresno 
 
 Contra Costa 
 
 Modoc 
 
 Tehama 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 Yolo 
 
 Solano 
 
 Imperial 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 Santa Clara 
 
 Alameda 
 
 THE STATE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Those officers of the state who manage special 
 branches of the state's business constitute the 
 executive department. In California the highest 
 officials are elected by the people, but many are 
 also appointed by the governor. The result of 
 giving a great appointive power to the governor 
 is to place in his hands the responsibility for the 
 
 79 
 
acts of his subordinates to a greater degree than 
 were they chosen by the people. 
 
 The following are the state executive officers 
 elected by the people: 
 
 Governor. 
 
 Lieutenant Governor. 
 
 Controller. 
 
 Treasurer. 
 
 Attorney General. 
 
 Surveyor General. 
 
 Superintendent of Public Instruction. 
 
 The first duty of the governor (today, Hiram 
 Johnson) is to see that the laws are faithfully 
 executed. Under the new system in California of 
 making the governor directly responsible for the 
 acts of his subordinates the officer either does his 
 duty or the governor removes him. In those offices 
 where the officer is elected by the people the gov- 
 ernor has not the same control over his actions. 
 Among the duties of the governor is that of send- 
 ing a message to each legislature informing them 
 of the condition of the state, and urging whatever 
 laws he deems proper. If the occasion is a serious 
 one and the legislature is not in session, he can call 
 together a special meeting thereof. He has in 
 California the power to pardon criminals or those 
 whom he thinks have been unjustly condemned. 
 He fills vacancies in the elective offices caused by 
 death or resignation. He has always the power 
 to veto unwise legislation and thereby check hasty 
 action on the part of the legislature. He has be- 
 sides many social duties such as presiding over 
 countless banquets wherein some interest of the 
 
 80 
 
state is discussed, laying corner stones, opening 
 fairs, etc. 
 
 The Lieutenant Governor takes the governor's 
 place when he is out of the state or sick and in- 
 capacitated. He is in California the active presi- 
 dent of the state senate and of course takes the 
 governor's seat in case of death. 
 
 The Secretary of State keeps a correct record of 
 all the official acts of the legislative and the ex- 
 ecutive departments. 
 
 The Controller manages the finances of the state. 
 His position is that of auditor also, as he prepares 
 plans for the saving and expenditure of state funds 
 and his order is necessary for the issuance of 
 money. 
 
 The Treasurer takes care of the money paid into 
 the treasury. 
 
 The Attorney General represents the state and 
 the people thereof in all legal actions. 
 
 The Superintendent of Public Instruction is the 
 official head of the state school system. 
 
 In addition to the above officers and the many 
 whose positions we have not room to speak of here, 
 there are the various boards or commissions the 
 members of which are appointed by the governor. 
 Among these are: 
 
 State Board of Equalization which controls the 
 assessment of taxes between counties throughout 
 the state. 
 
 State Board of Eailroad Commissioners which 
 secures fair rates for the public not only on rail- 
 ways, but from all public service corporations. 
 
 State Board of Control which supervises the 
 business and financial policies of the state. 
 
 81 
 
Besides the above there are the state boards of 
 agriculture, charities and corrections, dental exam- 
 iners, health, industrial accident, medical examiners, 
 pharmacy; also commissions known as the fish 
 and game, harbor, state highway, social insurance, 
 horticulture, insurance, etc. 
 
 It is through these boards and commissions that 
 the people of the state can obtain better government 
 and the condition of the laboring classes improved. 
 Example after example of this can be shown in the 
 records of the railroad commission, the industrial 
 accident board and the insurance commission. 
 
 THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 
 
 This branch of the state government is of the 
 utmost importance to the people, for here the laws 
 are interpreted and the rights of individuals deter- 
 mined. 
 
 In California the judiciary consists of: 
 
 The Supreme Court. 
 
 The District Courts of Appeal. 
 
 The Superior Courts. 
 
 The Police Courts and Justices of the Peace. 
 
 All these officers are elected directly by the 
 people. 
 
 The State Supreme Court is composed of seven 
 judges chosen for a term of twelve years at a sal- 
 ary of eight thousand dollars per year. The fol- 
 lowing are the judges now in office: 
 
 F. M. Angellotti, Presiding Justice. 
 Lucien Shaw. W. G. Lorigan. 
 
 M. C. Sloss. Henry A. Melvin. 
 
 F. W. Henshaw. Wm. P. Lawlor. 
 
 82 
 
The District Court of Appeal is divided into 
 three parts as follows: 
 
 First Appellate District: San Francisco, Alameda 
 County to Santa Cruz on the south and Sonoma 
 on the north. 
 
