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ESSENTIALS IN 
 
 CIVIL GOVERNMENT 
 
 A TEXT- BOOK FOll USE IN 
 SCHOOLS 
 
 BY 
 
 S. E. FORMAX, Ph.D. 
 
 NEW YORK •:• CINCIXXATI •:• rHTCAr.O 
 
 AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 
 
e • • r 
 
 
 Copyright, 1908, bt 
 S. E. FORMAN 
 
 Entered at Stationers' Hall, London 
 
 F. Civil Govt. 
 
PlIKFACE 
 
 Of the wholc^ luimbor of {uipils who can study Civil 
 Government with profit more than ninc-tcntlis arc in 
 the two upper elasses of the grammar schools and in the 
 two lower classes of the high schools. In these classes 
 there are more than a million young people who can be 
 led into a just appreciation of the rights and duties of 
 citizens. Here is a rich field for the sower, an opportunity 
 vast in its proportions for improving the quality of Ameri- 
 can citizenship and elevating the American electorate. 
 
 Tlie aim of this little book is to help those teachers who 
 are trying to give the masses of their pupils sound and sys- 
 tematic instruction in Civil Government: it is intended 
 for use at the top of the grammar school and at the bottom 
 of the high school. Its primary aim is not to teach facts. 
 You cannot start young people on the road to good citi- 
 zenshiji by gorging their minds with facts about govern- 
 ment. The primary aim of the book is to establish political 
 i(l(\als and to indoctrinate in notions of civic morality. 
 
 In the first few lessons (Lessons I-V) the pupil studies 
 the little world in which he moves and has his being. lie 
 takes a peep at his own moral nature and he studies the 
 governments of the home and of the school. Then he takes 
 M]) the great subject of citizenship (Lessons VI-XI) and 
 learns of civic rights and civic duties. Lessons XII-XV 
 
 fi-if.'.'Ji 
 
4 PREFACE 
 
 treat of the powers of government. In these four lessons 
 the great underlying principles of our government may be 
 learned, and while studying them the pupil ought to catch 
 something of the spirit of American government. "The 
 letter killeth but the spirit giveth life." With Lesson XVI 
 the pupil begins to study the forms and workings of the 
 larger governments. Lessons XVI-XX are given to local 
 government, Lessons XXI-XXVI to State government and 
 Lessons XXVII-XXXVI to the National Government. 
 The subject of Taxation is treated in Lessons XXXVII- 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 Will the general teaching of Civil Government in the 
 schools tend to elevate the citizenship of the masses? It 
 will if a lesson in Civil Government is made a lesson in 
 political ethics. Good citizenship is an affair both of the 
 head and of the heart, and training in citizenship must 
 quicken the conscience as well as inform the mind. In 
 the preparation of this book this truth has never been 
 lost sight of. Wherever it has been practicable I have 
 tried to help the teacher to combine instruction in Civil 
 Government with instruction in morals. 
 
 S. E. FORMAN. 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 LESSON I 
 Government and Laws 11 
 
 Moaning of the Word "CJovornmcnt " — The Study of 
 Government — What Government Does for Us — Laws. 
 
 LESSON TT 
 The Government OF Self 15 
 
 Self-Control— Self-Control can be Cultivated— The Re- 
 ward of Doing Right — The Government of Self the 
 Foundation of Ail Government. 
 
 LESSON ITT 
 The Family 19 
 
 Husband and Wife; Marriage — Parents and Children — 
 The Duties of Parents to Cliildren— The Rights of 
 Parents in Respect to Their Children — Importance of 
 the Family Government. 
 
 LESSON T\' 
 The Government of the School 24 
 
 Pupils Should Know Sometliing of School (iovernment — 
 School OfTiciTs — The Powers and Duties of School Offi- 
 cers — The Teacher. 
 
 LESSON V 
 The Government of the School (Continued) ... 28 
 
 Rules that Pupils Must Obey — Duties of Teachers and 
 Pupils. 
 
 5 
 
6 CONTENTS 
 
 LESSON VI 
 
 Citizenship : Who are Citizens 33 
 
 Introduction — Meaning of the Word "Citizen" — Aliens — 
 Naturalization. 
 
 LESSON VII 
 
 Citizenship: Civil Rights 37 
 
 Civil and Political Rights— The Right to Personal Se- 
 curity — Personal Liberty; Habeas Corpus — The Right 
 of Private Property. 
 
 LESSON VIII 
 
 Citizenship: Civil Rights {Continued) 41 
 
 The Right of Religious Freedom — The Right of Freedom 
 of Speech — The Right of Freedom of the Press — The 
 Right of Assembly— The Right of Petition— The Right 
 of Protection in the Home — -The Right of Due Process 
 of Law — The Right to Equal Protection of the Laws — 
 The Right of Protection on the High Seas and in 
 Foreign Lands. 
 
 LESSON IX 
 
 Citizenship : Who are Voters 46 
 
 The Right of Suffrage— Persons Who May Not Vote- 
 Registration. 
 
 LESSON X 
 
 Citizenship : Elections 50 
 
 At the Polls — Counting the Vote; Majority; Plurality — 
 The Right of Holding Office. 
 
 LESSON XI 
 
 Citizenship : Duties of Citizens 55 
 
 A Few Words about Duty — Obedience to the Law — 
 Defense of One's Country — Earning a Living — The 
 Duty of Studying Political Questions— The Duties of 
 Voters. 
 
CONTENTS 7 
 
 LESSON XII 
 Tin: Powers of Government: Majority Rule . . 60 
 
 Introduction — The Power of the People — Democraoy a 
 Ciovernmcnt of Reason — Democracy :i (lovcrnnieiit of 
 Justice. 
 
 LESSON XIII 
 Tin; Powers of Government: Representation . . 67 
 Pure and Representative Democracy — The Representa- 
 tive's Term of Service — How a Fair Representation is 
 Secured. 
 
 LESSON XIV 
 
 The Powers of Government : Checks and Balances 73 
 
 Introduction — The Three Departments of Government — 
 The Lower and tlie Upper House — The Veto Power — 
 The Independence of the Departments. 
 
 LESSON XV 
 The Powers of Government: Local Self-Govern- 
 
 MENT 80 
 
 Introduction — The Three Grades of Government — The 
 Relation of the Local Government to the State — Local 
 Self-Govcrnment — Tho Sorvicps of Local (Jovcrnment. 
 
 LESSON XVI 
 
 The County 85 
 
 Introduction — County Government Not Everywhere the 
 Same — The County Seat— The County Commissioners 
 or Supervisors— The Court Officials of the County — 
 Other County Officials. 
 
 LESSON XVII 
 To^\'N Government 03 
 
 Early Town Government in New ICngland — The Town 
 Meeting — Town Officers. 
 
8 CONTENTS 
 
 LESSON XVIII 
 The Township 99 
 
 The Nature of Township Government — Township Meet- 
 ings and Township Elections — Officers of the Township. 
 
 LESSON XIX 
 
 Municipal Government 103 
 
 Why Municipal Government is Necessary — Village and 
 Borough Government — The City Charter. 
 
 LESSON XX 
 
 Municipal Government (Continued) 109 
 
 The Three Great Departments of City Government — 
 The City Council — The Mayor; Municipal Executive 
 Department — Services of City Government. 
 
 LESSON XXI 
 The State 116 
 
 The Thirteen Colonies — The Thirteen Original States — 
 The Admitted States — The Outlines of a State Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 LESSON XXII 
 
 The State Constitution 120 
 
 Meaning of the Word "Constitution" — Description of a 
 State Constitution — How the Constitution of a State 
 is Made — How a Constitution is Changed. 
 
 LESSON XXIII 
 
 The State Legislature 125 
 
 When and Where the State Legislature Meets — The Two 
 Branches of the Legislature — Election of Members of 
 the Legislature — Organization. 
 
 LESSON XXIV 
 
 The State Legislature (Continued) 131 
 
 How a Law is Made — The Initiative and Referendum— 
 What the Legislature of a State May Do— Honest 
 Men for the Legislature. 
 
CONTENTS 9 
 
 LESSON XXV , 
 
 The Governor and IIis Colleagues 138 
 
 The Governor — Other Executive Officers — Impeachment. 
 
 LEvSSON XXVI 
 Judges, Juries, and Courts of Law 144 
 
 The Judicial Department — The Justice of the Peace — 
 The Circuit Court— The Supreme Court — Civil and 
 Criminal Cases. 
 
 LESSON XXVIT 
 The N.\tional Constitution 151 
 
 Introduction — The Articles of Confederation — The Con- 
 stitutional Convention of 1787 — Amendments to the 
 Constitution. 
 
 LEvSSON XXVIII 
 
 Congress 156 
 
 The Two Houses of Congress— The House of Representa- 
 tives — The Senate — How a Law is Passed in Congress — 
 The Power of Congres.s Limited. 
 
 LESSON XXIX 
 
 CoNGRE.ss (Continued) 162 
 
 What Congre-ss May Do — What Congress May Not Do. 
 
 LESSON XXX 
 
 The President; His Election 168 
 
 Introduction — The Nomination of a Presidential Candi- 
 date—The Election of the President- Inauguration. 
 
 LESSON XXXI 
 
 Tin: President and His Cabinet 175 
 
 The Powers and Duties of the President— The Creat 
 Executive Depart ment.s — Cabinet Meet ing.s— The Na- 
 tional Civil Service; the Civil Service Commission- 
 Salaries. 
 
10 CONTENTS 
 
 LESSON XXXII 
 
 The National Executive Departments .... 182 
 Introduction — The Department of State — The Depart- 
 ment of War — The Department of the Navy. 
 
 LESSON XXXIII 
 
 The National Executive Departments (Continued) 188 
 The Department of Justice — The Department of the 
 Treasury — The Post Office Department. 
 
 LESSON XXXIV 
 
 The National Executive Departments (Continued) 194 
 The Department of the Interior — The Department of 
 Agriculture — The Department of Commerce and Labor 
 — Executive Work Outside the Departments. 
 
 LESSON XXXV 
 Territories and Dependencies 201 
 
 Introduction — The Organized Territories — Alaska — Our 
 Island Possessions — The District of Columbia. 
 
 LESSON XXXVI 
 
 The National Courts 206 
 
 The Kind of Cases Tried in the National Courts— The 
 Four Grades of National Courts. 
 
 LESSON XXXVII 
 
 Taxation : The Property Tax 212 
 
 Introduction — Taxation a Power of the Lawmaking De- 
 partment—The Property Tax — How Each Taxpayer's 
 Share is Determined — The Collection of Taxes. 
 
 LESSON XXXVIII 
 Other Taxes 217 
 
 The Income Tax — The Inheritance Tax — Licenses; Fees 
 —Poll Tax— The Franchise Tax— Duties and Excises- 
 Eminent Domain. 
 
 Index 222 
 
ESSENTIALS IN CIVIL (.;o\ ERNMENT 
 
 I. GOVERNMENT AND LAWS 
 
 " Order is Heaven's first law." 
 
 Meaning of the Word "Government." — In the Latin 
 inguage the word guhernator means a -pilot, a steersman, one 
 ^ho guides; and from this word guhernator we derive our 
 rord governor. A governor, therefore, is one who guides 
 omething. and tlie word government means guidance or 
 iianagoment. Thus when we speak of the government 
 if a home, we refer to the management of the private 
 .ffairs of the home; when we speak of the government of 
 , State, we refer to the management of the pubhc affairs 
 ti the State. The word government will be used a great 
 iiany times in this book, and we shall learn that there are 
 iiany kinds of government. We shall speak of "self- 
 ;overnment," of "family government," of "school govern- 
 nent," of "State government," of "national government." 
 iVherever the word government occurs, it will moan guid- 
 mce, management, control. 
 
 The Study of Government. — You are now going to study 
 
 he subject of government; that is, you are going to study 
 
 11 
 
12 EVERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 
 
 how tha affairs of miinkind are managed; how men and 
 women are guided in their journey through the world 
 amidst other men and women ; how society is held together 
 and controlled. The study is of great importance, and 
 should be of great interest, for the happiness of men de- 
 pends largely upon the kind of government that guides and 
 controls their lives. 
 
 The study of government should interest children as 
 well as men; for children, as well as men, are deeply affected 
 by the government under which they live. In his earhest 
 years the child is under the government of his parents. 
 As soon as he is old enough he is sent to school, where a 
 new government enters into his life and controls his ac- 
 tions. He now lives under the government of the school, 
 as well as under the government of the home. He must 
 obey his teacher, as well as his father and mother. When 
 he goes out into the streets, and parks, and fields, he finds 
 that there is a third government to restrain him and reg- 
 ulate his conduct. If he is very noisy, or if he runs upon 
 flower beds in the park, or if he takes fruit from the or- 
 chard of a stranger, he is promptly checked by a policeman 
 or other officer, and may be punished for his offense. 
 This third government which the child must obey is the 
 government of the city, or of the State. 
 
 And thus it is all through life; no matter where we go, 
 or which way we turn, government always and everywhere 
 follows us and regulates our actions. If the governments 
 that control us are wise, and just, and kind, we are made 
 happier by them; if they are harsh, or foolish, or tyranni- 
 
GOVERNMENT AND LAWS l.i 
 
 ral, (Mil- lives are made misorablc l)y tlicni. liy studying 
 and understanding the diCferont forms of government un- 
 der whieh we live w(> may prepare ourselves to make them 
 better. 
 
 What Government Does for Us. — You have but to 
 look around you to see how great and how useful arc the 
 services of government. Government keeps peace and 
 good order among nun; it protects life and property; it 
 jumishes crime; it keeps an army and navy for the defense 
 of the nation; it supports courts of law where men may find 
 justice; it regulates commerce and industry; it coins and 
 prints the money we use; it collects and distributes our let- 
 ters; it gives assistance to the poor and unfortunate; it 
 cares for the public health; it supports the public schools; 
 it keeps the streets and roads in repair. Many other serv- 
 ices of government might be mentioned, Ijut these are 
 enough to show you that we owe a great deal to government. 
 
 Laws. — The rules that governments make to guide our 
 actions are called laws. A law states what we arc to do 
 anfl forbids what we arc not to do. When a law has been 
 made it must be obeyed. No man can disobey a law with- 
 out being liable to punishment for his disobedience. We 
 may not lik(> a law, we may think a law unjust or unwise, 
 yet so long as it is a law we must obey it. Moreover, 
 when a ])erson violates a law, he is jmnished, even if he 
 did not know there was such a law when he vi()late(l it. 
 Ignorance of what the law is will excuse no one. Laws 
 are made for the government of us all, and if we do not 
 know what they are it is cither our fault or our misfortune. 
 
 I 
 
14 
 
 EVERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 
 
 How laws are made and changed, and how people are 
 forced to obey them, and punished for disobeying them, 
 will be explained hereafter. At present it is enough to 
 know that any government worthy of the name is always 
 strong enough to enforce the laws that are made. It is 
 the duty of all who live under a government to obey the 
 laws of that government without being compelled to do so. 
 If we think a certain law is bad, it is our right and our 
 duty to try to have the law changed. Are you compelled 
 to obey any laws that you think are unjust? 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. What is the meaning of the word governess? governmental? un- 
 governable? gubernatorial? 
 
 2. Explain the use of the "governor" on a steam engine. 
 
 3. Name the people whom you know to be officers of government. 
 
 4. What would happen if people on the street were allowed to do 
 just as they pleased? 
 
 5. What is a hermit? 
 
 6. Of the services of government mentioned in the lesson which 
 Btands first in importance? Which stands second? Which third? 
 Which fourth? Give reasons. 
 
 The Stocks — an Old-fashioned Punishment 
 
II. THE GOVERNMENT OF SELF 
 
 •' He that rulctli his spirit is better than he that takcth a city." — Bible. 
 
 Self-Control.— Before you begin to study the different 
 forms of government under which we hve, I wish to call 
 your attention to something that is at the foundation of all 
 government. I wish you to think for a few moments upon 
 the subject of the government of one's self, or self -control. 
 You doubtless feel in yourself the power to control your 
 own actions in many ways. You can be studious, or you 
 can be idle; you can be respectful, or you can be impu- 
 dent; you can be kind, or you can be cruel. I think you 
 will not deny that there is within yourself a government 
 which controls your private actions; a ivill that directs 
 the actions of your mind and body. 
 
 We should constantly be asking ourselves whether our 
 wills are carrying us in the right tlirection. True self- 
 control consists in deciding to do what is right and doing 
 it. Anger, appetite, laziness, envy, jealousy, pride, re- 
 venge, tempt us to do wTong. Love, duty, conscience, 
 whisper to us to do right. For which shall we decide — 
 for the wrong or for the right? If we decide for the \NTong, 
 we may in the end become the slaves of our passions and 
 be destroye<l. For which, then, shall we decide? 
 
 Self-Control can be Cultivated. —I believe you all think 
 that you ought to control yourselves and do right, but 
 
 15 
 
16 EVERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 
 
 some of you may feel unequal to the task of always doing 
 right. Now, self-control lies in the will. If your will is 
 strong, you will be able to govern yourself under the most 
 trying circumstances; if it is weak, you will not. But 
 remember this: A weak will can be strengthened by exer- 
 cise, just as an arm can be strengthened by exercise. 
 
 If a boy who has learned to smoke feels that smoking 
 is injuring him, he should leave off the habit at once. 
 When a cigar is offered to him he should refuse to take it. 
 This may be hard to do at first. Let him refuse a second 
 time and he will find it easier; a third time he will find it 
 still easier. By continuing to refuse he will at last find 
 that his desire to smoke is gone. His will conquers his 
 appetite and he is master of himself. 
 
 If a girl who indulges in the ugly habit of sa3dng spiteful 
 and untruthful things about her acquaintances becomes 
 ashamed of herself and desires to do better, she should 
 begin by exercising and strengthening her will. When 
 she hears some one saying unjust things about another, 
 instead of helping along with the abuse, she should keep 
 silent, even if she must bite her tongue to do so. By re- 
 fusing for a time to speak falsely or unjustly about people, 
 she will find that it is not necessary to bite her tongue 
 to prevent herself from joining in when she hears slan- 
 derous remarks. She will probably be inclined to use her 
 tongue either to rebuke the slander or to say something 
 good about the person slandered. 
 
 Young people will find that a strong will bent on doing 
 right will carry them safely past temptation. 
 
TIIK GOVERNMENT OF SELF 17 
 
 The Reward of Doing Right.— Tlioup;htlrs.s young pco- 
 •lo souK'tinic's ask: "What is the use of doing right? 
 Hmt is the use of checking bad impulses and exercising 
 elf-control?'' If you will look around you, and reflect 
 j)on what you see, you will find an answer to this cjues- 
 ion. You will find that the people who exercise control 
 ver themselves arc happier than those who arc carried 
 long by passion and appetite. 
 
 Sometimes, it is true, wicked and violent men seem to 
 rospcr and even to be ha})py. But they are not really 
 appy. If you could learn the secret of their lives, you 
 rould find that bad, dishonest men lack one thing that is 
 lore precious than anything else in life. They may have 
 realth, and honor, and high social rank, but they have 
 ot their own self-respect, and no one can be truly happy 
 ithout this. With self-respect one can never be thor- 
 ughly unhappy. You may be unfortunate or unsuccess- 
 Lil ; people may scorn you or neglect you, yet if you always 
 rmly do the right thing, you will always have a good 
 onscience and your own self-respect. 
 
 The Government of Self the Foundation of All Govern- 
 lent. — There is another reward for those who exercise a 
 trict control over themselves. Their government of self 
 lakes them good citizens and fits them to take part in the 
 ovemment of others. A community is composed of indi- 
 iiluals, and the character of its government will be like 
 be character of the individuals who compose it. If it 
 ontains a large number of rogues, swindlers, idlers, 
 runkards, then its government will certainly be bad, for 
 
 F. Civil Govt.— 2 
 
18 EVERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 
 
 the government of a people is never much better than the 
 people themselves. If a community consists of honest, 
 industrious, moral citizens, then it will have a good gov- 
 ernment. Good government begins with the individual, it 
 begins with you personally. If you intend to take a part 
 in public affairs when you grow up, and if you intend to 
 help in making your government better, you should begin 
 by trying to make a good man of yourself. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Learn the following facts about the will: 
 
 (a) The will grows strong by exercise. 
 
 (b) The will may be assisted by favorable surroundings. If you de- 
 
 termine to leave off an old habit and form a new one, put your- 
 self under favorable conditions, make new associations, avoid 
 temptations, take advantage of every outward aid. — James. 
 
 (c) The will should never lose a battle. 
 
 (d) The will should act when it is called upon to act; it should 
 
 never shim a battle. 
 
 (e) We may strengthen the will by doing things now and then 
 
 simply because we don't want to do them. 
 
 2. Name the faults which stand opposed to each of the following 
 virtues: courage, perseverance, industry, cheerfulness, simplicity, self- 
 reliance, liberality. 
 
 3. Arrange the following virtues in the order of their importance, 
 placing the most desirable virtue first: temperance, truthfulness, fru- 
 gality, prudence, honesty, modesty, unselfishness, patience, charitableness, 
 reverence. Give reasons for your arrangement. 
 
 4. Arrange the following faults in the order in which you dislike 
 them, placing the fault you dislike most first: anger, stinginess, revenge, 
 hypocrisy, tardiness, jealousy, self-conceit, envy, cruelty, stubbornness. 
 
 5. Define conscience. When you do wrong, is it the fault of your 
 conscience or of your will? How may the conscience be improved? 
 
TIT. THE FAMILY 
 
 "There is in the family an angel possessed of a mysterious influ- 
 nce of grace, sweetness, antl love; an angel who renders our duties 
 iiorc cheerful and our sorrow less bitter. This angel is woman. 
 Vlu'ther as mother, wife, or sister, woman is the joy of existence. She 
 5 a treasure of gentle consolation sufficient to soothe every sorrow. It 
 3 through woman that the family points to Eternity. Hold then the 
 imily sacred, my brothers. Reject every attempt to undermine it, for 
 : is of God." — Mazzini. 
 
 Husband and Wife ; Marriage. — The government that 
 omo."^ closest to the lives of young people is that of the 
 aniily. At the head of the family stantl the father and 
 iiother, who are united as husband and wife by marriage, 
 larriage is regarded by the law as a contract, but it is a 
 cry strong contract, antl it ought to be a very sacred one. 
 t is a contract that cannot be, and ought not to be, easily 
 »roken. Marriage is the bond which holds the family 
 ogether, and it is of the utmost importance to us, both as 
 ndividuals and as a people, that the family be held to- 
 ;ethf'r as firmly as possible. 
 
 The ble.^^sings of the family as an institution ought to 
 )e ever before our eyes. In the family we grow in char- 
 ,cter as we can grow nowhere else. In no other j)lace can 
 \o learn the lessons of devotion and sacrifice and unselfish- 
 less that we learn in the home. Besides being a nursery 
 )f virtues and a source of hapjiiness for its individual 
 nembcrs, the family brings coimtless blessings to society 
 
 19 
 
20 
 
 EVERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 
 
 at large. Indeed, we may say that the family is the 
 foundation upon which all society rests. If you should 
 destroy the family, you would destroy cities and States 
 and governments and even civilization itself. And just 
 as the family holds society together, so the marriage 
 tie holds the family together. This great truth should 
 
 never be forgotten. Nations have sometimes forgotten it, 
 and they have always suffered for doing so. 
 
 Parents and Children. — Parents regulate the conduct 
 of children, support them, protect them, educate them. 
 It is in the home, while members of the family, that chil- 
 dren must look for their greatest happiness. The law 
 that should govern, and that usually does govern, in the 
 family is the law of love and duty. In the home there 
 should be no force. Parents, as a rule, devote their lives 
 
THE FAMILY 21 
 
 to tlio happiness of their chilch-on. What slioiiM fhiklrcn 
 do in ivturn? 
 
 Tt has been found that parents arc not always kind and 
 loving and just towanls their children, and that children 
 are not always grateful and obedient to their parents. It 
 sometimes happens that the parent or the child fails to do 
 his duty. When this does happen, the government of the 
 State steps in and commands what must be done. Let us 
 learn something of the rights and duties which the law 
 will not allow parents or children to disregard. 
 
 The Duties of Parents to Children: 
 
 (1) Support. — The first duty the parent owes to the 
 child is to support it, to provide it with food, clothing, 
 and shelter. If a father should be so hard-hearted as to 
 turn his child out of doors and refuse to give it food, a 
 stranger could take the child into his house and feed it 
 and charge the father with the expense, and the law would 
 compel the father to pay the bill. This duty of parents 
 to support their children continues until the children are 
 twenty-one years of age. After that time children may 
 not look to their parents for support. It is not often that 
 the law interferes with the parents in these matters; love 
 alone i? nearly always strong enough to hold them to their 
 duty. 
 
 (2) Education. — A second duty which parents owe to 
 their children is to educate them. In many of the coun- 
 tries of Europe, and in most of the States of our own 
 country, parents are compelled by law to send their chil- 
 dren to school. In every State schools arc promled for 
 
22 EVERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 
 
 children free of cost, and parents are expected to send 
 their children to them. 
 
 The Rights of Parents in Respect to their Children. — 
 Parents have not duties only; they have rights also. 
 
 (1) Obedience. — ^They have the right to the obedience 
 of their children. The child must obey its parents in all 
 reasonable commands. If it refuses to obey, it may be 
 punished in such manner as the parents think fit. The 
 punishment, ho\Yever, must be reasonable; it must be such 
 as not to endanger the health of the child or injure it in 
 mind or body. 
 
 (2) Service. — Parents have the right to the service of 
 their children. Until children are of age they must work 
 for their parents if their parents need their service. If 
 they earn wages, their parents have a right to take their 
 earnings. 
 
 (3) Assistance in Old Age.— If the parents are old and 
 poor and unable to take care of themselves, their children 
 may be compelled to assist them. Just as parents are 
 compelled to support the child when it is young and help- 
 less, so the child is compelled to support its parents when 
 they are old and helpless. 
 
 Importance of the Family Government. — ^The govern- 
 ment of the family is the smallest of the governments that 
 we shall have to study, but it is not the least important. 
 A town or State is simply a number of families bound to- 
 gether, and if all the families of a town or of a State were 
 well governed, there is no doubt that the town or the State 
 itself would be well governed. You see how important, 
 
THE FAMILY 23 
 
 tluMi, it is that we sliould do all in our power to make our 
 homes what they should be. Cliildreii can serve their 
 country simply by doing their duty in tlieir homes. They 
 can repay the love and sacrifice of their parents by loving 
 antl unselfish deeds. Brothers and sisters may bless their 
 homes by living at peace with one another. Wc should 
 never forget that the law of the home is the laic of love, serv- 
 ice, and sacrifice. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. What is the average number of persons in a family in your neigh- 
 Iwrhood? (Find the number of persons in the famiUes of your ac- 
 quaintance and cHvidc this number by the number of families.) 
 
 2. .\rc parents responsible for the actions of their children? 
 
 3. Who is the most unselfish member of the home? 
 
 4. Is it a kindness for parents to live beyond their means for the 
 sake of their children? 
 
 '). Name some bad habits that children are guilty of in their homes, 
 f). What sacrifices do parents make in order that their children may 
 be kept at school? 
 
 7. Ilnw may parents be repaid for these sacrifices? 
 
 8. Make out a list of those virtues that are good for the home. 
 
 9. (Not to be answered in the class but to be answered silently.) 
 Are you doing what you can to make your home happy? Are you 
 allowing jealou.<;y to enter into your home life? -Are you as unselfish 
 in your home as you should be? Are you tyrannical and willful in your 
 actions? 
 
IV. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL 
 
 "The school should be pervaded by a spirit of honesty and truth- 
 fulness. It should inspire its pupils with a manly resistance to all 
 temptations to deceive or be false." — E. E. White. 
 
 Pupils Should Know Something of School Government. 
 
 — For several years you have attended school, and while in 
 school you have found that you are under a government; 
 
 that you cannot do 
 as you please; that 
 teachers and school 
 officers regulate your 
 conduct in many 
 ways. This gov- 
 ernment of the 
 school, in the lives 
 of young people, is 
 next in importance 
 to the government 
 of the family. The 
 present happiness, as well as the future welfare of pupils, 
 depends in a large degree upon how the school which they 
 attend is governed. Pupils, therefore, should understand 
 something of the nature of school government. If you 
 will study this subject carefully, you will understand your 
 teachers better, and your school life may thereby be made 
 
 24 
 
 ^^-NlWi-,:; 
 
 A Schoolhouse 
 
THE (JOVERNMICNT OF THE SCHOOL 25 
 
 [)lcasant(T. Yvvy froqiiontly trouble ari.se.s in a school- 
 mom incroly because the teacher and the pupils do not un- 
 derstand each other. 
 
 School Officers. — At the head of the school is a body of 
 oflicials wiiose duty it is to appoint the teacher and super- 
 vise the affairs of the school. This governing body may 
 control only the one school, or it may control several. It 
 is known by dilTerent names in different States. In some 
 States it is called the School Committee; in others, the 
 Lk)ard of School Trustees, or the Board of School Directors, 
 or the Board of Education. In a few States it is called the 
 Board of School \'isitors. The governing body is cither 
 elected by the voters of the district or is appointed by 
 some other authority. In all the States every public school 
 has a set of officers, — whatever they may be called, — who 
 exercise a very close and a very complete direction of its 
 affairs. In other words, every school has its governors and 
 its government. 
 
 The Powers and Duties of School Officers. — The school 
 officers have at their disposal for school purposes a cer- 
 tain amount of money raised by taxation. With this 
 money they pay the salary of the teachers, build and re- 
 pair schoolhouses, furnish the schools with fuel, furniture, 
 maps, books, and other supplies. They make rules for the 
 government of teachers, and sometimes declare what stud- 
 ies shall be taught. They may make rules for the govern- 
 ment of pupils if they choose to do so, although generally 
 they allow th(> teachers to make such rules. In all im- 
 portant matters relating to the school the teachers must 
 
26 EVERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 
 
 consult the school officers. For example, a teacher may 
 send an unruly pupil home for a short time, but he seldom 
 has the power to expel the pupil; that is, it is only the 
 school officers who may take away from the pupil entirely 
 the right of coming to the school. These officers determine 
 the hours of opening and closing school ; they fix the lengths 
 of recesses; they decide when a holiday may be given; 
 they care for the health of the pupils. Thus we see that 
 they play a most important part in the government of the 
 school. 
 
 The Teacher. — Next to the school officers in the gov- 
 ernment of the school comes the teacher. So far as the 
 pupils are concerned, the teacher is the real head of the 
 school. The duty of the teacher is twofold, — he must 
 teach, and he must govern. As there can be no good 
 teaching where there is not good government, the teacher 
 must make every effort to secure obedience and good 
 habits in his pupils. In order to do this, he usually makes 
 a set of rules for the guidance of the school. If these 
 rules are just and reasonable, the pupils must obey them. 
 If a pupil refuses to obey a proper rule, he may be pun- 
 ished for his disobedience; if he persists in disobeying, he 
 may be expelled from the school. 
 
 What are some of the rules that a teacher may make 
 and that pupils must obey? In the next lesson I shall men- 
 tion a few of those rules that judges in courts of law have 
 found reasonable and have upheld teachers in enforcing. 
 The rules that will be mentioned are such as no pupil can 
 safely disobey. 
 
THE C.OVi:UNMENT OF THE SCHOOL 27 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Wliat is (lie governing body of your school calk-d? How is it 
 cliosen? Wliat arc tlu> names of its nu'nihers? Make ont a list of its 
 jH)\vors. 
 
 2. Do yoii know the boundaries of your school district? Draw a 
 map of the district, locating the schoolhouse. 
 
 3. May a pupil living in one school ilistrict attend school in an- 
 other? 
 
 4. In some States women may serve as school ofTicers. Do women 
 serve as school officers in your school district? 
 
 r>. Draw up a formal petition asking your School Board or Commit- 
 tee to purchase something that your school needs. 
 
 6. Is a pupil on his way to or from school under the government of 
 the school or under the government of his parents? 
 
V. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL {Continued) 
 
 "The seven cardinal virtues of the school are regularity, punctu- 
 ality, neatness, accuracy, silence, industry, and obedience." 
 
 —E. E. White. 
 
 Rules that Pupils Must Obey : 
 
 Rule I. Pupils must not he tardy. — "Tardiness is 
 a direct injury to the whole school. The confusion of 
 hurrying to seats, gathering together of books, etc., by 
 tardy ones, at a time when all should be at study, cannot 
 fail to impede the progress of those who are regular and 
 prompt in attendance. The rule requiring prompt and 
 regular attendance is demanded for the good of the whole 
 school. It is therefore a rule for the government of the 
 school, and must be regarded as proper and reasonable." 
 
 Rule II. Pupils must conduct themselves properly while 
 
 at school. — "Henry H was expelled from school by 
 
 the Committee of Rockport, M , for acts of misconduct, 
 
 which consisted of whispering, laughing, acts of playful- 
 ness and rudeness to other pupils, inattention to study, 
 and conduct tending to cause confusion and distract the 
 attention of other scholars from their studies and reci- 
 tations." Henry thought the expulsion was unjust, and 
 brought suit against the Committee. The judge who tried 
 his case thought that the boy was justly expelled, and 
 decided in favor of the Committee. 
 
 28 
 
Till'; COVKRN.MKNT OF Till-: SCHOOL 29 
 
 Tiii-r. TTT. I'lipils should be regular in altendance. — 
 I'upils may Ih> forbidtlcMi (o roinain absent from school 
 witiiout a satisfactory excuse. They may ho reciuircd to 
 hriiiij; written excuses for absence. On this rule a .ju(lp;e, 
 (leliverinp; an opinion in court, said: "Continued or re- 
 p(\ated absences of one of a class are not only injuiious to 
 tlie absentee but, if allowed beyond a certain point, are 
 calculated to demoralize those who attend and derange the 
 orderly instruction of the teacher." Notice that the judge 
 was not so much interested in the boy who was absent as 
 he was in the pupils who were regular in their attendance. 
 It is the welfare of a whole school, and not the welfare of 
 a single person, that must be considered when making a 
 rul(> for the government of pupils. In what ways does 
 absence interfere with the general work of the school? 
 
 Rri.E I\'. j'upih must not play truant. — When a 
 child that has been sent to school by its parents does not 
 come to school, it commits truancy, and this is an offense 
 against good school government. In some States and in 
 niany cities truant officers are employed to follow up 
 tiuants and bring them to school. Truancy is a grave 
 fault, and pujuls who commit it are liable to find them- 
 selves in serious trouble. A judge in a court of law is 
 usually severe with truants. What does the truant lose 
 i)y remaining away from school? What does the school 
 lose? 
 
 Duties of Teachers and Pupils. — The few i-ules that 
 have been given an> such as have been found neces- 
 sary in all schools. In all schools children must be punc- 
 
30 EVERY-DAY GOVERNiMENT 
 
 tual, they must be obedient, they must be regular in their 
 attendance, they must not play truant. Many other rules 
 might be mentioned, but more are not necessary. After 
 all, a school is not made good by rules. A good school is 
 one in which both teachers and pupils try day by day to 
 do their duty. What is meant by duty? What is it to do 
 one's duty? You do your duty when you do what your 
 conscience tells you is right. Try to find out what is 
 right, and when you have "decided what is right, act for 
 the right, and you have done your duty. It is sometimes 
 hard to tell what is right and what is wrong, but some 
 things are pretty clear. 
 
 It is perfectly clear that it is the duty of the teacher to 
 do the following things: 
 
 (1) To prepare himself thoroughly in the subjects that 
 he teaches. 
 
 (2) To work hard for the advancement of all his pupils. 
 
 (3) To treat his pupils with respect and kindness, and 
 to extend to them, whenever he can, help and sympathy. 
 
 (4) To set an example of right living. A bad man 
 cannot be a good teacher. 
 
 (5) To be punctual. A teacher cannot expect his pupils 
 to be prompt if he allows himself to be tardy. 
 
