By a law which came into force Jan. 19, 1886, in case of removal, death, resignation, or inability of both the President and Vice-President, the Secretary of State, and after him, in the order of the establishment of their departments, other members of the Cabinet, shall act as President until the disability of the President is removed or a President shall be elected. On the death of a Vice-President the duties of the office fall to the President pro tempore of the Senate, who receives the salary of the Vice-President.

The administrative business of the nation is conducted by nine chief officers, or heads of departments, who form what is called the Cabinet.' 6 They are chosen by the President, but must be confirmed by the Senate. Each of them presides over a separate department, and acts under the immediate authority of the President. The heads of departments are (Jan. 1905) :

1. Secretary of State.--John Hay, born in Indiana, 1838; Private Secretary to President Lincoln 1861-65; Secretary to the U.S. Legation at Paris, 1865-67; Chargé d'Affaires at Vienna, 1867-68; Secretary of Legation at Madrid, 1869-70; Ambassador at London, 1897-98; present appointment, September 20, 1898.

2. Secretary of the Treasury.-Leslie Mortier Shaw, of Iowa, born in Vermont, 1848; admitted to the bar, 1876; Governor of Iowa, 1898-1902. Present appointment, January 16, 1902.

3. Secretary of War.-William H. Taft, of Ohio, born in Ohio, 1857; admitted to the bar, 1880; Judge of the superior court of Ohio, 1887-1890; Solicitor-General of the United States, 1890-1892; Judge, United States Circuit Court, 18921900; President of United States Philippine Commission, 1900-01; Civil Governor of the Philippine Islands, 1901-04. Present appointment, February 1, 1904.

4. Secretary of the Navy.-Paul Morton, of Illinois, born in Michigan, 1857; engaged for thirty years in railway business; Vice-President, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fi Railway Company, 1896-1904. Present appointment, July 1, 1904.

5. Secretary of the Interior.-Ethan Allen Hitchcock, of Missouri, born in Alabama, 1835; Minister and Ambassador to Russia, 1897-99. Present appointment, January, 1899.

6. Postmaster-General.-Mr. Cortelyou; appointed March 6, 1905; formerly Minister of Commerce.

7. Attorney-General.-William H. Moody, of Massachusetts, born in Massachusetts, 1853; District Attorney, Eastern District of Massachusetts, 1890-95; Member of Congress, 1895-1902; Secretary of the Navy, 1902-04. Present appointment, July 1, 1904.

8. Secretary of Agriculture.-James Wilson, of Iowa, born in Scotland, 1835; Member of Iowa House of Representatives, 1867-73; Member of Congress, 1873-77, and 1883-85. Present appointment, March 5, 1897.

9. Secretary of Commerce and Labour.-Victor Howard Metcalf, of California, born in New York, 1853; Member of Congress, 1899-1904. Present appointment, July 1, 1904. Each of the above ministers has an annual salary of 8,000 dollars, and holds office during the pleasure of the President.

The whole legislative power is vested by the Constitution in a Congress, consisting of a Senate and House of Representatives. The Senate consists of two members from each State, chosen by the State Legislatures for six years. Senators must be not less than thirty years of age; must have been citizens of the United States for nine years; and be residents in the States for which they are chosen. Besides its legislative functions, the Senate is entrusted with the power of ratifying or rejecting all treaties made by the President with foreign powers, a two-thirds majority of senators present being required for ratification. The Senate

is also invested with the power of confirming or rejecting all appointments to office made by the President; and its members constitute a High Court of Impeachment. The judgment in the latter case extends only to removal from office and disqualification. The House of Representatives has the sole power of impeachment. The House of Representatives is composed of members elected every second year by the vote of citizens who, according to the laws of their respective States, are qualified to vote. In general such voters are all male citizens over 21 years of age. Neither race nor colour affects the right of citizens. The franchise is not absolutely universal; residence for at least one year in most States (in Rhode Island and Kentucky two years, in Michigan and Maine three months) is necessary, in some States the payment of taxes, in others registration. On the other hand many of the Western States admit to the franchise unnaturalised persons, who have formally declared their intention to become citizens. Several of the Southern States have adopted methods-which differ from one another-too complicated for explanation here, with the express and avowed purpose of excluding the negroes from the franchise, and yet avoiding the constitutional consequences of discriminating on account of race, colour, or previous condition of servitude.' Untaxed Indians are excluded from the franchise, in most States convicts, in some States duellists and fraudulent voters; in Massachusetts voters are required to be able to read English. In some southern States they are required to give a reasonable explanation of what they read. Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming admit women to the franchise on equal terms with men. The number of members to which each State is entitled is determined by the census taken every ten years. By the Apportionment Act consequent on the census of 1900, the number of representatives was 386, distributed as follows:

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:

On the basis of the census of 1900 there is one representative to every 193,284 inhabitants. The popular vote for President in 1900 was very nearly 14,000,000, or somewhat under one in five of the entire population. In 1900 there were in the States, which alone participate in elections of President and representatives, 20,822,733 males of voting age, 21 years and over, including 4,981,400 of foreign birth, naturalised and unnaturalised.