 Thos. J. Lennon, Presiding Justice. 
 Frank H. Kerrigan. 
 John E. Bichards. 
 
 Second Appellate District: Los Angeles, Kern 
 County and the south. 
 N. P. Conrey, Presiding Justice. 
 W. P. James. 
 Victor E. Shaw. 
 
 Third Appellate District: Sacramento County and 
 the north. 
 
 N. P. Chipman, Presiding Justice. 
 Elijah C. Hart. 
 Albert G. Burnett. 
 
 These judges are elected for a term of twelve 
 years, at a salary of seven thousand dollars per 
 year. 
 
 There are fifty-eight counties in California and 
 a Superior Court for each county. This does not 
 mean that there is one judge for each county, as 
 the court may be composed of as many judges as 
 sixteen as in the City and County of San Francisco. 
 
 Each superior judge serves six years at a yearly 
 salary of six thousand dollars. These courts are 
 really the backbone of the judicial system, as upon 
 them fall the duty of first trying cases; these are 
 the judges who are closest in touch with the people. 
 These too, are the state courts that examine ap- 
 plicants for citizenship. 
 
 83 
 
The Justice's Court is the lowest in the judicial 
 system. In it are tried petty cases and misde- 
 meanors. In California all civil cases involving 
 sums less than three hundred dollars may be tried 
 in this court. These judges are elected by the 
 people. Their salary varies with the size of their 
 community. 
 
 In the cities where there are numerous small 
 offenses against property and citizens there is 
 also a court known as the police court. 
 
 As said above the superior judges come closest 
 in touch with the people. They try the cases, be- 
 fore them come the witnesses and the evidence first 
 hand. Where there is a dispute on the law in- 
 volved in the case, then the litigant may carry this 
 point to either of the higher courts depending upon 
 the character of the suit. 
 
 COUNTY GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The governmental subdivision next smaller than 
 the state is the county. It originated in Virginia 
 with the first colonists from England who remem- 
 bering their shire government, incorporated it into 
 the county. There are over three thousand counties 
 in the United States, so nearly every person in this 
 country lives within one. In California this is the 
 chief unit of government for those living outside 
 cities, although it must be remembered that there 
 are also political divisions known as townships and 
 school districts. 
 
 There are fifty-eight classes of counties in Cali- 
 fornia, a class being created for each county. 
 
 84 
 
The governing body of the county is known as 
 the board of supervisors or commissioners. It 
 consists usually of from three, to seven members. 
 Their terms vary from two to four years. Some 
 of their duties are as follows: they fix the tax 
 rate for the county, repair and build roads and 
 bridges, provide for county buildings, appropriate 
 money for county officials salaries, and the expenses 
 of government, provide poor houses, etc. 
 
 County officers in California are as follows: 
 
 1. Board of Supervisors. 
 
 2. District attorney. 
 
 3. Sheriff. 
 
 4. Auditor. 
 
 5. Treasurer. 
 
 6. County clerk. 
 
 7. License collector. 
 
 8. Tax collector, also a license collector. 
 
 9. Assessor. 
 
 10. Superintendent of schools. 
 
 11. Public administrator. 
 
 12. Coroner. 
 
 13. Surveyor. 
 
 14. Live stock inspector. 
 
 15. Fish and game warden. 
 
 16. Such other officers as may be appointed by 
 law. 
 
 17. Eecorder. 
 
 85 
 
COUNTIES. 
 
 1 Alameda 
 
 2 Alpine 
 
 3 Amador 
 
 4 Butte 
 
 5 Calaveras 
 
 6 Colusa 
 
 7 Contra Costa 
 
 8 Del Norte 
 
 9 El Dorado 
 
 10 Fresno 
 
 11 Glenn 
 
 12 Humboldt 
 
 13 Imperial 
 
 14 Inyo 
 
 15 Kern 
 
 16 Kings 
 
 17 Lake 
 
 18 Lassen 
 
 19 Los Angeles 
 
 20 Madera 
 
 21 Marin 
 
 22 Mariposa 
 
 23 Mendocino 
 
 24 Merced 
 
 25 Modoc 
 
 26 Mono 
 
 27 Monterey 
 
 28 Napa 
 
 29 Nevada 
 
 30 
 31 
 32 
 33 
 34 
 35 
 36 
 37 
 38 
 39 
 40 
 41 
 42 
 43 
 44 
 45 
 46 
 47 
 48 
 49 
 50 
 51 
 52 
 53 
 54 
 55 
 56 
 57 
 58 
 