 (6) To be careful of his own health and of the health 
 of his pupils. 
 
 (7) To train his pupils in such habits as will make good 
 men and women of them. 
 
 These are a few of the duties of a teacher. Your teacher 
 has doubtless thought much upon the subject of his duty, 
 
THE COVER NMIOxXT OF Till: PCIIOOL 31 
 
 and lias p('rliui)s read books ui)oii (he sulijccl. Il would 
 not he strang(' if you hav(> thought very Htllc of your 
 duty: yet as pupils you have your duties, and you ought 
 to Irarn wliat thoy are and try to fulfill th(>ni. A few of 
 the most important duties of jnipils are: 
 
 (1) To obey cheerfully the four rules that liave been 
 stated. 
 
 (2) To avoid wasting their own time or the time of 
 their fcllow-iuipils by whispering, jjassing notes, or mak- 
 ing unnecessary noises in the schoolroom. 
 
 (3) To be kind and respectful to their teachers and 
 schoolmates, 
 
 (4) To be truthful in all things. 
 
 (5) To be loyal to the school and to support the teacher 
 in his efforts to improve it. 
 
 (6) To be neat and clean in dress and person. 
 
 (7) To avoid speaking ill of their classmates. 
 
 (8) To avoid slandering or misrepresenting the teacher. 
 
 (9) To avoid bearing tales. 
 
 (10) To refrain from cutting, marking, injuring, or de- 
 facing school property. 
 
 (11) To obey all signals promptly. 
 
 (12) To conduct themselves i^roperly on the way to 
 and from school. 
 
 There are, of course, other duties besides those men- 
 tioncvl above. In the schoolroom, as elsewhere, there 
 are constantly arising questions of duty that can be set- 
 tled only by taking into consideration particular facts and 
 circumstances. In all cases, howcvcj-, the rule is the 
 
32 EVERY-DAY GOVERNMENT 
 
 same: Do right, forget self, and do what your conscience 
 tells you to do. By following the path of duty a pupil 
 will help to make his school what it ought to be — a place 
 where the minds and hearts of boys and girls are trained 
 for the highest manhood and womanhood. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. From the list of duties of pupils given in the lesson a most im- 
 portant duty is omitted. What is the duty? 
 
 2. Make a Ust of duties that parents owe to the school. 
 
 3. Make a list of duties that teachers owe to parents. 
 
 4. Name the qualities that teachers like in pupils. 
 
 5. Name the qualities that pupils like in teachers. 
 
 6. When things go wrong with pupils at home, do they ever take 
 their spite out in the schoolroom? 
 
 7. What does the word impartial mean? Can a teacher be per- 
 fectly impartial? 
 
 8. In your conduct towards your teachers and schoolmates, do 
 you follow the "golden rule"? 
 
 9. Discuss "cheating" and "copying." 
 
 10. Name some of the benefits of education. 
 
VT. CITIZENSHIP: WHO ARE CITIZENS 
 
 "The ideal citizen is the man who beUeves that all men are brothers, 
 aiul that the nation is merely an extension of his family, to be loved, 
 respected, and cared for accordingly." — Ilabbcrton. 
 
 Introduction. — Wo have studied the govenmient of the 
 fiunily an(i the government of the school, and have learned 
 something of the rights and duties of the members of a 
 household, and also something of the rights and duties of 
 pupils and teachers. The governments that we shall study 
 hereafter are those that we meet outside of the family 
 and school.' They are governments that include a much 
 larger number of peoj^le than either the family or the 
 school. A family seldom consists of more than a dozen 
 persons, while the school seldom numbers more than sev- 
 eral hundred puj^ils. But the larger governments that 
 you will be interested in when you go out from school con- 
 sist of many thousands, and some of them of millions, of 
 people. They are governments, therefore, far more diffi- 
 cult to understand than that of the family or the school. 
 
 We shall !>(> able to understand the workings of the 
 larger governments better if we first learn something about 
 the subject of citizenship. Since this is a very great sub- 
 ject it will take several lessons to (lisi)ose of it proj^crly. 
 
 Meaning of the Word " Citizen."— Let us begin our 
 study of the great subject of citizensiiip by trying to 
 learn what is meant by the word citizen. In the strict 
 
 F. Civil Govt.— 3 33 
 
34 CITIZENSHIP 
 
 meaning of the word a citizen used to be one who had the 
 rights and privileges of an inhabitant of a city; but the 
 word now means more than this. A citizen is one who has 
 the rights and privileges of the inhabitants of a State 
 or nation. As a member of the family you have certain 
 rights and duties under the family government; as a 
 member of a school you have certain rights and duties 
 under the government of the school; and so, as one of the 
 inhabitants of a nation, you have certain rights and duties 
 under the government of that nation. 
 
 Any one born in a country is a citizen of that country. 
 If you were born in the United States, you are a citizen 
 of the United States. The rank of citizen does not belong 
 to grown men alone, for women and children are as truly 
 citizens as men are. To be a citizen is simply to be a 
 recognized member of a community, and one test of such 
 membership is birth within the community. 
 
 Aliens. — But there are many people among us who 
 were not born in the United States. Thousands come to 
 our shores every week from foreign countries. A foreigner 
 is a citizen of another country, and is for that reason called 
 an alien, a word which means another. Aliens have not so 
 many rights and privileges as citizens have. As a rule they 
 are not allowed to vote, and in some States they are not 
 allowed to hold land in their own names. As they are citi- 
 zens of another country it is not just that they should 
 share all the privileges of citizens of this country. A per- 
 son cannot be a citizen of two different countries at the 
 same time. 
 
wiu) ARi: CI rizi;N\s 
 
 35 
 
 Naturalization.— Many of tlio aliens living amonp; us con- 
 tinue to be citizens of the country'in which they were born. 
 Yet if they so desire they can be naturalized, that is, they 
 can be made citizens of our country by a process of law 
 called naturalization. Before an alien can ijc naturalized, 
 he nuist have lived five years in this country. 
 
 An alien who wishes to be naturalized must first go into 
 some court of law and declare upon oath before a judge that 
 
 Immigrants Arriving at Ellis Island, New York 
 
 he intends to become a citizen of the United States. This 
 is called "declaring his intention." Not less than two 
 years nor more than seven years after he has declared 
 his intention, the alien must again appear in court and 
 swear that he renounces forever all allegiance to any 
 foreign country and especially to the country of which 
 he is at the time a citizen. lie must also swear to sup- 
 port the Constitution of the United States. If the judge 
 finds that the alien is able to speak the English language 
 and write his own name, that he has resided in the United 
 
36 CITIZENSHIP 
 
 States for five years, and that he is a person of good moral 
 character, the ahen will then be declared to be a citizen 
 of the United States and will have the same rights as 
 native-born citizens, except that he can never become the 
 President or Vice President of the United States. 
 
 There are certain classes of aliens who are not allowed 
 to be natm-aHzed, no matter how long they may Hve here. 
 Alien Chinese and Japanese cannot be naturalized and 
 therefore cannot become citizens of the United States. 
 Anarchists — persons opposed to all forms of organized 
 government — are also refused the gift of naturalization, 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. What is the difference between a citizen and a subject? 
 
 2. What is an immigrant? An emigrant? 
 
 3. What is meant by the word allegiance? 
 
 4. What body makes the rules governing the process of naturahza- 
 tion? (Examine the Constitution of the United States, a copy of 
 which you will doubtless find in your school history, Art. 1, Section 8, 
 Clause 4.) 
 
 5. Do you think these rules are wise and just? Would it be right 
 to require that ahens, before they are naturalized, should be able to 
 read the Constitution that they swear to support? 
 
 6. What is meant by the word expatriation? Should a person be 
 allowed to expatriate himself in time of war? 
 
 7. Are there many foreigners (aliens) in your neighborhood? If so, 
 of what countries are they citizens? 
 
 8. Would you make it easier or more difl&cult for foreigners to be 
 naturalized? 
 
VTT. riTTZI':XSIIIP: CIVIL KMCJTTTS 
 
 "What is liberty without wisdom ami without virtue? It is folly, 
 vice, and madness." — Edmund Burke. 
 
 Civil and Political Rights. — Wo shall now loarii of 
 tli(^s(' lights of wliich American citizens are so proud. 
 Tlic rights of the citizen may bo (lividcHJ into two classes: 
 (1) his civil rights, and (2) his political rights. Civil rights 
 are those that are cnjoyetl by all citizens, whether men, 
 women, or children. Political rights are such as adult citi- 
 zens have of sharing in government. Thus the right to 
 vote and the right to hold office arc political rights. In 
 this lesson and in the next wo shall learn of civil rights. 
 Nearly all civil rights arc possessed by aliens as well as by 
 citizens. 
 
 The Right to Personal Security is the right to be secure 
 from injury to body or to health. If a person is attacked, 
 if violent hands are laid upon him, he can call upon the gov- 
 ernment to defend him. Policemen, sheriffs, and constables 
 are employed at public expense to secure citizens from 
 harm. If a citizen is attacked, and he cannot get the im- 
 mediate aid of an officer, he has the right to defend himself. 
 If a burglar breaks into a house at night, the occupant of the 
 house, in defense of himself and family, may lawfully kill 
 him. If a citizen is threatened harm by a person, ho may 
 have the one who threatens him taken before a magistrate 
 and bound with sureties to keep the peace. If the health 
 
 37 
 
38 CITIZENSHIP 
 
 of citizens is threatened by some nuisance, as by poisonous 
 fumes from a factory, or by a careless accumulation of filth, 
 the citizens may call upon the government to have the 
 nuisance removed or abated. In these and in many other 
 ways the government cares for the personal safety and 
 happiness of the citizen. 
 
 Personal Liberty ; Habeas Corpus. — Another right that 
 all citizens enjoy is the right of personal liberty. By this 
 is meant the right to move about freely from place to 
 place without hindrance, to choose a place of residence, 
 and to engage in whatever occupation one may see fit. 
 Of course while you are under the charge of your parents 
 you cannot enjoy this right so fully as you will when you 
 shall come of age. 
 
 The right of personal liberty is one of the most valuable 
 rights that free men possess. In olden times a powerful 
 man could throw a humble man into a dungeon and 
 keep him there as long as he desired. In our day such a 
 wrong cannot be inflicted upon a citizen. No citizen in 
 this country may be imprisoned by a private person, nor 
 may any one be imprisoned at all without just cause. If 
 a person is thrown into prison, or is put into confinement 
 against his will, he has the right to a writ of habeas corpus. 
 Every one should know something of this famous writ, for 
 it is the greatest safeguard of personal liberty. 
 
 Let us see what the writ of habeas corpus is and what it 
 does for the citizen. Suppose you are thrown into prison 
 unjustly, or that you are confined in some place against 
 your will; how shall you get out? Somebody who is in- 
 
CIVIL KKlins 39 
 
 tercstcd in you, porhaps it will be a lawyer, will po at onoe 
 to a jinlge of a eourt and ask that you be taken out of 
 [irison inuiiediately and brouf!;ht before a judge in order 
 that your case may be heard. Tlie judge is bound to 
 grant this request; he is bound to have you brought be- 
 fore liini at once. He at once issues a wTit of habeas cor- 
 pus. This writ is an order to the sheriff, or whoever it is 
 that is keeping you in confinement, to bring you before the 
 court. When you are brought before the judge, if it is 
 found that you are wrongfully confined, you are restored 
 to your freedom. If the judge should find that there is 
 good reason for beUcving you have committed a crime, he 
 will send you back to jail to await a regular trial. Thus 
 we see that the writ of habeas corpus gives quick relief to 
 a person who has been unjusth' imprisoned. In times of 
 war or great public danger, this writ may be suspended, 
 and when it is suspended a citizen may be confined in 
 prison for no cause whatever. 
 
 The Right of Private Property.— A citizen has the 
 right to hokl property in his own name, and the govern- 
 ment must protect him in the enjoyment of this property. 
 If any one attempts to deprive a man of something that he 
 lawfully owns, the government will come to the aid of the 
 owner and will punish the offender. If a mob burns down 
 a house, or in some other way destroys property, the local 
 government can sometimes be compelled to make good 
 the loss to the owner. It is the duty of the government 
 to protect property, as it is the duty of the government to 
 protect life and liberty. 
 
40 CITIZENSHIP 
 
 Besides the right to enjoy in peace the property one 
 owns, one has the right to acquire more property by 
 labor or by trade or by the exercise of one's talents. 
 This right of acquiring property is 'sometimes abused. In 
 the pursuit of wealth a man has no moral right to disre- 
 gard the just rights of others. Too often men think only 
 of themselves and do not hesitate to take for themselves 
 what in strict right belongs to some one else. But no 
 truly good citizen will do this. A good citizen will follow 
 the rule: Render unto others their due. We cannot all 
 be rich, but we can all be honest and just. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Read Green's "Short History of the Enghsh People," chapter III, 
 and prepare a composition on " King John and the Great Charter." 
 
 2. What do the words habeas corpus mean? What does the constitu- 
 tion of your State say about the writ of habeas corpus? 
 
 3. A farmer shot and seriously injured a boy who was in his tree 
 stealing chestnuts. Ought the farmer to have been punished for this 
 act? 
 
 4. What rights are declared in the Declaration of Independence? 
 
VIII. CITIZENSHIP: CIVIL RIGHTS (Continued) 
 
 " Liberty is part of the precious heritage which our God brought 
 down with him from heaven to the earth and left to us, his sons. Let 
 no one therefore marvel that we should hold it beyond all price, dearer 
 to us than our lives." — Cardinal Gibbons. 
 
 The Right of Religious Freedom. — The American citi- 
 zen is free to worsliip God according to the dictates of his 
 own conscience. In many of the countries of the world 
 the citizens are compelled to help in the support of some 
 particular church known as the Established Church, but 
 in the United States the government has nothing what- 
 ever to do with religion. You can choose your own church 
 and can give towards its support as much or as little as 
 it suits you to give. You may believe and worship as you 
 please without losing any of your rights as a citizen, 
 although in a few States a person must believe in a God 
 or he will not be allowed to hold certain offices. Perhaps 
 there is no country in the world where the citizens enjoy 
 greater freedom in religious matters than is enjoyed in 
 America. 
 
 The Right of Freedom of Speech.— As a citizen you are 
 free to speak and write on any subject, but you must not 
 abuse this right. If you slander a person, you take from 
 him his good name, and that is much worse than it would 
 be to take from him his coat or his watch. So our free- 
 dom of speech will not permit us to slander our neighbor 
 
 41 
 
42 CITIZENSHIP 
 
 or talk about him in such a way as to lower his standing 
 in the community. The government will defend a person's 
 reputation as faithfully as it defends a person's property, 
 and it will punish slander as quickly as it will punish 
 
 theft. 
 
 The Right of Freedom of the Press —Along with the 
 right of free speaking goes the right of free printing. A 
 citizen is free to print and publish his sentiments and 
 thoughts on any subject, and no law will take this right 
 away from him. But here again the privilege must not 
 be abused. If a person publishes false and malicious state- 
 ments about another he is guilty of an offense known as 
 lihel, and the laws will punish libel as well as slander. 
 Very often the newspapers in their criticisms of people 
 go too far, and sometimes it seems that the freedom of the 
 press is really a bad thing. But as a matter of fact our 
 free press, in spite of its shortcomings, is one of our great- 
 est blessings. If we should take away from the newspapers 
 their freedom to print what they please, we should do great 
 harm to all kinds of freedom. A free press means a free 
 country. 
 
 The Right of Assembly. — American citizens have the 
 right to come together and discuss in public such ques- 
 tions as they may care to discuss. At their meetings the 
 people are free to express their Adews and declare their 
 purposes fully and freely. Public meetings, however, must 
 not be \dolent or disorderly, and they must not lead to 
 violence or lawlessness. If a number of citizens should 
 come together for the purpose of making plans to over- 
 
CIVIL RIGHTS 43 
 
 throw tlio f:;nv(M-niiH'Tit, the p()lic(> would iiitci-fcro and 
 break uj) (ho nu'clin^. 
 
 The Right of Petition. A citizen has the ri^lit to be 
 heard on all (juestions concerning the pubUc welfare. If 
 you think a certain law ought to be passed you have a 
 right to ask the lawmaking body to pass it. If you think 
 the government should follow a certain course of action 
 you have a right to make known your wishes and desires 
 to the officers of government. In making your petition, 
 however, you must be quiet and peaceable and must do 
 nothing disorderly and unlawful. 
 
 The Right of Protection in the Home. — ^The American 
 citizen is protected in the enjoyment of his home. No 
 soldier in time of peace may be (juartered in any house 
 without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war ex- 
 eei)t in a lawful manner. Soldiers, in other words, are not 
 allov.ed to enter a home and disregard its sacred privi- 
 leges. 
 
 Nor may officers of government disregard the sacred 
 character of the home. People are secure in their homes 
 against unreasonable searches, and no officer may enter 
 a house for the purpose of searching it unless he has a 
 warrant written out by the proper magistrate. And no 
 magistrate is allowed to issue a warrant for searching a 
 man's house unless there is good evidence to show that 
 the house ought to be searched. There are times, it is 
 tnie, when a man's house may be entered without a writ- 
 ten warrant, as when a cry of murder is heard within, 
 or when it is known that a criminal is concealecl within. 
 
44 CITIZENSHIP 
 
 but, generally speaking, a man's house is his castle and 
 no person may enter that castle without a proper war- 
 rant. 
 
 The Right of Due Process of Law. — No citizen of the 
 United States can be deprived of his life, his hberty, or his 
 property without due process of law. What is meant by 
 due process of law is not very easy to learn, for each of the 
 States has its own law, and what is due process in one 
 State may not be due process in another. Still if you will 
 read carefully the fifth, sixth, and eighth amendments to 
 the Constitution of the United States you can form a very 
 good notion of the rights that come to you through the 
 right of due process of law; for there are similar provisions 
 also in the constitutions of the States. According to these 
 amendments — 
 
 (1) A person accused of crime must first be indicted 
 by a grand jury and then be tried by a petit jury.^ 
 
 (2) A person shall not be tried twice for the same of- 
 fense. 
 
 (3) A person shall not be compelled to be a witness 
 against himself. 
 
 (4) A person accused of a crime must be informed of 
 the nature and cause of the accusation, must be brought 
 face to face with his accusers, must have power to bring 
 into court witnesses in his favor, and must have a lawyer 
 to defend him. 
 
 (5) Excessive baiP shall not be required, excessive 
 
 ' The jury system is explained on pages 146-148; bail on page 
 145. 
 
CIVIL RIGHTS 45 
 
 fines shall not be imposed, cruel and unusual punishments 
 shall not be inflicted. 
 
 The Right to Equal Protection of the Laws.— The gov- 
 ernment in its dealing with persons must treat all alike. 
 It must not make fish of one and fowl of another. All 
 persons, whether they be black or white, rich or poor, hum- 
 ble or high, citizen or alien, are- equal in the eye of the law 
 and must receive the equal protection of the laws. 
 
 The Right of Protection on the High Seas and in For- 
 eign Lands. — In whatever part of the world an American 
 citizen may go, whether he is out on the ocean or in China 
 or Persia or Denmark, his citizenship goes with him to 
 protect and defend him. When you are in a foreign 
 country 3'ou must abide by the laws of that country, but 
 if the government of a foreign country should treat you 
 unjustly the United States would stretch out its powerful 
 arm to protect you. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Memorize: 
 
 Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, 
 Is the immediate jewel of their souls; 
 Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 
 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; 
 But he that filches from me my good name 
 Robs me of that which not enriches him, 
 And makes me poor indeed. — Shakespeare. 
 
 2. Read Green's "Short History of the Engli.'^h People," chapter VIII, 
 and write a composition on "King Charles I and the Rights of the 
 People." 
 
 :i. Make out a list of the rights of citizenship mentioned in Les- 
 sons VII an<l \III: arrange these rights in the order of their impor- 
 tance, placing the most important right first. 
 
IX. CITIZENSHIP: T\'nO ARE VOTERS 
 
 "Voters are the vincrowned kings who rule the nation." — Morgan. 
 
 The Right of Suffrage. — Civil rights, we have learned, 
 are those rights enjoyed by all citizens, old and young,^ 
 rich and poor, educated and ignorant. Political rights are 
 enjoyed only by those citizens who are old enough and 
 wise enough to exercise them properly. 
 
 The greatest political right of citizens is the right of 
 suffrage. The word suffrage is derived from a Latin word 
 which originally meant a piece of a broken pot ; for in olden 
 times a man was voted for by casting for him potsherds, or 
 pieces of broken pottery, instead of ballots. The right of 
 suffrage is the right of voting. Voters are sometimes called 
 electors, that is, choosers. To vote is to express a choice for 
 this or that man for an office, or for the enactment of this or 
 that law. 
 
 What citizens are voters or electors? Answers to this 
 question will be different in the different States of the 
 Union, for the right of voting is given by the State. In 
 every State, however, there are certain qualifications, cer- 
 tain marks of fitness, required of a citizen before he is al- 
 lowed to exercise the right to vote. These qualifications are : 
 
 (1) Age. — To be a voter one must be at least twenty-one 
 years of age. It is thought that a person younger than 
 
 46 
 
WHO ARE VOTERS 47 
 
 this dors not know enough to vote intelligently, und such 
 is usually th(^ fact. 
 
 (2) 5c.r. — Tn most of the States a voter must be a male 
 citizen. In Wyoming, Coloratlo, Utah, and Idaho, women 
 share the right of suffrage equally with men. In these 
 four States women may not only vote, but they may hold 
 olKcc and otherwise take part in public affairs. In many 
 of the States women have tlie iif;;ht to vote upon school 
 mattei*s and women taxpayers may vote upon cjuestions 
 on which only taxpayers have the right to be heard. 
 
 (3) Residence. — A citizen may not vote until he has lived 
 a certain time in the State, and in the city or county in 
 which he desires to cast his vote. A stranger coming into 
 a place should not be allowed to take a part in its govern- 
 ment until he has first had time to inform himself upon 
 public matters. For this reason every State requires that 
 a citizen shall "gain a residence" before he is permitted 
 to vote. Tn a few States he must wait two years before 
 he can vote, in most of the others one year, but in some 
 States a residence of only six months is required to give 
 him the right. 
 
 (4) Property: Poll Tax. — In times past a citizen was 
 not allowed to vote unless he was the ownt>r of a cer- 
 tain amount of property, but in our day a man may vote 
 even though he owns no property at all. In a few States 
 there is a small prtll tax that over\' male citizen of age must 
 jiay. no matter how j)(j(jr he may l)e. If this poll tax is not 
 ]\iid, the right to vote is withheld. If we except this i)oll 
 tax, the right to vote is given to all without any expense. 
 
48 CITIZENSHIP 
 
 (5) Education.— In most of the States the right to vote 
 is given to the ignorant as well as to the educated. A 
 person may not be able to read or write his name, and 
 yet may vote. Of course such a person seldom knows 
 what he is doing; he cannot make an intelligent choice; 
 he either votes blindly or he votes as some one tells him. 
 Several States demand that a person shall be able to read 
 and write before he is allowed to vote. 
 
 Persons Who May Not Vote.— There are several classes 
 of men who may not vote, although they are old enough 
 and have lived in the State as long as is required by 
 law : 
 
 (1) Aliens. — We have learned what is meant by the 
 word alien. When an alien has been naturalized, that 
 is, when he has been made a citizen, he then has the right 
 to vote. This is the general rule, although a State may, if 
 it sees fit, allow an alien to vote, and it may refuse to allow 
 a man who has been naturalized the right to vote: for it 
 should be understood clearly that the State gives the right 
 of voting to whom it pleases and withholds the right from 
 whom it pleases. Several States give the suffrage to aliens 
 who have declared their intention to become citizens. 
 
 (2) Criminals. — A criminal, that is, a person who has 
 been convicted of theft, or murder, or arson, or some 
 other crime, is not allowed to vote. But if a man who was 
 once imprisoned for crime, has been lawfully pardoned, the 
 right of suffrage is restored to him with his freedom. 
 
 (3) Idiots, lunatics, and imbeciles are not allowed to 
 vote. 
 
WHO ARE VOTERS 49 
 
 (4) Paupers. — As a mk- pauptTS supported in an alms- 
 house at tho expense of the public arc not allowed to vote. 
 
 Registration. — In most of the States a person who wishes 
 to vote must first have his name registered, that is, he 
 must have it jiroperly enrolled in the list of voters. In 
 every voting district there is a Board of Registrars, con- 
 sisting of two or more persons, whose duty it is to make 
 out a list of the names of all citizens in the district who 
 have a right to vote. As a rule, one wishing to vote must 
 ai)pear before the Registrars several weeks before election 
 day and state his name, age, birthplace, and where he 
 lives. If the Registrars find that he has all the qualifi- 
 cations of a voter, his name will be enrolled upon the vot- 
 ing list — he will be registered. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Ojght it to be required of a voter that he o^^'n a certain amount of 
 property? Ought it to be required of a voter that he be able to read 
 and write? 
 
 2. Do you favor woman suffrage? If so, why? If not, why not? 
 
 3. For what reason is the right of voting withheld from paupers? 
 
 4. Do you feel that you could now vote intelligently? 
 
 5. State accurately the qualifications for voting in your State. (Ex- 
 amine your State constitution.) 
 
 6. Is registration required in your State? In all voting districts, or 
 only in cities of more than a certain population? (Examine the Elec- 
 tion Law of your State.) 
 
 7. Discuss the words elector, resident, inhabitant, denizen, citizen. 
 
 F. Civil Govt.— 4 
 
X. CITIZENSHIP: ELECTIONS 
 
 " The proudest now is but my peer, 
 
 The highest not more high; 
 To-day, of all the weary year, 
 
 A king of men am I. 
 To-day, alike are great and small. 
 
 The nameless and the known; 
 My palace is the people's hall, 
 
 The ballot box my throne!" — Whittier. 
 
 At the Polls.— On election day every qualified citizen 
 should go to the polls and vote. The polls are simply a 
 room where several election officers meet for the pur- 
 pose of receiving and counting the ballots of the voters 
 of an election district. When a voter enters the polls, 
 he gives his name to the officers, who have the registra- 
 tion list before them. When his name is found on the 
 list, it is checked off, and a ballot is given to him. A ballot 
 is a slip or sheet of paper. upon which are printed the 
 names of the political parties and the names of their 
 candidates for election. The voter takes his ballot and 
 passes into a small booth where he cannot be seen by 
 any one. In the booth he finds writing material and a 
 shelf or desk on which he may write. After he has marked 
 his ballot in a way that shows' how he wishes to vote, the 
 voter folds his ballot so that the marks cannot be seen. 
 He then returns to the place where the officers sit, and his 
 ballot is put into a large box, which is usually made of glass. 
 
 The foregoing is the method of voting followed in most 
 
 50 
 
ELECTIONS 
 
 ")! 
 
 States. It is known as the "Australian System," because 
 it wais first atloptcd in Australia'. In sonic States there 
 is a separate ballot for the candidates of each party ; the 
 voter is given a set of these ballots, and goes into the booth 
 to make his clioice, or to write a new ballot. The Aus- 
 tralian system is the best method of voting that has thus 
 
 The Polls 
 
 far been tried, except perhaps the voting machine, which 
 likewise provides for a secret vote. Voting machines are 
 coming into use in some States. 
 
 A long time ago men u.^ed to vote by calling out in a 
 loud voice the name of their favorite candidate. But 
 this method often led to quarrels and fights, and it had 
 to be abandoned. The open ballot was then tried. By 
 this method the voter cast his ballot before the judges 
 
52 CITIZENSHIP 
 
 and bystanders in such an open way that any one who 
 desired could see how he had voted. This led to bribery. 
 A sum of money would be given the voter for voting in a 
 certain way, and the man who gave him the money would 
 follow him up to the polls, and watch him to see that he 
 voted the way he was paid to vote. The open ballot also 
 led to intimidation. The voter was frequently afraid to 
 vote the way he woul,d hke to, lest he might offend an 
 employer or some one else whom be could ill afford to 
 offend. For such reasons as these voting by open ballot be- 
 came unpopular, and the Australian or secret ballot system 
 was adopted. This system has its disadvantages. It does 
 not encourage men to come out openly and fearlessl}^ and 
 announce their convictions. Under the secret ballot law 
 a man by guarding his tongue and not letting any one 
 know how he votes, may deprive the community of the 
 influence of his example. It would be better if we could 
 
 « 
 
 always know how good citizens vote. 
 
 The great point in favor of the secret ballot is that it 
 helps to do away with bribery. Under the Australian 
 system it is of little use to give the voter money to vote 
 a certain ticket, for there is no way to follow him up and 
 see if he votes as he promises. If the secret ballot does 
 prevent bribery, then every State ought to have it, for 
 bribery is one of the woi'st evils in politics. A man who 
 gives a bribe to his fellow-citizen, not only debases that 
 citizen, but he debauches society. A bribe giver is a public 
 enemy. "WTiat shall we say of a bribe taker? Is he better 
 or worse than a bribe giver? 
 
ELECTIONS 53 
 
 Counting the Vote; Majority, Plurality. -Tnirnodiatoly 
 aftci- the polls arc closed tiic counting of tlic votes be- 
 gins. The countinfi; is done openly in tlic pn^senco of 
 a nuniher oi" people. The candidate for each ofhce who 
 has the largest nuinhcr of votes is declared elected. Some- 
 times a majority of the votes is required to elect. By a 
 majority is meant more than half of all the votes cast. It 
 often hapiK>ns, when there are three or more candidates 
 for the same office, that no one has a majority of all the 
 votes. In such cases if a majority is necessary for election 
 there must be a second election. I^ut in most of the States 
 the one who has the highest number of votes is the suc- 
 cessful candidate, even if that number is less than half. 
 I''.lection by the highest number of votes is called election 
 by plurnlity. 
 
 The Right of Holding Office.— Besides the right of 
 choo.^ing officers to conduct government, it is the right 
 of the American citizen to hold office. The business of 
 government requires the service of a very largo number 
 of people. In the towns or counties there must be road 
 commissioners, school trustees, tax collectors, constables. 
 In a city there must be a Mayor and councilmen and a 
 very long list of officials. In the State there nmst be a 
 Clovernor, several secretaries, and the Legislature with its 
 senators and its representatives or delegates. In the Na- 
 tion there is the President with his cabinet and thousands of 
 assistants. It would take many |)ages merely to name the 
 different offices of the different governments. It is the 
 boast of the American citizen that, no matter what his 
 
64 CITIZENSHIP 
 
 rank may be, he has the right to hold any of these ofhces. 
 Any boy born in the United States may hope to become 
 President. It is true that only four or five of the millions 
 of young Americans now living can ever be President, yet 
 it is also true that those boys who will be our future Presi- 
 dents may come from the lower walks of life. We have 
 had several Presidents who did manual labor in early life. 
 One of them was a tailor who did not learn to write until 
 after he was married. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Smith, Jones, and Brown are candidates for an office. Smith re- 
 ceives 5000 votes, Jones 4000 votes, and Brown 3000 votes. Does Smith 
 have a majority or a pluraUty of votes? What is the smallest number 
 of votes that would elect in this case if a majority were required? 
 What does the word minority mean? 
 
 2. Discuss the evil effects of bribery. 
 
 3. Should the office seek the man, or the man the office? 
 
 4. Do you know any candidates for office? Are they men well 
 qualified for the positions they are seeking? 
 
 5. " A weapon that comes down as still 
 
 As snowflakes fall upon the sod 
 But executes a freeman's will 
 
 As lightning does the will of God." 
 What is the "weapon"? Memorize the quotation. 
 
 6. Bound the election district or precinct in which you live. 
 
 7. Secure, if you can, a ballot used at an election, and mark it as 
 you would if you were going to vote. 
 
 8. Discuss methods of preventing bribery. Would you vote for a 
 man who would give bribes? 
 
 9. In what ways are men sometimes bribed without giving them 
 money? 
 
 10. Ought candidates for pubHc office to give an account of their 
 election expenses? 
 
XI. CITIZENSIIir: DLTIES OF CITIZENS 
 
 " Do what conscience says is right, 
 Do what reason says is best, 
 Do witli all your mind and might, 
 Do your duty and be blest." 
 
 A Few Words about Duty. — For several lessons we 
 have been tliscussing the rights of citizens; in this lesson 
 we shall speak of a few of the duties of citizens. We are 
 all inclined to think too much of our rights and too little 
 of our duties. We should never forget that for every right 
 we enjoy there is a corresponding duty. A right has been 
 called the reward of a duty fulfilled, and this is the way 
 to regard duty. After we have done our duty, then we 
 may claim our rights; after we have fulfilled the duties of 
 citizenship, we may in good conscience claim our rights as 
 citizens. Government cannot give to us more than we 
 give to it. If we arc careless or selfish in respect to our 
 duties to our government, we may be sure that it will not 
 have so many blessings for us as it would have if we were 
 watchful and faithful in our duty. Let us now learn what 
 duty refjuircs of all good citizens. 
 
 Obedience to the Law.— The first duty of a citizen is to 
 obey the laws of his country. Without obedience to law 
 there can be no such thing as good government. Alike in 
 the home, in the school, and in the State, the violation of 
 law is attended with some kin<l of punishment. When a 
 
56 CITIZENSHIP 
 
 law of the State is broken, he who breaks it may be fined, 
 that is, he may be compelled to give up a sum of money, 
 or he may be imprisoned, or he may be both fined and im- 
 prisoned. In the case of murder, he who takes the life of 
 another may be compelled to give up his own life. But I 
 do not wish to hold up the punishments of the law before 
 you in order to frighten you. I do not want you to obey 
 the law simply because you are afraid of the punishment 
 that would follow if you should break it. People who 
 obey a law through the sense of fear are likely to break 
 it if they think they will not be discovered. Such people 
 are satisfied if only they can keep out of jail. It is against 
 the law to give a man money for his vote; yet how many 
 citizens \dolate this law simply because they run but little 
 risk of being detected and punished! A bribe giver is no 
 less a criminal because he escapes punishment. Laws 
 should be obeyed because it is a duty to obey them. It 
 is our right to seek the protection of the law; it is our duty 
 to do the bidding of the law. 
 
 Defense of One's Country. — A most serious duty of 
 the citizen to his government is to defend it against its 
 enemies. You boys may at some time in your life be 
 called upon to take up arms and fight for your country. 
 If such a time should come, you should not flinch, but 
 should go forth bravely to the battlefield, prepared to 
 lay down your life, if necessary. But you should not 
 wish for war or try to stir up strife. The good citizen 
 will try to avoid war. Men and nations should live at 
 peace with one another; war is never right unless it is 
 
DUTIES OF CITIZENS 57 
 
 \vap;cd for the piirposo of making \\\v world better in the 
 (•ml. 
 
 Earning a Living. — Every citizen should try to earn 
 an honest livinp; for himself and those dependent upon 
 liim. A man who does not work is a hunlcn upon (he 
 conmumity. \\'hat he eats and wears is produced by the 
 labor of other people. Now, an able-bodied man who 
 livt\<; upon the labor of others loses his own self-respect 
 and deserves to lose the respect of others. Ilencc a good 
 citizen will refuse to eat bread that he has not earned, 
 if it is possible for him to earn bread for himself. Some- 
 times men cannot earn their own living because they can- 
 not find work to do. When this is the case, there is some- 
 thing wrong somewhere, and it is the duty of good citizens 
 to try to discover where the wrong is and to take measures 
 to remedy the wrong. In a land of plenty no strong-armed 
 man, willing to work, ought to be compelled to go hungry 
 or to eat the bread of charity. 
 