According to the terms of the Constitution, representatives must not be less than twenty-five years of age, must have been citizens of the United States for seven years, and be residents in the States from which they are chosen. In addition to the representatives from the States, the House admits a 'delegate' from each organised Territory, who has the right to speak on any subject and to make motions, but not to vote. The delegates are elected in the same manner as the representatives.

Each of the two Houses of Congress is made by the Constitution the 'judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members'; and each of the Houses may, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.

The Congress of the United States has the power to propose alterations in the Constitution, by the 5th article of the same. The article orders that the Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to the Constitution, or, on the application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of all the States, shall call a convention for proposing the amendments, which in either case shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or other mode of ratification may be proposed by Congress.

Under an Act of Congress approved Jan. 20, 1874, the salary of a senator, representative, or delegate in Congress is 5,000 dollars per annum, with travelling expenses calculated at the rate of 20 cents per mile, by the most direct route of usual travel, and similar return, once for each session of Congress. There is also an annual allowance of 125 dollars for stationery, &c., for each member. The salary of the Speaker of the House of Representatives is, under the same Act of Congress, 8,000 dollars per annum.

No senator or representative can, during the time for which he is elected, be appointed to any civil office under authority of the United States which shall have been created or the emoluments of which shall have been increased during such time; and no person holding any office under the United States can be a member of either House during his continuance in office. No religious test is required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

The period usually termed 'a Congress' in legislative language, continues for two years; as, for example, from noon, March 4, 1903, until noon, March 4, 1905, at which latter time the term of the representatives to the 58th Congress will expire, and the term of the new House of Representatives will begin.

The Federal Government has authority in matters of Federal taxation, treaties and other dealings with foreign powers, army, navy, and (to a certain extent) militia, commerce, foreign and inter-State, postal service, coinage, weights and measures, and the trial and punishment of crime against the United States.

Slavery was abolished throughout the whole of the United States by the thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution, passed December 18, 1865. The vast change in the political and social organisation of the Republic made by this new fundamental law was completed by the fourteenth and fifteenth Amendments of the Constitution, passed in 1868 and 1870, which gave to the former slaves all the rights and privileges of citizenship.

STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

The Union comprises 13 original States, 7 States which were admitted without having been organised as Territories dependent on the Union, and 25 States which had been Territories. Each State has its own constitution, which must be republican in form, and each constitution derives its authority, not from Congress, but from the people of the State. In the case of the original States the colonial charters were adopted, with more or less modification, as State constitutions; the other States, before entering the Union, had constitutions already made. Admission of States into the Union is granted by special Acts of Congress, either (1) in the form of ‘enabling Acts,' providing for the drafting and ratification of a State constitution by the people, in which case the Territory becomes a State as soon as the conditions are fulfilled, or (2) accepting a constitution already framed, and at once granting admission.

Each State is provided with a Legislature of two Houses, a Governor, and other executive officials, and a judicial system. Both Houses of the Legislature are elective, but the Senators (having larger electoral districts) are less numerous than the members of the House of Representatives, while in some States their terms are longer and, in a few, the Senate is only partially renewed at each election. Members of both Houses are paid at the same rate, which varies from 150 to 1,500 dollars per session, or from 1 to 8 dollars per day during session. The duties of the two Houses are similar, but in many States money bills must be introduced first in the House of Representatives. The Senate has to sit as a court for the trial of officials impeached by the other House, and besides, has often the power to confirm or reject appointments, made by the Governor. In most of the States the sessions are biennial, the Governor having power to summon an extraordinary session, but not to dissolve or adjourn. State Legislatures are competent to deal with all matters not reserved for the Federal Government by the Federal constitution, or falling within restrictions imposed by the State constitutions. Among their powers are the determination of the qualifications for the right of suffrage, and the control of all elections to public office, including elections of members of Congress and electors of President and Vice-President; the criminal law, both in its enactment and in its execution, with unimportant exceptions, and the administration of prisons; the civil law, including all matters pertaining to the possession and transfer of, and succession to, property; marriage and divorce, and all other civil relations; the chartering and control of all manufacturing, trading, transportation, and other corporations, subject only to the right of Congress to regulate commerce passing from one State to another; the regulation of labour; education; charities; licensing, including regulation of the liquor traffic; fisheries, and game laws. The revenues of the States are derived chiefly from a direct tax upon property, in some cases both real and personal, in others on land and buildings only. The prohibition upon Congress to levy direct taxes save in proportion to population, contained in the national constitution, leaves this source of revenue to the States exclusively.

The Governor is chosen by direct vote of the people over the whole State. His term of office varies from one year (in 2 States), to 4 years (in 19 States), and his salary from 1,000 to 10,000 dollars. His duty is to see to the faithful administration of the law, and he has command of the military forces of the State. His power of appointment to State offices is usually unimportant. He may recommend measures, but does not present bills to the legislature. In some States he presents estimates. In all but four of the States the Governor has a veto upon legislation, which may however be overridden by a two-thirds majority.