 Orange 
 
 Placer 
 
 Plumas 
 
 Eiverside 
 
 Sacramento 
 
 San Benito 
 
 San Bernardino 
 
 San Diego 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 San Joaquin 
 
 San Luis Obispo 
 
 San Mateo 
 
 Santa Barbara 
 
 Santa Clara 
 
 Santa Cruz 
 
 Shasta 
 
 Sierra 
 
 Siskiyou 
 
 Solano 
 
 Sonoma 
 
 Stanislaus 
 
 Sutter 
 
 Tehama 
 
 Trinity 
 
 Tulare 
 
 Tuolumne 
 
 Ventura 
 
 Yolo 
 
 Yuba 
 
 86 
 
TOWN GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Town government as developed in New England, 
 with its town meeting and board of selectmen is 
 not known throughout California. This is due to 
 the fact that the municipal government act of 1883 
 permits any community of five hundred inhabitants 
 or over to organize as a city. The advantages of 
 city over town organization are so many that the 
 town is practically unknown here. 
 
 The township, however, is a local subdivision of 
 the county. In this state it serves as a judicial 
 district, for it is the unit for the election of the 
 justices of the peace and constable. 
 
 In addition to the above political subdivisions 
 there are school districts. 
 
 CITY GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The most important of all these governmental 
 units is the city. A city is organized just as is a 
 business, having a charter and officers to carry out 
 the provisions of it. The charter is to the city 
 what the Constitution is to the United States. It 
 defines the powers of the city and the duties of 
 its officers. The charter is as a rule granted by 
 the state legislature, although in some states and 
 California is of these, the people through their 
 committees frame their charter and then submit 
 it to the legislature for approval. There are six 
 different classes of cities in California, their class 
 being determined by population. 
 
 The governing body of the city is usually known 
 as the council, which is elected by the people for 
 terms varying from two to four years. This body 
 makes the laws or ordinances as they are called for 
 
 87 
 
the city. It provides for the expenditure of public 
 funds, the licensing of saloons, building of streets 
 and public buildings, looks after public health and 
 sanitation, borrows money by issuing bonds and in 
 general has all the necessary powers for running 
 the city affairs. 
 
 The chief officer of the city is called the mayor. 
 He is the executive officer and sees that the laws 
 are enforced. As a rule the mayor is chosen for 
 a term of two years. He is a very powerful and 
 useful official if he is given the power to appoint 
 most of his subordinates and remove them. In 
 this case he can control his government. Where 
 the lower officials are not in sympathy with the 
 mayor, the government does not run smoothly. He 
 has, of course, the power to veto all ordinances 
 passed by council. 
 
 Every city has the following departments al- 
 though not always known by the same name, whose 
 heads are called assessors, tax collectors, auditors, 
 city attorneys, etc. 
 
 Finance. 
 
 Law. 
 
 Public safety (health, fire, inspectors, etc.). 
 
 Education. 
 
 Parks. 
 
 Public works. 
 
 Police. 
 
 COMMISSION FOKM OF CITY GOVERNMENT. 
 
 This form of city government does away with 
 the division of powers between the legislative and 
 the executive branches. Here there are usually five 
 commissioners elected, one of whom is chosen 
 
 88 
 
mayor. In making ordinances and enforcing them 
 the mayor and the commissioners act together. 
 Oakland and Berkeley have commission forms of 
 government. 
 
 Among the many duties performed by the city 
 authorities are providing adequate water supplies, 
 fire and police protection, street lights, cleaning 
 streets, removing garbage, inspecting food, pro- 
 viding parks, hospitals, museums, playgrounds and 
 even street railroads. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 The interesting feature to be remarked about 
 the government of San Francisco is that it com- 
 bines both city and county. Its city area coincides 
 with its county. It has both city and county officers, 
 save in those departments where the duties of the 
 two would interfold. There is but one legislative 
 body in the city, known as the board of supervisors, 
 eighteen in number, whose members serve a term 
 of four years. 
 
 This city has the usual list of city officials headed 
 by a mayor. The municipal elections occur every 
 four years, November, 1915, being the last. 
 
 OAKLAND 
 
 This city unlike the city and county government 
 has what is known as a commission form of gov- 
 ernment. The council or commission is composed 
 of five members including the mayor. The commis- 
 sioners are known as commissioners of public 
 safety, revenue and finance, public works, and 
 streets. There are in addition the usual quota of 
 city officers. 
 