 The Duty of Studying Political Questions. — Before 
 you enter upon politics you should make a careful study 
 of political questions. As a voter you will be called upon 
 to do work upon a great political machine, for that is 
 what the American government is. Ought you not to be 
 j)re pared for this work'' Ought you not to understand this 
 machine? A person would not begin to work on a watch 
 until he had studied carefully the workings of a watch. 
 Neither should a person meddle with the American gov- 
 ernment \mtil he knows something about its workings, 
 for it is a machine much more complicated and diflicult 
 
58 CITIZENSHIP 
 
 to understand than a watch. It has big wheels and httle 
 wheels and wheels within wheels curiously and nicely 
 fitted together, each doing its own work, doing it well 
 when voters are wise, doing it ill when voters are foolish. 
 Is it not plain, then, that you ought to begin at once to 
 study this machine so that when you begin to operate it 
 you will know something of its workings? 
 
 While you are at school you may prepare yourselves 
 to vote in an intelHgent manner when you come of age. 
 You may do this in two ways, — by reading and by dis- 
 cussion. Read history. You cannot understand the pres- 
 ent without understanding the past. Read the lives of 
 great men. The founders of our government were un- 
 selfish men. Read what they wrote about government 
 and learn what they did for their country. Read the his- 
 tory of political parties and study their platforms. Read 
 works upon government. Read good newspapers and 
 inform yourselves of the political questions of the day. 
 
 But reading is not enough. Along with reading must 
 go discussion. Our government is founded upon free and 
 open discussion. This is why citizens are guaranteed 
 freedom of speech. By talking over a question in a good- 
 natured way with friends we learn a number of things. 
 In the first place, we learn more about the question under 
 discussion. We almost always find that our friend knows 
 something about it that we did not know. Then we learn 
 to express our thoughts more clearly and forcibly. We 
 never know a thing well enough until we can tell it to 
 some one else. Discussion also teaches us to have respect 
 
DUTIES OF CITIZENS 69 
 
 for the opinions of olhcr people; and this is very good 
 for us. Above all, discussion is 'good because it leads to 
 the truth. 
 
 The Duties of Voters. — When you come to vote you 
 will be glad to have studied political questions, for in 
 the i)olling booth you will hnil yourself face to face with 
 duties which, if you fulfill them properly, will require 
 all the knowletlge you may have gained. What arc these 
 duties? If an intelligent man will ask himself the ques- 
 tion seriously he will conclude that he ought at least to 
 do the following things: 
 
 (1) To vote whenever it is his privilege to vote. 
 
 (2) To vote only for honest men for office. 
 
 (3) To accept no bribe and to give no bribe. 
 
 (4) To know what he is voting for, 
 
 (5) To know something of the character of the person 
 for whom he votes. 
 
 (6) To prefer his country to his party. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Can yon name a war that was a blessing to mankind? One that 
 
 was a curse? 
 
 2. Would you fight for your country, even if you thought it was 
 
 in the wrong? 
 .3. Should a citizen obey a bad law? Who shall judge whether a law 
 
 is bad or good? 
 
 4. Explain how a single vote may decide the result of an election. 
 
 5. What are some of the things a politician must do? 
 
 6. Would you vote for your party even if you thought it was 
 wrong? 
 
 7. Of the duties mentioned in the lesson which stands first in im- 
 portance? Which stands second? Which third? Which fourth? 
 
XII. THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT: MAJORITY 
 
 RULE 
 
 "That government of the people, by the people, for the people shall 
 not perish from the earth." — Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Introduction. — Now that we have learned what citi- 
 zenship is and what are the rights and duties of the piti- 
 zen, we may begin to study the workings of the govern- 
 ment which it is the duty of citizens to operate and keep 
 in repair. And first I want you to learn something about 
 the powers of the American government. When an officer, 
 perhaps a man of small stature, lightly lays his hand upon 
 the shoulder of a big pow^erful man and tells him to " come 
 along," why does the big man instantly obey? From 
 what source does the officer derive his power? When a 
 body of lawmakers makes a law that no wooden buildings 
 shaU be erected in a certain part of a city, why do the land- 
 owners there submit and build no houses of wood on their 
 land? Where do the lawmakers get their power to make 
 the law? A judge sentences a man to die, and in a few 
 days or in a few weeks the poor wretch is hurried to his 
 doom. Where does the judge get such power? Such ques- 
 tions as these, questions about the powTr of government, are 
 of the greatest importance and should receive your most 
 careful attention. 
 
 The Power of the People. — In the olden times it was 
 
 60 
 
MAJORITY RULE 
 
 61 
 
 thought that government came down to nion from heaven 
 arul that rulers reccivetl their offices and their power from 
 Clod. Only a little more than two hundred years ago a 
 great English writer published a book in which there was 
 a picture representing Government as a mighty giant 
 with a crown on his head, hovering over the earth and 
 
 An Ancient Notion of Government 
 
 ruling it with staff and sword. Such a picture would not 
 represent government to-day. In our day government 
 is very close to men and is looked upon as a purely human 
 affair. Men plan and build government somewhat as they 
 plan and build houses and battle ships. In this planning 
 
62 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 
 
 and building the people take a part. Especially is this 
 true in our country. In the United States the people are 
 the complete masters of government. All power flows 
 from them. How do the people manage to make their 
 wants known? By the principle of majority rule. When 
 a public question is to be settled or an officer is to be 
 chosen, an orderly vote of the people is taken, and the 
 largest number of votes decides the question or elects 
 the officer; that is to say, the majority rules. 
 
 Where government is carried on by the principle of 
 majority rule we have a democracy, a word which means 
 "government by the people." The United States is a 
 democracy, because it is governed by the people. When 
 we say this, we mean of course the political people, the 
 voters. The voters express their wishes, and the will of the 
 majority is regarded as the will of all and is the law of the 
 land. This is what majority rule means and is what democ- 
 racy means. So while studying the simple little contriv- 
 ance of majority rule we are brought face to face with the 
 greatest and noblest of all political themes — democracy. 
 
 Democracy a Government of Reason. — In the first 
 place you should understand that democracy means some- 
 thing more than the counting of votes. Democracy is a 
 government of reason. Suppose a ball team wanted to 
 decide whether or not a game should be played with a 
 team in an adjoining town; would it do nothing but take 
 a vote on the question? No; that would be very stupid. 
 Before the vote was taken the subject would be talked 
 over: the strength of the rival team would be discussed; 
 
MAJORITY RULE 
 
 63 
 
 pn^vioiis ongafz;('incn(s wouM he considered; the expense 
 (if llie trip would l)e taken into account. After these and 
 other matters were fully considered the vote would be 
 taken and the result would depend upon the points brought 
 out by the speakers. That would be the right kind of 
 
 majority rule, for it would be government by discussion; 
 it would be the rule of reason. 
 
 Some boys are j)la}ing at push ball. One boy pushes 
 south with a force, we will say, of 75 pounds; a second 
 boy pushes north with a force of 125 pounds; a third 
 boy pushes east with a force of 100 pounds; a fourth boy, 
 more powerful than the rest, jiushes west with a force 
 of 150 pounds. The ball does not move directly south, 
 north, east, or west, but yields a little to each boy. The 
 strongest boy, however, does the most in directing the 
 
64 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 
 
 course of the ball. Now our government is in many 
 respects like a push ball that is being worked at by a 
 
 great number of boys pushing in different directions. 
 Sixteen million voters are working at the American gov- 
 ernment, some wanting it to do this, others wanting it to 
 do that, others wanting it to do still something else. It 
 cannot obey fully the wishes of any single voter. All 
 it can do is to yield a little to each voter and do that 
 which will most nearly please the largest number of voters. 
 In the case of the push ball, you noticed — and this is 
 very important — that the general movement of the ball 
 was determined by the strongest boy, the boy who pushed 
 .toward the west having more to do with the movement 
 than any of the others. In the case of the government 
 it is the same: the voter who goes to the polls with the 
 most knowledge, the one who understands the workings of 
 the political machine and is familiar with public affairs, is 
 going to have a great deal more influence with govern- 
 ment than the ignorant voter can have. It is true the 
 well-informed citizen casts into the ballot box but a 
 single vote, but his example and his influence in the com- 
 munity cause others to vote the w^ay he does. Therefore 
 
MAJORITY RULE 65 
 
 Ills power witli the povommcnt is not measured by one 
 vote but by all the votes he win^ over to his side. 
 
 Democracy a Government of Justice.— Another great 
 fact of democracy which you will do well to think about 
 at this point is this: the majority nmst deal fairly with 
 the minority. What is all government for? For what 
 {)uri)ose are these armies and navies and courts and offi- 
 cers and laws? Their purpose is to maintain justice 
 among men, to prevent men from suffering any kind of 
 wrong. Now if the majority does not deal fairly with 
 the minority it does the very thing that it is the purpose 
 of government to prevent: it inflicts injustice. And the 
 injustice of a majority is the worst kind of injustice. 
 When a big strong boy wantonly and cruelly pummels a 
 little boy we call the big boy a bully; so if a majority, a 
 big body of men, should maltreat a minority, a small 
 body of men, by taking away their property unjustly, 
 or throwing them into jail without cause, we might prop- 
 erly call the majority a bully. A bully is a tyrant and 
 a majority that does not deal fairly with a minority is 
 both a bully and a tyrant. 
 
 The tjTanny of the majority is justly regarded as one 
 of the greatest dangers of a democracy. It is dangerous 
 because it is so powerful. In a monarchy the citizens can 
 put an end to the tyranny of their king by killing him, 
 but you cannot kill a majority. There is no way to re- 
 sist successfully the brute force of a majority if it wants 
 to be crurl or unjust. In a democracy tyranny can be 
 avoided in only one way: the citizens must always vote 
 
 F. Civil Govt.— 5 
 
66 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 
 
 for what they think is just and right, and in determining 
 what is just and right they must keep the golden rule 
 in mind. The majority would do well to keep these lines 
 of Shakespeare ever before their eyes: 
 
 Oh, it is excellent 
 To have a giant's strength, but it is tyrannous 
 To use it like a giant. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. How many votes were cast in the United States at the last presi- 
 dential election? How many votes were cast for the successful candi- 
 date? What per cent of the whole population voted for the successful 
 candidate? 
 
 2. Why should Civil Government be taught in the public schools? 
 
 3. Define the following words: democracy, aristocracy, monarchy, 
 despotism, oligarchy, anarchy. 
 
 4. Give reasons why democracy is better than monarchy. 
 
 5. What countries besides our own have popular governments? 
 Name some of the great monarchs of the world. 
 
Xlll. THE POWERS OF GOVERXMKXT: REPRE- 
 SENTATION 
 
 "A representative government, made responsible at short periods 
 of election, produces the greatest sum of happiness to mankind." 
 
 — Thomas Jejjerson. 
 
 Pure and Representative Democracy. — In the last 
 lesson you learned that our government is a democracy, 
 one that receives its power from the people. Now there 
 are two kinds of democracies, the pure democracy and 
 tlie rcprescnlative democracy. The pure democracy is 
 one in which the voters meet in a IkxI}' and not only 
 choose ofhcers of government but enact laws as well. 
 In ancient Greece the State was often a pure democracy. 
 For example, when Attica wished to decide any important 
 affair all her citizens, more than ten thousand in number, 
 flocked to Athens and assem]:)led in the Agora, or market 
 place, to discuss the question and vote upon it. In this 
 assembly there were all classes of society, — carpenters, 
 weavers, shoemakers, poets, generals, philosophers. After 
 the question had been fully discussed the vote was taken, 
 and the will of the majority was regarded as the will of 
 Attica. This was pure democracy. 
 
 But you can see that a large city or a State cannot be 
 a pun^ democracy, for llic whole body of citizens is too 
 large to meet at one place. How. then, can all tlie people 
 of a State have a voice in the making of a law, or take part 
 
 67 
 
68 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 
 
 in the management of their government? They cannot 
 take part directly, but they may do it indirectly in the 
 following way : 
 
 A number of citizens may choose one of their number 
 to act in their stead : the citizens of a town or of a county 
 may choose one or two of its citizens to meet with other 
 citizens chosen in the same way from other towns and 
 counties. If there are fifty counties in a State, and the 
 citizens of each county, instead of going themselves, elect 
 two of their number to go to the capital of the State for the 
 purpose of making laws, the lawmaking body of the State 
 will consist of one hundred men. This small body will act 
 in the name of several hundreds of thousands of people, 
 and the laws it passes will be as binding as if they had been 
 passed by all the people coming together in an immense 
 throng. A man who acts in the place of and with the 
 authority of other men represents those men, and is called 
 their representative; and the government that is conducted 
 by a few people chosen to act in the name of all the peo- 
 ple is a representative government, or a representative de- 
 mocracy. 
 
 In this country we have representative government. 
 In the New England towns, it is true, the people still 
 come out in town meeting and govern as a pure democ- 
 racy, but in the other governments, in counties and cities 
 and States and in our nation, the people rule indirectly 
 through their chosen representatives. 
 
 The Representative's Term of Service. — For how long 
 a period should a representative hold the power which 
 
RKPRESENTATION 69 
 
 * 
 
 tlio voters give hinr.' If you arc a memhor of a dub, your 
 club (k)ul)tloss elects oUiccrs every year, ^^hy do you 
 elect them so often? Why not elect them every five 
 years, or every ten years, or for life? Because you want 
 an opportunity to elect new officers should the interests 
 of the club demand a change. The officers might neglect 
 their duties or manage affairs badl}^ and if they held their 
 places for long terms they might do a great deal of mis- 
 chief before the club could get rid of them. In order to 
 keep the reins in its hands the club elects its officers for 
 short terms. 
 
 The same rule holds in American politics. The voters 
 keep the reins of government in their hands by electing 
 their representatives for short terms only. It is rare 
 tha+ a reiiresentative's term of ofhcc is more than four 
 years. In a great many States the term is two years, and 
 in a few States it is for one year only. This does not mean 
 tliat representatives can serve for only short periods, for 
 if their constituents want to" retain them they can 
 elect them again and again. As a matter of fact repre- 
 sentatives by means of reelection sometimes hold their 
 places for thirty or forty years. 
 
 This practice of giving our representatives only short 
 terms of office causes election day to come around very 
 often. In a great many States there is at least one elec- 
 tion every year, and in a f<'W States election day comes 
 twice a year. Vou will liear people complain of this 
 frequency of election, but as a matter of fact frequent 
 elections are good both for the representative and for 
 
70 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 
 
 the voter. They are good for the representative because 
 they tend to hold him to his duty; they are good for the 
 voter because they keep his mind fixed upon the doings 
 of his government and this helps to make him the wide- 
 awake person a citizen of a democracy ought to be. 
 
 How a Fair Representation is Secured. — How shall 
 fair representation of the people be secured? If you were 
 a member of an athletic association that comprised many 
 schools and there was to be held an important meeting of 
 the governing body, you would want your own school to 
 have a just number of representatives at this meeting. 
 But what would be a just and fair number? Would you 
 want your school to be represented according to its rank 
 in scholarship? According to the number of its pupils? 
 According to the number of good atliletes it has? Accord- 
 ing to the amount of money it contributes to the asso- 
 ciation? Such questions as these would have to be an- 
 swered before you could put your association on a good 
 working basis. So in conducting a representative gov- 
 ernment there must be a plan for securing a fair rep- 
 resentation of the people. 
 
 For the carrying out of laws we usually elect only one 
 person, a Mayor, a Governor, or a President, and as for 
 the judges of the law, we elect only so many of these 
 as are necessary to try promptly and carefully the cases 
 that are brought up. Thus far there is no trouble in 
 determining how many representatives to choose. But 
 we must have representatives also for a lawmaking body. 
 Our town or city must have a Council, our State a Legis- 
 
RKPIIE8I':NTATI0N 71 
 
 latuiT, our iiatidii a Congress. How is a fair representa- 
 tion in these lawmaking bodies to be secured? 
 
 It is secured by giving the people a representation ac- 
 cording to their number: so many people, so many rep- 
 resi>ntatives. If our city has a population of 50,000 and 
 we want a City Council of twenty-five members, we may 
 divide tiie city into twenty-five districts (wards), draw- 
 ing the boundary lines so that each ward shall have as 
 nearly as possible 2,000 inhabitants and to each ward 
 give one representative. In the State Legislatures, the 
 counties are represented according to their population; 
 as a rule a county of 40,000 inhabitants will have twice 
 as many representatives as a county of 20,000. In the 
 great House of Representatives at Washington the rule 
 of representation according to population is carried out 
 witli the greatest exactness. A member of the House at 
 I)resent represents about 200,000 i)eo[)le. 
 
 Why has the rule "so many people, so many repre- 
 sentatives'' been adopted? Because it is consistent with 
 the spirit of true democracy. In America, government 
 is for men as men, and not for this or that interest or 
 class. And this is right. The principal thing in a country 
 is not its wealth, or its extent of territory, or its mines, 
 or its fields, or its factories, but its men. 
 
 ''What constitutes a state? 
 
 Not high-rais'd battlement or labour'd mound, 
 Thick wall or moated gate; 
 
 Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned; 
 
72 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 
 
 Not bays and broad armed ports, 
 
 Where laughing at the storm rich navies ride; 
 Not starred and spangled courts, 
 
 Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride. 
 No. MEN, high-minded MEN, 
 
 Men who their duties know. 
 But know their rights and knowing dare maintain. 
 
 Prevent the long-aimed blow 
 And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain — 
 
 These constitute a state." 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Define constituent. 
 
 2. Name the republics (representative democracies) of the world. 
 
 3. Elect one of your classmates to represent your class in a spelling 
 contest. One to represent the class in a debate. 
 
 4. Should the representative always vote to please his constituents? 
 Suppose the voters change their opinions after an election, should the 
 representative also change his opinions? Suppose the opinions of the 
 representative should change after an election, should he resign his 
 office or should he vote against the wishes of his constituents, or what 
 should he do? Suppose the voters after an election should instruct 
 their representative as to a course of action, should the representative 
 obey the instruction? 
 
 5. The Recall. In some cities the voters have the power to de- 
 prive a representative of his office before his term has expired if he 
 does not discharge his duties in the way the voters think he ought 
 to discharge them. This power is called the "recall." What do you 
 think of the "recall" as a political contrivance? 
 
XIV. THE rOWERS OF GOVERNMENT: CHECKS 
 
 AND 15ALANCES 
 
 "A separation of departments, so far as practicable, and the preser- 
 vation of clear lines of division between them, is the fundamental idea 
 of all our constitutions, and doubtless the continuance of regulated 
 liberty depends on maintaining these boundaries." — Daniel Webster. 
 
 Introduction. — You have learned that all the power 
 of government comes from the people and that the people 
 give their power to their chosen representatives. You 
 ought next to learn how the mighty power of the Ameri- 
 can government is regulated. In almost any ordinary 
 machine there are devices for regulating and checking 
 power. The steam engine has its governor, the car has 
 its brakes, the clock its escapement, the watch its balance 
 wheel, the elevator its safety appliance. Likewise in our 
 political machinery, there is a really wonderful series of 
 devices for regidating, balancing, and checking power, 
 and you must understand the workings of these checks 
 and balances. 
 
 The Three Departments of Government. — Let us be- 
 gin tills great subject of checks and balances by observ- 
 ing the manner in which the power of government is 
 separate*! or broken up into parts. We do not elect one 
 niler and bestow upon him all the power we have to give. 
 To do that might be to build a despotism Dvcr our heads, 
 
 for the ruler who has the whole power of the government 
 
 73 
 
74 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 
 
 in his hands could be a tyrant if he wanted to be. He 
 could make a rule for the people to obey, could decide 
 who obeyed it and who did not, and could punish the 
 disobedient as he thought fit. In the exercise of his power 
 he would have nothing to regulate him, nothing to check 
 him. If he followed reason and justice all would be well, 
 but he might follow passion or prejudice or caprice and 
 then all would not be well. The American people take 
 no chances in this matter. They refuse to give all their 
 power to one man or to one body of men. Following the 
 example of our English ancestors, we bestow power upon 
 three different sets of officers, giving to each set authority 
 of a particular kind. In this way we separate the power 
 of government and cause it to flow in three streams. 
 
 These three streams of power give us three depart- 
 ments of government: the legislative, the executive, and 
 the judicial departments. The legislative department (the 
 Legislature) has the power to make the laws, the executive 
 department (the President, or Governor, or Mayor) has the 
 power to enforce the law or carry it into effect, and the 
 judicial department (the courts) has the power to try 
 offenders against the law and to settle disputes arising un- 
 der it. 
 
 You may liken these three departments to thi-ee great 
 departments of your own being, your judgment, your 
 will, and your conscience. Your judgment plans for you 
 a course to follow; the legislature when making the law 
 plans a course for the people to follow. Your will executes 
 the plans mapped out by your judgment; the executive 
 
CHECKS AND HALANCES 75 
 
 (It'i)artnicnt carries out tlio plans oiiactod by tlio legisla- 
 ture. Your conscience prevents you from doing wrong, 
 that is, from working injustice upon others; the courts see 
 to it that there is no injustice between man and man. 
 So the legislature is the judgment of the State, the execu- 
 tive department is its will, and the courts are its conscience. 
 In the legislative department we must look for Wisdom, 
 in the executive department for Power, and in the judicial 
 department for Justice. The legislature, let us say, is 
 a nation's Head, the executive department is its Hand, 
 and the courts are its Heart. 
 
 The three departments are found in nearly all our 
 political di\asions, whether low or high, small or great. 
 In your to^\Ti or city you have councilmen or aldermen to 
 make your local laws (ordinances), a Mayor or chief 
 burgess to carry out these laws, and magistrates or police 
 justices to try the smaller cases. In your State there is 
 the State Legislature, the State executive department, 
 consisting of the Governor and other executive officers, 
 and the State courts. For the entire country we have 
 Congress (which is the legislature of the nation), the Presi- 
 dent and his cabinet, and a system of national courts, 
 including the Supreme Court. So in small things as well 
 as great, government in .\merica is conducted on the 
 three-ilepartment plan. 
 
 The Lower and the Upper House.— Besides the sepa- 
 ration of power just pointed out, there is in the legislative 
 department an imj)ortant check upon the use of power. 
 We do not as a rule give the lawmaking power outright 
 
76 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 
 
 to one body of men, but to two bodies, and we require 
 that before a measure (a bill) becomes a law it shall pass 
 in both bodies. Neither body can make a law without 
 the consent of the other. 
 
 The two divisions of the Legislature are generally spoken 
 of as the lower and the upper house. The lower house is 
 usually kno\vn as the House of Representatives. The 
 upper house is always known as the Senate. The lower 
 house usually has a membership three or four times as 
 large as that of the Senate. This means that a Senator 
 usually represents three or four times as many people as 
 are represented by a member of the lower house, for in 
 nearly all our legislatures representation in both branches 
 follows pretty closely the rule, ''so many people, so many 
 representatives." The Senate of the United States, how- 
 ever, is an exception to this rule, as will be explained 
 hereafter. 
 
 Why is it necessary to have two houses to pass a law? 
 Why cannot we elect a single body and give to it the 
 whole lawmaking power? If there were but one house, 
 a bad bill might be rushed through in a moment of excite- 
 ment or passion and the law might do much mischief; 
 but if a bill must pass through two houses before it be- 
 comes a law there is a chance for the lawmakers of the 
 second house to take a sober second thought and block 
 the passage of the bill if it is bad. 
 
 The Veto Power. — Another check to be noticed here 
 is the veto power. In nearly all cases the executive can 
 check the legislative power by vetoing its laws, that is, 
 
CllLCKS AND I^AI,A\ri-:S 77 
 
 l)y forbidding their passage. The Mayor of a city can 
 generally veto an ordinance of the Council, the Governor 
 of a State (in all States except Rhode Island and North 
 Carolina) can veto a law of the Legislature, the President 
 of the Unitetl States can veto a law of Congi-ess. But the 
 veto power is not complete, absolute, and final. When 
 one branch of the Legislature votes down a bill passed by 
 the other branch, that is the end of the matter, for the 
 bill is killetl, but when the Governor or the President 
 vetoes a bill the Legislature or the Congress can vote on 
 it again and if it can be passed a second time by a two- 
 thirds or three-fifths majority of both houses it becomes 
 a law in spite of the veto. So the veto power is only 
 partial and may be only a temporary check. 
 
 The Independence of the Departments. — Li the exer- 
 cise of its own proper powers one department is entirely 
 indepen<lent of the others. Each department is expected 
 to attend to its own business in its own way and not to 
 meddle with the affairs of another department. In the 
 ])olitical scales the power of one department is supposed 
 to balance precisely the power of another. The scales 
 must not tip one way or the other. 
 
 ^\^lo is to keep this system of checks and balances in 
 good working order? ^^^^en the beam tijis, who is to 
 restore the balance? The people themselves. Only the 
 voters have power enough to outweigh the power of a 
 department. If a Mayor has seized powers that do not 
 belong to him, the voters may refu.'^e to reelect him; if a 
 Legislature is lording it over a Governor, a vote of the 
 
78 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 
 
 people may keep the members of the Legislature at home 
 and thus give back to the Governor his rightful power. 
 
 As a voter you may be called upon to help in preserving 
 a balance of power among the departments, and you 
 ought to understand clearly that such a balance is a 
 good thing and that encroachment is a bad thing. Why 
 is it a bad thing? ^Yhy should you refuse to support a 
 department that is grasping powers that do not belong 
 to it? Washington has answered this question. ''The 
 spirit of encroachment," he says, "tends to consolidate 
 the power of all the departments in one and thus create, 
 whatever the form of government, a real despotism," 
 When you hear men calling for power, power, more power, 
 remember these words of Washington, and don't give 
 them the power unless it is precisely the kind they ought 
 to have. Don't give to the judge the kind of power a 
 lawmaker ought to have; don't give to the lawmaker 
 the kind of power a judge ought to have; don't give to 
 an executive officer the kind of power the legislature 
 ought to have. Keep all the parts of government well 
 balanced and thus prevent the despotism that Washington 
 feared. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. What does the word veto mean? 
 
 2. Do you think it would be wise to give the lawmaking power of 
 the school to pupils? The judicial power? The executive power? 
 
 3. In some schools the pupils organize themselves into a little 
 democracy or self-governing community. They elect from their num- 
 ber a lawmaking body which makes the rules of the school, executive 
 officers who carry the rules into effect, and a judicial body which de- 
 
CHECKS AND BALANCES 79 
 
 cides wlu'tlicr a pupil lias violated a rule. WIkiiii of your school would 
 you cliooso for your lawniakcrs'.' A\'Iiomi would you clioosc' as your cliicf 
 executive ollicer? Whom would you choose as your judges? What 
 rules woukl you desire in respect to tardiness? Whispering? Ciieat- 
 iuix? Truancy? Absence? Rudeness? (Pupils anil teachers who are 
 iiitcrcstcd in the subject of self-troveniinent for schools should con- 
 sult Wilcox and (Jill's "Outline of American (Jovernnient.") 
 
 4. Name two great lawmakers, two great judges, two great execu- 
 tives. 
 
XV. THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT: LOCAL 
 SELF-GOVERNMENT 
 
 "It is to local self-government that we owe what we are and what 
 we hope to be." — Daniel Webster. 
 
 Introduction. — You now have learned three of the 
 great truths that he at the foundation of American gov- 
 ernment, namely: (1) that government is conducted ac- 
 cording to the principle of majority rule; (2) that the 
 people govern through their chosen representatives; 
 (3) that the power of government is sharply separated 
 and given to three great departments. A fourth great 
 truth about our political system is this: in respect to 
 local matters every community has large powers of local 
 self-government. In this lesson let us learn about local 
 self-government. 
 
 The Three Grades of Government. — If you have paid 
 any attention at all to public affairs you have already 
 noticed several governments in operation around you. 
 If you live in a southern State on a farm you know some- 
 thing of a county government that transacts its business 
 at the county seat, something of a State government that 
 has its headquarters at your State capital, and something 
 of the great National Government that has its seat at 
 Washington. If you live on a farm in a northern State 
 you are familiar also with a town or township govern- 
 
 80 
 
LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 81 
 
 inont. If you live in a village or in a city you arc con- 
 stantly brought face to face with the ofhcers of a village 
 or city government. 
 
 At first sight, therefore, it appears that wc have at 
 least half a dozen difTerent kinds of government, but 
 let us see if we cannot group them so as to reduce the 
 number of classes. It will be noticed that all the govern- 
 ments below the State government attend to the afTairs 
 of a small area. The county is usually not so large but 
 that one may drive from one end of it to the other in a 
 day, a township occupies only a few square miles, and 
 the area of the village or city is generally even smaller. 
 Moreover, as we shall presently see, all these governments 
 of lower grade stand in the same relation to the higher 
 State government, and they all perform the same kind 
 of public service. So we may consider all the political 
 di\isions below the State, that is to say, counties, towns, 
 townships, \illages, boroughs, cities, as ha\ing the same 
 grade of government, and we may call this grade neighbor- 
 hood or local government because its ser\ices are always 
 confined to a neighborhood or locality. We have, there- 
 fore, three grades of government — local government, State 
 government, and National Government. 
 
 The Relation of the Local Government to the State. — 
 "\Miat is the relation of a local government to the gov- 
 ernments of higher grade'' IIow does your county or 
 township or city stand in respect to the State and to the 
 nation? The answer to this question is very simple: the 
 local government receives all its powers from the State 
 
 F. Civil Govt— 6 
 
82 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 
 
 and is in no way connected with the National Government. 
 The authority which a locahty exercises is given to it 
 either by the State constitution (of which we shall learn 
 later) or by a law of the State Legislature. The authority 
 which a locality receives from the constitution cannot be 
 taken from it without changing the constitution, but that 
 which it receives from the Legislature can be changed as 
 often as that body desires and in any way it desires. 
 
 Local Self-Government. — Although the State has full 
 power over a locality and can rule it almost precisely as 
 it may wish to, yet as a matter of fact the locality in 
 every State is in many things allowed to rule itself. In 
 practice the State Legislature passes a law giving to the 
 local government certain powers and provides for certain 
 officers, and when it has done this it lets the locality alone. 
 The county or township or the city is permitted to do its 
 own work in its own way so long as it does nothing con- 
 trary to the law which the Legislature gives it. But, 
 mind you, that law gives the people very large powers 
 of local self-government. The American people would not 
 be satisfied with any other arrangement. Our political 
 system had its birth in the little local governments which 
 the early settlers set up, and in the building up of States 
 and of the nation the people have always reserved for 
 themselves the right of attending to their own local busi- 
 ness. Our affection for local self-government is so strong 
 that neither a Legislature, nor a convention called to frame 
 a constitution, would dare to take from a community the 
 right to attend to its own affairs. 
 
LOCAL SELK-C.OVEKNMENT 83 
 
 The Services of Local Government. — Tho local gov- 
 ernment attends to common, everyday afTairs. Indeed, 
 we might say it performs the drudgery of social service. 
 The constables and pohcemen of the local government 
 stand guard night and day, in sunshine and in storm, 
 to preserve order and keep the peace. Highway officers 
 and workmen of the local government repair the roads, 
 pave the streets, dig the sewers, and build the bridges. 
 In schools supported by the neighborhood, public teachers 
 work laboriously and patiently for the education of youth. 
 In its almshouses the local government feeds and clothes 
 the poor of the neighborhood, thus recognizing the prin- 
 ciple that charity should begin at home. Health officers 
 of the local government prevent the spread of contagious 
 disea.«es, cause people to be vaccinated, condemn bad 
 plumbing, and care in many ways for the public health. 
 To pay for these services the local government levies such 
 taxes as are necessary, and these arc collected by local 
 officers. 
 
 Any neighborhood government, whatever may be its 
 name, can be expected to render such services as these 
 just mentioned. It is always the business of the locality 
 to preserve peace and good order within its boundaries, 
 to attend to its own roads and streets, to educate its own 
 youth, to supjiort its own poor, to care for its own health, 
 to levy and collect its own taxes. If the locality, how- 
 ever, is a large town or city its government must do all 
 this and much more than this, for where people live close 
 together government always has more things to do than 
 
84 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT 
 
 it has where they hve far apart. What the additional 
 services of a city are, however, need not concern us at 
 this point, for the subject will receive special attention 
 hereafter. 
 
 This general account of the nature of local government 
 and of the kind of work it does prepares us to make a 
 particular study of the several different types of local 
 government. The local governments that should be 
 studied are the County, the Township, the Town, the 
 Village, and the City. In the next lesson the County will 
 receive attention. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Describe a community in which all the local services mentioned 
 in the lesson are performed badly. 
 
 2. Describe a community in which all the local services mentioned 
 in the lesson are performed well. 
 
 3. Does the constitution of this State give the local government 
 much power or little power? 
 
 4. Suppose the people of a locality do not manage their affairs well, 
 ought the State government to step in with its officers and govern the 
 locality? Which is better in such a case, self-government or good 
 government? 
 
 5. Give reasons why you ought to take a part in the business of 
 local government. 
 
XVI. THE COUNTY 
 
 "The town ami county have shaped the life of the States of the 
 Union." — Austin Scott. 
 
 Introduction.— Th(> local government that touches the 
 lives of the greatest number of people is the county. 
 I\!very State and Territory is divided into counties, and 
 as a rule every town, township, village, and city is located 
 in some county.* Almost everybody, therefore, lives in 
 a county and is interested in county government. 
 
 County Government Not Everywhere the Same. — The 
 services rentleretl by the county government differ as 
 we pass from State to State. In the southern States and 
 in many of the western States the county — outside of 
 towns and cities — performs most of the local services 
 mentioned in the last lesson. In the Middle Atlantic 
 States and in the States of tlic great IMiddh^ West there 
 are within the county a number of smaller local gov- 
 ernments known as townships (Lesson XVIII), which do 
 a part of the work of local government, and leave a fair 
 portion of that work for the county to do. In New Eng- 
 land ther(> are within tlir county a number of local gov- 
 ernments known as towns (Lesson X\'II), which perform 
 
 * The county in Loui.sinna i.^; known a.s the parish. 
 
 Baltimore, St. Louis, Washington, D. C, and many cities in Vir- 
 ginia are not located in counties. The city of New York includes all 
 the territory of four counties. 
 
 85 
 
86 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 nearly all the services of local government and leave the 
 county very little to do. 
 
 Since the county in different parts of the country has 
 different work to perform we must not expect counties 
 everywhere to have the same officers, nor can we expect 
 to find county officers of the same name everywhere 
 performing precisely the same duties. Still, in many im- 
 
 
 A County Courthouse and Jail 
 
 portant matters county government is everywhere the 
 same. 
 
 The County Seat. — Every county has a county seat 
 where the courts are held and where the business of the 
 county is transacted. The county seat may very prop- 
 erly be called the capital of the county. It is the political 
 center of the county, very often the geographical center, 
 and in many cases the commercial center. Here are 
 located the courthouse, the jail, and other county build- 
 
Till'; COUNTY 87 
 
 ings. Somotinios a county lias two county scats, hut this 
 occurs very seldom indcctl. 
 
 The County Commissioners or Supervisors. — Most of 
 th(^ public business of the county is done by a Board of 
 County Connnissioners'— called in some States Super- 
 visors.- This board consists of three or more members 
 wiio h(,)l(l their office for a term that varies, in difTerent 
 States, from one to six years. In most of the States the 
 County Commissioners (Supervisors), like most of the 
 other county odiccrs, are elected by the people. 
 
 The power and duties of the County Commissioners vary 
 as we pass from State to State, but as a rule the Commis- 
 sioners do at least the following things: 
 
 (1) They fix the rate of taxation for the county. 
 
 (2) They appropriate money for the payment of the 
 salaries of county officers and to meet the other expenses 
 of county government. 
 
 (3) They make a contract for repairing old roads and 
 opening new ones, and for building and repairing bridges. 
 
 (4) Th(>y make contracts for building and repairing 
 public buildings, such as courthouses, jails, and alms- 
 houses. 
 
 (5) They appoint subordinate county officials. 
 
 ' This board is called in some of the States the county rnurt; in sev- 
 eral States it is railed the levy court because it ia the body that levies 
 (raises) the taxes. In Rhode Island there arc no County Commissioners. 
 
