Part 160

_How Elected._--The several steps in _How Designated._--The King’s legal the election of the President are: title rests upon the Act of Settle- ment, in 1701, under William III., by State Electors are chosen at a Gener- which the succession to the Crown of al Election held on the _Tuesday fol- Great Britain and Ireland was settled lowing the first Monday of November_ on the Princess Sophia of Hanover and of every fourth year; the number of the “heirs of her body, being Protes- Electors of each State being equal to tants.” The throne is hereditary in the number of Senators and Represen- the English house of Saxe-Coburg- tatives to which the State is en- Gotha with mixed succession, the sons titled in Congress. of the Sovereign and their descen- dants having precedence of daughters, The Electors meet in their respective but daughters and their descendants States on the _second Monday in preference over lateral lines. The January_ following their election, Sovereign is designated King (or and vote by ballot for President and Queen) of Great Britain and Ireland, Vice-President; and at the same time and Emperor (or Empress) of India. make certificates of their vote and transmit the same to the President of the Senate.

The Senate and House of Representa- tives meet together on the _second Wednesday of February_ next ensuing, and count the votes of the State Electors, when, if there is an elec- tion, the President of the Senate declares who is elected President and Vice-President.

In case there is no choice by the State Electors, the President is elected by the House of Representa- tives from the three candidates who received the most electoral votes for President; in which election the vote is taken by States, each State having but one vote, and a majority of all the States being necessary to a choice.

_Term of Office._--Four years. _Term of Office._--Holds office for life, by hereditary title, and cannot be removed. _Eligibility._--A natural born citi- zen; resident of the United States fourteen years; minimum age thirty- five years.

_Salary._--Fixed by law at $75,000 _Salary or Civil List._--The Civil per year. List Act, 1910, gave the King $2,350,000. Provision for other mem- bers of the Royal Family, $730,000. The Prince of Wales, as the income of the Duchy of Cornwall, $435,000. The King in addition to his Civil List receives the revenues of the Duchy of Lancaster amounting to $320,000.

_Powers and Duties of the President._ _Powers and Duties._--Has command of --Commander-in-Chief of the Army and army and navy. Navy. Communicates with Congress by message. Approves or disapproves Parliament cannot be assembled, pro- Acts of Congress. Makes treaties rogued, or dissolved except by the with advice and consent of the express command of the Sovereign. Senate. Appoints Public Officers with the advice and consent of the Senate. At the commencement of a new Parlia- Commissions Public Officers of the ment must deliver, either in person United States. Grants reprieves and or by a commission authorized for pardons for offenses against the that purpose, a speech declaring the United States. cause of the summons.

_The Vice-President._--Elected by Bills passed by Parliament must re- State Electors the same as the Presi- ceive the assent of the Sovereign in dent; or by the Senate, in case there order to become law. is no choice by the State Electors. Term of office same as for the Presi- Has legally a veto power; but, be- dent. Eligibility same as required of cause the influence of the Executive the President. Salary fixed by law at over legislation has passed into the twelve thousand dollars per year. hands of the Ministers, the veto of the Crown has been disused since _The Presidential Succession._--In 1707. case of the removal, death, resigna- tion, or inability of the President, Has power to appoint all officers in the Vice-President takes the Presi- the army and navy, judges, ambas- dent’s place. sadors, colonial governors, bishops and archbishops of the Established In case of the removal, death, resig- Church, and grants all degrees of nation, or inability of both Presi- nobility. dent and Vice-President the heads of the Executive Departments succeed to May make treaties of any kind. the Presidency in the order in which the Executive Departments are named May grant pardon to any particular below; but such officer must be con- offender. stitutionally eligible to the Presi- dency, must have been appointed to _The Privy Council._--The King in the cabinet by the advice and with Council is the supreme executive the consent of the Senate, and be not authority in the realm. The Privy under impeachment. The Secretary of Council meets as a whole at the be- Agriculture and the Secretary of Com- ginning of a new reign and on other merce and Labor are ineligible to the occasions of state and ceremony, pos- presidency by reason of the fact that sesses certain administrative powers, these two cabinet offices were and is the Supreme Court of the Em- created subsequent to the passage of pire. Its personnel includes the the act of the forty-ninth Congress royal princes and the archbishops, in which provision was made for the Members of the Cabinet and of the presidential succession. royal household, the Speaker of the House of Commons, the ambassadors, the principal colonial governors, colonial statesmen, certain judges, and members of both political parties who have never been in office.

The important functions of the Coun- cil are the bringing into operation by means of orders in council of the provisions of many statutes which Parliament leaves to the executive to enforce, temporarily or permanently, at such time or times as it may deem necessary and desirable. These orders have all the force and validity of law.

THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS

_Acts of Congress_ become laws:-- When signed (approved) by the Presi- dent; or, by his failure to make ob- jection in writing (veto) within ten days after any act is submitted to him, unless Congress by adjournment within that time prevents its return; but Congress has power to pass a law over the President’s veto by a vote of two-thirds of each House.

THE CABINET THE MINISTRY

_Composed_ of the heads of the _The Cabinet_, or Inner Council, executive departments. under the presidency of the Prime Minister, consists of Ministers, _Appointed_ by the President with the drawn from the ranks of the party in advice and consent of the Senate. power and appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister. _Salary._--Secretary of State, $12,000; all other cabinet members, twelve thousand dollars annually.

HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS _Members_ (As reconstituted in June, 1915) and their salaries. _Department of State._--Has charge of foreign affairs. _Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury_ $25,000 _Treasury Department._--Has charge of fiscal affairs. _Lord High Chancellor_ (and $20,000 as speaker of the _Department of War._--Has charge of House of Lords) 50,000 the Army and military affairs. _Minister without Portfolio_ unpaid _Department of Justice._--Has charge of the legal affairs of the Govern- _Lord President of the Council_10,000 ment. _Lord Privy Seal_ unpaid _Post-office Department._--Has charge of postal affairs. _First Lord of the Admiralty_ 22,500

_Navy Department._--Has charge of the _Secretaries of State:_ Navy and naval affairs. _Home Affairs_ 25,000 _Foreign Affairs_ 25,000 _Department of the Interior._--Has _Colonies_ 25,000 charge of domestic affairs, including _War_ 25,000 public lands, pensions, patents, _India_ 25,000 Bureau of Education, etc. _Chancellor of the Exchequer_ 25,000 _Department of Agriculture._--Has charge of agricultural affairs, in- _Minister of Munitions_ 25,000 cluding Weather Bureau, etc. _Secretary for Scotland_ 10,000 _Department of Commerce and Labor._-- Has charge of domestic and foreign _Chief Secretary to the Lord affairs, relating to commerce, trans- Lieutenant of Ireland_ 21,125 portation, Department of Labor, etc. _Presidents of Committees of the Council:_ _Board of Trade_ 25,000 _Local Government Board_ 25,000 _Board of Education_ 10,000

_First Commissioner of Works_ 10,000

_Attorney-General_ 35,000

_Board of Agriculture_ 10,000

_Relations to Parliament._--The Chief of the Cabinet and of the Ministry is called the Prime Minister or Premier. He is the leader of the House of Par- liament of which he is a member. He dispenses the greater portion of the patronage of the Crown. Other members of the Cabinet are the leaders of Parliament, shaping and directing the business of the Houses.

_Tenure of Office._--Dependent upon _Tenure of Office._--Dependent upon the will or favor of the President. the favor of the House of Commons; for if not sustained, they must all resign. When a Ministry resigns it is the function of the sovereign to call upon some statesman to form another administration. There is no restric- tion upon the Royal choice, but the statesman usually selected is the leader of the opposing party in one of the two Houses.

_Powers and Duties._--As stated _Powers and Duties._--All real above, but under the direction of the authority is with the Cabinet. The President. executive government is nominally in the Crown, but practically in the Cabinet. The Ministers are at the heads of the administrative depart- ments. The Sovereign does not sit with the Cabinet.

_Other Ministers._--The Ministry in- cludes a number of minor posts whose occupants have no seat in the Cabinet.

=III. Congress.=--Consisting of both =III. Parliament.=--Parliament con- the Senate and the House of Represen- sists of two Houses, the House of tatives as co-ordinate bodies. Lords and the House of Commons. The Sovereign alone has the power of sum- _Duration._--The term of each moning or proroguing or dissolving Congress is for two years, commencing Parliament, and gives the Royal March 4th of the odd years. Assent to measures which have passed both Houses. Unless it be dissolved _Regular Sessions._--Annual, begin- by the Crown, Parliament exists five ning the first Monday in December. years from the date on which it was first to meet. The demise of the _Special Sessions._--At the call of Crown does not dissolve Parliament, the President. but, on the contrary, renders an im- mediate assembling of the two Houses _Membership._--Each House is the necessary; and if there be no Parlia- judge of the elections and qualifica- ment in existence, the old Parliament tions of its own members. must reassemble, and may sit again for six months, if it be not within _Congress has General Powers of that time dissolved by the new Legislation._--To provide for the Sovereign. raising and disbursement of revenue. To borrow money; to coin money and to All British dominions are subject regulate its value; and to fix the (except as regards taxation) to the standard of weights and measures. To legislation of the British Parlia- regulate foreign and interstate com- ment; but no Act of Parliament af- merce. To declare war, and to main- fects a colony unless that colony is tain an army and navy. To establish specially mentioned. If the legis- post-offices and post roads. To enact lature of a colony enacts a law which patent and copyright laws. To enact is repugnant to an imperial law af- uniform naturalization and bankruptcy fecting the colony, it is to the ex- laws. To provide for the punishment tent to which it is repugnant abso- of crimes against the United States. lutely void. To establish courts inferior to the Supreme Court. To provide for orga- nizing and calling out the militia. To admit new States into the Union. To provide for the governments of the Territories. To exercise exclusive jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, public lands, public build- ings, forts, and navy yards. To enact all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution all the powers vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States.