 89 
 
BERKELEY 
 
 Berkeley has what has been called the ideal com- 
 mission form of city government. The division of 
 departments are similar to those of the Oakland 
 system, but there are fewer appointments, and those 
 who are selected are directly responsible to the 
 commissioner who chooses them. In this way there 
 are no questions raised as to responsibility. 
 
 Los ANGELES 
 
 Los Angeles is governed by a Mayor and a council 
 of nine members. It has its usual number of other 
 city officers. An interesting feature of the charter 
 of Los Angeles was the provision for a public utili- 
 ties board, which would supervise all public service 
 corporations in the city of Los Angeles. Another 
 step forward in city government is the provision 
 for a public defender, that is a lawyer hired by the 
 city to defend those who are unable to pay a lawyer 
 to defend them. 
 
 The names of the various city officials were pur- 
 posely omitted from the text, as they are of little 
 importance to the student and if desired can be 
 readily ascertained. 
 
 90 
 
The Declaration of Independence 
 
 In Congress, July 4th, 1776. 
 
 THE UNANIMOUS DECLAKATION OF THE THIRTEEN 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 When, in the course of human events, it becomes 
 necessary for one people to dissolve the political 
 bands which have connected them with another, and 
 to assume, among the powers of the earth, the 
 separate and equal station to which the laws of 
 nature and: of nature's God entitle them, a decent 
 respect to the opinions of mankind requires that 
 they should declare the causes which impel them 
 to the separation. 
 
 We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all 
 men are created equal; that they are endowed, by 
 their creator, with certain inalienable rights; that 
 among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
 happiness. That to secure these rights, govern- 
 ments are instituted among men, deriving their just 
 powers from the consent of the governed; that 
 whenever any form of government becomes destruc- 
 tive of these ends, it is the right of the people to 
 alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new govern- 
 ment, laying its foundation on such principles, and 
 organizing its powers in such form as to them shall 
 seem most likely to affect their safety and happi- 
 ness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that govern- 
 ments long established should not be changed for 
 light and transient causes; and accordingly, all ex- 
 perience hath shown, that mankind are more dis- 
 posed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to 
 right themselves by abolishing the forms to which 
 
 91 
 
they are accustomed. But when a long train of 
 abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the 
 same object, evinces a design to reduce them under 
 absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty 
 to throw off such government, and to provide new 
 guards for their future security. Such has been 
 the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such 
 is now the necessity which constrains them to alter 
 their former systems of government. The history 
 of the present king of Great Britain is a history 
 of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in 
 direct object the establishment of an absolute 
 tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts 
 be submitted to a candid world. 
 
 He has refused his assent to laws the most whole- 
 some and necessary for the public good. 
 
 He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of 
 immediate and pressing importance, unless sus- 
 pended in their operation, till his assent should be 
 obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly 
 neglected to attend to them. 
 
 He has refused to pass other laws for the accom- 
 modation of large districts of people, unless those 
 people would relinquish the right of representation 
 in the legislature a right inestimable to them, and 
 formidable to tyrants only. 
 
 He has called together legislative bodies at places 
 unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the re- 
 pository of their public records, for the sole pur- 
 pose of fatiguing them into compliance with his 
 measures. 
 
 He has dissolved representative houses repeat- 
 edly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his inva- 
 sions on the rights of the people. 
 
 92 
 
He has refused, for a long time after such dis- 
 solutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby 
 the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, 
 have returned to the people at large for their exer- 
 cise, the state remaining, in the meantime, exposed 
 to all the dangers of invasion from without, and 
 convulsions within. 
 
 He has endeavored to prevent the population of 
 these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws 
 for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass 
 others to encourage their migration hither, and 
 raising the conditions of new appropriations of 
 lands. 
 
 He has obstructed the administration of justice, 
 by refusing his assent to laws for establishing 
 judiciary powers. 
 
 He has made judges dependent on his will alone, 
 for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and 
 payment of their salaries. 
 
 He has erected a multitude of new offices, and 
 , sent hither swarms of officers, to harass our people, 
 and eat out their substance. 
 
 He has kept among us, in times of peace, stand- 
 ing armies, without the consent of our legislatures. 
 
 He has affected to render the military independ- 
 ent of, and superior to, the civil power. 
 