 - In some States the supervisors of all the dilTercnt townships 
 of a county act as a Ixiard of County Commissioners or Supervisr)rs. 
 This is true of New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and of 
 many counties of Illinois. 
 
88 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 (6) They represent the county in the courts when it is 
 sued for damages. 
 
 The Court Officials of the County. — The county is 
 everywhere a district for the administration of justice, 
 and at every county seat one or more judges sit for the 
 trial of cases. These judges generally are not themselves 
 county officers but are State officers; yet in conducting 
 the business of the court in each county they receive the 
 assistance of several county officers. The principal county 
 officers who assist the judges in their duties are the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 (1) The Sheriff has been called the ''arm of the judge" 
 because he carries out the orders of the judge. If the 
 judge orders a man to be taken to prison, the sheriff takes 
 him; if he orders property to be sold, the sheriff sells it; 
 if he sentences a man to be hanged, the sheriff hangs him. 
 It is the duty also of the sheriff to preserve peace and 
 order. If there is a riot, the sheriff quells it. When 
 necessary, the sheriff may call to his aid deputies or 
 helpers. In times of great danger or disturbance, the 
 sheriff may call to his aid the posse comitatus, that is, 
 every able-bodied man in the county. The sheriff lives at 
 the county seat and has charge of the county jail and its 
 prisoners. 
 
 (2) The Prosecuting Attorney— caWed in some States the 
 State's Attorney, in others the District Attorney, in others 
 the County Attorney, and in still others the Solicitor- 
 appears in the county court at the trial of a criminal and 
 presents the case against him. If the evidence goes to show 
 
THE COUNTY 89 
 
 that tho accused is guilty it is the business of the prosecu- 
 ting attorney to do all in his power to secure the conviction 
 of the offender. A faitiiful prosecuting attorney is a terror 
 to criminals. 
 
 (3) The Coroner. — When a i)erson is murdered or is 
 found dead or di(>s mysteriously the coroner (usually a 
 physician) takes charge of the body of the dead person 
 and iiKjuires into the cause of the death. If he thinks 
 that there has been foul play, he will summon six or 
 twelve men to act as a coroner's jury, and an examina- 
 tion will be made. Witnesses will be summoned, and the 
 jury, after hearing evidence, will state in writing what 
 they think was the cause of the death. This examination is 
 called the "coroner's inquest.'' 
 
 (4) The Clerk oj (he County Court. — Any court above a 
 police court, or above that of a justice of the peace, is a 
 "court of record"; that is, its proceedings are enrolled 
 in permanent form. The county court is a court of record, 
 and the man who keeps its records is called the Clerk of 
 the Court. This officer is a kind of secretary to the judge. 
 He writes out an account of trials and keeps a record of 
 the judgments of thr court. Resides this, in some States, 
 he keeps a record of dccils and mortgages affecting any land 
 in the county, issues marriage certificates, and records all 
 births and deaths. This officer in some States is called the 
 Prothonotary. 
 
 Other County Officials. — The county officers thus far 
 mentioned arc found in almost every State. In addi- 
 tion to these there arc several other countv officials 
 
90 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 that are found in many or most States. Among these 
 
 are: 
 
 (5) The County Treasurer, who receives and pays out 
 the money raised by taxation. 
 
 (6) The County Auditor, who examines the books of 
 the treasurer and of the other officers and reports whether 
 the public accounts are kept properly and honestly. 
 
 (7) County Assessors, who estimate the value of the prop- 
 erty of each taxpayer in the county; and County Tax Col- 
 lectors, who collect the taxes and turn them over to the 
 treasurer.^ 
 
 (8) The Register or Recorder of Deeds.— In all the States, 
 when real estate is sold or is in any manner transferred 
 from one person to another, a public record of the trans- 
 fer is necessary to protect the rights of the new claimant. 
 In about half the States the keeping of this record is 
 intrusted to a special county officer known as the Register, 
 or Recorder of Deeds. 
 
 (9) The Probate Court. — In most of the States there are 
 county officers known as Judges of the Probate Court .^ 
 It is the business of these officers to examine the wills 
 of deceased persons and decide whether they have been 
 made as ^^dlls by law ought to be made. When a person 
 dies without having made a will and leaves no one to 
 
 ' A detailed treatment of the usual methods of taxation is post- 
 poned to the end of the book (pages 212-221). 
 
 2 In Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Marj-land they are called Judges of 
 the Orphans' Court; in Georgia the probate judge has the title of Ordi- 
 nary. In New York and New Jersey the probate judges are called Sur- 
 rogates. 
 
THE COUNTY 91 
 
 tako charge of his ostato, the probate court will appoint 
 an Administrator to take charge of it. When a child is 
 left without father or mother, the probate court will 
 appoint a guardian who will manage the estate until the 
 child comes of age. In general, the business of the i)r()- 
 bate court is to see that the property of the dead falls 
 into rightful hands. 
 
 (10) The Superintendent of Schools. — In nearly all the 
 States there is a county oflicer whose duty is to look after 
 the interests of the public schools of the county. This 
 officer usually sets the examinations for teachers, visits 
 the schools, makes out courses of study, holds teachers' 
 institutes, and improves the schools in every way he 
 can. 
 
 (11) The School Board. — In a few States a county 
 School Boanl has the general management of the schools 
 of the county. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Bound accurately the county in which you live. When was it 
 organized? What is its area? Its population? Its county scat? 
 How came it by its name? What arc its larpest villapcs? Is there a 
 city situated in it? How many counties are there in this State? 
 
 2. If in your State there are county officers not named in the lesson, 
 name these officers and describe the duties of each. 
 
 3. Explain the difTerence between the words "elected" and "ap- 
 pointed." 
 
 4. What qualifications should a sherifT possess? A register of deeds? 
 A State's attorney? A county treasurer? A superintendent of schools? 
 As far as you know, are the officers of your county chosen on account 
 of their fitness for office? 
 
 5. Are you proud of your county? If so, for what reasons? 
 
92 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 6. Draw a map of your county, locating its county seat, and its 
 chief towns and villages. 
 
 7. Make out a table showing the titles of your county officers, their 
 names, the length of their terms of office and whether they are ap- 
 pointed or elected. 
 
 Title 
 
 Name 
 
 Length of term 
 
 Appointed 
 or elected 
 
 Salary 
 
 Sheriff 
 
 J. G. Smith 
 
 2 years 
 
 elected 
 
 $1500 
 
XVII. TOWN GOVERNMENT 
 
 'The tov\Ti governments of New England proved themselves the 
 wisest invention ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect exercise 
 of self-government and for its preserv-ation." — Thomas Jefferson. 
 
 Early Town Government in New England.— In Now 
 England, after you pass from the governments of the 
 home and of the school, the government that you meet 
 first, if you do not live in a city or village, is that of the 
 town. 
 
 A tovN-n, or tun (toon), in the earliest times was a cluster 
 of farmers' dwellings, barns, and cattle sheds, such a? 
 ma> be seen to-day in many parts of Germany. Around 
 the tun was either a wall of earth or a dense hedge, and 
 outside, encircling the mound or hedge, was a ditch. The 
 tun was thus fortified against its foes. In the center of 
 the inclosure, usually under a large tree, was held the 
 tun moot, or meeting of all the freemen of the tun. At 
 this moot newcomers were admitted to dwell within the 
 tun, lands were granted to freemen, "strife of farmer and 
 farmer was settled," laws for the government of the tun 
 were passed, and officers to execute those laws were elected. 
 Two thousand years ago our forefathers governed them- 
 selves in the tun moot in the wilds of Germany; when they 
 settled in England fifteen hundred years ago they carried 
 the tun moot with them; and when, nearly three hundred 
 years ago, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, they at once 
 
 93 
 
94 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 came together in tun moot, or town meeting, for the pur- 
 pose of transacting public affairs. 
 
 The EngHshmen who first settled in New England were 
 a very religious people. One of the first things they did 
 in a new settlement was to build a church in some place 
 convenient for all to attend. This church was called a 
 
 A Town Meeting in Early New England 
 
 meetinghouse, and this was a good name for it, for it was 
 a common meeting place for all in the settlement. The 
 congregation that met in it on the Sabbath as worshipers 
 would meet in it on a week day as citizens and transact 
 public affairs. Thus local government in New England 
 centered around a church. A congregation of churchgoers 
 was organized as a government, and this government was 
 called a town. When a town became so large in extent 
 
TOWN GOVERNMl.NT 95 
 
 that it was inconvrniont for nil to attend ono church, a now 
 churdi was built anil a new town was organized. You 
 rarely fintl a town in New England so large that a person 
 cannot with convenience attend a church situated in its 
 center. Every male citizen above twenty-one years of age 
 who attended the church — and everybody was required 
 to go to church — had the right to go to the meeting- 
 house and take part in the town meetings. Voters are 
 no longer required to attend church, but in other respects 
 the town governments of New England to-day are almost 
 exactly like those of the early years of our history. 
 
 The Town Meeting. — The most important feature of 
 the town government is the toicn meeting. Once a year 
 all the qualified voters of the town hold a meeting to dis- 
 cusd measures relating to town affairs, and to take action 
 thereon. The meeting is no longer held in a church, but 
 in the toxcnhouse, or (oumhall. When the people have 
 assembled, the town clerk calls them to order, and states 
 the purposes for which the meeting was called. A jnod- 
 erator is then chosen to preside over the meeting, and 
 business proceeds according to parliamentary rules. In a 
 town meeting we see pure democracy at work. Instead 
 of sending men to conduct affairs for them, as in a repre- 
 sentative government, the peoj)le are there in i)erson. 
 Young and old, rich and poor, take part in the proceed- 
 ings, and any citizen present may exert the full force 
 of his character anfl influence. Every measure that is 
 brought up is freely discus.sed and criticised. Those in 
 favor of the measure state their argument for it; those 
 
96 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 opposed to it state their objections. When the discussion 
 is at an end a vote is taken, and whatever the result may 
 be, all present feel that the will of the people has been 
 expressed. All matters relating to the public affairs of 
 the town are settled. The most important things done 
 are these: 
 
 (1) The rate of taxation is fixed. Money is appropri- 
 ated for the schools, for the care of the roads, for the 
 support of the poor, for the salaries of officers, and for 
 other necessary expenses. 
 
 (2) By-laws are passed for the regulation of local mat- 
 ters. The word hy originally meant town; hence a by-law 
 is a town law. A law passed in town meeting regulating 
 the speed of automobiles is an example of a by-law. 
 
 (3) Town officers are elected. 
 
 Town Officers. — ^The principal to\\Ti officers are as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 (1) The Selectmen. — The general management of town 
 affairs during the year is placed in the hands of three, or 
 five, or seven, or nine citizens, called Selectmen. These 
 officers carry into effect the measures passed at the town 
 meeting. They supervise the laying out of roads; they 
 grant licenses; they care for the poor; they take measures 
 to abate nuisances, check the advance of diseases, and 
 otherwise preserve the health of the town; they listen to 
 complaints against the management of town affairs; they 
 represent the town in court when it is sued ; they make 
 out the warrant when a special town meeting is to be 
 called. 
 
TOWN CiOViaiNMENT 97 
 
 (2) The Town Clerk calls the town nieoting to orIct 
 and keeps a record of the i)roceedings. In addition to 
 this he keeps a record of the births, marriages, and deaths 
 in the town, and grants certificates to those wishing to 
 nuirrv. In fact, most matters of town record are in his 
 keeping. 
 
 (3) Assessors estimate the value of property liable to 
 taxation. 
 
 (4) Tax Collectors collect the tax. 
 
 (5) Tfie Town Treasurer receives and pays out the money 
 which the town raises by taxation. 
 
 (6) The Overseers of the Poor have charge of the town 
 almshouse, and they give relief to the deserving poor. 
 
 (7) The Constables are peace officers, and every town 
 has one or more of them. They arrest for crime, and 
 assist the selectmen in executing the law. 
 
 (8) The Surveyors of Highways inspect roads and bridges, 
 and are responsible for keeping them in repair. 
 
 (9) Fence Viewers settle disputes that may arise be- 
 tween neighbors about partition fences or walls. 
 
 (10) Field Drivers.— When cows, or horses, or other 
 animals are found wandering about the town the field 
 driver puts them into a pound, and keeps them until their 
 rightful f)wner is found. 
 
 This list of officers is not complete, yet it is long enough 
 to show that a great many people take part in the govern- 
 ment of a town. It is quite possible that there arc towns 
 in wliich there is hardly one intelligent citizen who does 
 not sometime in his life hold pubfic ofiice. This general 
 F. Civil Govt.— 7 
 
98 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 participation in the business of government does much 
 to make the people of New England a most wide-awake 
 and progressive body of citizens. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 (For Pupils in Towns.) 
 
 1. What kind of men make good selectmen? What should be the 
 qualifications of a good town clerk? 
 
 2. What are the boundaries of the town in which you Hve? When 
 was your town organized? Is there a church near its center? 
 
 3. Make out a list of the names of all who now hold town offices. 
 
 4. Should boys and girls be allowed to take part in town meetings? 
 Are they represented there? 
 
 5. In what things should a town try to excel? In what does your 
 town excel? 
 
 6. How much money is raised by taxation in your town? What is 
 the tax rate? Is this higher or lower than the rate in neighboring 
 towns? 
 
XMTT. THE TOWNSHIP 
 
 "The western method of local government [the county-township 
 system] for simpUcity, sjTnmetry, flexibility, and administrativ« effi- 
 ciency is superior to any other system which the Teuton mind kas yet 
 produced." — G. E. Howard. 
 
 The Nature of Township Government.— In the Mid- 
 dle Atlantic States and in those western States that have 
 been settled largely by emigrants from the Middle States, 
 such as Ohio, Intliana, Illinois, the government that comes 
 closest to the door of the citizen is that of the township. 
 A township is a small portion of a county in which the 
 I^eople exercise some of those powers of government which 
 are exercised by the town of New England and by the 
 county in the southern States. Township government, 
 therefore, lies halfway between town government and 
 county government. In New England the people of a 
 town (by which we mean the people of a small neighbor- 
 hood) have nearly all the powers of local government 
 in their hands, and very little is left for the county to do. 
 In a southern county the people of a small community 
 exercise hardly any of the powers of government; every- 
 thing is done by the county. Now in ;i township a few 
 of the powers of local government are taken from the 
 county and given to the people of a small neighborhood. 
 The things done by the township government are usually 
 three: it supports ])uhlic schools, it cares for the mads, 
 
 09 
 
100 . LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 and it helps the 'poor. It also, in many States, levies and 
 collects taxes with which to pay for these things. 
 
 Township Meetings and Township Elections. — In New 
 York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minne- 
 sota, Nebraska, and the Dakotas the township resembles 
 somewhat the New England town. In these States the 
 voters come together once a year — usually in the spring — 
 in township meeting and vote on township matters. At 
 these meetings little is done except to elect the township 
 officers. In some of the above-named States, however, 
 after the officers have been elected the voters fix the tax 
 rate and do some other things that in New England are 
 done at the tow^n meeting. In other words, in the above- 
 named States the township resembles a pure democracy. 
 
 In the other States in which there are township gov- 
 ernments, that is to say, in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, 
 Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, there are no 
 township meetings but only township elections. In these 
 States the township is a representative government: the 
 voters simply elect the officers and these govern the toTvu- 
 ship. 
 
 Officers of the Township. — ^Township officers are not 
 precisely the same in any two States, yet in most of the 
 States where the township appears there is a set of officers 
 whose titles and duties are somewhat as follows: 
 
 (1) The Supervisor oi' Supervisors (sometimes called 
 Trustees) take care of the roads and bridges, erect and keep 
 in repair guideposts and watering troughs, and plant shade 
 trees along the roadside. They may build and keep in re- 
 
Tiir: TOWNSHIP loi 
 
 pair a lownhousc, in which elections may be held and ofiiccrs 
 of the town may transact the public business. 
 
 (2) TJic School Directors; hiixo control of the public 
 schools within the township. Their powers and duties 
 have been stated in a previous lesson (p. 25). In some 
 States the directors of all the townships in a county meet 
 every second or third year and elect a Superintendent 
 of Schools for the county. 
 
 (3) The Township Clerk is a secretary for the super- 
 visors or trustees. He keeps the records and accounts 
 of the township. 
 
 (4) The Assessors. — The chief duty of the township as- 
 sessors is like that of town or county assessoi"s. Sometimes 
 the assessors act also as registrars of voters (p. 49). Some- 
 time.-; they keep a record of all births and deaths for the 
 to^^•Ilship. 
 
 (5) The Tax Collector collects the taxes in the townsliip. 
 
 (6) The A uditors examine the accounts of other officers 
 of the township to see that all money has been expended 
 properly and honestly. 
 
 (7) The Justice of the Peace ^ holds court on a small 
 scale; he acts as a peacemaker between his neighbors 
 in their petty disputes; he administers oaths; he per- 
 forms the marriage ceremony. 
 
 (8) The Constable acts as the peace officer of the town- 
 ship, and is the "arm of the justice of the peace," much as 
 the sheriff is the "arm of the judge" (p. 88). 
 
 (9) The Overseers of the Poor attend to the needs of the 
 ' More is said about the Justice of the Peace on pages 144, 145. 
 
102 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 poor. When there is no poorhouse in the county, the 
 township supports the poor by sending them provisions 
 to their homes or paying some one to provide for them. 
 In some States overseers may lay a tax for the support 
 of the poor of the township. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 (For Pupils in Townships.) 
 
 1. How many townships in the county in which you live? Name 
 them. 
 
 2. Bound the towTiship in which you Uve. What is its population? 
 Draw a map of it, locating the towTihouse. Locate any vallages that 
 it may contain. 
 
 3. ^Yhat is the rate of taxation ill j'our township? How does this 
 compare with the rate of adjoining townships? 
 
 4. Are the officers of your township elected by ballot, or by the 
 people assembled in town meeting? 
 
 5. Do the supervisors (or trustees) of your to'ttTiship serve as mem- 
 bers of a county board of supervisors? 
 
 6. Make out a table showing the titles of your township officers, 
 their names, the length of their terms of office, whether they are ap- 
 pointed or elected, and the salary or compensation. 
 
 Title 
 
 Name 
 
 Length of term 
 
 Appointed 
 or elected 
 
 Salary or 
 compensation 
 
XIX. MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 "I bless God for cities. Cities have been as lamps of life along the 
 patliway of humanity and rclipion. Within them science has given 
 birth to her noblest (li.scoveries. Behind their walls freedom has 
 fought her noblest battles." — Colton. 
 
 Why Municipal Government is Necessary. — The local 
 govornments thus far studied, the County, the Town, the 
 Township, arc best fitted to perform the local services of 
 farming districts and thinly settled communities. These 
 may, therefore, be call('(l the rural governments.^ For 
 thickly scttle<l communities, for villages,' boroughs, and 
 cities, a special kind of government, known as munici- 
 pal government, is necessary. Let us learn why it is nec- 
 essary for a densely populated community to have a 
 special kind of government. 
 
 There is an old saying that "Rome was not built in a 
 day." This is true of all cities. The miles of streets and 
 the grand buildings you see around you in a city were not 
 i)uilt in a day. A city begins with one l)uilding, perhaps 
 a flourmill, or a sawmill, or a farmhouse, or a rude shed 
 for cattle. Let us try to follow in our imagination the 
 
 ' It is only partly true to speak of the New England town as a 
 rural government, for verj' often the towns of New llngland are verj' 
 thickly settled and sometimes are cities in almost everything except 
 in name. 
 
 •^ What is calletl a village in some States is in other States called a 
 town, but the word town here does not mean the town discussed 
 in Lesson XVII. 
 
 103 
 
104 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 growth of a city. Let us suppose the first building is a 
 sawmill built in a forest of fine timber. 
 
 Soon after the mill is built its manager builds a home 
 for himself and famil}^ In a short time rows of houses 
 are built as dwellings for the men who work in the mill 
 and for those who cut down the trees. These rows of 
 houses are the beginnings of streets. The families who 
 dwell in these houses must be supplied with groceries and 
 other necessaries; hence it is not long before a merchant 
 comes and erects a building for a store. The horses that 
 haul the logs must be shod and the wagons repaired; 
 hence a blacksmith shop and a wheelwright shop must be 
 built. A railroad is built near the settlement, and this 
 brings a station and a station master. 
 
 The place must now have a name. A natural name for 
 it would be Millville. Let us call it that. Millville is 
 prosperous, and many who wish to join in its prosperity 
 are attracted to it. The doctor and the druggist, the 
 shoemaker and the carpenter, with their families, come 
 to try their fortune. Soon a schoolhouse is built, and 
 a church and a house for the preacher. Another mill is 
 built. This means more workmen and more merchants. 
 Now comes the tailor, the seamstress, the music teacher, 
 the barber, and baker, and many others. 
 
 Millville has a thousand inhabitants, but it has no 
 separate government. It is governed precisely as the 
 more thinly settled region around it is governed. It pays 
 a large share of the taxes of the county in which it is 
 situated, yet it gets but little return for the money. In 
 
iMUNlCirAL GOVEl^NMliNT 105 
 
 the spending of the taxes but little attention is given to 
 its needs. It needs street lamps, sidewalks, sewers, water- 
 works, policemen, firemen. It also needs certain powers 
 of government that are necessary wherever a large num- 
 ber of people live together. As it is, in Millville each 
 person acts in reference to his neighbor's comfort about 
 as he pleases. He paves the sidewalk in front of his 
 house, or does not pave it, as best suits him; he helps to 
 buy oil for the street lamps, or he refuses; if he sees fit, 
 he may throw garbage into the street, and commit other 
 offenses against the health of the town: there are no officers 
 and no laws to hinder him. When there is a drunken row, 
 there are no officers to arrest the offenders. 
 
 Village and Borough Government. — In order to change 
 this state of things and make Millville a safer, cleaner, and 
 more beautiful place in which to live, its inhabitants get 
 for it a special government. The people of the settlement 
 organize as a village, or borough, or town. They are per- 
 mitted to do this by a State law which provides for the 
 government of villages or towns. They apply to the 
 judge of some court or to some other officer and get a 
 charter for a municipal government. In this charter the 
 village is given a legal name and its boundaries are care- 
 fully stated. The charter, or the State law, also states 
 what officers the village is to have and what powers the 
 ofiicers are to exerci.se. What these officers are called 
 and what are their powers can l)e learned only from the 
 village charter or the law itself. If you live in a chartered 
 village by all means get a copy of your village charter 
 
lOG LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 and study it. Doubtless the charter provides for a village 
 president, or mayor, or chief burgess, and for a body of 
 trustees or commissioners or councilmen or burgesses. In 
 addition the village may have a clerk, a treasurer, a tax col- 
 lector, a constable, a justice of the peace, and a street com- 
 missioner. 
 
 Under their charter the citizens of Millville begin the 
 business of governing a village. A police officer is em- 
 ployed, waterworks are built, a fire engine is bought, 
 sewers are laid, streets are paved and lighted and kept 
 clean, better schoolhouses and better schools are pro- 
 vided. To pay for all these things village or borough taxes 
 are levied upon the property holders. 
 
 We will suppose that under its new government Mill- 
 ville is stirred with new life. More mills are built; large 
 factories employing hundreds of people are set in opera- 
 tion. The population rapidly and steadily increases. 
 In the course of time, instead of having a thousand in- 
 habitants, it has come to have many thousands. It is 
 now found that the village form of government does not 
 suit so large a place. The officers pro\ided by the vil- 
 lage charter are too few in number and the powers are 
 too 'few and too small. Millville has become a city and it 
 must have a government suitable to a city. 
 
 The City Charter. — When the village becomes a city 
 it still has municipal government and still does business 
 under a charter. 
 
 City charters are usuallj'' granted by the State Legisla- 
 ture. In a few States, however, the people of a city have a 
 
MUNiriPAi, r,()vi:i?NMi:NT 107 
 
 voico in the niakiiifz; of i\\v cluulcr uiulcr wliidi thoy arc to 
 live. They draw up a charter suitable to their needs and 
 present it to their Legislature for approval. 
 
 The city charter provides for a great many more officers 
 than a village charter and grants a great many more powers. 
 The charter of a large city is sometimes a volume of several 
 hundred })ages. The names and titles of the officers of a 
 large city would alone fill many pages of this book. Because 
 of its size, then, it would be impossible here to describe fully 
 the charter of a large city. 
 
 There is another reason why a description of a city 
 charter might not bo satisfactorj'': the Legislature is 
 constantly changing the charters of cities. So if I should 
 take the charter of one of the cities of your State and 
 describe the government of that city, it might happen 
 that before my description found its way into i)rint the 
 Legislature would change the charter, and my description 
 would be no description at all. If you live in a city and 
 want a full and true description of your city government 
 you must get it from the last charter granted to your city. 
 
 Still, in spite of the different ways in which legislatures 
 treat cities in the different States, and in spite of the 
 constant changes that arc being made in charters, mu- 
 nicipal government all over the country is very much 
 the same. The city everywhere has nearly the sauK.' kind 
 of work to do, and to do this work i)roperly there must 
 be ofilicers of a certain kind and these oflicers must have 
 powers of a certain kiutl: A\Tiat these ofTicers and powers 
 are will be the subject of the next lesson. 
 
108 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 (For Pupils in Villages, Boroughs, and Towns.) 
 
 1. Obtain a copy of your village (or borough) charter, and examine 
 it for answers to the following questions: 
 
 (a) When was the charter granted? 
 
 (b) By what authority was it granted? 
 
 (c) What is the title of the executive officer of the village? 
 
 (d) What is the governing body called? What are the powers of 
 
 this body? How often does it meet? 
 
 (e) Are the officers of the village elected or appointed? 
 
 (/) What powers of taxation does the charter grant? Could the 
 people of the village be taxed to build a bridge costing $50,000? 
 One costing $5,000? 
 
 (gf) Who are entitled to vote at village elections? 
 
 (h) What are the boundaries of the village? 
 
 2. What improvements are needed in your village? Can they be 
 secured under the terms of the charter? 
 
 3. Have you seen villages much more attractive than the one in 
 which you live? What makes a village attractive? 
 
 4. Are the officers of your village slow and old-fashioned, or pro- 
 gressive and modern, in their ideas? 
 
 5. Prepare a table for village officers similar to that which was 
 prepared for county officers. 
 
XX. MrXTCTPAT. flOVERNMENT {Continued) 
 
 "The modem city has come to be a huge corporation for carrjing 
 on a huge business with many branches." — John Fiske. 
 
 The Three Great Departments of City Government.— 
 
 In the city \ve see very clearly the separation of power 
 that gives us the three departments of government. The 
 municipal charter almost always provides for a law- 
 making department, an executive department, and a 
 judicial department. But all judicial officers are really 
 State officers, for they act in the name of the State 
 even though they are elected for a city and by the 
 voters of a city. The judicial department of a city con- 
 sists simply of some State courts holding their sessions 
 within the borders of the city. So it will not be necessary 
 here to study the workings of the judicial department of 
 city government, for that subject will be treated later 
 when we come to study the workings of the judicial de- 
 partment of the State government (Lesson XXVI). 
 Here we need to study only the legislative and executive 
 departments of city government. 
 
 The City Council.— The legislative department of a city 
 is usually called tlie City Council. In large cities the 
 Council often consists of two branches or houses, some- 
 times called the first and second branches, sometimes the 
 Board of Aldermen and the Board of Councilnicn. The 
 city is divided into wards, and the votei-s of each ward 
 
 109 
 
110 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 elect one or more councilinen to represent them in the 
 City Council. If there are twenty wards in the city, the 
 Council will consist of twenty, or forty, or sixty members, 
 according as there are one, two, or three members from 
 
 "<*'■ V-^s*-^- ^-^ -jit//'' 
 
 A City Hall 
 
 each ward. These councilmen meet in the City Hall, and 
 make laws for the government of the city. The laws that 
 a City Council makes are called ordinances. An ordinance, 
 then, is a city law. These ordinances of the Council relate 
 to almost everything that concerns life in a city. There 
 
MUNICIPAL C.OVERNMENT 111 
 
 is not room here to sjH>:ik of all (he things (K)ni; by a City 
 Council; a few of the things doni; by it, however, may be 
 montioned. 
 
 When you are born, the City Council reciuires that your 
 name b(^ registered in the book of births; when you are 
 old enough to go to school, it provides for you schools and 
 teachers and, sometimes, books; if your parents are too 
 poor to support you, it will h(dp j'ou with food and cloth- 
 ing; when you go out from your hom(>, you walk upon 
 streets paved and cleaned and lighted by the Council; if 
 you should be attacked, its policemen will arrest your 
 assailant; if you wish to engage in some business, it will 
 probably demand of you a license; if you wish to build a 
 home, you must first get from it permission to build ; if your 
 house takes fire, its firemen come rushing to put the fire out. 
 The Council provides for the removal of garbage from your 
 yard; it employs men to inspect the (juality of your food 
 and drink; it provides parks and open squares where you 
 may get a breath of fi-esh air and a glimpse of nature; it 
 causes to Ik^ brought into your house a supply of fresh 
 water, and it provides sewers to carry W'aste water away 
 from your house; if in your old age you shall be infirm 
 and j)oor, the Council will care for you in its asylums; at 
 last, when you shall die, it will grant a permit for your 
 burial, and the fact of y(»ur death will have to be registered 
 in its book of deaths. 
 
 Thus from birth to death th(> acts of the City Council 
 affect the lives of the people in the city. How important, 
 then, it is that that body should be composed of honest 
 
112 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 and intelligent men! How tireless should be the efforts 
 of voters to secure the election of such men! Remember 
 this : If you succeed in getting honorable, wide-awake men 
 in your City Council, you will have a well-governed city. 
 As far as you know, have you such men now in your City 
 Council? 
 
 The Mayor; Municipal Executive Department. — At 
 the head of the municipal executive department stands 
 the Mayor. This officer is nearly always elected directly 
 by the people, although in a very few cases he is chosen 
 by the City Council. His term of office varies from one 
 to four years. The chief duty of the Mayor is to carry 
 into effect the ordinances of the Council. In most cities 
 the ]\layor can veto an ordinance of the Council. When 
 an ordinance is vetoed it is generall}' sent back to the 
 Council, where it is voted upon again and if it is passed 
 again by a two-thirds (or three-fifths) vote, it is a lawful 
 ordinance, notwithstanding the Mayor's objection. 
 
 The work a city government has to do is very great, and 
 it takes a small army of men to perform it. The mu- 
 nicipal business is done by departments. At the head of 
 each department there is an executive officer or a board. 
 The heads of these departments (or boards) are usually 
 either appointed by the Mayor or elected by the people. 
 When they are appointed by the Mayor they sometimes 
 must be approved by the City Council. 
 
 The municipal executive departments are few or many 
 according as the city is small or large, and according as 
 the municipal work is light or heavy. In many good-sized 
 
MrxiriPAL (i(n'i:uNMENT m 
 
 wide-awake cities you will iiiicl the following departments, 
 officers, and boards: 
 
 (1) ^1 Deparlment of Finance with a comptroller, or 
 auditor, and assessors and collectors of taxes. 
 
 (2) A Department of Law with a city solicitor, or corpo- 
 ration counsel, who acts as the city's lawyer. 
 
 (3) A Department of Public Safety with fire commis- 
 sioners, health commissioners, inspectors of buildings, in- 
 spectors of boilers, inspectors of plumbing. 
 
 (4) A Deparlment of Parks and Squares with a board 
 of park conmiissioners. 
 
 (5) ^1 Department of Education with a board of school 
 commissioners. 
 
 (6) A Department of Charities with a board of overseers 
 of the poor. 
 
 (7) .1 Department of Police with a board of police com- 
 missioners. 
 
 (8) A Department of Ilightvays with a street commis- 
 sioner, a city engineer, and a superintendent of lamps and 
 lighting. 
 
 Many cities do not have all the above departments 
 and officers, but many large cities have them all and many 
 more besides. Serving in these departments are assistants 
 and employees, who in many cities arc numbered by 
 thousands and in a few by tens of thousands. 
 
 Services of City Government. — In the paragraph on 
 the City Council mention was made of many of the usual 
 and more important .ser\'ices of city government. Hut 
 should the city attempt to do more than it usually ilocs? 
 
 F. Civil Govt.— 8 
 
114 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 It supplies the people with water; should it supply them 
 with gas also? Should it own and operate the electric cars? 
 It provides children with an education; should it provide 
 them with a midday lunch also? Should it furnish the 
 music for the parks? Should it own and operate the tele- 
 phone? Should it lay pipes and supply heat to families? 
 These are a few of the questions you will be called upon to 
 answer when you become voters. You may not be able 
 to answer them intelligently now; but if you will begin 
 to study them now, when the time comes for you to vote 
 and act, you will not vote and act like blind men. 
 
 Surely if you live in a city the subject of municipal 
 government deserves all the attention you can give it. 
 Sooner or later you will discover that much of the happi- 
 ness of your life depends upon the way the affairs of your 
 city are managed. A well-governed city is one of the 
 best places in the world for one to live in, while a badly 
 governed city is one of the worst places. If when you are 
 grown you will try to make the government of your city 
 better, your efforts may be richly rewarded, for you may 
 be the cause of making the lives of thousands of people 
 happier. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 
 
 (For Pupils who live in Cities.) 
 
 1. In what county is the city in which you live situated? When was 
 it organized? What are its bovmdaries? What is its population? 
 What are its industries? Can a city be situated in a town? 
 
 2. How many wards in your city? In which ward do you live? 
 Bound the ward in which you hve. How many councilmen or alder- 
 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMKNT llo 
 
 men (loos each ward in your city pcml to tin- City ( nuiuil? W hat are 
 the quahfications of a good councihnan? Name the councihncn who 
 represent your ward. 
 
 3. Let a pupil obtain a copy of the report of the police department 
 and describe its work. The report will show how many policemen arc 
 employed, what are their salaries, the number of arrests made, the 
 causes for which the arrests were made, and other interesting facts. 
 Reports of other departments may be similarly studictl. 
 
 4. How does the rate of taxation in your city compare with that of 
 other cities of equal size? 
 
 5. What is the amount of the debt of your city? 
 
 6. Does your city own its gas and electric light plants? 
 
 7. Has your city the reputation of being well governed? 
 
 8. "What are the qualifications of a good Mayor? 
 
 9. How may young people help the cause of good city government? 
 
XXI. THE STATE 
 
 "States make up the mass, the body, the organic stuff of the govern- 
 ment of the country. To them is intrusted our daily welfare." 
 
 — Woodrow Wilson. 
 
 The Thirteen Colonies. — While studying the govern- 
 ment of the city and town and county mention was made 
 now and then of a larger government that is above the 
 local governments and that holds them together and gives 
 them their power. This larger government is the State, 
 and it is the State that w^e are now going to study. We may 
 best begin the study of the State by glancing at the history 
 of State government in the United States. 
 
 At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, three mil- 
 lion English-speaking people lived along the coast of the 
 Atlantic in thirteen distinct and separate colonies, — 
 Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Con- 
 necticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
 ]\Iaryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and 
 Georgia. These colonies were all dependent upon the 
 English government; their inhabitants were subjects of 
 the English king. But England was three thousand miles 
 away, and it took, in those times, many weeks for a vessel 
 to cross the Atlantic. As a result of tliis wide separation, 
 England could not govern an American colony in the 
 same way that she governed one of her counties at home. 
 A colony in many things w^as allowed to govern itself. It 
 
 116 
 
4 
 
 THE STATR 117 
 
 elected its own lawmakers, it appointed its own judges. 
 Rhode Island and Connecticut even elected their own Gov- 
 ernors also, and thus exercised the three powers of govern- 
 ment, — the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. 
 Aside from the tie that bound it to I'^ngland, a colony had 
 no other ties. Each colony was independent of all the other 
 colonics. Pennsylvania had no more to do with its neigh- 
 bor Maryland in the way of government than it had with 
 Prussia. 
 