_THE SENATE._--Composed of two _THE HOUSE OF LORDS._--The House at Senators from each State (ninety-six present consists of three Princes of in 1917), chosen by popular vote for the Blood, two Archbishops, twenty- six years, one-third retiring every one Dukes, twenty-six Marquesses, one two years. hundred and twenty-one Earls, forty- six Viscounts, twenty-four Bishops, three hundred and fifty-six Barons, sixteen Scottish Representative Peers elected for each Parliament, and twenty-seven Irish Representative Peers elected for life. The members hold their seats by virtue of heredi- tary title; by creation of the Sovereign; by virtue of office (English bishops); by election for life (Irish peers); by election for duration of Parliament (Scottish peers).

_Qualifications._--Must be at least _Qualifications._--Must be at least thirty years of age, must have been a twenty-one years of age. citizen of the United States for nine years, and must be an inhabitant of the State which he represents.

_Remuneration._--Members receive _Remuneration._--Receive no pay. seven thousand five hundred dollars, with mileage.

_Organization._--The Vice-President _Organization_--_Quorum._--Three, in- of the United States is the Presi- cluding the Lord Chancellor; thirty dent of the Senate. Is elected by the for final vote on a bill. The Lord Electoral College. Votes only in case Chancellor, who is a member of the of a tie. Cabinet, presides. He is appointed by mere delivery of the Great Seal to _Quorum._--A majority of members. him by the Sovereign and is principal legal adviser of the Crown. His patronage is very extensive. He nominates the puisne judges and county court judges; the holder of the office may not be a Roman Catho- lic.

_Committees._--Members are divided _Committees._--Special committees are into standing committees, chosen by appointed to make investigations, and the Senate itself, which act in the report on matters which could not be preliminary examination, and shaping undertaken by the whole House. of measures to be voted on.

_Powers and Duties._--In concurrence _Powers and Duties._--In concurrence with the House of Representatives, it with the House of Commons, makes the makes the laws. It also has power to laws, having a revising power over confirm or reject all appointments to all bills proposed by the House of office by the President of the United Commons, except those relating to States, and all treaties. The members public revenue and expenditure, which constitute a high court for the trial it must pass or reject without amend- of impeachments. Elects Vice-Presi- ment. dent of the United States if regular election fails. It is the highest appellate court of the United Kingdom. It may in certain cases try members of its own body; it tries any person who may be impeached by the House of Commons, and it also decides claims to the peerage.

_HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES._-- _HOUSE OF COMMONS._--This body Composed (in 1917) of four hundred consists of six hundred and seventy and thirty-five members elected every elected members representing county, second year for two years by the borough, and university constituen- people of the States in the propor- cies. Roughly speaking, about one- tion of one Representative for every sixth of the population are electors. 211,877 inhabitants. Each State, how- ever, is entitled to at least one mem- ber, whatever its population.

_Qualifications._--Must be at _Qualifications._--Must be at least twenty-five years of age, must least twenty-one years of age. have been seven years a citizen of Clergymen are disqualified from sit- the United States, and must be an in- ting as members, also English and habitant of the State from which he Scottish peers, government contrac- is chosen. tors, and sheriffs and returning officers for the localities for which they act.

_Organization_--_Quorum._--A majority _Organization_--_Quorum._--Forty mem- of members. Elects its own presiding bers, including the Speaker. Elects officer, who is called the Speaker, its own presiding officer, who is salary twelve thousand dollars per called the Speaker, who has a resi- year. dence in the Palace of Westminster, and receives a salary of $25,000 per annum.

_Remuneration._--Members receive _Remuneration._--$2,000 per year seven thousand five hundred dollars (since 1911). and mileage.

_Powers of the House of Representa- _Powers and Duties._--May originate tives._--Elects its Speaker (pre- and, in concurrence with the House of siding officer) and its other offi- Lords, pass resolutions and bills; cers. Elects President of the United but bills relating to the imposition States if the regular election fails. of taxes and the granting of supplies Prosecutes impeachments before the for the service of the State must be Senate. Originates all bills for originated in the House of Commons. raising revenue.

_Committees._--Almost all the acts of _Committees._--The business of the the House are under the control of House is almost entirely under the Standing Committees, appointed by the direction of the Ministry; however, Speaker. commissions and select committees are from time to time appointed to make investigations and report on matters which could not be undertaken by the House.