 He has combined with others to subject us to a 
 jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and un- 
 acknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to 
 their acts of pretended legislation: 
 
 For quartering large bodies or armed troops 
 among us; 
 
For protecting them, by a mock trial, from pun- 
 ishment for any murders which they should commit 
 on the inhabitants of these states ; 
 
 For cutting off our trade with all parts of the 
 world ; 
 
 For imposing taxes on us without our consent; 
 
 For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits 
 of trial by jury; 
 
 For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for 
 pretended offenses; 
 
 For abolishing the free system of English laws 
 in a neighboring province, establishing therein an 
 arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, 
 so as to render it at once an example and fit instru- 
 ment for introducing the same absolute rule into 
 these colonies; 
 
 For taking away our charters, abolishing our 
 most valuable laws, and altering, fundamentally, 
 the forms of our government; 
 
 For suspending our own legislatures, and declar- 
 ing themselves invested with power to legislate for 
 us in all cases whatsoever. 
 
 He has abdicated government here by declaring 
 us out of his protection, and waging war against us. 
 
 He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, 
 burnt our towns and destroyed the lives of our 
 people. 
 
 He is at this time transporting large armies of 
 foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, 
 desolation, and tyranny already begun, with circum- 
 stances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled 
 in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy 
 the head of a civilized nation. 
 
 94 
 
He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken 
 captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their 
 country, to become the executioners of their friends 
 and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. 
 
 He has excited domestic insurrections among us, 
 and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of 
 our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose 
 known rule of warfare is an undistinguished de- 
 struction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. 
 
 In every stage of these oppressions we have peti- 
 tioned for redress in the most humble terms; our 
 repeated petitions have been answered only by 
 repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus 
 marked by every act which may define a tyrant is 
 unfit to be the ruler of a free people. 
 
 Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our 
 British brethren. We have warned them, from time 
 to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend 
 an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have 
 reminded them of the circumstances of our emigra- 
 tion and settlement here. We have appealed to 
 their native justice and magnanimity, and we have 
 conjured them by the ties of our common kindred 
 to disavow these usurpations, which would inevit- 
 ably interrupt our connections and correspondence. 
 They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice 
 and consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce 
 in the necessity which denounces our separation, 
 and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, 
 enemies in war, in peace, friends. 
 
 We, therefore, the representatives of the United 
 States of America, in General Congress assembled, 
 appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for 
 the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and 
 
 95 
 
by the authority of the good people of these col- 
 onies, solemnly publish and declare that these 
 United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free 
 and independent States; that they are absolved 
 from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all 
 political connection between them and the State 
 of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dis- 
 solved; and that, as free and independent States, 
 they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, 
 contract alliance, establish commerce, and to do 
 all other acts and things which independent states 
 may of right do. And for the support of this 
 Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection 
 of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each 
 other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 
 
WOEDS AND TREK MEANINGS. 
 
 Majority vote. One equal to fifty-one per cent 
 of all votes cast, More than half. . 
 
 Plurality vote. The highest vote. A majority 
 vote is always a plurality, but a plurality vote need 
 not be a majority. 
 
 Primary election. The effect of this election is 
 to nominate candidates for the office in question. 
 As a rule the candidate that obtains a majority 
 vote in the primary election is considered elected 
 and need not participate in the second election. 
 The primary election precedes the final election 
 by three or four weeks. 
 
 Franchise. This is the privilege of the ballot or 
 the vote. 
 
 Suffrage. Also means the right to vote. 
 
 Elector. A voter; also refers to those men who 
 are chosen to elect the President. These should 
 be termed presidential electors. 
 
 Quorum. The number of persons necessary to 
 do business. 
 
 Ordinance. Law passed by a board of council- 
 men or supervisors. 
 
 97 
 
Initiative-, The power vested in the people by 
 a recent amendment to . pass laws directly, which 
 the legislature may have refused to vote on or con- 
 sider. A petition with a certain number of voters ' 
 signatures is necessary. 
 
 Referendum. The power vested in the people 
 of the state to approve or reject laws passed by 
 the legislature at the next general election. This 
 with the initiative gives the people a control over 
 the law making body of the state if they so desire. 
 
 Recall. Like the above this enables the people 
 by obtaining a sufficient number of signatures to 
 remove any officer of the state government they so 
 desire. It gives them a chance to select some other 
 candidate at the same time. 
 