 The Thirteen Original States. — By the Revolution each 
 colony made itself in many respects a free and independent 
 nation,— a State. Instead of thirteen English colonies, 
 there were thirteen American States. As quickly as possi- 
 ble, the people of each colony took up the difficult task 
 of self-government. The first thing to be done was to 
 change the colonial government into a State government. 
 This was done by representatives of the people of a State 
 agreeing on a plan as to just how the State was to be 
 governed. This plan was put in writing and was called 
 the constitution of the State. Each colony made for 
 itself a constitution that suited best its own wishes and 
 its own needs. The constitution of Virginia differed from 
 that of Massachusetts, because the needs of Mrginia were 
 different from those of Massachusetts. 
 
 You must not suppose that the new State government 
 that was formed differed very much from the old colonial 
 government. The people of a colony, after many years of 
 hard experience, had built up the kind of government they 
 hked best, and they had become used to obeying certain 
 
118 STATE GOVERNMENT 
 
 laws and observing certain customs. Now it is not pos- 
 sible — and you should think of this when you hear new 
 schemes of government proposed — it is not possible for 
 a people suddenly to make a complete change in their 
 laws, customs, and habits. So the new State governments 
 were necessarily very much like the old colonial govern- 
 ments. The colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island 
 did not form new governments at all, but took the old 
 charters granted to them by England as their new con- 
 stitutions. 
 
 The Admitted States.— In 1788-1790 the thirteen 
 original States formed a Union under the Constitution of 
 the United States. It was not long before other commu- 
 nities outside of the present boundaries of the original States 
 wished to join the Union. Each was allowed to do this as 
 soon as it had grown large enough in population and after 
 it had adopted for itself a constitution that w^as acceptable 
 to Congress. When these requirements were fulfilled, the 
 new community was admitted to the Union as a State. 
 Vermont w^as the first new State admitted. This was in 
 1791. The next year Kentucky was admitted; and soon 
 from time to time until thirty-three new States have been 
 admitted into the Union, making forty-six in all. The last 
 to be admitted was Oklahoma. 
 
 The Outlines of a State Government. — From their 
 history you would expect the governments , of the several 
 States to differ from one another and you would expect 
 them also to resemble one another. Most of the people 
 of the colonies from New Hampshire to Georgia were 
 
TlIK STATE ir.i 
 
 Englishmen in blood and speech antl they all had English 
 notions of Uberty and government and law. When the 
 United States became a nation what had l)een English 
 before became American, and as new States came into 
 the Union they came in with American notions of liberty, 
 government, and law.' So it is quite natural that the 
 governments of the forty-six States should be alike in 
 many important respects. Each State 
 
 (1) Has a popular government. 
 
 (2) Has a written constitution. 
 
 (3) Has the three great dei)artments of government. 
 
 (4) Supports a system of public schools. 
 
 (5) Pro\'ides for a system of local self-government. 
 
 (6) Makes most of the laws that regulate the citizen 
 in his daily conduct and in his daily pursuits. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Name the States of the Union. 
 
 2. Bound the State in which you Hve. Is it one of the original 
 States? If it is not. wlicn was it admitted into the Union? 
 
 3. What is the origin of tlie name of your State? What is its nick- 
 name? What is the coat-of-arms of your State? 
 
 4. How many States have a greater population than your State? 
 What is the area of your State? How many States have a greater 
 area? How many States as large as the smallest State in the Union 
 could be m.idc out of the large.st State in the Union? 
 
 5. Write a short composition on "Our State." telling about the 
 history of your State, its size, its population, its industries, its re- 
 sources, its schools, its cities, its great men, and giving reasons why 
 you are proud of it. 
 
 * Louisiana when admitted (in 1812) had the French system of law. 
 
XXII. THE STATE CONSTITUTION 
 
 "The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make 
 and alter their constitution of government." — George Washington. 
 
 Meaning of the Word " Constitution."— You have 
 met the word Constitution several times aheady, and, 
 since 3'ou will meet it many times hereafter, you 
 ought to try to understand clearly what it means. The 
 word comes from constituo, a Latin word which means 
 ■fix, estahlish, settle. The constitution of a debating society 
 is a set of fixed rules by which the society is to be per- 
 manently governed, and from which it cannot rightfully 
 depart. The constitution of a State is a document con- 
 taining those fixed principles and rules by which a State 
 must be governed, and from which neither the Governor, 
 the lawmaker, nor the judge may depart. The consti- 
 tution may be called the fundamental law of the State, 
 because it is the foundation upon which all laws are built, 
 just as the foundation of a house is the part upon which 
 all the other parts rest. Think of a constitution as the 
 foundation plan upon which a system of laws may be built. 
 
 Description of a State Constitution. — In the last les- 
 son you learned that every State has a written constitu- 
 tion. Since this constitution is the fundamental law of 
 a State you ought to have a clear notion of what it is like. 
 I have before me the constitution of one of the States, 
 and I will attempt to describe it to you very briefly. 
 
 120 
 
THE STATE CONSTITUTION 121 
 
 It begins with a Declaration of Rights, which declares 
 that a people ha\o the right to govern themselves; that 
 all citizens have a right to a trial by jury; that the Gov- 
 ernor, the juilges, and the lawmakers arc responsible to 
 the people for their actions; that all male adult citizens 
 have the right to vote; that the legislative, executive, and 
 judicial powers of government shall be separate; that there 
 shall be freedom of speech and debate; that no one shall be 
 compelled to give evidence against himself in a court of 
 law; that the press shall be free; that no title of nobility 
 shall be granted; that a man's rehgion shall not be made 
 a test for holding oflice; that the people have in themselves 
 the right to form a new government. 
 
 After declaring these and some other rights, the con- 
 stitution takes up the three departments of government. 
 As to the executive department, it states who may be 
 elected Governor, how and when he may be elected, how 
 long he shall serve, and what are his powers and duties. 
 The powers and duties of other executive officers are also 
 defined. After the executive we come to the legislative 
 department. We are told what shall be the name of the 
 Legislature, how it shall be composed, who may be its 
 members, where it shall meet, how a law shall be passed, 
 and, in a general way, what kin<l of laws shall be passed, 
 and what kind may not l)e passed. After the legislative 
 comes the judicial department. The riualifications, duties, 
 and powers of judges arc explained, and the boundaries 
 of the different judicial circuits are defined. 
 
 Last of all comes the miscellaneous provisions. These 
 
122 . STATE GOVERNMENT 
 
 relate to education, corporations, public debts, taxation, 
 and amendments. 
 
 The constitution altogether would make about forty 
 pages of this book. There are forty-six States, and each 
 State has its own constitution and no two constitutions 
 are alike, but all the State constitutions have a strong 
 resemblance to the one that has been described. 
 
 How the Constitution of a State is Made.— The con- 
 stitution of a State is made by a body of men who are 
 chosen to make a constitution and to do nothing else. 
 This body is called the Constitutional Convention. This 
 convention is composed of delegates elected by the people 
 of the counties and cities of the State. In this constitu- 
 tional convention the needs and wishes of the people of 
 the State are discussed, and a constitution is carefully 
 drawn up. 
 
 After a constitution is agreed upon by the convention, 
 it is usually submitted to the people to be voted upon. 
 If a majority of the popular vote is cast for it, it stands 
 as the constitution — the fixed plan of government. If 
 it does not receive a majority of the votes, no further 
 attention is paid to it; the work of the convention was 
 in vain. If the people reject a proposed constitution, 
 they must live under the old constitution until another 
 convention is called, and a constitution is framed that 
 will suit them. There have been some constitutional 
 conventions that did not submit the constitution to the 
 people to be voted upon, but instead declared it in force 
 at once. In most of the States, however, the constitution 
 
THE STATIC CONSTITl'TIOX 123 
 
 was votocl ujjon and adopted by the people before it be- 
 came the law. 
 
 How a Constitution is Changed. — We have called the 
 constitution the lixed, unchanging plan of government. 
 But it would not do for a constitution to remain un- 
 changed and unchangeable forever. It sometimes hap- 
 pens that a plan is good at one time and yet bad at an- 
 other time; and a constitution that might have been 
 good and wise in the year 1850, may, by the year 1950, 
 have become foohsh or harmful. If, then, there is some- 
 thing in a constitution that ought not to be there, or if 
 something ought to be there that is not there, how shall 
 a change be made? The answer is: By amendment; the 
 constitution is mended where it is weak. This is done as 
 follows: The Legislature of the State passes the amend- 
 ment which it thinks ought to be inserted in the con- 
 stitution, and then submits the amendment to the people 
 to be voted upon, for or against. If it gets the requisite 
 number of the votes of the electors, the amendment be- 
 comes a part of the constitution. 
 
 AMien an entirely new constitution is desired, a new 
 constitutional convention must be called. This is usu- 
 ally done as follows: The Legislature submits to the peo- 
 ple the question, whether they wish a new constitutional 
 convention or not. If the people vote yes, the Legislature 
 pro\ides for the election of the delegates to the con- 
 vention. The election is then held and the elected dele- 
 gates meet in convention, make a new constitution, and 
 submit it to the people to be voted upon, as has been 
 
124 STATE GOVERNMENT 
 
 explained. You see that a constitution is adopted directly 
 by the votes of the people. It is not adopted by the 
 representatives of the people: it is very nearly the work 
 of a pure democracy. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 
 
 1. Get a copy of the constitution of your State, and examine it for 
 answers to the following questions: 
 
 (a) When was the constitution adopted by the people? 
 (6) About how many pages of this book would it make? 
 
 (c) What are the principal rights declared? 
 
 (d) Are there any amendments to the constitution as it now stands? 
 
 If so, when and why were they adopted? 
 
 (e) What provision of the constitution seems to be the most impor- 
 
 tant? 
 (/) Do you find anything in the constitution that you would like to 
 
 see changed? 
 (g) How would you proceed to get the constitution changed? 
 
 2. Elect a committee consisting of classmates to draw up a constitu- 
 tion for the government of a debating society. Provide in the consti- 
 tution for election of officers, time and place of holding meetings, 
 quahfications for membership, dues, fines, etc. The committee cannot 
 do good work iinless it takes as a model some suitable constitution 
 already drawn up. The constitution drawn up should be submitted to 
 the whole class for approval. 
 
 3. How many constitutions has your State had during its entire 
 history? 
 
 4. Would it be wise for Maine and Louisiana to exchange constitu- 
 tions? 
 
 5. Does the constitution described in the lesson resemble closely the 
 constitution of your State? 
 
XXIIL THE STATE LEGISLATURE 
 
 "While acting as the representative of the people I shall be governed 
 by their will on all subjects upon which I have the means of knowing 
 what their will is, and upon all others I shall do what my own jutlgment 
 teaches me will best advance their interests." — Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 When and Where the State Legislature Meets.— Each 
 
 State has its capital, or the city in wliicli tlie business of 
 
 
 onifld* 
 
 rijif 
 
 n, 
 
 3 
 
 y 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 A State Capitol 
 
 the Stato p;ovpmmcnt is transacted. If you have ever 
 been in the capital of your State, you have doubtless 
 visited the capilol, or Slalchoitf^r. This is us-nnllv a haiid- 
 
 125 
 
126 STATE GOVERNMENT 
 
 some building, containing many halls and offices. In 
 this building is done the most important work of the 
 State government. Here the Governor of the State and 
 his assistants have their offices; here the highest judges 
 of the State hold their courts; here the Legislature of the 
 State meets to make laws. 
 
 The Two Branches of the Legislature. — Let us sup- 
 pose that you are in the Statehouse on the morning a 
 Legislature assembles for the first time. When the hour 
 for meeting comes, the lawmakers, who have been mov- 
 ing busily about in the corridors, talking with one another, 
 divide into two bodies. The smaller number meet in a 
 room at one end of the Statehouse. The men who meet 
 in this room are somewhat advanced in years; they move 
 about in a quiet and dignified manner. Many of them 
 seem to be familiar with the place and to know how to 
 begin with the business. These men are senators, this is 
 the Senate chamber, and this branch of the Legislature 
 is the Senate. 
 
 The larger number of lawmakers assemble in a large 
 hall at the opposite end of the Statehouse. This body, as 
 we look upon it from a gallery, differs much in appear- 
 ance from the Senate. The men are of all ages, from the 
 young man of two and twenty to the gray-haired man of 
 seventy. A few of them are self-possessed and seem to 
 be familiar with their surroundings, but many of them 
 act as if they were in a strange place. These men are 
 representatives, and this is the House of Representatives. 
 
 The Legislature of a State is always divided into these 
 
Tin: STATE LfeGISLATURE 127 
 
 two branches, — an upper house, or Senate, and ii lower 
 house, or House of Representatives. In some States the 
 lower house is called the Assembly, in others it is called 
 the House of Delegates, in New Jersey it is called the 
 General Assembly. In many of the States General As- 
 sembly is a name for the whole Legislature. 
 
 Election of Members of the Legislature. — Both the 
 lower house and the Senate arc representative bodies, that 
 is, the members of both are sent to the capital to act in 
 the place of the people. 
 
 The counties (or towns) and cities arc represented in 
 the House of Eeprescntativcs according to population, 
 A county (or to\\-n), if it is small, may have but one repre- 
 sentative, while a county with a large population may 
 have two, or three, or four. In the same way a city may be 
 represented by one, two, or more representatives, ac- 
 cording as it is small or large. 
 
 How is the number of representatives for a county or 
 city determined? Every hve or ten years a ceiisiis of the 
 people is taken, — that is, the people are counted, — and 
 from this census it can be determined how many represen- 
 tatives a county or city is entitled to. If it is the law that 
 there should be at least one representative for 10,000 people, 
 then a county with a population of 10,000 or under would 
 be entitled to one representative; a county with a poj^ula- 
 tion of more than 10,000 and less than 20,000 would have 
 two representatives; a city of 50,000 |)coi)le, according to 
 this mle, would have fhe representatives. But a lawmaking 
 body should not be so large as to make it difficult to trans- 
 
128 STATE GOVERNMENT 
 
 act business in a quiet and deliberate manner. A State with 
 1,000,000 inhabitants, represented by one representative 
 for every 10,000 people, would have a House of Representa- 
 tives consisting of 100 members. If the population of 
 the State increases to 2,000,000, how would the law have 
 to be changed so that the number of representatives 
 would still be 100? 
 
 A senator represents a larger number of people than is 
 represented by a member of the House. The State is 
 divided into senatorial districts, and from each of these 
 districts one senator is elected. A senatorial district may 
 include several counties, or several senators may represent 
 one county. It is generally provided by law that senators 
 shall be older than representatives, and for this reason 
 they are supposed to be wiser than members of the lower 
 house. They are elected to serve for longer terms than 
 representatives, and they usually are men who have had 
 more experience in matters of government. 
 
 Organization. — After a roll call of the members, the 
 first thing that is done in the newly elected House of 
 Representatives is to choose a presiding officer, called a 
 Speaker. The Speaker takes the chair, and then the 
 House proceeds to elect some one who is not a member, 
 as its Clerk or Secretary. The duty of this official is to 
 write out in a large book, called the Journal, a full ac- 
 count of everything that takes place in the House. The 
 House next elects a Sergeant-at-Arms, an officer whose 
 duty it is to keep order in the House, and to bring absent 
 members to their seats when their presence is needed to 
 
I'HI'. STATE LKGLSLATUUE . 120 
 
 make a quorum, that is, a sunicicrit number of members 
 to do business. 
 
 When tlie elerk and scrgeant-at-arms, and such minor 
 otiicials as messengers and doorkeepers, have been chosen 
 by the vote of the House, the Speaker announces the 
 Committees of the House. 
 
 A conmiittee of the House consists of a small number 
 of members — three, or five, or seven, or nine — who have 
 charge of some particular branch of legislative business. 
 Thus if the Speaker appoints five members as the Com- 
 mittee on Education, all matters coming up in the House 
 relating to education are first referred to this committee. 
 There are a great many committees. The most important 
 are those on Finance, Corporations, the Judiciary, Elec- 
 tions, Appropriations, Education, Labor, ^Manufactures, 
 Agriculture, Public Buildings. 
 
 If we had remained in the Senate during its opening 
 hour, we should have seen almost the same things that we 
 saw in the House. There might have been some differ- 
 ence in the matter of the presiding officer. Most of the 
 States have a Lieutenant Governor, and when this is the 
 case, this officer, by virtue of hj^ office, acts as President 
 or Chairman of the Senate. Yet even where there is a 
 Lieutenant Governor, the Senate elects a President pro 
 tempore, who serves in the absence of that officer. So we 
 may say that the Senate is organized in the same way that 
 we saw the Hou.'^e of Representatives organized. It elects 
 its Clerk, its Sergeant-at-.\rms, its messengers and door- 
 keepers, and the President announces just such committees 
 
 F. Civil Govt —9 
 
130 STATE GOVERNMENT 
 
 as arc announced in the House. After the two houses have 
 been organized as described, the Legislature is ready to 
 begin its work,— to make laws for the welfare of the people. 
 
 QUESTIONS FOR ORIGINAL WORK 
 
 (Answers to a number of these questions can be found in tlie consti- 
 tution of the State.) 
 
 1. Is the capital of your State situated in the most suitable place? 
 Are the citizens of the State proud of their Statehouse? 
 
 2. What is the name of the lower house of the Legislature of your 
 State? What is the name of the Legislature taken as a whole? When 
 does the Legislature meet? How long may it continue in session? 
 
 3. What are the qualifications for a senator in your State? For a 
 representative? Do you know the name of the senator that represents 
 you in the Senate? How many representatives in your Legislature? 
 How many senators? 
 
 4. What is the method of representation in your State? Is it gen- 
 erally regarded as a just method? 
 
 5. Is there a Lieutenant Governor in your State? 
 
 6. What is the compensation of a senator? Of a representative? 
 Lawmakers in England receive no pay for their services. Is that a 
 good rule? 
 
 7. What is "mileage"? W^hat is regarded as a quorum in the Leg- 
 islature of your State? 
 
XXTV. THE STATE LEGISLATURE (Continued) 
 
 "The convention, the campaign, the election, the division of the 
 powers of government, the exercise of pohtical rights, are merely for the 
 purpose of making a law." — /''. -V. Thorpe. 
 
 How a Law is Made. — Let us now see how a law is 
 passed in the Legislature. We will suppose that many 
 people in the State wish a law to be passed, compelling 
 railroad companies to run their tracks, wherever there is a 
 road or street crossing, either above or below the road or 
 street, so that the lives of pedestrians or those riding in 
 vehicles may not be endangered. How will they get the 
 law passed? They will get one of their representatives in 
 the Legislature to take u]i tluMr cause for them. A mem- 
 ber, let us say, of the House, will prepare a bill, that is, 
 the draft of a law, which compels railroads to lay their 
 tracks either above or below grade at all public crossings. 
 When the day arrives for introducing the bill, the mem- 
 ber gives it to the Clerk of the House to read. This is 
 called the first reading.^ 
 
 After it is read the Speaker immediately refers the bill 
 to the proper committee, which, in this case, is the Com- 
 mittee on Railroads. Tn a few days the committee in 
 its private room will give attention to the bill. Friends 
 of the bill will aj)i)ear before the committee and speak in 
 
 'The "first reading" often consists only of the reading of the title 
 of the bill. 
 
 131 
 
132 STATE GOVERNMENT 
 
 its favor; opponents of it will also be present to speak 
 against it. After hearing both sides of the question, the 
 committee makes its report to the House. If the com- 
 mittee thinks there is no reason for such a law, it reports 
 "unfavorably," and there the matter will probably end: 
 the bill is "killed in committee." But if the committee 
 thinks well of the bill, it reports "favorably." 
 
 This means that in the opinion of the committee the 
 bill ought to become a law. The title of the bill is again 
 read in the House, and if no objection is raised, it is al- 
 lowed to pass upon its second reading. 
 
 In its regular order the bill is taken up for its third and 
 last reading. It is now read in full by the Clerk, and a 
 discussion of it begins. Speeches are made in favor of it, 
 and against it. If a member wishes to change a particular 
 part of the bill, he offers an amendment to it. The amend- 
 ment is voted upon, and if it receives a majority of the 
 votes, the amendment becomes a part of the bill; if the 
 amendment is voted down, the bill remains as it was be- 
 fore. After a full discussion and debate, the measure 
 comes to a final vote. The Speaker asks the House, "Shall 
 the bill pass?" The House answers the question by taking 
 a vote. If a majority vote aye (yes), the bill passes; if a 
 majority vote no, or if the noes equal the ayes, the bill is 
 lost; it is "killed in the House." 
 
 Let us suppose it passes in the House. It is then taken 
 by the messenger of the House to the Senate. Here it 
 has the same histor}^ that it had in the House. It is 
 referred by the President of the Senate to the proper com- 
 
THE STATE LEGISLATURE l.?.} 
 
 mittce. is road tlircc tiiiios upon llinc (liflVront days, is 
 fully discussed upon its last reading, is possibly amended, 
 and is then voted upon. If it passes in the Senate with 
 amendments, it must go back to the House in order that 
 a vote may be taken upon it as amended by the Senate. 
 When it has passed both Senate and House in the same 
 form, the bill has passed the Legislature. 
 
 In ncnirly all the States, however, a bill that has passed 
 both houses of the Legislature is not yet a law, but must 
 be sent to the Governor of the State for his approval. If 
 the Governor signs it, or if he takes no action upon it 
 within a fixed number of days, it becomes a law. The 
 Governor may, however, veto the bill (p. 76) and send it 
 back with his objections stated in writing. The Legislature 
 may then take another vote upon the bill, and if it again 
 passes both houses, it becomes a law in spite of the Gov- 
 ernor's veto. But in order to pass it over the Governor's 
 veto, it must, as a rule, get more than a bare majority of 
 votes. In some States it must receive the votes of two- 
 thirds of the members present; in others it must receive a 
 majority of the votes of all the members elected. 
 
 The Initiative and Referendum.— In several States, as 
 in South Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Oklahoma, and Maine, the 
 voters, if they care to do so, may engage personally in 
 the business of lawmaking. This they may do by mak- 
 ing use of a device known as the "initiative and referen- 
 dum." By this device a certain per cent of the voters 
 may propo.se {the initiative) to the Legislature a bill v/liich 
 must be enacted into a proposed law and then referred 
 
134 STATE GOVERNMENT 
 
 back (the referendum) to the people to be voted upon. 
 Also, where the initiative and referendum is in force, the 
 voters may keep their eyes on the work of the Legislature, 
 and if they desire they may demand the privilege of voting 
 on any law that the Legislature has passed. These are 
 the words of the constitution of Oklahoma : 
 
 "The people reserve to themselves the power to pro- 
 pose laws and to enact or reject the same at the polls 
 independent of the legislature, and also reserve power at 
 their own option, to approve or reject at the polls any 
 act of the legislature." 
 
 What the Legislature of a State May Do.— The best 
 way to learn what the Legislature of a State may do, is 
 to learn first what it may not do. First, it may not pass 
 a law that is contrary to the constitution of the State. 
 Second, it may not pass a law contrary to the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States. When we come to study this 
 Constitution, we shall learn that there are certain powers 
 of government granted to Congress, the body that makes 
 laws for the United States. For instance, one of the 
 powers granted to Congress is to manage the post offices 
 of the country. A State Legislature, therefore, has no 
 right to make laws relating to post offices. Again, in the 
 Constitution of the United States, certain things are men- 
 tioned which a State must not do. For example, a State 
 must not coin money. Hence, a State Legislature has no 
 right to establish a mint. 
 
 Members of a State Legislature, then, should keep 
 these two things in mind: First, they may not make laws 
 
THE STATE LEC.ISLATURE i:}5 
 
 contrary to tho constitution of their own State; and, 
 second, tliey may not make laws contrary to the Consti- 
 tution of the United States. So long as it does not vio- 
 late either of these two rules, a State Legislature is free 
 to pass almost any law it pleases. It would take too long 
 to name all tlie laws that can be passed, and that are 
 passed, in the Legislature of a State. Sometimes at one 
 session more than a thousand laws are passed. The fol- 
 lowing is a list of a few of the things done by a State Leg- 
 islature: 
 
 (1) It grants charters, or makes a general law, for the 
 government of cities, boroughs, and villages; it also grants 
 charters, or makes a general law, for the organization of 
 railroad companies, banks, colleges, and many other in- 
 stitutions, public and private. 
 
 (2) It makes laws for the government of the public 
 schools. 
 
 (3) It makes laws regulating taxation, licenses, fees. 
 
 (4) It defines the boundaries of counties and towns. 
 
 (5) It makes laws for the punishment of crime, such as 
 treason, murder, arson, theft, bribery, forgery, fraud, perjury. 
 
 (6) It makes laws concerning property, such as relate 
 to the sale of lands, the giving of mortgages, the granting 
 of deeds, the making of wills, the settlement of the estates 
 of bankrupts, the management of the estates of the dead. 
 
 (7) It makes laws concerning charity, health, marriage, 
 divorce. 
 
 (8) It makes laws concerning the qualifications of vot- 
 ers and the time and manner of holding elections. 
 
136 STATE GOVERNMENT 
 
 (9) It makes laws governing railroads, steamboats, ca- 
 nals, telegraph companies, telephone companies. 
 
 (10) It makes laws regulating hunting, fishing, mining, 
 manufacturing, trading. 
 
 It is plain that most of the laws that regulate us in our 
 daily conduct, and in our daily pursuits, are made by the 
 
 State. 
 
 Honest Men for the Legislature.— Since the duties of 
 the State lawmaker are so many and his powers are so 
 great, citizens should make every effort to elect only honest 
 and intelligent men to the Legislature. The lawmakers of a 
 State should be the wisest and best men in the State. There 
 is good reason to believe that in some States bad men get 
 laws passed for their own private benefit. They do this 
 through bribery. They offer members of the Legislature 
 some inducement to vote for a bill that is against the inter- 
 ests or the comfort of the great mass of people, and in the 
 interest of their own selfish schemes. The voter on election 
 day should think of this and try to prevent it. He should 
 not vote to send to the Legislature a man who he believes 
 can be bribed. Just as the happiness of the people of a 
 city depends, in a great measure, upon the kind of men 
 they send to the City Council, so the happiness of the 
 people of a State depends, in a large measure, upon the 
 kind of men they send to represent them in the State Leg- 
 islature. If we can get good laws through the Legisla- 
 ture of our State, we have advanced a long way on the 
 road to good government. 
 
THE STATE LEGISLATURE 1.17 
 
 QUESTIONS FOR ORIGINAL WORK 
 
 1. Why are there two branches of the Legislature? Why sliould 
 a bill be passed in both houses before it becomes a law? Why should 
 there be three readings of a bill? 
 
 2. Has a Governor of your State the veto power? What is the 
 "pocket veto"? When a Governor vetoes a bill, docs he act as a 
 legislative or as an executive officer of government? 
 
 3. If the Legislature of your State is in session, find out what im- 
 portant measures are before it. Arc you prepared to speak intelli- 
 gently about any of these measures? Have you in mind any law you 
 would like to see passed? How would you go about getting it passed? 
 What is the name of the senator who represents you in the Legisla- 
 ture? 
 
 4. With what two documents should a member of the Legislature 
 be familiar? 
 
 5. What difTcrence do you observe in the powers of the Legisla- 
 ture and those of the City Council? 
 
 6. What is meant by "simiptuar\- laws"? 
 
 7. What is meant by the "lobby"? 
 
 8. In what way may men be bribed without actually giving them 
 money? 
 
 9. If a Legislature consists of a body of rascals, whose fault is it? 
 
XXV. THE GOVERNOR AND HIS COLLEAGUES 
 
 "Strictly speaking, the Governor is not the head of the executive 
 department, but a member of it. Tlie executive department is par- 
 celed out in several pieces, and his is one of the pieces." — John Fiske. 
 
 The Governor. — As soon as the lawmakers have passed 
 all the laws that seem desirable, they leave the capital and 
 go to their homes. It is left to the officers of the execu- 
 tive department to see that the laws are obeyed. At the 
 head of this department stands the Governor, — the pilot 
 of the ship of State. The Governor is elected by the votes 
 of the people. His term of office in some States is for one 
 year; in others, it is for two years; in others, it is for four 
 years. His powers are great, but they are granted to him 
 by the people, and if he abuses his power, he may be im- 
 peached. What are his powers and duties? 
 
 The first duty of a Governor is to see that the laws are 
 faithfully executed. If he learns that the law is being vio- 
 lated either by public officers or by private persons, he must 
 take steps to have the laws obeyed. To secure obedience 
 he may call to his assistance judges and sheriffs and even 
 the soldiers of the State, for he is the commander in chief 
 of the land and naval forces of the State, Sometimes 
 when a mob is bent on destroying life and property, the 
 Governor calls out the troops and sends them against the 
 mob. When public business is to be conducted between 
 
 138 
 
THE GOVERNOR AND HIS COLLEAGUES 139 
 
 one State and anotlu-r, the Governor acts in the name of 
 the State. 
 
 It is the Governor's duty to send to the Legislature at 
 the opening of the session a message. This message informs 
 the Legislature of the condition of affairs throughout the 
 State, and recommends the jiassagc of such laws as the 
 Governor thinks ought to be passed. The Legislature, how- 
 ever, is not bound to pass, or even to consider, the laws 
 recommended in a message. 
 
 In time of danger or pressing need, if the Legislature is 
 not in session the Governor may call it in extra session, so 
 that it may at once pass such laws as the moment requires. 
 
 The Governor, in many States, has the power to pardon 
 criminals. He may forgive the offense entirely and restore 
 the criminals to freedom, or he may commute the punish- 
 ment, that is, he may make it less severe. Sometimes, 
 when a person is sentenced to be hanged, the Governor 
 commutes the punishment to imprisonment for life. For 
 a good reason he will give a re'prieve, postponing the ex- 
 ecution of the death sentence. In some States this matter 
 of pardon, commutation, and reprieve is not left to the 
 Governor, but is intrusted to a special body of oflicers, 
 known as the Board of Pardons. 
 
 .Another power of the Governor is that of appointment. 
 In all the States there are many officers who are not elected 
 directly by the peojile, but receive their positions by ap- 
 pointment. Many of these appointments are made by the 
 Governor. In some States he has the appointment of the 
 judges of the State courts — a great responsibility. When 
 
140 STATE GOVERNMENT 
 
 an elective official dies or resigns before his term ends, 
 the Governor fills the vacancy by appointing some one 
 to serve until another election is held. When an officer is 
 guilty of misconduct in office, the Governor in most States 
 may remove him and put a better man in his place. 
 
 Other Executive Officers. — The Governor cannot at- 
 tend to all the public affairs of a State. He must have as- 
 sistants, just as the Mayor of a city has heads of depart- 
 ments to assist him. These assistants of the Governor are 
 high executive officers of the State, and they are generally 
 elected by the people. Below, you will find the names 
 of most of them, with a short explanation of their du- 
 ties: 
 
 (1) The Lieutenant Governor. — A lieutenant is an officer 
 who takes the place of a higher officer, when that officer 
 is absent or cannot attend to his duties. Most of the 
 States elect a Lieutenant Governor to serve w^hen the Gov- 
 ernor is out of the State or is unable to be at his post. The 
 duties of the Lieutenant Governor are very few. We have 
 seen that he has the right to act as the President of the 
 State Senate ; but he has no vote in that body except when 
 there is a tie, that is, when there is an equal number of 
 votes for and against a measure. When there is a tie, the 
 Lieutenant Governor decides the question by voting on 
 one side or on the other. In such a case he is said to have 
 the casting vote. 
 
 (2) The Secretary of State, sometimes elected, sometimes 
 appointed by the Governor, is the highest clerk of the 
 executive department. He has charge of State papers, 
 
Till'- noVl'.UXCM? AND HIS (^OLLEAGUES 111 
 
 of (ho Journals of the Lcgishituro, and of historical doc- 
 unients, statuary, paintings, relics, etc., owned by tlic 
 State. 
 
 (3; The State Comptroller or Auditor. — A comptroller is 
 a manager of accounts. The Comptroller of a State man- 
 ages tli(> financial business of the State government. He 
 attends to business relating to the debt, the property, the 
 claims, the revenue of the State. He superintends the col- 
 lection of taxes due to the State, and examines the claims 
 of those to whom the State owes money. When a debt of 
 the State is to be paid, the Comptroller orders the State 
 Treasurer to pay it. 
 
 (4) The State Treasurer. — We shall learn hereafter 
 that when a town or a county collects money by taxation, 
 a certain portion of the money usually must be given 
 over to the State government. This money is sent to the 
 State Treasurer. He cither keeps it in a large safe at the 
 capitol or gives it to some reliable bank to keep. He may 
 not pay out a dollar of it without an order from the Comp- 
 troller. 
 
 (5) The Attorney-General is the law ofTicer of the State, 
 corresponding to the prosecuting attorney of the county. 
 When the State needs the services of a lawyer, he appears 
 for it ill the courts. 
 
 (0) The Superintendent of Puhlir Inf^truetion is the high- 
 est school oflicer of the State. He i)repares a report and 
 sends it to the Legislature. In this report he states the 
 needs of the schools and suggests how they may i)e im- 
 proved He presides at the meeting of County Superin- 
 
142 STATE GOVERNMENT 
 
 tendents and at teachers' institutes, and furthers the 
 cause of education in whatever way he can. 
 
 The foregoing executive officers are found in almost every 
 State. In addition to these there are in many States still 
 other executive officers and boards whose duties are very 
 important. Among these may be mentioned: 
 
 (1) The State Insurance Commissioner. 
 
 (2) The State Board of Railroad Commissioners. 
 
 (3) The State Inspector of Factories. 
 
 (4) The State Liquor License Commissioners. 
 
 (5) The State Board of Charities. 
 
 (6) The State Board of Health. 
 
 (7) The State Tax Commissioner. 
 
 (8) The State Board of Pardons. 
 
 (9) The State Superintendent of Banks. 
 
 (10) The State Board of Medical Examiners. 
 
 (11) The State Commissioner of Agriculture. 
 
 (12) The State Board of Public Works. 
 
 It must not be supposed that every State has all these 
 officers and boards, for each State has only such officers as 
 it needs in the management of its own affairs. One officer 
 will often perform the duties of two or more officers. 
 
 Impeachment. — If it is charged that a high officer of 
 the State is guilty of misconduct in office, — if, for example, 
 the Governor is accused of having accepted a bribe for 
 signing or for not signing a bill, or if a judge is accused of 
 trying cases while he is drunk, — the House of Representa- 
 tives inquires into the charges, and if it finds that there is 
 truth in them, it impeaches the offender, that is, it accuses 
 
Tine (iOVKRNOli AND HIS COLLEAGUES 143 
 
 him of ollicial inisconduct. Tho trial of tlu; odicer tlms 
 impeached is coiulucti'd by the Senate. That body listens 
 to the evidene(^ against the impeached ofHcer, and if it 
 regards him guilty, it pronounces judgment against him. 
 An oflicer who has been found guilty under impeachment, 
 can no longer hold an office of honor, trust, or profit in 
 the State. 
 
 QUESTIONS FOR ORIGINAL WORK 
 
 1. What is the name of the chief executive officer of your State? 
 
 2. Exumine the constitution of your State for answers to the follow- 
 ing questions: 
 
 (a) What are the qualifications of the Governor? 
 (6) What is the length of his term of office? 
 (c) What is his salary? 
 (cf) Has he the power of veto? 
 (e) Has he the pardoning power? 
 (/) ^Lny he remove an inefficient officer? 
 (g) What officers does he appoint? 
 
 (h) If there is no Lieutenant Governor, who will fill the vacancy if 
 the Governor should die or resign? 
 
 3. Ought the Lieutenant Governor to preside in the Senate at the 
 trial of a Governor, whom the House has impeached? 
 
 4. When the Senate tries an impeachment case, does it act as a 
 legislative or as a judicial body? 
 
 ."). What are some of the qualifications of a good Governor? A good 
 Comptroller? A good Attorney-General? A good State Superin- 
 tendent of Public Instruction? 
 
 6. Have you read a Governor's message? What is a Governor's 
 "proclamation"? 
 
 7. Docs the constitution of your State provitle for dllicr executive 
 officers not mentioned in the lesson? 
 
 8. Make out a complete list of the executive officers and boards of 
 your State. 
 
XXVI. JUDGES, JURIES, AND COURTS OF LAW 
 
 "No man's property is safe, and no man's welfare is assured where 
 justice is denied to the poor, or where crime goes unpunished; no State 
 can prosper where human rights are not respected." — David A. Wells. 
 
 The Judicial Department. — You have learned how a 
 law is made, and you have learned the names and duties 
 of those officers who compel obedience to the laws. But 
 before an officer can punish a person for disobeying the 
 law, it must first have been decided that the one accused 
 is actually guilty. You will remember that the decision 
 of this question is left neither to those who make the laws, 
 nor to those who are to enforce them, but to a third body 
 of men, the judicial officers or judges of the State. Every 
 State has a complete judicial system by which citizens 
 may defend their rights and secure justice. It is this judi- 
 cial system that we are now to study. We will begin with 
 the lowest part of the system and proceed to the highest. 
 
 The Justice of the Peace. — Let us suppose that a house 
 has been burned in your neighborhood, and that a man 
 named X is suspected of having burned it. Some citizen 
 who is interested, perhaps the owner of the house, will file 
 a complaint against X before a justice of the peace. This 
 officer, though chosen for some one town or city or county, 
 is an officer of the State, and he acts in the name of the 
 State. He renders decisions only in small and unimportant 
 cases. Thus, if a man is sued for a few dollars, or if he is ar- 
 
 144 
 
JUDC.KS, .inUKS, AND COURTS OF LAW 145 
 
 rested for ilruiikoniK'ss, or fust driving, his case could be 
 decided before a justice of the peace. 
 
 When the complaint of house burning is filed against 
 X, the justice of the peace gives a constable, or poUceman, 
 a warrant for the arrest of the accused, who is brought into 
 the justice's court. Since X is charged with having com- 
 mitted a serious crime, — the crime of arson, — the justice 
 cannot try his case. But ho can do this: He can listen to 
 witnesses for and against X, and if he believes that the 
 accused is probably guilty, he may send him to jail to 
 await trial in a higher court. But this trial may not come 
 up in a higher court for several months, and if X is an in- 
 nocent man, — and the law supposes he is innocent until 
 he is proved guilty, — it would be a great hardship for him 
 to have to lie in jail for so long. This he need not do if 
 he can get bail. To give bail, he must get one or more of 
 his frientls to sign an agreement to pay the State a certain 
 sum of money if he should fail to appear in court for trial 
 when he is wanted. This agreement is a bond, and those 
 who sign it are bondsmen. If X runs away before trial, 
 he is said to "jump bail." Let us suppose he is able to 
 give bail, and that he awaits his trial like a man. 
 
 The Circuit Court. — The trial of X will take place be- 
 fore a judge or judges of the Circuit Court — in some States 
 called the District Court, in others the Superior Court, 
 in others the Supreme Court, in still others the Court of 
 Common Pleas. Tliis court sits in the courthouse of the 
 county seat two or three times in a year. The same judge 
 or judges may serve in several counties, going from one 
 F. Civil Govt.— 10 
 
146 STATE GOVERNMENT 
 
 county to another. It is for this reason they arc so often 
 called circuit judges. They are generally elected by the 
 })cople, although in some States they are appointed by the 
 Governor. In all cases, like justices of the peace, they act 
 in the name of the State. 
 
 Into this Circuit Court X is brought for trial. The 
 crime that he is accused of is supposed to have been com- 
 mitted not against the person whose house was burned, but 
 against society, against the whole body of people, against 
 the State. It is the State, therefore, that brings him to 
 trial. The prosecuting attorney (p. 88) brings the case 
 before the grand jury,^ a body consisting of not less than 
 twelve nor more than twenty-three citizens, whose busi- 
 ness it is to find violators of the law and to present them 
 to the court for trial. These grand jurymen summon the 
 witnesses who will testify against X, but not those who 
 will testify in his favor. If it is the opinion of at least 
 twelve of the grand jury that X ought to be tried for the 
 burning of the house, the prosecuting attorney will draw 
 up an indictrnent, containing the charges against him, and 
 the foreman of the grand jury will write across the back of 
 the indictment the words, ''A true bill." This means that 
 X must stand a trial in court. 
 
 The examination by the grand jury was secret; but the 
 trial in court is open to the public. ^^Tien X is brought 
 into court, the indictment is read to him, and he is asked 
 
 ^ In some States there is no grand jury. Where this is the case the 
 prosecuting attorney determines whether a case shall be brought to 
 trial. 
 
Jl'DCKS, JURIES, AND COURTS OF LAW 
 
 1 \: 
 
 whothor ho Is "guilty'' or "not guilty." His reply is 
 callotl a plca^ If his plea is "guilty," the judge sentences 
 him to be punished according to law. If his plea is "not 
 guilty," the juilge appoints a time for his trial. 
 
 The trial begins by the selection of twelve men to act 
 as a jury to decide whether he is guilty or not. This is 
 
 A Trial 
 
 called the petit jury, or small jury, to distinguish it from 
 the grand jury. The members of the petit jury, like those 
 of the grand jury, are chosen from among the citizens of 
 the neighborhood, — from farmers, mechanics, merchants. 
 Some of them may be neighbors of X. Before they are 
 allowed to servT, they must swear that they have not 
 formed an opinion ujion the guilt or innocence of the 
 prisoner, and that they will decide the case according to 
 
148 STATE GOVERNMENT 
 
 the evidence that is presented to them. After they have 
 taken this oath, the jurymen sit in the "jury box" and 
 listen to the testimony of witnesses. 
 
 In a trial, there are always two parties, one called the 
 plaintiff, who brings the complaint or suit into court, and 
 another, called the defendant, or the one against whom the 
 complaint is brought. In the case before us the State is 
 the plaintiff, and X is the defendant. The prosecuting at- 
 torney, in behalf of the plaintiff, presents the case against 
 the defendant and examines witnesses for the State. An- 
 other lawyer speaks in behalf of X and examines witnesses 
 in his favor. After the evidence on both sides has been 
 heard, and after the judge has given his charge to the jury, 
 directing them on some points of their duty, the jury re- 
 tire to a private room to talk the matter over and come 
 to a decision. If they can all agree, they return to the 
 courtroom with their verdict. If the verdict is "guilty," 
 the judge will pronounce sentence upon the prisoner in 
 open court and give him over to the sheriff for punishment ; 
 if the verdict is "not guilty," X is set free, and he cannot 
 be tried again for the same offense (p. 44). 
 
 The Supreme Court. — If after X is sentenced, his law- 
 yer can show that strict justice has not been secured, he 
 may take the case to a higher court, usually called the 
 Supreme Court, or Court of Appeals, — the highest court of 
 the State. The judges of this court meet at the capital of 
 the State and hear appeals in cases that have been tried in 
 the lower courts. The Supreme Court will not try the case 
 of X over again, but it will listen to his appeal, and if it is 
 
JUDGES, JURIES, AND COURTS OF LAW 149 
 
 shown that the judges in the court below did not try the 
 case according to law, it will order a new trial and thus give 
 X another chance for his freedom; if it finds that the trial 
 was properly conducted in the lower court, X will have to 
 bear his punishment. 
 
 Civil and Criminal Cases.— Cases that involve crime, 
 like the case of X, arc called criminal. Most of the cases, 
 however, that are trietl in courts do not relate to crime, 
 but to the ownei'shi[) of property. Such cases are called 
 civil. The chief difference between a criminal and a civil 
 case, is that in a criminal case the plaintiff is the State; 
 while in a civil case, the plaintiff is a private person or a 
 corporation. The history of a civil case in the courts is 
 quite like that of a criminal case. If the amount of prop- 
 erty at stake is small, it may be tried before a justice of 
 the peace. If the amount is large, the case is tried in 
 the Circuit Court (or District Court), and if satisfaction is 
 not obtained, then it may be taken to the Supreme Court. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Examine the constitution of your State for answers to the follow- 
 ing questions: 
 
 (a) N:inic the <lin"crcnt courts nf t!;(' State. 
 
 (fe) Arc judges of tiie courts elected or appointed? 
 
 (c) What are the qualifications of a judge? 
 
 (d) How long do the judges hold office? 
 
 (e) What salaries are given to the difTcrent judges? 
 (/) How may a jutlge be removed from his office? 
 (g) Are justices of the peace elected or appointed? 
 
 {h) Are there in this State other courts than those mentioned in the 
 lesson ? 
 
150 STATE GOVERNMENT 
 
 2. Can the people choose by their votes a better judge than the 
 Governor can select? 
 
 3. Why should the term of office of a judge be longer than that of 
 other officers? 
 
 4. In what court would you sue a man for a debt of two dollars? 
 For a debt of ten thousand dollars? In what court would a man 
 accused of murder be tried? A boy accused of disorderly conduct? 
 
 5. Which are the most important, good lawmakers, good executive 
 officers, or good judges? 
 
 6. What are some of the unpleasant things a judge is called upon 
 to do? 
 
 7. Write a description of the kind of a man you think would make a 
 good judge. 
 
 8. What are the advantages of trial by jury? 
 
XXMI. THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION 
 
 "Great were the hearts and strong the minds 
 Of those who framed, in high debate, 
 Tiie immortal league of love, that binils 
 Our fair broad Empire, State with State." — Bryant. 
 
 Introduction.— We liavc now studied the leading facts 
 connected with several of the governments by which we 
 are controlled. We have studied the government of the 
 family and learned the rights and duties of parents and 
 chiklren; we have studied the government of the school 
 and learned the rights and duties of pupils and teachers; 
 we have studied the government of the city, county, and 
 town, and have learned what arc the powers and duties 
 of the officers of these governments; we have studied the 
 government of the State and we have learned how State 
 laws are made and enforced. We shall now take up the 
 study of a government which spreads its power over all 
 the States. I mean our National Government, the gov- 
 ernment of the United States. 
 
 The Articles of Confederation. In 17S3 the thirteen 
 States were held together by the Articles of Confederation, 
 a form of government that had been adopted during the 
 Revolutionary War. Whatever may have been the value 
 of these Articles in times of danger from a foreign foe, in 
 times of peace they were almost worthless. They gave 
 Congress a right to make certain useful laws, but they 
 
 lol 
 
152 NATIONAL GOVERNiAIENT 
 
 gave it no power to enforce those laws; they gave it the 
 right to declare war, but they did not give it the right to 
 compel men to serve in the army; they gave it the right 
 to borrow money, but they did not give it the right to 
 raise money by taxation in order to pay the debt. In other 
 words, the government of the United States under 
 Articles of Confederation was a legislature only: it lacked 
 the executive and judicial powers. It was like a three- 
 legged stool with two legs gone. Of course, such a govern- 
 ment could not be respected. 
 
 Yet the people of the States felt there ought to be union, 
 and that there ought to be a general government that 
 would have power enough to make itself respected. What 
 prevented such a union? It was the pride and jealousy of 
 the States. Each State was free to do just as it chose, 
 and if a strong union was formed, some of the freedom 
 would have to be surrendered. Things went from bad to 
 worse under the Confederation. Congress was mobbed at 
 one time by a crowd of drunken men; soldiers who had 
 served in the war clamored for their pay, but there was no 
 way to raise money for them. One State quarreled with 
 another. Washington and Madison and Hamilton and 
 other statesmen saw these evils and took steps to remedy 
 them before it was too late. 
 
 The Constitutional Convention of 1787. — It was one 
 of the evils under the Confederation that the people of 
 different States could not trade freely with each other. 
 The New Jersey farmer could not carry his produce into 
 New^ York without first paying a tax upon it. Each State 
 
THE NATIONAL ('ONSTlTrriON 153 
 
 had its own custonihouso, and coIIccUhI taxes upon goods 
 l)n)uglit from foreign countries and turned the nion(>y into 
 its own treasury. This made the bunh'U of taxation un- 
 equal in the different States. With tlie puri)ose of remedy- 
 ing this state of things, and taking measures to make the 
 laws of trade uniform, a convention was called to meet at 
 Annapolis in 17S6. But as only five of the thirteen States 
 responded to the call the delegates thought it unwise to 
 proceed further with the business. They did, however, 
 make a report, recommending that another convention 
 should meet in the following year. Congress issued the 
 call for the convention, and all the States, excepting 
 Rhode Island, sent delegates to it. 
 
 Ill May. 17.S7, these delegates from twelve States met in 
 Philadelphia for the purpose of amending the Articles of 
 Confederation in such a manner as to correct the evils 
 which have been described. In this Convention were some 
 of the ablest men our country has produced. There were 
 Washington and Madison and Hamilton and Franklin. 
 These men did not work for their own selfish interests, or 
 even for the advantage of a particular State, but for the 
 advantage of all the States. The sessions of the Conven- 
 tion were secret, but we know most of the things that 
 were said and done in it. It soon agreed that the govern- 
 ment under the Confederation was weak and worthless, 
 and that an entirely new form of government was nec- 
 essary. It .'Jaw that, instea<l of a "league of friendship," 
 between the States, as the Confederation was called, there 
 ought to be a real union of the jjcoplc. I low was this to be 
 
154 
 
 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 accomplished? It could not be accomplished unless the 
 States gave up some of their rights, and would they be 
 willing to do this? Most of the members thought the 
 States would. For four months the subject was debated, 
 and at last a Constitution for the government of the Uni- 
 ted States was agreed upon. 
 
 Room Where the Constitutional Convention Met 
 
 The Constitution proposed by the Convention was sent 
 to the several States for their approval. In almost every 
 State it met fierce opposition. The new government, it 
 was claimed, would crush out the rights of the States, 
 and destroy the freedom of individuals. But the Consti- 
 tution had strong supporters, and one by one the States 
 voted to accept it. It was provided that when nine States 
 approved of it, it should go into effect. By July, 1788, it 
 
THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION 156 
 
 had been approved by nine .States, and it therefore be- 
 eame tlie supreme law of the States which adopted it, 
 Tlie government under the new Constitution began to 
 transact business in April, 17S9. 
 
 Amendments to the Constitution. — The Constitution 
 framed by the Convention of 1787 is the Constitution un- 
 der which we live to-tlay. Fifteen important amendments, 
 however, have been added to the Constitution since its 
 adoi)tion. In the early years of our history many people 
 wviv fearful lest the new National Government would 
 prove to be a giant that woukl crush the rights of States and 
 of citizens. So the States hastened to atld the first eleven 
 amendments, which are intended to curb the power of the 
 National Government. In 1804 the Twelfth Amendment 
 was added for the purpose of preventing confusion in the 
 election of the President and X'iqq President. The Thir- 
 teenth Amendment abolished slavery. The Fourteenth 
 Amendment made it impossible for the States or for the 
 I'nited States to deprive any person of life, liberty, or prop- 
 erty without due process of law (p. 44). The Fifteenth 
 Amendment declares that the right of suffrage shall not be 
 dcnit'd on account of race, color, or previous condition of 
 servitude. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 (Examine the Constitution for answers to the- following questions.) 
 
 1. Name ten leading men who sat in the Convention of 17f>7. 
 
 2. Deseribe two ways by which the Constitution of the I'nited 
 States may be amended. 
 
 3. Repeat the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States. 
 
XXVIII. CONGRESS 
 
 "The American Constitution is, so far as I can see, the most wonder- 
 ful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of 
 man." — William E. Gladstone. 
 
 The Two Houses of Congress. — ^The men of the Con- 
 vention of 1787 came together for the pm'pose of simply 
 revising the old Articles of Confederation, but they soon 
 found that the old government was not worth patching 
 up. So they bravely planned an entirely new govern- 
 ment, one that was to have enough power and that was 
 to have officers enough to do the work of a government. 
 They provided for a government of three departments, 
 the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. 
 
 The Constitution provides first (Article I) for the leg- 
 islative branch. It provides that laws of the National 
 Government shall be made by a body called a Congress, 
 and that the Congress shall have two branches, a Senate 
 and a House of Representatives. This Congress every 
 year, on the first Monday in December, meets in the mag- 
 nificent Capitol at Washington; the Senate at the north 
 end of the building, the House of Representatives at the 
 south end. 
 
 The House of Representatives. — It is the purpose of 
 the Constitution that the will of the people shall be ex- 
 pressed in the House of Representatives. Hence, members 
 of this branch of Congress are elected by a direct popular 
 
 15G 
 
CONGRESS 
 
 157 
 
 vot(\ aiul each State is represented according to its popu- 
 lation. 
 
 During the first years of National Government a State 
 was alloweil one representative for every 30,000 inhabit- 
 ants. If this number had remained unchanged, the 
 House of Representatives would now consist of about 
 3000 members, and would be a body much too large for 
 
 House of Representatives in Session 
 
 the transaction of business in a deliberate way. But it 
 has not remained unchanged; as population has increased, 
 the number of inhabitants for each representative has 
 been made larger. At the present time each State is al- 
 lowed to send one representative for every 194,182 in- 
 habitants. This gives Delaware one member in the House, 
 and New York thirty-seven members. The representa- 
 
158 
 
 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 tives from all the States number 391. Each State is di- 
 vided by its Legislature into a number of Congressional 
 Districts, each district containing, as near as may be, 
 194,182 inhabitants. Thus Iowa, with 2,231,853 inhabit- 
 ants, is divided into eleven congressional districts, and 
 is entitled to eleven members in the House of Represen- 
 tatives. 
 
 The House of Representatives, upon meeting, organizes 
 in very much the same way that the lower house in a 
 State Legislature is organized. A Speaker, a Clerk, a 
 Sergeant-at-Arms, and Messengers are elected, and Com- 
 mittees are appointed by the Speaker. 
 
 
 Senate in Session 
 
 The Senate. — The States are represented in Congress 
 by senators. It was the purpose of those who framed the 
 Constitution to preserve the power and dignity of the 
 
CONGRESS 159 
 
 State as far as possible. For this reason one State is as 
 well represented in the Senate as another; each State, 
 whether great or small, being entitknl to two senators. 
 Nevada, which has a population of 45,000, has as much 
 power in the Senate as has New York, with a population 
 of 7,000,000. This, at first sight, may seem to you to be 
 unjust, but the more you study the subject the more rea- 
 son you will see for the law. Probably the only way to 
 enable the smaller States to preserve their rights is to give 
 them equal power with th(^ larger States in the Senate. 
 Senators are not elected by the people but by the Legisla- 
 tures of the different States. The election is so arranged 
 that when a new Congress meets only one-third of the Sen- 
 ate can consist of new members. As there are now forty- 
 six States, the Senate consists of ninety-two members; and 
 si.\ty-one or more of these are experienced lawmakers. 
 
 How a Law is Passed in Congress. — A law^ is passed 
 in Congress in almost the same way that one is passed in 
 the Legislature of a State. A bill is introduced into one 
 of the hou.ses, is referred to its proper conmiittee, is re- 
 ported upon, is read three times upon three different days, 
 is voted upon, ami if it receives a majority of votes, is 
 sent to the other house, where it has almost the same his- 
 tory. If it passes in this house, also, it is sent to the 
 President for his approval. If he approves the bill, he 
 signs it and it becomes a law. If he does not approve it, 
 he vetoes it; that is, he returns it without his signature 
 and with his objections. If the bill is voted upon again, 
 and is favored by a two-thirds vote in each house, not- 
 
160 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 withstanding the objections of the President, it becomes 
 a law without his approval. 
 
 The Power of Congress Limited. — What are the powers 
 of our national lawmaking body? A glance at history will 
 help you to understand the answer to this question. You 
 remember that just after the Declaration of Independence 
 each State had in itself nearly all the powers of government. 
 Almost everything that a government can wisely do the 
 government of a State could do. The States were proud 
 of this great power. Like individuals they loved their 
 pride and their will. Now, when the Union was formed, in 
 1787-89, it was necessary to give up some of this power. 
 But the States were careful to give up as little power as 
 possible, and they were extremely careful to have it un- 
 derstood just what powers they meant to give up, and to 
 reserve for themselves all powers that they did not give 
 up. Therefore, certain definite powers of the new govern- 
 ment were plainly stated in the Constitution. These 
 powers it might exercise, and no others. All powers not 
 granted to the general government were reserved to the 
 State. The answer to the question, " ^Yh.Sit can Congress 
 do?" is this: It can do what the Constitution says it 
 can do, and it can do no more. The answer to the ques- 
 tion, "WTiat can the Legislature of a State do?" is this: 
 It can do anything that is not contrary to the constitu- 
 tion of the State, or to the Constitution of the United 
 States. In other words. Congress is a lawmaking body 
 with limited powers. What these powers are will be the 
 subject of the next lesson. 
 
CONGRESS IGl 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Examine tlio sccoml and lliinl sections of the first Article of the 
 Constitution and fill the blanks properly: 
 
 A member of the House of Representatives is elected to serve for 
 years. No person c^n be elected in this branch of Congress un- 
 less he is at least years of age and has been a citizen of the 
 
 for at least years. He must also, when elected, be a resident of the 
 
 in which he is elected. A senator of the United States is elected by 
 
 the of a to serve for years. He must be at least 
 
 years of age, and must at the time of his election be a resident of the 
 in which he is elected. 
 
 2. What arc the names of the senators who represent your State in 
 Congress? 
 
 3. How many representatives docs your State send to Congress? 
 In what congressional district do j'ou live? What is the name of your 
 representative? Does your State send to Congress men of distinction? 
 
 4. Should senators be elected by the direct vote of the people? 
 
 F. Civil Govt— 11 
 
XXIX. CONGRESS {Continued) 
 
 What Congress May Do. — Most of the powers of Con- 
 gress are stated in the eighth section of the first article 
 of the Constitution, That section gives Congress the 
 power: 
 
 (1) "To lay and collect taxes," for the support of the Na- 
 tional Government. How great is the sum necessary to 
 support the National Government and how Congress raises 
 this sum will be learned hereafter (p. 219). 
 
 (2) "To borrow money on the credit of the United States." 
 — \\Tien a government borrows money it gives the lender 
 a note of promise stating the amount loaned, the time 
 of payment, and the rate of interest to be paid. The 
 notes thus issued by a government are called bonds. The 
 United States has borrowed vast sums by issuing bonds. 
 At one time fin 1866) its debt was nearly S3,000,000,000, 
 but this amount has been greatly reduced. 
 
 (3) "To regulate commerce with foreign nations and 
 among the several States." — You remember it was a desire 
 to regulate commerce that led to the calling of the Con- 
 vention of 1787. Under this power Congress regulates 
 the importation of foreign goods, makes rules for the reg- 
 ulation of foreign shipping, regulates immigration, pro- 
 vides life-saving stations along the coast, improves har- 
 bors, opens rivers to na\igation, directs the work of the 
 
 162 
 
CONGRESS 163 
 
 great Interstate Commerce Commission (of which we shall 
 learn on p. 198), and does many other useful things. 
 
 (4) "To establish an uniform rule of naturalization" 
 (p. 35). 
 
 (5) "To establish laws on the subject of baiikruptcies." 
 
 (6) " To coin money y 
 
 (7) "To fix the standard of weights and measures." — A 
 yardstick shoukl be just as long, and a pound weight just 
 as heavy in Pennsylvania, as the one or the other is in 
 California, and Congress has the right to require that this 
 shall be the case. The National Government presents a 
 full set of weights and measures to the government of each 
 State, and the State adopts these as correct. Thus through- 
 out all the States merchants use standard weights and 
 measures. 
 
 (8) "To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the 
 securities and current coin of the United States." 
 
 (9) "To establish post-offices and post-roads." 
 
 (10) "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 discoveries." 
 — Authors are encouraged to write good books by giving 
 them a copyright upon their works. The person who has 
 a copyright upon a book is the only one who can print and 
 sell it. A copyright la.st.-^ for twenty-eight years. It is 
 secured I'V entering the title and sending two copies of 
 the printed book, on or i)efore tlip day of [lublication, 
 to the Library of Congre.«;s in Washington. Congress 
 encourages useful inventions by granting patents to in- 
 
164 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 ventors. A patent upon a machine gives the one who 
 holds the patent the exclusive right to make and sell or 
 use the machine. Rights under a patent last for seventeen 
 years. The inventor sends a drawing and a model of his 
 invention to the Commissioner of Patents, at Washing- 
 ton, and if it is found that he has invented something 
 really new a patent will be granted. 
 
 (11) "To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme 
 Court." 
 
 (12) "To define and punish piracies and felonies com- 
 mitted on the high seas, and offenses against the law of na- 
 tions^ — Piracy is robbery upon the sea. The National 
 Government punishes pirates because their crime is com- 
 mitted outside of the boundary of a State. When a citizen 
 commits an offense against a foreign nation the injured 
 nation regards the offender as a citizen of the United 
 States, and not a citizen of a State. It is the National 
 Government, therefore, that must punish piracies and 
 offenses against the law of nations. 
 
 (13) " To declare war, grant letters of marque and re- 
 prisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and 
 watery — As the evils of war would fall on many States, 
 it is not right that a single State should be allowed to de- 
 clare war. War, therefore, can be declared only by Con- 
 gress, and conducted by the National Government. Some- 
 times Congress has granted to private persons the right to 
 go and seize certain property belonging to a foreign country. 
 Such a commission, called a letter of marque and reprisal, 
 cannot be granted by a State. When in times of war 
 
CONGRESS 165 
 
 valuable IjropiTty is captuivd, tlu; prize must bo divided 
 among the captoi-s according to the directions of the Na- 
 tional Government. 
 
 (14) " To raise and support armies. " 
 
 (15) " To provide and maintain a navy." 
 
 (16) " To make ndes for the regulation of the land and 
 naval forces.^' 
 
 (17) "To provide for calling forth the militia to execute 
 the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel in- 
 vasions.^' — The militia of a State consists of all its able- 
 bodied male citizens between the ages of eighteen and 
 forty-five. The law usually excuses the civil officers of 
 government, clerg}'men, teachers, physicians, and firemen 
 from military service. With these exceptions, every strong 
 man in the country is a member of the militia, and may 
 be called upon to serve in the army. 
 
 (18) '^To exercise exclusive legislation" over the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia. 
 
 (19) " To make all laics which shall be necessary and 
 proper for carrying into execution the . . . powers vested 
 by this Constitution." 
 
 Besides the powers mentioned in the eighth section of 
 the first article, the Constitution elsewhere gives Congress 
 power: 
 
 (20) "To provide for the case of removal, death, resigna- 
 tion, or inability, both of the President and Vice President." — 
 Under this power, Congress has passed a law providing 
 that if both President and Vice President die, the Secre- 
 tary of State shall act as President; if the Secretary of 
 
166 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 State (lies, the Secretary of the Treasury shall act as Presi- 
 dent; and so on down in the Cabinet, the Secretary of War 
 coming third, the Attorney-General fourth, the Postmaster- 
 General fifth, the Secretary of the Navy sixth, the Secre- 
 tary of the Interior seventh. 
 
 (21) To admit new States into the Union. 
 
 (22) "To make all needful rides and regulations respect- 
 ing the territory belonging to the United States." 
 
 What Congress May Not Do. — In order to guard the 
 interests of the States, the framers of the Constitution 
 were careful to mention certain things that the National 
 Government may not do. What these things are may be 
 found in the ninth section of the first article of the Con- 
 stitution. 
 
 (1) Slavery. — The first prohibition refers to the impor- 
 tation of slaves, but as slavery has been abolished we may 
 pass this subject by. (See Article XIII of the Amend- 
 ments.) 
 
 (2) The writ of habeas corpus (p. 38) shall not be sus- 
 pended, except in cases of rebellion or invasion. 
 
 (3) No bill of attainder shall be passed. This means 
 that Congress may not condemn a person to death, or to 
 outlawry and banishment, without opportunity for de- 
 fending himself in a court of law. 
 
 (4) No ex post facto law shall be passed. An ex post facto 
 law establishes or increases the penalty of an act after it 
 has been committed. For example, if Congress should 
 pass a law establishing the penalty of death upon a man 
 found guilty of counterfeiting a year ago, when the penalty 
 
CONGRESS 167 
 
 a year ago was line ami imprisonment, such a law would be 
 ex post facto. 
 
 (5) "No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid unless 
 in proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore di- 
 rected to be taken." — This moans that if Congress should 
 pass a caiMtation tax, or poll tax, it must be the same 
 in all States. If a direct tax on i)roperty should be 
 laid by Congress, it would have to l)e ai)portioned among 
 the States in proportion to their i)opulations. Thus, if 
 the United States Government should raise $35,000,000 
 by a direct tax, the property holders of Georgia would pay 
 about SI, 000,000 of the sum, for the population of this 
 State is about bne thirty-fifth of the entire population of 
 the Union. 
 
 (6) "No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from 
 any State. No preference shall be given by any regidation of 
 commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of 
 another." 
 
 (7) "No title of nobility shall be granted by the United 
 States."— Such titles as Prince, Duke, Earl, etc., are not 
 in keeping with democratic government, and very properly 
 they cannot be conferred by Congress. 
 
 AN EXERCISE 
 
 Give reasons why caeh of (lie jiowers which liave been granted to 
 Congress ought to be exercised by the National Government rather 
 than by the State. 
 
XXX. THE PRESIDENT; HIS ELECTION 
 
 "Sir, I would rather be right than be President." — Henry Clay. 
 
 Introduction. — ^Thc Congress, making use of such 
 powers as the Constitution gives it, — the powers described 
 in the last lesson — passes the laws that seem to be nec- 
 essary, and then adjourns; the nearly 500 members of the 
 great lawmaking body leave Washington and return to 
 their homes. The duty of enforcing and executing the 
 laws of Congress rests almost entirely with the executive 
 department, at the head of which is the President of the 
 United States. 
 
 One of the first things we want to know about the Pres- 
 ident of the United States is, how is the great official 
 chosen? How do 100,000,000 people select one of their 
 number to act as their chief magistrate? The Constitu- 
 tion provides in a general way ^ for the election of the 
 President, but since that election is conducted by politi- 
 cal parties we can best understand the election of the Pres- 
 ident by observing the workings of a political party dur- 
 ing a year in which a President is to be elected. 
 
 The Nomination of a Presidential Candidate. — Before 
 a man can hope to be Pi^esident, he must be named as the 
 candidate of a great party. Among the millions of voters 
 in a great political party, there are many public men who 
 
 ^ See the first section of Article II and also the Twelfth Amendment. 
 
 168 
 
THE PRESIDENT; IIIS ELECTION Itl'J 
 
 arc eager to be its caiulidate for President. The first (jucs- 
 tion to be answered, then, is: How is the presidential candi- 
 date of a poUtical party elected? How, for illustration, 
 does the Democratic party select its candidate? 
 
 The first step is taken several months before the election 
 in Novemb(T. In April or in ^May, the party holds its 
 (1) Primary, or first election.' At this election the Demo- 
 cratic voters in the different townships, villages, and cities 
 of a county choose delegates to represent them in a county 
 Democratic convention. These delegates may go instructed 
 to act in the interest of a certain man as the party 
 candidate for President, or they may go free to act as 
 their judgment directs. 
 
 In a few days after the primary election the delegates 
 from all the townships, villages, and cities of the county 
 a.<semble (usually at the county seat) as the (2) Demo- 
 cratic County Convention. This body, consisting some- 
 times of only two or three dozen men, sometimes of a 
 much larger number, elects delegates to go to a State 
 Convention.' If the majority of the delegates in the 
 county conventions WTre in favor of a certain man for 
 Pre-^^idcnt, it is likely that the delegates of the State Con- 
 vention will be in favor of the same man. 
 
 A few weeks after the holding of the county convention, 
 delegates from all the counties of the State assemble at 
 some convenient place, as the (3) Democratic State Con- 
 vention. This body, consisting sometimes of several hun- 
 dred men, passes resolutions expressing the political views 
 
 ' Sometimes called a Caucus. 
 
170 
 
 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 of the party in the State, names its choice for presidential 
 candidate— if it happens to have a choice— and elects 
 delegates to the Democratic National Convention. In 
 most of the States, however, the State Convention elects 
 only four delegates (called delegates at large) to the Na- 
 tional Convention, the other delegates being elected at 
 Congressional District Conventions. The number of dele- 
 gates sent to represent a State in the Democratic National 
 Convention, is twice the number of the representatives of 
 
 A Convention 
 
 the State in the National Congress. For example, Cali- 
 fornia, having seven members in the House of Representa- 
 tives, and two members in the Senate, or nine in all, is 
 entitled to eighteen delegates in the Democratic National 
 Convention. 
 
 By July or August all the State conventions have been 
 held, and delegates have been elected to the great (4) Demo- 
 cratic National Convention. This body, consisting of nearly 
 
Tlir: PRESIDENT; IIIS ELECTION 171 
 
 1000 men, representing all [mvls of the country, meets in 
 some convenient city. After several days of discussion, 
 and after adopting a platform expressing the views of the 
 party upon pubUc questions, it elects the Democratic can- 
 didates for President and for Vice President. 
 
 In almost the same way, beginning with the primary 
 election, and advancing to the County, State, and National 
 conventions, the Republican Party selects its presidential 
 candidates. The other political parties, the People's Party, 
 the Socialist Party, and the Prohibition Party, select their 
 candidates in a somewhat different manner but in most 
 things all the parties follow the same plan. 
 
 The Election of the President.— After all the political 
 parties have named their respective candidates, the cam- 
 paign begins. Political meetings are held, at which ora- 
 tors set forth the claims of their candidates and defend the 
 platform of their party; in the cities processions march 
 through the streets with great disj)lay of banners, torches, 
 and fireworks, while bands of music play spiritetl airs; 
 evervthine: that can be done to influence voters is done. 
 The campaign continues until election day, the first Tues- 
 day after the first Monday in November. On this day 
 every fourth year about ir),0()0,0()() citizens go to the 
 polls to express their choice for President. But tlu>y do 
 not vote for a Presi<lent directly; they vote for a set of men 
 called Electors, whose duty is to vote for a President and 
 Vice President. Each State is entitled to a number of elec- 
 tors equal to the number of its senators and representa- 
 tives in Congress. Delaware, having one representative 
 
172 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 and two senators, is entitled to three electors; New York, 
 having thirty-seven representatives and two senators, is 
 entitled to thirty-nine electors. There are in all the States 
 483 presidential electors. The names of the State electors 
 of each party are printed on the ballot under the party 
 name, and those who receive the highest number of votes 
 are elected and are morally bound to vote for the candidate 
 of the party that elected them. 
 
 The successful electors of each State meet on the sec- 
 ond Monday in January following the election, and vote 
 for President and Vice President. The result of this vote 
 is sent in a sealed envelope to the President of the Senate 
 at Washington. On the second Wednesday of the follow- 
 ing February, the President of the Senate, in the presence 
 of both Houses of Congress, opens the envelopes contain- 
 ing the electoral vote of the different States, and the votes 
 are counted. The person who has a majority (242 or more) 
 of the votes cast for President, is declared to be elected 
 President of the United States, and the person who has a 
 majority of the votes cast for Vice President is declared to 
 be elected Vice President of the United States. (See Con- 
 stitution, Article XII of Amendments.) 
 
 Cases have happened in our history when no candidate 
 had a majority of all the electoral votes. When this is 
 the case the House of Representatives chooses a Presi- 
 dent and the Senate a Vice President. \^Tien electing a 
 President, the House must choose from the three highest 
 on the list of the persons voted for by the electors, and it 
 must vote by States, the majority of representatives from 
 
THE PRESIDENT; HIS ELECTION 
 
 173 
 
 each State casting one vote for their State, and the repre- 
 sentatives of two-thirds of the States must take part in the 
 election. The successful candidate must receive a major- 
 ity of the votes of all the States. When the Senate is 
 obliged to elect a \'ice President, it must choose from the 
 
 \^^r^^ c- 
 
 The White House 
 
 two highest on the list of the persons voted for by the elec- 
 tors. 
 