 98 
 
PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 1. George Washington 1789 - 1797 
 
 2. John Adams -. . .1797 - 1801 
 
 3. Thomas Jefferson 1801 - 1809 
 
 4. James Madison 1809-1817 
 
 5. James Monroe 1817 - 1825 
 
 6. John Quincy Adams 1825 - 1829 
 
 7. Andrew Jackson 1829 - 1837 
 
 8. Martin Van Buren 1837 - 1841 
 
 9. William Henry Harrison 1841 - 1841 
 
 10. John Tyler 1841-1845 
 
 11. James K. Polk 1845-1849 
 
 12. Zachary Taylor 1849 - 1850 
 
 13. Millard Fillmore 1850 - 1853 
 
 14. Franklin Pierce 1853 - 1857 
 
 15. James Buchanan 1857 - 1861 
 
 16. Abraham Lincoln 1861 - 1865 
 
 17. Andrew Johnson 1865 - 1869 
 
 18. Ulysses S. Grant 1869 - 1877 
 
 19. Rutherford B. Hayes 1877 - 1881 
 
 20. James A. Garfield 1881 - 1881 
 
 21. Chester A. Arthur . . 1881 - 1885 
 
 22. Grover Cleveland 1885-1889 
 
 23. Benjamin Harrison 1889 - 1893 
 
 24. Grover Cleveland 1893 - 1897 
 
 25. William McKinley 1897 - 1901 
 
 26. Theodore Roosevelt 1901 - 1909 
 
 27. William H. Taft 1909 - 1913 
 
 28. Woodrow Wilson 1913 - 
 
 DIED IN OFFICE. 
 
 William Henry Harrison, Apr. 4, 1841. 
 Zachary Taylor, July 9, 1850. 
 Abraham Lincoln, Apr. 15, 1865. 
 James A. Garfield, Sept. 19, 1881. 
 William McKinley, Sept. 14, 1901. 
 
 99 
 
BOOKS ON AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Bryce, American Commonwealth, (1907). 
 Channing, United States of America. 
 
 Thorpe, Constitutional History of the American 
 People. 
 
 Andrews, Colonial Self -Government. 
 
 Greene, Provincial America (American Nation 
 Series). 
 
 Ford, Rise and Growth of American Politics. 
 
 McLaughlin, The Confederation and the Constitu- 
 tion, (American Nation Series). 
 
 Kasson, Evolution of the Constitution of the United 
 States. 
 
 Smith, Spirit of American Government. 
 
 Goodnow, Politics and Administration. 
 
 Macy, Party Organization and Machinery. 
 
 Harrison, This Country of Ours. 
 
 Fairlie, National Administration. 
 
 Eeinsch, American Legislatures. 
 
 Dewey, Financial History of the United States. 
 
 100 
 
BYRNE & MCDONNELL 
 
 INVESTMENT SECURITIES 
 
 MEMBERS 
 
 New York Stock Exchange 
 San Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange 
 
 Orders executed promptly at customary commission rates 
 DEALERS IN 
 
 Government, Municipal, Corporation 
 
 BONDS 
 
 We recommend investments in California City and School District 
 Bonds to pay 4% to 5%. These bonds are safe, can be resold readily 
 and are not taxable. Come in and let us explain to you about them. 
 
 Wir empfehlen Anlagen in 
 California City und Schul-Dis- 
 trict Bonds welche 4%-5% ein- 
 bringen. Diese Bonds sind sicher 
 koennen schnell verkauft wer- 
 den und zahlen keine Steuern. 
 Besuchen Sie uns und lassen 
 Sie uns es Ihnen erklaeren. 
 
 Vi anbefaler at anbringe penge 
 i California City and School Dis- 
 trict Bonds, som betaler 4 @ 5%. 
 Disse bonds er sikre, kan let 
 realiseres og er skattefri. Kom 
 og lad os forklare herom. 
 
 Raccomandiamo investimenti 
 nelle obbligazioni di citta e 
 scuole della California che 
 pagano dal 4 al 5%. Queste 
 obbligazioni sono assolutamente 
 sicure e possono facilmente 
 essere rivendute e non sono sog- 
 ?ette a tasso. Venite e vi daremo 
 migliori e piu dettagliate infor- 
 mazioni. 
 
 Nous recommandons comme 
 placement rapportant 4 ou 5 pour 
 cent les "California City and 
 School District Bonds". Ces ob- 
 ligations sont de tout repos, 
 exemptes de taxes, et peuvent 
 etre ne"gocie"es a tout moment. 
 Venez nous voir et nous vous 
 donnerons toutes explications 
 necessaires. 
 
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 /)f*T Oo io^rt 
 
 
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