 Inauguration.— On the fourth of March, the newly 
 elected President and Vice President begin their duties. 
 In the presence of a vast throng of citizens the Chief Jus- 
 tice of the United States administers to the President- 
 elect the following oath: "I do solemnly swear (or adirm) 
 that T will faithfully execute the office of President of the 
 United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, 
 
174 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." 
 The President then dehvers his inaugural address, from 
 the eastern steps of the Capitol, outlining his policy and 
 stating his ideas upon public questions. After this inaugu- 
 ration he is driven to the executive mansion, generally 
 known as the "White House," where he resides during his 
 term of office, and where you may some day see him and 
 shake hands with him. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Examine Article II of the Constitution, and fill the blanks 
 properly: 
 
 Both President and Vice President hold their position for years. 
 
 No person may be President who was not bom in the , and who is 
 
 not years of age at the time of his , and who has not been a 
 
 resident within the for years. If a President should be re- 
 moved from his office or should or or be to discharge 
 
 the powers and duties of his , the position of shall be filled by 
 
 the . 
 
 2. Ought the President to be elected directly by the people? 
 
 3. How many Presidents have been elected a second time? What 
 are the objections to electing a President for a third term? 
 
 4. How many votes were cast for presidential electors at the last 
 election? 
 
 5. Is it possible for a man to be elected President without recei\ing 
 a majority of the votes of the people? 
 
 6. What are the qualifications for the office of Vice President? 
 
XXXT. Tin-: PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET 
 
 "As tlic citizen may not elect what laws he will obey, neither may 
 the Executive elect which he will enforce." — Benjamin Harrison. 
 
 The Powers and Duties of the President. — ^The Presi- 
 dent does for the I'nitcd States what a Governor does for 
 one of the States — he takes care that the laws are faith- 
 fully executed. His powers and duties arc stated in the 
 second and third sections of Article II of the Constitution. 
 
 He is commander in chief of all the troops in the serv- 
 ice of the United States, although in times of war he may 
 not appear personally upon the field of battle. 
 
 He may partlon criminals convicted for offenses com- 
 mitted against the United States. 
 
 He may make a treaty with a foreign country, pro- 
 vided two-thirds of the members of the Senate vote for 
 it. A treaty is an agreement between two nations to do 
 or to refrain from doing certain things. It may be to make 
 war ui)on a third nation, or to maintain peace, or to regu- 
 late commerce or the carrying of mails, or for any other {pur- 
 pose. It is through treaties that tiie different nations of 
 the world attempt to secure the good will of one another, 
 and the responsibility of making treaties rests witli the 
 President and the Senate. 
 
 At the Ix'ginning of a session of Congrci^s the President 
 sends to that body a message, in which he calls attention 
 
176 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 to the needs of the country and suggests such legislation 
 as seems to him necessary. Congress is not obliged to 
 follow the suggestions of the President's message any more 
 than the Legislature of a State is obliged to follow the 
 suggestions contained in a message from the Governor. 
 
 When Congress is not in session and it seems necessary 
 that certain laws should be passed as quickly as possible, 
 the President may call an extra session, just as the Gov- 
 ernor of a State may call an extra session of the Legislature. 
 
 The Great Executive Departments. — Upon the shoul- 
 ders of the President rests the responsibility of the manage- 
 ment of the entire business of the National Government. 
 He is responsible for the management of foreign affairs, 
 which includes the making of treaties, the appointing 
 of ministers and consuls to serve in foreign countries 
 and instructing them in their duties, the reception of 
 foreign ministers in Washing-ton, the giving of passports 
 to those who wish to travel abroad, the protection of 
 American citizens in other lands, and all other bus- 
 iness that arises between our government and other gov- 
 ernments. He is responsible for the management of the 
 army with its officers and troops and forts and equipment 
 and military schools; for the management of the navy 
 with its fleets and forts and training schools; for the man- 
 agement of much business conducted by United States 
 attorneys in the national courts ; for the collection of taxes, 
 the expenditure of money appropriated by Congress, and 
 the management of the public debt; for the management 
 of the vast business of the post office with its post office 
 
THE PRESIDENT AND lUS CABINET 177 
 
 buildings and postmasters, letter carriers, and clerks; for 
 the management of the Indians, the sale of public lands, 
 the payment of pensions, the granting of patents; for 
 much work done by the government in aid of scientific 
 farming; for the taking of the census, the regulation of 
 commerce, the work of government fish hatcheries, and 
 many other things. 
 
 Of course, the President cannot superintend all this 
 business in person. Like the executive of any other large 
 government, like the Governor of a State or the i\Iayor of a 
 city, he must have a body of able assistants. This busi- 
 ness of the National Government is divided into nine de- 
 partments, and at the head of each department the Presi- 
 dent i)laces a man who he thinks is competent to manage 
 its affairs. The names of the departments, with the titles 
 of the head officers, arc: 
 
 (1) The Department of State, under the management of 
 the Secretarj' of State, who is at the head of foreign af- 
 fairs. 
 
 (2) The Department of War, under the management of 
 the Secretary of War. 
 
 (3) The Department of the Navy, under the management 
 of the Secretary of the Navy. 
 
 (4) The Department of Justice, under the management 
 of the .Attorney-General. 
 
 (5) The Department of the Treasury, under the manage- 
 ment of the Secretary of the Trea.sury. 
 
 (6) The Post Office Department, under the management 
 of the Postmaster-General. 
 
 F. Civil Govt.— 12 
 
178 
 
 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 (7) The Department of the Interior, under the manage- 
 ment of the Secretary of the Interior. 
 
 (8) The Department of Agriculture, under the manage- 
 ment of the Secretary of Agriculture. 
 
 (9) The Department of Commerce and Labor, under the 
 management of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. 
 
 Cabinet Meetings. — ^The officers who serve as the heads 
 of the great departments meet at the White House once or 
 twice a week to consult with the President and to advise 
 
 A Cabinet Meeting 
 
 with him in respect to public affairs. This coming to- 
 gether of the heads of the departments is known as a Cabi- 
 net Meeting. Cabinet meetings are not provided for in 
 the Constitution. They are held simply for the conven- 
 ience of the President, who desires, of course, to consult 
 with his secretaries from time to time and to get advice 
 from them. No record is kept of the cabinet meetings, 
 and the public does not know what takes place at them. 
 
THE PRESIDENT AND IIIS CABINET 179 
 
 The cabinet may take a vote upon a question that is be- 
 fore it, but the President is not bound to act according to 
 the result of the vote. The President does not have to act 
 according to the wishes of the cabinet, and he sometimes 
 acts contrary to its wishes. The business of the cabinet is 
 to discuss and advise; the business of the President is to 
 decide and act. 
 
 The National Civil Service ; the Civil Service Commis- 
 sion. — The work of the National Government requires the 
 services of about 325,000 persons, not counting the soldiers 
 in the army or the sailors in the navy. About 30,000 of 
 these officers and employees reside in the city of Washing- 
 ton. The others are scattered over the country, ser\'ing prin- 
 cii)ally as postmasters, letter-carriers, clerks, customhouse 
 employees, inspectors. We are apt to think of Washington 
 as the place where nearly all the business of the National 
 Government is transacted, but it should be remembered 
 that for every person whom the National Government em- 
 ploys in Washington it employs about ten elsewhere. 
 
 IIow do these 325,000 servants of the National Govern- 
 ment receive their positions? They receive them in two 
 ways: they are either appointed cjirectly by the President 
 or they are appointed directly by the heads of the depart- 
 ments. Those appointed by the President — more than 
 SOOO in number— must be confirmed by the Senate. The 
 presidential appointees are the leading men of the gov- 
 ernment, the heads of the departments and their chief 
 assistants, the heafls of bureaus and of divisions, the post- 
 masters of the larger places, the chief customhouse offi- 
 
180 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 cials and collectors of internal revenue. All the vast army 
 of officers and employees not appointed directly by the 
 President are appointed by the heads of the departments. 
 
 In order to help in the work of securing proper persons 
 for the departments a Civil Service Commission has 
 been estabhshed. It is the duty of this body to ex- 
 amine those who wish employment under the government 
 and to report on the fitness of the applicants. The names 
 of the persons who pass the examinations held by the Com- 
 mission are sent to the heads of the departments, and the 
 persons who get the highest marks are the first to be ap- 
 pointed. Those who pass these civil service examinations 
 and receive appointments are allowed to hold their places 
 so long as they behave themselves and do their work well. 
 Any person, however, in the executive civil service of the 
 National Government, whether he be high or low, may be 
 removed from his position at any time by the President, 
 and may be removed for any reason or for no reason. 
 
 Salaries. — ^Thc salaries of the principal officers of the 
 National Government are as follows: 
 
 President $50,000 
 
 Vice President 12,000 
 
 Members of the Cabinet 12,000 
 
 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 13,000 
 
 Associate Justices of the Supreme Court 12,500 
 
 Judges of Circuit Courts 7,000 
 
 Judges of District Courts 6,000 
 
 Representatives 7, .500 
 
 Senators 7,500 
 
 Foreign Ministers nnd Ambassadors .... 10,000 to 17,500 
 Heads of Bureaus and Divisions , 3,000 to 6,000 
 
Tin: PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET 181 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Name the members of our President's cabinet. 
 
 2. ^Vhat is meant by the words "To the victors belong the spoils"? 
 
 3. How- would you proceed if you wished to secure a position as a 
 clerk in a post olUce? (Write to the United States Civil Service Com- 
 mission, Washington, D. C, for a booklet giving information about 
 admission to the national civil service.) 
 
 4. Ought employees of the civil service to receive pensions in their 
 old age? 
 
 5. Name all the officers and employees of the national civil service 
 whom you personally know. 
 
XXXII. THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPART- 
 MENTS 
 
 "Cultivate peace and harmony with all." — Washington. 
 
 Introduction. — We may now begin to study the work- 
 ings of the great executive departments of our National 
 Government. The business of these departments extends 
 over the whole of the United States, Indeed the business 
 of some of them extends over the entire world. The cen- 
 tral offices, however, of all the departments are located 
 at our national capital, and it is in these great govern- 
 ment workshops, the department buildings at Washing- 
 ton, that we can best study the subject that is now be- 
 fore us. 
 
 The Department of State. — Of all the large and mag- 
 nificent office buildings in Washington the largest and 
 most magnificent is the State, War, and Navy Building 
 located about a stone's throw west of the White House. 
 This building might well be called the Peace and War 
 Building, for beneath its roof are done both the things 
 that keep us on terms of peace and friendship with foreign 
 nations and the things that enable us to wage war on land 
 and on sea. In this huge structure are the offices of the 
 Department of State, the Department of War, and the 
 Department of the Navy. 
 
 The Department of State is the department of foreign 
 
 182 
 
THE NATIONAL lOXlXTTIVE DKrAKTMKNTS 1S3 
 
 affairs. The rnitcd States must transact a great deal of 
 business with the other countries of the world, and the 
 management of this business is in the hands of the Secre- 
 tary of State. Every important nation sends to Washing- 
 ton an ambassador or minislcr whose duty is to represent 
 his home country and to defend its interests in the United 
 States. The Secretary of State assists the President in 
 receiving these ambassadors and ministers upon their 
 arrival in Washington, and docs what he can to make their 
 
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 '^t, 
 
 
 State, War, and Navy Building 
 
 Stay in the city pleasant and agreeable. A foreign minis- 
 ter is a very important personage and he must be treated 
 with great honor and distinction. The land on which he 
 lives is regarded as a little patch of sacred territory upon 
 which no one must enter against the wishes of the minis- 
 ter. The person of a foreign minister is also regarded as 
 
184 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 sacred, and so are the persons of the members of his family 
 and of his secretaries and servants. A secretary of a 
 foreign ambassador was arrested in a New England town 
 for running an automobile too fast, and was fined. The 
 State Department took the matter up and caused the 
 money to be given back, and the judge who imposed the 
 fine was reprimanded. ' 
 
 Besides attending to the business that is brought up by 
 the foreign ambassadors and ministers residing in Wash- 
 ington, the State Department has charge of the work car- 
 ried on by our own ambassadors and ministers in other 
 countries. In almost every country of the world the Uni- 
 ted States has either an ambassador or a minister. The 
 ambassador is the higher officer in rank and is supposed 
 to be the personal representative of the President himself. 
 An ambassador and a minister have practically the same 
 duty, and that is to uphold and defend the interests of 
 the United States and its citizens in the countries to 
 which they arc sent. 
 
 The State Department also has charge of the consular 
 service of the United States. A consul is a business agent 
 sent by the government to a foreign seaport or an inland 
 city to look after the commercial interests of the home 
 country. The consul also attends to many affairs of a 
 private nature. He certifies to marriages, births, and 
 deaths among his countrymen in his consular district; he 
 looks after the property of deceased persons when there is 
 nobody else at hand to do this; sometimes he issues pass- 
 ports. Very often in the hour of need the American citi- 
 
THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DlOPAUT.MI^NTri 185 
 
 zcn in a foreign land finds in the American consul a real 
 friend. 
 
 The Department of War has charge of the land forces 
 of the United States. It has control of the regular or stand- 
 ing army, the army that is always ready for fighting. This 
 army when compared with the regidar armies of other 
 countries is very small, consisting of less than 100,000 men. 
 In times of peace this number is large enough, but in times 
 of war it is of course too small. "When necessary, how^ever, 
 the United States can put a vast army in the field. The 
 militia of all the States (p. 165)— over 12,000,000 able- 
 bodied men — is at the ser\4ce of the National Government. 
 Moreover, the President may call for volunteer soldiers and 
 at such a call several hundred thousanrl good fighting men 
 would be sure to step fonvard. 
 
 The President is the commander in chief of the army, 
 but the actual management of military affairs falls upon 
 the Secretary of War. This officer is assisted in his duties 
 by the General Staff and by the heads of the several bu- 
 reaus of the War Department. The General Staff is a 
 body of trained oflRcers whose duty is to prepare plans for 
 the conduct of military operations. Through the C hief 
 of Staff the Secretary of War exercises a direct control 
 over the troops. One great bureau of the department is 
 that of the Quartermaster-General, who attends to the 
 clothing of the troops and to their transportation. An- 
 other important bureau is that of the Commissary-General, 
 who supplies the army with food. The office of the Sur- 
 geon-General cares for the sick and wounded and has charge 
 
186 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 of the army hospitals. The Judge- Advocate-General is the 
 head of the bureau of mihtary justice. Officers and sol- 
 diers frequently get into trouble and are accused of wrong- 
 doing and when this happens they are not tried by a jury 
 as other citizens are, but by a military court kno^uTi as a 
 court-martial. The Judge-Advocate-General has a general 
 supervision over courts-martial. The Chief of Ordnance 
 has charge of the bureau that purchases or manufactures the 
 guns, swords, cannon, and ammunition used by the army. 
 
 The War Department has charge of the fortifications by 
 which the great cities along the sea coast are defended. It 
 also has control of the great Military Academy at West 
 Point where young men receive thorough training in the 
 arts of war. The War Department has also established 
 at Washington an Army War College for advanced students. 
 
 The Department of the Navy has charge of the forces 
 that defend us on the seas. The President is commander 
 in chief of the navy as he is commander in chief of the 
 army, but the Secretary of the Navy is the real manager 
 of naval affairs. The business of the Navy Department 
 is distributed to several bureaus, all of which work toward 
 the same end: the placing on the seas of well-built, well- 
 equipped, and fully-manned fighting ships. The Bureau 
 of Construction and Repair attends to the designing and 
 building of the ships of the navy. The Bureau of Yards 
 and Docks has charge of the j^ards where ships for the 
 navy are built. The Bureau of Navigation takes care that 
 the ships of the nav}^ are supplied with properly trained 
 officers and sailors. The Naval Academy at Annapolis — 
 
THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS 187 
 
 the best equiiipcd school of its kind in the world— is 
 under the direction of this bureau. The Bureau of Equip- 
 ment has charge of the furnishings of the ships, the electric 
 motors, the rigging, the sail, the anchors, compasses, 
 charts, books. The Bureau of Ordnance provides the ships 
 with the instruments of warfare. 
 
 For a long time the United States did not care to have 
 a powerful navy, but about 1885 we began to improve 
 our navy, adding to the number of fighting vessels and 
 providing for the training of a large number of naval ofli- 
 cers and seamen. This pohcy of increasing our naval 
 forces has been followed so faithfully that we now have 
 one of the most powerful navies in the world. Indeed, 
 there is only one country in the world that can boast of a 
 stronger navy than ours. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Who first filled the office of Secretary of State? Of Secretary of 
 War? Of Secretary of the Navy? 
 
 2. Name four great generals of American history. Name three 
 great naval heroes of American history. 
 
 .3. What coimtry has the strongest navy? What reason can you 
 give in favor of supporting a strong navy? What reasons can you 
 give against supporting a strong naN^y? 
 
 4. What does it cost to support the army and navy of the United 
 States? 
 
 5. Name the countries of the world that have large standing armies. 
 Are those countries in less danger than are those that have small 
 standing armies? 
 
 G. If you !5oc any good things connerted witli warfare name those 
 things. Name the evils connected with warfare. 
 
XXXIII. THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPART- 
 MENTS (Continued) 
 
 The Department of Justice. — Just across the street 
 from the State, War, and Navy Building is the central 
 office of the Department of Justice, the law department 
 of the National Government. The chief lawyer of this de- 
 partment is the Attorney-General of the United States, 
 who renders the same kind of ser\'ice for the National 
 Government that the Attorney-General of the State (p. 141) 
 renders for the State government and that the prosecuting 
 attorney (p. 88) renders for the county. When there are 
 offenses against the laws of the United States, such as 
 the counterfeiting of money or the robbing of mails, it is 
 the duty of the Department of Justice to prosecute the 
 offenders in the national courts. "WTien the National Gov- 
 ernment needs a lawyer to defend it in the courts, the 
 Attorney-General or one of his assistants acts as that 
 lawyer. When the President, or a member of the cabinet, 
 needs the advice of a lawyer he calls upon the Attorney- 
 General to give that advice. The Department of Justice 
 also superintends the district attorneys, clerks, and mar- 
 shals of the national courts. In the performance of his 
 duties the Attorney-General is assisted by a solicitor- 
 general and by many assistant attorneys. 
 
 The Department of the Treasury. — About a stone's 
 
 throw east of the ^^Tiite House is the Treasury Building, 
 
 1S8 
 
Tin: NATIONAL KXlX'UTlVi; l)i:rAUTMENTS 
 
 ISO 
 
 the great central workshop of the Treasury Department. 
 Visitors to Wasliington arc always eager to go through 
 the Treasury Building, for in it they can sec the vaults in 
 which arc deposited great sums of gold and silv(>r coin, 
 and can see old and worn out money destroyed and new, 
 freshly printed money stampetl, counted, and prepared fnr 
 shipment to all parts of the country. 
 
 The operations of the Treasury Department are so vast 
 
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 4 
 
 ■3"^- 
 
 #^ 
 
 7> 
 
 >-7' 
 
 It 
 
 SfJs:^ 
 
 ^■ 
 
 Q 
 
 Treasury BuildinR 
 
 that to give a full account of them would require a large 
 volume. At the heail of this department is the Secretary 
 of the Treasury, who is assisted in his labors by three as- 
 sistant secretaries and by the heads of numerous bureaus 
 and divisions. Among the many services of the depart- 
 ment the following deserve special notice: 
 
190 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 (1) The Collection of the National Taxes. — It is the task 
 of the Treasury Department to collect the great sum of 
 money that is required to support the National Govern- 
 ment. The national taxes are the customs duties on goods 
 brought from foreign countries, and excises (taxes) on 
 certain articles of home manufacture. Duties are collected 
 principally on sugar, tobacco, wool, woolen goods, cotton 
 goods, silk goods, iron and steel goods. Both duties and 
 excises (internal taxes) are collected on liquors, tobacco, 
 cigars, cigarettes, oleomargarine, and playing cards. About 
 half the revenue of the National Government comes from 
 customs duties and about half from excises. 
 
 For the collection of the customs tax the Treasury De- 
 partment places officials, known as collectors of customs, 
 at all points where foreign goods are brought into the 
 country. There are altogether about 130 such places, 
 known as ports of entry. The leading ports of entry — so 
 far as the amount of customs collected is concerned — are 
 New York, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Balti- 
 more, New Orleans, Chicago, and Detroit. By far the 
 most important port is New York, where more than half 
 of all the customs are collected. 
 
 For the collection of the excises the Department has 
 officers known as collectors of internal revenue. These 
 officers and their assistants visit the distilleries and brew- 
 eries and cigar and tobacco manufactories and collect taxes 
 on the articles before they are sold. 
 
 (2) The Safe Keeping of the National Revenue. — ^The 
 money collected as customs and excises is placed in the 
 
THE NATIONAL KXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS 1!»I 
 
 kco{)ing of tiic Tivasuror of tlio United States, an ofTiccr 
 of the Treasury Department. A large amount of the gov- 
 ernment's money is always found in the vaults of the 
 Treasury Building at Washington, yet in nine other cities 
 (New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Chicago, 
 St. Louis, New Orleans, and San Francisco) there are sub- 
 treasuries in which large sums of public money are stored. 
 In the subtreasury of New York there is more money 
 actually handletl than is handled at all the other sub- 
 treasuries combined. 
 
 (3) The Bookkeeping Service of the National Govern- 
 ment. — The great task of keeping the accounts of the Na- 
 tional Government is performed by officers of the Treasury 
 Department. Chief among these are the Register of the 
 Treasury, Auditors of the Treasury, and the Comptroller 
 of the Treasury. The Register of the Treasury signs all 
 Unitetl States bonds, and prepares lists of persons who 
 are the hoklers of registered bonds and who arc en- 
 titled to receive interest on bonds. The Auditors of the 
 Treasury, six in number, examine and settle all the claims 
 and accounts of the various departments. The Comptrol- 
 ler prescribes the manner in which the public accounts 
 shall be kept and when complaints arc made he sits in 
 judgment on the work of the Auditors and ai)proves or 
 disapproves of their decisions. 
 
 (4) The Manufacture of Money. — All the money in use 
 is manufactured under the direction of the Treasury De- 
 partment. The paper money is all printed in Washing- 
 ton at the great Bureau of En/jraving and Printing, where 
 
192 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 1000 skilled workmen and artists are constantly em- 
 ployed printing and counting the millions of notes that 
 are necessary to supply the country with currency. For 
 the manufacture of gold and silver and other metallic 
 coins the department has mints located at Philadelphia, 
 New Orleans, Denver, and San Francisco. Each mint has 
 its own superintendent, but all the mints are under the 
 general supervision of the Director of the Mint. 
 
 (5) The Supervision of National Banks. — ^The national 
 banks of the country, more than 7000 in number, are super- 
 vised by an officer of the department known as the Comp- 
 troller of the Currency. No national bank can begin busi- 
 ness until its plans have been submitted to the Comptroller 
 and approved by him, and every bank must send to him 
 at stated times reports showing the condition of its affairs. 
 
 (6) Miscellaneous Services. — ^The Treasury Department 
 performs several services that are not closely connected 
 with its proper work. It has charge of the Public Health 
 and Marine Hospital Service, which furnishes medical aid 
 and hospital service to certain classes of seamen and which 
 does what it can to prevent the spread of contagious 
 diseases from State to State. It has charge of the Life 
 Saving Service, which keeps along our seacoast a force of 
 men ready night and day to save the lives of people on 
 board vessels in distress. It also employs a Supervising 
 Architect who selects the location and prepares the plans 
 for the public buildings of the National Government, its 
 customhouses, its post offices, its hospitals. 
 
 The Post Office Department.— A walk of three minutes 
 
THE NATIONAL KXECUTIVK DEPAIITMENTS 193 
 
 from the Treasury Building, passing along tlu; far-fanicd 
 Pennsylvania Avenue, brings one to the Post Office Build- 
 ing. This is the central office of the Post Office Depart- 
 ment, wliich collects, carries, and delivers our mails. 
 Nearly 200,000 persons — postmasters, clerks, and letter 
 carriers — are em{)loyed by the Post Office Department. 
 
 At the head of this department is the Postmaster- 
 General, who is assisted in his duties by four assistant 
 postmasters-general. The first assistant postmaster-gen- 
 eral attends to postmasters' appointments,^ salaries, and 
 the delivery of mail in cities. The second assistant attends 
 to the carrying of the mails, whether on railroads, steam- 
 ships, or otherwise. The third assistant supervises the 
 manufacture of stamps and attends to matters connected 
 with money orders and registered mails. The fourth as- 
 sistant has charge of the rural free delivery service and of 
 dead letters. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Which of the executive departments of the National Govern- 
 ment comes closest to the citizen in his ilaily life? 
 
 2. What services does the Post Office Department render besides 
 the carrj'ing of the mails? 
 
 3. Explain what is meant l)y ' rmtcction "; by " I'rcc Trade.'' 
 
 4. Describe the several kinds of paj^r inonoy in use. The .several 
 kinds of metallic money. 
 
 5. Try to get a friend who understands the subject to come before 
 your class and explain the workings of national banks. 
 
 ^ lie does not. however, actually appoint postma.';ters; only the 
 President or the Postmaster-General can make appointments. 
 
 F. Civil Govt.— 13 
 
XXXIV. THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPART- 
 MENTS {Continued) 
 
 The Department of the Interior employs more per- 
 sons in Washington than any other department except 
 the Treasury Department. Its central offices are located 
 in several great buildings which stand at convenient dis- 
 tances from one another. 
 
 The Secretary of the Interior has his office in a building 
 known as the Patent Office. In the Patent Office also is 
 the office of the Commissioner of Patents who has charge 
 of the granting of patents (p. 164) to the thousands of in- 
 ventors who every year come forward with something new. 
 
 Just across the street from the Patent Office is the fine 
 building known as the Land Office. In this building are 
 located two of the most important bureaus of the Interior 
 Department, the General Land Office and the Ofjice of In- 
 dian Affairs. The Land Office has charge of the public 
 lands owned by the United States. These lands, if we in- 
 clude those owned in Alaska, have a combined area of 
 nearly a million and a half square miles, an area equal to 
 that of six such States as Texas. The National Govern- 
 ment is all the time selling its public lands to private in- 
 dividuals at very low prices, and it is through the Land 
 Office that these lands are bought and that the titles to 
 them are secured. The Indian Office deals with the In- 
 dians of the United States. There are scattered over the 
 
 194 
 
THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPARTMI:NTS 195 
 
 couiitrv about 270,000 rod men living on about 100 In- 
 dian reservations which have a total area of more than 
 100,000 square miles. Most of these Indians live in tribes, 
 and all Indian tribes are under the control and guardian- 
 ship of the United States. The National Government as 
 the guardian and protector of the Indians renders them 
 many services: it protects them against injustice at the 
 hands of the white man; it gives them certain food supplies; 
 
 
 
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 '^^'^^BE' 
 
 T-C^ 
 
 ' 
 
 
 Pension Office 
 
 
 it supports schools among them. It does these things 
 through the agency of the Indian Office. 
 
 Two squares from the Patent Office is the massive Pen- 
 sion Office, Here under the direction of the Commissioner 
 of Pensions, an officer of the Interior Department, upwards 
 of 1000 persons are employed in examining the claims for 
 pensions and in awarding pensions to those who have 
 
196 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 fought in our wars. Through the services of this office pen- 
 sions are distributed to nearly 1,000,000 old soldiers and 
 old soldiers' widows. The number of pensioners, however, 
 is growing smaller. 
 
 In the Department of the Interior there are also : a Com- 
 missioner of Education, who collects facts bearing upon 
 the subject of education; a Director of the Geological Sur- 
 vey, who inquires into and gives an account of the mineral 
 resources and mineral products of the public lands; and 
 a Director of the Reclamation Service, who directs the great 
 work of reclaiming arid lands by irrigation and rendering 
 them fit for cultivation. 
 
 The Department of Agriculture, under the direction 
 of the Secretary of Agriculture, collects and distributes 
 among the people useful information on the subject of 
 agriculture. For example: a certain farming community 
 of one of the States was being overrun by mice; millions 
 of the little pests had suddenly appeared and were doing 
 the crops great harm. The Department of Agriculture 
 soon had its men on the spot trying experiments as to the 
 best method of getting rid of the mice. When the agents 
 of the department had learned how the mice could be most 
 easily destroyed they published an account of their work 
 and this account was sent to the farmers of the mouse- 
 ridden district. The department, you observe, did not 
 undertake to kill the mice for the farmers, but it did 
 undertake to furnish them with information as to how 
 they might best rid their fields of the mice. This is an 
 illustration of the hundreds of ways in which the depart- 
 
THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVIO DEPARTMENTS 197 
 
 mont of Agriculturo helps farmers by sending out informa- 
 tion. 
 
 A most important service of the department is that per- 
 formed by till' Weather Bureau. This bureau studies the 
 winds and the clouds and makes forecasts of the weather. 
 Those forecasts are made in about 200 difTerent places lo- 
 cated ill :ill parts of the United States, the central office 
 of course being in Washington. The forecasts are sent 
 hither and thither by mail, by telephone, and by telegraph, 
 to different points, so that the peoj^le may be warned of 
 coming changes in the weather. 
 
 The Bureau of Animal Industry is a most important 
 bureau of the department. It investigates the diseases of 
 cattle and horses and swine and gives information to 
 farmers as to how these diseases may be prevented. It also 
 has charge of the inspection of such animals, meats, and 
 meat-food products as are intended for shipment from one 
 State to another. 
 
 Other bureaus of the Department of Agriculture are: 
 the Bureau of Entomology, which gathers and distributes 
 information regarding insects which are harmful to crops 
 and trees; the Bureau of Biological Survey, which makes a 
 stutly of birds with the view of learning what birds are 
 the farmer's friends and wiiut birds are his enemies; the 
 Bureau of Plant industry, which studies plant life, and 
 distributes seeds to farmers. 
 
 The Department of Commerce and Labor was the last 
 of the great executiv(' (lei)artments to be established; it 
 was created in 1903. It is the duty of this department to 
 
198 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic 
 commerce, the mining, manufacturing, shipping, and fish- 
 ing industries, the labor interests, and the transportation 
 facilities of the United States. 
 
 The prominent bureaus of the department are: the 
 Bureau of the Census, which takes every ten years a cen- 
 sus of all the people; the Bureau of Corporations, which 
 gathers for the use of the President and of Congress infor- 
 mation about the great business concerns that are engaged 
 in commerce between the States; the Bureau of Labor, 
 which gathers information concerning the wages, the hours 
 of labor, and the living conditions of workingmen; the 
 Bureau of Fisheries, which propagates useful food fishes, 
 and lobsters, oysters, and other shellfish. 
 
 Executive Work Outside the Departments. — Some of 
 the work of the National Government has not been brought 
 under the supervision of any of the nine great departments. 
 The Interstate Commerce Commission is outside the control 
 of any department. This body is composed of seven mem- 
 bers appointed by the President at a salary of $10,000 per 
 year. The duty of the commission is to exercise a certain 
 control over railroads carrying freight and passengers from 
 one State to another. It requires that the railroads in 
 their charges for carrying passengers and freight shall not 
 charge one person more for a given service than is charged 
 another person for the same service. The commission 
 also, upon the complaint of a passenger or shipper of goods, 
 may do away with a passenger or freight rate which it 
 regards as unjust or unreasonable and may fix a new rate 
 
THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVi: DI'.rARTMENTS 
 
 l'.)9 
 
 i \Mh^(^ 
 
 which it reganls as just and roasonal)lo. This power of 
 the commission over railroad rates makes it one of the 
 most imj)ortant agencies of the National Government. 
 
 Outside of any department also are: The Civil Service 
 Comtnission, consisting of three members whose duties 
 have been described (p. ISO); the great Government Print- 
 ing Office, where un- 
 der the direction of 
 the Public Printer 
 nearly 5000 persons 
 are constantly em- 
 ployed in printing 
 and binding count- 
 less documents for 
 the National Gov- 
 ernment; the Smith- 
 sonian Institution, 
 which carries on 
 scientific experi- 
 ments and which 
 has charge of the 
 National Museum 
 and the Zoological 
 Gardens. 
 
 Last, but not least, the Library of Congress is outside the 
 control of any department. This library at first was in- 
 tended simply for the personal u.'»c of members of Congress, 
 but it has become a national institution and its 2,000,000 
 volumes are at the service of the people of the United 
 
 |ljt|l±t^g 
 
 "'-^, 
 
 An Alcove in the Congressional Library 
 
200 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 States. The collection has been housed in a building of 
 surpassing beauty, and scholars and readers from all 
 parts of the country can be found in its alcoves availing 
 themselves of its precious treasures. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Of the nine executive departments of the National Government 
 which renders the most important service? Which stands second in 
 the importance of the service it renders? Which stands third? Which 
 fourth? 
 
 2. To what department or bureau would you take each of the follow- 
 ing matters: 
 
 (a) A claim for a pension. 
 
 (6) A claim for a tract of public land. 
 
 (c) An application for a patent. 
 
 (d) An application for information concerning admission to the Naval 
 
 Academy. 
 
 (e) A request for information regarding the best method of curing a 
 
 disease in cattle. 
 (/) A complaint in respect to a freight rate. 
 
XXXV. TERRITORIES AND DEPENDENCIES 
 
 Introduction. — The National Govcriiineiit has always 
 had under its control large areas of territory that have 
 been governed entirely according to the wishes of Con- 
 gress. At the beginning of our national history the great 
 Northwest Territory, out of which have been carved Ohio, 
 Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a part of Minne- 
 sota, was governed by Congress, The great region known 
 as Louisiana, which was purchased from France in 1803 
 and which gave to the Union a dozen States, was at first 
 governed as a territory dependent upon Congress. In 
 fact, of the thirty-three admitted States all but six — 
 Vermont, Kentucky, Maine, Texas, California, and West 
 ^'irginia — were governed by Congress as Territories before 
 they came into the Union as States. 
 
 The Organized Territories. — Congress has provided simi- 
 lar forms of government for Arizona, New Mexico, and 
 Hawaii. Each has a Governor appointed by the President 
 for a term of four years; each has a secretary also ap- 
 jiointed by the President; each has an elective Legislature 
 resembling that of a State Legislature; each has a system 
 of local government resembling that found in the States; 
 each has a number of territorial judges appointed l)y the 
 President; each .sends to the House of Representatives at 
 Washington a i!el(^gate who has a right to speak but who 
 iias not the right to vote. Although the Legislature of 
 
 201 
 
202 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 each of these Territories is elected by the people, yet the 
 Governor has a veto upon all bills and that veto cannot 
 be overruled by the Legislature as it can in the States. 
 The Governor can thus prevent the passage of any law. 
 In respect to laws that have already been enacted Con- 
 gress has complete power; it can at any time do away with 
 any law that the Legislature has passed. In this way the 
 National Government keeps a firm hand upon these three 
 Territories. 
 
 Alaska.— The vast region of Alaska came to us in 1867 
 by purchase from Russia. It is governed by Congress 
 somewhat in the way the three Territories mentioned 
 above are governed. It has a Governor, a secretary, and 
 judges who are all appointed by the President. It has, 
 however, no Legislature, the laws governing it being 
 enacted directly by Congress. It has a delegate in the 
 House of Representatives. 
 
 Our Island Possessions. — Through the war with Spain 
 in 1898 the United States gained possession of Porto Rico 
 and the Philippine Islands. The duty of governing these 
 islands rests upon Congress. For Porto Rico Congress 
 has provided a Governor, a secretary, an attorney-general, 
 a treasurer, an auditor, a commissioner of the interior, and 
 a commissioner of education, all to be appointed by the 
 President and all to hold their ofRce for a term of four 
 years. This executive department, it will be noticed, re- 
 sembles very closely the executive department of a State 
 government. The Legislature of Porto Rico has two 
 branches. The lower branch is elected by the people, but 
 
ti:rritorii:s and dependencies 203 
 
 the upper branch consists not of elected representatives, 
 but of eleven appointetl members, inclutiint:; the six execu- 
 tive officers below the Governor and five other persons also 
 appointed by the President. The principal judges of the 
 island arc appointetl by the President. Porto Rico has no 
 delegate in Congress, but it sends to Washington a commis- 
 sioner who by the grace of the House of Representatives 
 is permitted to speak in that body. For all practical 
 purposes, therefore, the commissioner in reality has as 
 much power as a delegate from a Territory. 
 
 For the government of the Philippine Islands Congress 
 has created an executive department consisting of a Gov- 
 ernor-General, a secretary of the interior, a secretary of 
 commerce and police, a secretary of finance and justice, 
 and a secretary of public instruction, all to be appointed 
 by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The 
 Legislature of the islands is almost precisely like that 
 pro\'ided for Porto Rico: the lower house is elected by the 
 people and the upper house consists of the executive offi- 
 cers named above and four members appointed by the 
 President. The Philippine Islands send two commissioners 
 to Washington. 
 
 Although Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands belong 
 to the United States, the people of those islands are not 
 citizens of the United States and do not enjoy all the 
 rights and privileges of American citizenship. It is the 
 policy of the National Government, however, to treat 
 these people fairly, and as a matter of fact they enjoy 
 most of the civil rights that Americans enjoy. 
 
204 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 The District of Columbia. — Under the Articles of Con- 
 federation Congress had no fixed home and at times it 
 was treated badly in the places in which it held its ses- 
 sions. It will be remembered that in Philadelphia Con- 
 gress was once attacked by a crowd of drunken soldiers. 
 The framers of the Constitution provided that the Na- 
 tional Government should have a district (not exceeding 
 ten miles square) for its permanent home and that in this 
 district Congress should have complete control. In 1790 
 a tract of land on the Potomac River was chosen as the 
 site for the new seat of government and was named the 
 District of Columbia. 
 
 Congress has governed the District of Columbia now in 
 one way, now in another. At present (1908) the District is 
 governed by a Board of Commissioners appointed by the 
 President. These Commissioners act as an executive body 
 to do the will of Congress, which makes the laws of the 
 District. Judges of the courts of the District are appointed 
 by the President, Since the District of Columbia is prac- 
 tically the city of Washington the District government 
 is a city government with the usual departments of serv- 
 ice that must be rendered by a city (p. 113). 
 
 In the management of the affairs of their city the people 
 of Washington have no responsibility whatever and no 
 power whatever. The District of Columbia has no dele- 
 gate in Congress, or commissioner, or representative of 
 any kind. Of all the dependencies of the United States 
 the District is the only one in which there is no provision 
 whatever for the expression of the popular will. The in- 
 
TERRITORIES AND DEPENDENCIES 205 
 
 habitants, luiwcvcr, aro of course ritizons of tlic rnitcd 
 States. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Prepare a table showing the population and area of each of the 
 Territories and ilependencies and give the total. 
 
 2. Of our Territories and dependencies name those that are likely 
 to become States. 
 
 3. If you lived in the city of Washington do you think you would 
 hke the way it is governed? 
 
 4. Give an account of the government of Guam; of Samoa, 
 
 5. Write a composition on the city of Washington, describing its 
 location, its streets, its buildings, and its attractions. 
 
XXXVI. THE NATIONAL COURTS 
 
 "The Supreme Court is the living voice of the Constitution, that is, 
 of tlie will of the people expressed in the fundamental law they have 
 enacted. It is the conscience of the people who have resolved to re- 
 strain themselves from hasty or unjust action by placing their repre- 
 sentatives under the restriction of a permanent law." — James Bryce. 
 
 The Kind of Cases Tried in the National Courts. — The 
 
 third article of the Constitution describes the powers and 
 the nature of the judicial department of the National Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 The courts of a State try those cases that arise under 
 the laws and constitution of the State, while the courts 
 of the National Government try those cases that arise under 
 the Constitution of the United States, and the laws passed 
 by Congress. A man charged with the crim-e of burglary 
 would be tried in one of the courts of the State in which 
 the crime was committed; for the laws against burglary 
 are passed by the Legislatures of the States. A man charged 
 with counterfeiting money would be tried in one of the 
 national courts; for the laws against counterfeiting are 
 passed by Congress. A person charged with breaking a 
 street lamp would be tried in a State court, for his offense 
 concerns a State; but a person charged with robbing a 
 letter box attached to a lamp-post, would be tried in a 
 court of the United States, for his offense concerns the 
 National Government. 
 
 Again, the national courts may try those cases that arise 
 
 206 
 
THE NATIONAL COURTS 207 
 
 between citizens of different Stat(.•^, il eiliiur puiLy lu liiu 
 case so desires. Also when a dispute arises between two 
 States, it is settled, not in a State court, but in the national 
 court. If such a case were left to the courts of one of the 
 States to be decided, the other State, if the decision went 
 against it, would in all probability be dissatisfied. 
 
 Still another class of cases tried in the national courts 
 consists of those in which one of the parties is a foreigner. 
 If a foreign country has a grievance against a citizen or 
 against one of the States it may try its case in the courts of 
 the United States, for the nation and not the State is re- 
 sponsible to foreign governments. Likewise, if a citizen 
 or a State has a grievance against a citizen of another 
 country, the suit may be brought in a national court. In 
 the case of ambassadors and their families and attendants, 
 when any trouble arises, the matter must be taken directly 
 to the Supreme Court of the United States. Under this 
 rule, if a servant of an ambassador should steal a pound of 
 sugar or should be charged with disorderly conduct, his 
 case would have to be tried before the highest court of the 
 United States. This great respect is shown to foreign 
 ministers in order to avoid giving offense to the govern- 
 ments whioh they represent. 
 
 The Four Grades of National Courts.— For tlie trial 
 of such cases as have just been mentioned, the government 
 of the United States supports a system of courts somewhat 
 similar to those supported by a State. The judges of all 
 these courts arc appointed by the President and they all 
 hold their ofhce for life. 
 
208 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 The lowest court of the system is the (1) District 
 Courl,^ which is presided over by a District Judge. 
 In every State there is at least one District Court. 
 The larger and more populous States have two or more 
 District Courts; altogether there are more than eighty 
 District Judges in the United States. These lowest courts 
 try all crimes committed against the United States, except 
 those punishable by death, and they try such civil cases 
 as may properly be tried in national courts. When a 
 case has been tried in the District Court and either of 
 the parties to the case is not satisfied with the result, it may 
 be taken, that is, appealed, either to the Supreme Court 
 of the United States, or to the Circuit Court of Appeals, 
 a court established in 1891 to do part of the heavy work 
 of the Supreme Court. An appealed case is carried to the 
 Supreme Court (a) when it involves a question of jurisdic- 
 tion^ that is, a question as to what court the case ought 
 to be tried in; (h) when it involves the construction of the 
 Constitution of the United States; (c) when it involves a 
 question of the constitutionality of a law, that is, whether 
 the law, State or national, agrees with the Constitution of 
 the United States; (d) when it is a case of conviction for 
 some great crime ; (e) when it involves the construction of a 
 treaty. In other cases than those mentioned, an appeal 
 must be taken from the District Court to the Circuit Court 
 of Appeals. 
 
 ^ The pupil should be careful not to confuse the District and Cir- 
 cuit Courts of the National system with those courts of the same name 
 in the State system. 
 
THE NATIONAL COURTS 20r» 
 
 Next to the District Court is the (2) Circuit Court, 
 which may be presided over by the District Judge, by a 
 Circuit Judge, by a Justice of the Supreme Court, or by 
 two of these men together. The whole United States is 
 di\4ded into nine circuits, and each circuit has two or more 
 Circuit Juilges and one Justice of the Supreme Court. 
 Circuit Courts try those civil cases where a sum of money 
 greater than SoOO is involved. They also try those suits 
 that arise under patent and copyright laws. An appeal 
 from a decision in a Circuit Court is governed by the rules 
 that are followed in an appeal from the District Court; 
 sometimes it will be taken to the Supreme Court, some- 
 times to the Circuit Court of Appeals. The Circuit Court 
 itself never hears appeals. 
 
 In each of the nine circuits there is a (3) Circuit Court 
 of Appeals. This court, consists of three judges selected 
 from the Circuit Judges and the District Judges within 
 the circuit, except that one of the three may be the Jus- 
 tice of the Supreme Court who is assigned to the circuit. 
 A judge, however, who has tried a case in the District or 
 Circuit Court cannot sit at the trial of the same case in the 
 Circuit Court of Appeals. It is a general rule of justice 
 that a judge who has taken part at the trial of a case in 
 a lower court cannot take part in the trial of the same case 
 in an upper court. The Circuit Court of Appeals tries 
 only those cases that are brought to it upon appeal from 
 the District Court and the Circuit Court. 
 
 The highest court in the United States system is the (4) 
 Supreiyie Court, which sits at Washington. It consists of 
 
 F. Civil Govt.- 14 
 
210 
 
 NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 a chief justice and eight associate justices. In cases af- 
 fecting ambassadors and consuls, and those in which a 
 State is a party, it has original jurisdiction. This means 
 that these cases must be tried for the first time in the Su- 
 preme Court. The chief business of this great court, how- 
 ever, is to try the cases that are appealed to it from the 
 lower courts. The Supreme Court is the most exalted and 
 in some respects the most powerful body in the United 
 
 Supreme Court in Session 
 
 States. It acts as the guardian of the Constitution. If 
 Congress or the Legislature of a State passes a law that 
 conflicts with the Constitution of the United States, it de- 
 clares that law null and void. If a State Court renders a 
 decision that conflicts with the Constitution or with a law 
 of the United States, the Supreme Court may overrule 
 the decision. It may pass judgment upon all questions 
 of law or of fact that are appealed to it and that it chooses 
 to consider. 
 
Tin: NATIONAL COURTS 211 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Name three of the most important decisions tliat Ii;ivc been made 
 by the Supreme Court in the iiistory of our country. 
 
 2. Name two of the most celebrated men wlio liave served as Chief 
 Justice of the Supreme Court. 
 
 3. Study the third article of the Constitution for answers to the 
 following questions: 
 
 (a) How long does a judge of a federal court hold odice? 
 
 (6) Can Congress reduce the salaries of the present judges? 
 
 (c) In what court would a charge against a consul of a foreign coun- 
 trj' be brought? 
 
 (J) In what court would a man be tried for robbing a post office? 
 
 (c) In what court would a suit between a State and a citizen of a for- 
 eign country be tried? 
 
 4. Use the words "State" and "federal" properly in the following 
 passage: 
 
 There are less than a hundred and fifty judges, and there are 
 
 many thousands of judges. "A large majority of the cases at law 
 
 are tried in courts. If only laws arc involved in the case, the 
 
 courts can have nothing to do with it. Ordinary crimes, such as 
 
 assaults, theft, and murder, can be tried only in courts. In like 
 
 manner nearly all cases arising in the administration of school laws, 
 laws concerning paupers, highways, taxation, the laws for the gov- 
 ernment of cities and the holding of elections, are triable in the 
 
 courts alone. It is only when some provision of the constitution, 
 
 or some act of the United States Government is involved that a 
 
 court can act." — Maqj. 
 
XXXVII. TAXATION: THE PROPERTY TAX 
 
 "Taxation without representation is injustice and oppression." 
 
 — Burke. 
 
 Introduction. — The expenses of government amount 
 to a vast sum of money. The salaries of officers and 
 employees have to be paid, large public buildings have 
 to be erected, roads and streets have to be built and kept 
 in repair, a costly system of public schools has to be sup- 
 ported, vast fleets and armies have to be maintained. 
 The money necessary to pay for all this comes from the 
 pockets of citizens in the form of taxes. In this lesson 
 and in the next you are to learn how government exercises 
 the power of taxation, how it compels citizens to con- 
 tribute money for the support of government 
 
 Taxation a Power of the Lawmaking Department. — 
 Which of the three great departments of government has 
 the power of taxation? This power belongs to the law- 
 making department and to it alone. A Mayor, a Gov- 
 ernor, a President, a Judge, cannot raise a single penny 
 by taxation. Americans will pay only such taxes as they 
 themselves in person have agreed to pay or such as their 
 representatives in a legislature or lawmaking body have 
 ordered to be paid. The City Council levies the city tax, 
 the State Legislature levies the State tax, and Congress 
 levies taxes for the support of the National Government. 
 
 212 
 
TIIK PIIOPKRTY TAX 213 
 
 Not only docs the lawmaking branch have the power 
 of raising money by taxation, but it also has the power 
 of directing how that money shall be spent. The executive 
 branch, it is true, actually spends the money raised by 
 taxation, but it must spend this money precisely as the 
 legislature directs. The legislature orders a certain sum 
 of money to be collected from the people and placed in 
 the public treasury and then it prescribes the manner 
 in which that money is to be taken out and spent. Thus 
 the power of the purse is given outright to the legislative 
 department. In our study of the powers of government 
 few facts have greater importance than this. 
 
 The Property Tax,— A very large part of the money 
 raised by taxation is collected from property owners who 
 are compelled to pay the tax because they are property 
 o^Tiers. The rule followed in laying taxes on property 
 is this: The more property a man owns the greater must 
 be his share of the tax. 
 
 For purposes of taxation property is regarded as being 
 of two kinds: (1) real property, which includes lands and 
 buildings on land, and (2) personal property, which in- 
 cludes such things as household furniture, money, goods, 
 bonds, stocks, mortgages, jewels, horses, carriages, and 
 farming implements. 
 
 In most of the States there are certain kinds of prop- 
 erty that are free from the burden of taxation. Thus, 
 churches, cemeteries, schoolhouses, free liliraries, charitable 
 institutions, and all public buildings, arc exempt from 
 taxation. Likewise, in many States, household furniture 
 
214 TAXATION 
 
 worth no more than two or three hundred dollars is not 
 taxed. 
 
 How Each Taxpayer's Share is Determined. — A tax 
 
 collector presents to your father a tax bill, calling for, let 
 us say, S33.50. How was this bill made out? How was 
 it determined that your father should pay to the support 
 of the government just S33.50, no more, no less? Let us 
 try to get an answer to this question. 
 
 Let us suppose that you live in a town, and that it is 
 your town government that has sent the bill. The first 
 step taken is to determine how much money is needed. 
 It is found that the town needs 
 
 For its schools, police, streets, waterworks, and other ex- 
 penses of Town Government S40,000 
 
 For taxes due to the County Government 6,000 
 
 For taxes due to the State Government 4,000 
 
 Total amoimt of taxes to be raised S50,000 
 
 This S50,000 must be paid by the property owmers of 
 the town. In order to distribute the burden fairly, one 
 or more Assessors visit all the houses and places of 
 business in the towTi, and place upon every man's prop- 
 erty what they think is a fair valuation. Thus they 
 find that A has a house worth $3000 and furniture worth 
 $500, or property worth in all $3500. B is found to own a 
 factory worth $75,000 and goods worth $25,000. He is, 
 therefore, assessed at $100,000. C owns buildmg lots 
 worth $2000 and horses and carriages worth $500. C's 
 property, therefore, is put down on the Assessors' list at 
 $2500. D owns a little house which the Assessor thinks 
 
THE PROPiniTY TAX -'15 
 
 is worth S400; his furniture is so scanty that no value is 
 put upon it, and it escapes taxation. Your father's prop- 
 erty, we will suppose, is placed on the Assessors' list at 
 S1675. In this way the value of the property of every 
 taxpayer in town is estimated by the Assessors and put 
 upon the assessment list. By adding together the fortunes 
 of A, B, C, D, etc., the entire value of all the property in 
 the town is found. Let us suppose that this amounts to 
 $2,500,000. You remember that the amount to be raised 
 by taxation is SoO,000. Now if property worth S2,500,000 
 must pay S50,000 in taxes, property worth one dollar 
 must pay two cents in taxes. Every man in the town, 
 therefore, must pay two cents in taxes for every dollar's 
 worth of property he owns. This two cents, or 2%, or .02 
 is called the rate of taxation. 
 
 A will pay . . S 3,500 X .02 . . S 70.00 in taxes, 
 B will pay . . 100,000 X .02 . . 2000.00 in taxes. 
 
 You now see why your father's tax bill is S33.50. 
 
 The Collection of Taxes. — After the tax bills are made 
 out, the Ta.r Collector collects the taxes from the owners 
 of property and turns it over to the treasury of the town 
 government. The Town Treasurer sends to the County 
 Treasurer the share that belongs to the county, and to 
 the State Treasurer the share that belongs to the State, 
 and retains what is left for the expenses of tho town gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 When a man refuses or negh'cts to pay his tax, the 
 law will compel him to pay. The Tax Collector must 
 collect the taxes, even if he is obliged to sell the property 
 
216 TAXATION 
 
 to get them. ^Vhen land is sold for taxes, the owner may- 
 regain the land by paying to the purchaser within a speci- 
 fied time the amount of the taxes with interest. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. When a property owner thinks his property has been assessed too 
 high, he may complain to the Assessors, and if these officers think his 
 complaint is just, they will reduce the assessment. Suppose the owner 
 thinks his property has been assessed too low; should he go to the 
 Assessors and request them to make the assessment larger? If a man 
 should send you a bill for three dollars when you know you owe him 
 five dollars, would you call his attention to the mistake? Should we 
 be as honest with the government as we are with our neighbors? 
 
 2. How is the money for the support of your school raised? WTio is 
 the largest taxpayer in your school district? Does he get more benefit 
 from the government than any other man in the district? 
 
 3. Name some of the retm-ns taxpayers get for the money they pay 
 to the government. 
 
 4. Is wheat in a barn real property or personal property? 
 
 5. What is the tax rate in your town? In your county? In your 
 State? 
 
 6. Name the kinds of property in your State that are exempt from 
 taxation. (Examine your State constitution.^ 
 
XXXVITT. OTHER TAXES 
 
 "The taxes are indeed very hea%y, and if those laid on by the govern- 
 ment were the oidy ones we had to pay we might more easily discharge 
 thoni; but we have many others. We arc taxed twice as much by our 
 idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much 
 by our folly.'' — Benjamin Franklin. 
 
 The Income Tax. — Besides the general property tax, 
 there are several other kinds of taxes. Important among 
 these is the income tax. An income tax is laid upon a 
 man's salary, or upon the profits of his business, without 
 reference to the amount of property he owns. A certain 
 rate is determined upon by the government, and every 
 man must pay according to his income. If the rate is 3%, 
 and a man's salary or the profit of his business is $3000, 
 then he must pay $90 as his income tax. In a progressive 
 or graduated income tax the rate grows larger with the 
 income. Tims the rate might be 3% for all incomes under 
 SOOOO; 4% for all incomes between S5000 and $10,000; 
 5% for all incomes between SIO.OOO and $50,000; S% for 
 incomes between $50,000 and $100,000; 10% for .ill in- 
 comes over $100,000. Do you think a progi-essivc income 
 tax is just? If a man witli an income of $2000 a year has 
 to pay a tax of $00, whicii is I'airor for a man with $20,000 
 a year income — to ])ay $000 or $1000? 
 
 The Inheritance Tax is laid on j)roperty whirli a jxTson 
 receives as an inheritance from parents or other relatives 
 
 217 
 
218 TAXATION 
 
 or which is left to a person by a will. Where there is an 
 inheritance tax children or relatives must pay the tax 
 before they can take possession of the property left them 
 by their parents or other kinsmen. The rate of the in- 
 heritance tax is often progressive or graduated, that is, 
 the larger the inheritance the greater the rate of tax. 
 The rate is often less for near relatives than for other 
 people. Inheritance taxes are collected in three-fourths 
 of the States. 
 
 Licenses ; Fees. — A license is a privilege granted by a 
 government permitting one to engage in a certain occupa- 
 tion or to perform a certain act. For granting a license 
 the'government usually charges a sum of money. The liquor 
 license permits the holder to sell liquor; the merchant's 
 license permits the sale of goods; the marriage license 
 permits the marriage of the couple to whom it is granted. 
 A fee is a small sum paid to an officer of the government 
 for the performance of some public service. Thus if 5^ou 
 wish to get a deed to land properly recorded, you will 
 have to pay the recording officer a small fee. 
 
 Poll Tax. — This word j)oll means head; a poll tax, 
 therefore, is a tax upon the man and not upon property. 
 It is usually a small sum. A male citizen above the age 
 of twenty-one must pay this tax, although he has no 
 property at all. Not all the States have a poll tax, but 
 usually where there is such a tax, it must be paid before 
 the citizen is allowed to vote. The poll tax is not popular 
 in the United States, and in some of the States it is for- 
 bidden entirely. 
 
OTHER TAXl':S ^V.) 
 
 The Franchise Tax. — A jranchise is a special privilege 
 given by goveniiiR'iit to a ])orsnn or tn a body of i)ersons. 
 For example, the right to use tiie streets of a city for a 
 railway is a franchise; the right to lay pipes for supplying 
 a city with gas is a franchise. Such franchises as these 
 are sometimes extremely valuable. For example, here is 
 a street railway comj^any whose cars and rails and wires 
 and power houses are worth a million dollars but whose 
 franchise — the right to use the streets — is worth two 
 millions of dollars. In some States such a company would 
 pay two taxes, a property tax on the power houses, cars, 
 etc., and a franchise tax for the privilege of using the 
 streets. 
 
 Duties and Excises. — The taxes thus far describcfl, 
 the property tax, the income tax, the inheritance tax, 
 and the franchise tax, are usually collected for the sup- 
 port of town, city, county, and State governments. But 
 the great government of the United States w'hich has its 
 seat at Washington must also be supported. And it takes 
 an immense sum of money to support our National Gov- 
 ernment. The salaries of several hundred thousand offi- 
 cials and the pensions of about a million old soldiers 
 antl soldiers' widows must be paid; costly public build- 
 ings in Washington and custom houses and post offices in 
 large cities must be built; expensive warships and forti- 
 fications must be maintained; an army and a navy must 
 be supported. To do all this requires over S00(),()()0,000 
 a year. For the support of the National Government 
 Congress orders the collection of duties or excises. 
 
220 TAXATION 
 
 A duty is a tax or tariff laid upon goods that are im- 
 ported into this country from foreign countries. This 
 tax is paid to government officers by the merchant who 
 imports the goods. But the merchant does not bear the 
 burden of the tax. If he is compelled to pay a duty of 75 
 cents per yard upon silk which he imports from France, 
 this 75 cents is added to the first cost. If, without a duty, 
 he could sell his customers French silk for $1.50 per yard 
 at a profit of 10%, with a duty of 75 cents, he sells them the 
 silk for $2.32 per yard. It is, therefore, the customers 
 who pay this duty, or tax. 
 
 Excises are taxes paid by manufacturers upon goods 
 made in this country. Thus the taxes upon liquors, to- 
 bacco, and cigars are excises. An excise tax, like a duty, 
 is paid by one person, but the burden is usually shifted 
 to another. If a tobacco manufacturer is compelled to 
 pay a tax of 50 cents upon every box of cigars he makes, 
 he counts this as a part of the cost, and charges his cus- 
 tomers accordingly. 
 
 Duties and excises are called indirect taxes, because 
 the real burden of these taxes does not fall directly upon 
 the people who pay them, but indirectly upon some one 
 else. Excises and duties are laid upon such articles as 
 beer, tobacco, sugar, tea, coffee, woolen goods, cotton 
 goods, leather, iron, tin, etc. From this we see that every- 
 body who wears clothes and consumes food, that is, the 
 whole population, contributes something to the support 
 of the National Government. 
 
 Eminent Domain. — Closely related to the govern- 
 
OTHER TAXES 221 
 
 mciit's right of taxation, is its right of "(Mninciit (l(jniiiiii." 
 By this is meant its right to tako private property for 
 pubHc uses. If the government wishes to use your house 
 for a post office, or if it desires to run a street through 
 your garden, or a road through your field, you have not 
 the power to prevent it. Yet the government must pay 
 you a fair price for your property, and it must not compel 
 you to part with it unless it can be shown that it is for 
 the public good that you should do so. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 
 
 1. Do all citizens have to pay taxes? Think well before you answer 
 this question. 
 
 ?.. What kind of taxes are paid without those who pay them seem- 
 ing to know it? What kind of taxes do they pay most cheerfully? 
 
 3. Has taxation ever been a cause of war? 
 
 4. How arc churches supported? 
 
 5. How are duties collected? 
 
 6. Is a poll tax a just tax? Is there a poll tax in your State? 
 
 7. What is meant by "smuggUng"? 
 
 8. Is an income tax that exempts all incomes under $1000 just? 
 
 9. For what do people pay taxes most cheerfully? 
 10. How may a city acquire land for a park? 
 
INDEX 
 
 Agriculture, Department of, 178; 
 
 organization of, 196. 
 Alaska, 202. 
 Aliens, 34, 48. 
 Ambassadors, 183. 
 Amendment to Constitution, of 
 
 State, 123; of United States, 155. 
 Anarchists, 36. 
 
 Animal Industry, Bureau of, 197. 
 Articles of Confederation, 151. 
 Assembly, right of, 42. 
 Assessors, 90, 97, 101, 214. 
 Attainder, bill of, 166. 
 Attendance of pupils, 29. 
 AttorHev-General, of State, 141 ; of 
 
 the United States, 188. 
 Auditors, of county, 90; of State, 
 
 141; of township, 101. 
 "Australian System," 51. 
 
 Bail, 44, 145. 
 
 Ballot, 50-52. 
 
 Banks, supervision of, 192. 
 
 Biological Survey, Bureau of, 197. 
 
 Bonds, 162. 
 
 Boroughs, 105. 
 
 Bribery, 52. 
 
 Cabinet meetings, 178. 
 
 Census, Bureau of, 198. 
 
 Charter, the municipal, 105-107. 
 
 Checks and balances, 73-78. 
 
 Children, 20-22. 
 
 Chinese, 36. 
 
 Circuit Court, of State, 145; of 
 United States, 209. 
 
 Circuit Court of Appeals, 209. 
 
 Citizen, meaning of word, 33. 
 
 Citizenship, 33-59. 
 
 Citv charter, 106. 
 
 City Council, 109-112. 
 
 Civil cases, 149. 
 
 Gyil rights, 37-45. 
 
 Civil service, of the National Gov- 
 ernment, 179. 
 
 Civil Service Commission, 179. 
 
 Clerk, of county court, 89; of town, 
 97; of township, 101. 
 
 Commerce, regulation of, 162. 
 
 Commerce and Labor, Department 
 of, 178, 197. 
 
 Committees, legislative, 129. 
 Common Pleas, Court of, 145. 
 Comptroller, State, 141. 
 Comptroller of the Treasurj', 191. 
 Confederation, Articles of, 151. 
 Congress, powers of, 162-167; the 
 
 two houses of, 156; what it maj' 
 
 not do, 166-167. 
 Constables, 97, 101. 
 Constitution, meaning of the word, 
 
 120; of State, 120-124; of the 
 
 United States, 153-155. 
 Constitutional Convention, State, 
 
 122. 
 Constitutional Convention of 1787, 
 
 152. 
 Constitutions, how changed, 123; 
 
 how made, 122. 
 Construction and Repair, Bureau of, 
 
 186. 
 Consuls, 184. 
 
 Conventions, party, 169-171. 
 Copyrignt, 163. 
 Coroner, 89. 
 
 Corporations, Bureau of, 198. 
 Counterfeiting, 163. 
 County, 85-91. 
 County Commissioners, 87. 
 Court-martial, 186. 
 Courts, National, 206-210; four 
 
 grades of, 207-210; kind of c'ases 
 
 tried in, 206, 207. 
 Courts, State, 144-149. 
 Criminal cases, 149. 
 Criminals not allowed to vote, 48. 
 Customs duties, 190. 
 
 Declaration of Rights, 121. 
 
 Defendant, 148. 
 
 Defense of country, 56. 
 
 Democracy, a govcrnnient of justice, 
 65; a government of reason, 62- 
 65; defined, 62; pure, 67; repre- 
 sentative, 67. 
 
 Departments of government, the 
 three great, 73-77; independence 
 of, 77. 
 
 Departments of the National Gov- 
 ernment, the nine executive, 176- 
 178. 
 
 Dependencies, 202. 
 
 222 
 
INDEX 
 
 223 
 
 District Attomcv, of tlio rountv, 
 88; of the United States. 207." 
 
 District Court, State, 145; United 
 States. 2()S. 
 
 District of Uolumbia. 1G5, 204. 
 
 Due proci-ss of law, 44. 
 
 Duties, of citizens, .'j.5-59; of teach- 
 ers and pupils, 29-32 ; of voters, 58. 
 
 Duties, on exports. I(i7: on itnjiorfs, 
 220. 
 
 Education, 21, 48; National Com- 
 missioner of, lUG. 
 
 Elections, 50-54. 
 
 Electors, presidential, 171-173. 
 
 Eminent donuiin, 220. 
 
 Engra\-ing and Printing, Bureau of, 
 192. 
 
 Entomology', Bureau of, 197. 
 
 Equipment. Bureau of, 187. 
 
 Ex post facto law, 166 
 
 Excises, 220. 
 
 Family. 19-23. 
 
 Fees. 218. 
 
 Fisheries, Bureau of, 198. 
 
 Franchise Tax, 219. 
 
 General Staff, 185. 
 
 Geological Survey, 196. 
 
 Government, democratic, 62; mean- 
 ing of the word, 11; representa- 
 tive, 68; the services of, 13, 83; 
 the three grades of, 80. 
 
 Government Printinii Office, 199. 
 
 Governor, 133, 138-140. 
 
 Habeas Corpus, 38, 166. 
 
 Hou.se of Representatives, National, 
 
 156-158; State, 76. 
 Husband and wife, 19. 
 
 Lliot.-?, 48. 
 
 Imbeciles, 48. 
 
 Impeachment, 142. 
 
 Inauguration, 173. 
 
 Income t;ix, 217. 
 
 Indian Affairs, Office of, 194. 
 
 Inheritance Tax, 217. 
 
 Initiative and referendum, 133- 
 
 134. 
 Interstate Commerce Commission, 
 
 162, 198. 
 
 Japanese, 36. 
 
 Judge .Atlvocate-General, 186. 
 
 Judicial Department, 74. 
 
 JuT)', 44; grand, 146; petit, 147. 
 
 .Justice, Department of, 188. 
 Justice of tnc Peace, 101, 144. 
 
 Labor, Bureau of, 198. 
 
 Land OHice, 194. 
 
 Laws. 13, 55; how made, 131-133, 
 1.59. 
 
 Legislative Department, 74-76. 
 
 Legislature, State, branches j>f. 126; 
 election of members of, 127; or- 
 ganization of, 128; when it meets, 
 12.5. 
 
 Library of Congress, 199. 
 
 Licenses, 218. 
 
 Lieutenant Governor, 129, 140. 
 
 Life-saving Service. 192. 
 
 Local self-government, 80-84. 
 
 Lunatics, 48. 
 
 Majority, 53; rule of the, 60-66; tyr- 
 anny of, 65. 
 
 Marc^ue and reprisal, 164. 
 
 Marriage, 19. 
 
 Marshal, 18S. 
 
 Mayor, 112. 
 
 Me.s.sage, of Governor, 139; of the 
 President, 175. 
 
 Military Academy, 186. 
 
 Militia," 165, 185. 
 
 Ministers, 183. 
 
 Mints-, 192. 
 
 Moderator, 95. 
 
 Money, 163, 191. 
 
 Municipal Government, 103-114; 
 ser\'ices of, 113. 
 
 Naturalization, 35, 163. 
 Naval .\ca(lemy, 186. 
 Navy, Department of, 177; organ- 
 ization of, 186. 
 Nobility, title of, 167. 
 
 OfTice, right of hfdding, 53. 
 Ordnance, Bureau of, \Xl . 
 Ordnance, Chief of, 186. 
 Overseers of the poor, 97, 101. 
 
 Pardon of criminals, 139, 175. 
 Parents and childrcii, 20-22. 
 Patent Office, 194. 
 Patents, 163. 
 Paupers, 49. 
 Pensions, 195. 
 People, iK)wer of, 60. 
 Personal liberty, 38. 
 Personal security, 37. 
 Petition, right of, 4.3. 
 Philippine l.slands, 203. 
 
224 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Piracy, 164. 
 
 Plaintiff, 148. 
 
 Plant Industry, Bureau of, 197. 
 
 Plurality, 53. 
 
 Political rights, 46. 
 
 Poll tax, 47, 167, 218. 
 
 Polls, the, 51. 
 
 Porto Rico, 202, 
 
 Ports of entry, 190. 
 
 Post Office Department, 177; or- 
 ganization of, 193. 
 
 Post Offices, 163. 
 
 President of the United States, 36; 
 election of, 171-174; nomination 
 of candidate for, 168-171 ; powers 
 and duties of, 175-177; who shall 
 succeed, 165. 
 
 Press, right of freedom of, 42. 
 
 Primary election, 170. 
 
 Probate court, 90. 
 
 Property, 39, 47. 
 
 Property tax, 213. 
 
 Pro.secuting attorney, 88, 146. 
 
 Protection, right of, 43, 45. 
 
 Pupils, rules governing, 28-29; du- 
 ties of, 29-30. 
 
 Quartermaster-General, 185. 
 
 "Recall," 72. 
 
 Reclamation Service, 196. 
 
 Recorder of deeds, 90. 
 
 Register of deeds, 90. 
 
 Register of the Treasury, 191. 
 
 Registrars, 49. 
 
 Registration, 49. 
 
 Religious freedom, 41. 
 
 Representation, rule for, 71. 
 
 Representatives, how apportioned, 
 71; in Congress, 156-158; in the 
 State Legislature, 127; short terms 
 of, 69. 
 
 Residence of voters, 47. 
 
 Rights, civil, 37-45; political, 46. 
 
 Salaries, 180. 
 
 School government, 24-32. 
 
 School officers, 25. 
 
 Secretary of State, 140, 177. 
 
 Selectmen, 96. 
 
 Self-control, 15-17. 
 
 Senate, 76; of State, 126; of United 
 
 States, 158-159. 
 Sergeant-at-arms, 128. 
 Sheriff, 88. 
 Slavery, 166. 
 Smithsonian Institution, 199. 
 
 Solicitor, city, 103; county, 88. 
 
 Speaker, 128, 158. 
 
 Speech, freedom of, 41. 
 
 State, Department of, 177; organiza- 
 tion of, 182-185. 
 
 State, the, 116-119. 
 
 States, the admitted, 118; the origi- 
 nal, 118. 
 
 Suffrage, 46-48; woman, 47. 
 
 Superintendent of schools, county, 
 91; State, 141. 
 
 Supervisors, county, 87; township, 
 100. 
 
 Supreme Court, of State, 148; of 
 the United States, 209. 
 
 Tardinefss, 28. 
 
 Tax collectors, 97, 215. 
 
 Taxation, a power of the lawmak- 
 ing department, 212; women rep- 
 resented in matters of, 47. 
 
 Taxes, direct, 167; franchise, 219; 
 how taxpayer's share of is deter- 
 mined, 214; income, 217; poll, 
 218; property, 213. 
 
 Teacher, 26, 31. 
 
 Territories, 201-202. 
 
 Town, government, 93-98; meet- 
 ing, 95; officers, 96. 
 
 Township, government, 99-102; 
 meetings, 100; officers of, 100. 
 
 Treasurer, of county, 90; of State, 
 141 ; of town, 97. 
 
 Treaties, 175. 
 
 Truancy, 29. 
 
 United States, a representative 
 democracy, 68. 
 
 Veto, power of, 76. 
 
 Vice President of the United States, 
 
 36. 
 Village, 105. 
 Voters, duties of, 59; qualifications 
 
 of, 46-48. 
 
 War, Department of, 177; organ- 
 ization of, 185-186. 
 War College, 186. 
 Washington (City), 204. 
 Weather Bureau, 197. 
 Weights and measures, 163. 
 Wife, 19. 
 Women as voters, 47. 
 
 Yards and Docks, Bureau of, 186.