under the direction of the Secretary of State, and may be found in the public libraries. The following publications include the general laws of the United States:

(1) United States Revised Statutes, 2nd edition, 1878. (2) Supplement to the Revised Statutes, 1st edition, 1881. (3) Supplement to the Revised Statutes, 2nd edition, 1891. The following publications contain the current acts of Congress for each session and each year, together with all joint resolutions, recent treaties, and important executive proclamations:

(1) Statutes of the United States, for each session of Congress.

(2) United States Statutes at Large, for each Congress covering the period of two years.

The acts of Congress are arranged in two classes, namely, (a) Public Laws of the United States, and (b) Private Laws of the United States. The general compilations of laws as a rule, both State and Federal, do not include acts of a purely local, individual, or private nature. These are usually to be found in the acts of the session alone at which they are passed.

CHAPTER XLII.

THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.

I. The President. "The executive power," says the Constitution, "shall be vested in a President of the United States of America," who "shall hold his office during the term of four years." While the executive power and responsibility resides in the President, we know, of course, that many men are required to carry into effect these executive powers. They are too numerous and extensive for one man to perform. The President is therefore assisted by numerous heads of departments, bureaus, boards, and commissions. The unity and strength of the government is quickened by the general oversight and control of a single responsible executive. The President must be a natural born citizen of the United States, thirty-five years of age, and resident within the United States for fourteen years. The presidential term is four years, but he may be reelected any number of times. It has become a part of the unwritten practice of the country not to elect any man to the presidency more than twice. The President receives a compensation prescribed by law, which can neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he was elected. The salary is now fixed at fifty thousand dollars a year; and no other emolument may be received by the President from the United States or from any State during his term of office. The office is one of great power and responsibility. The whole official term is called an administration. The President and the heads of the executive departments have the appointment of more than one hundred thousand

officers who assist in the administration of the executive department.

2. The Vice President.-A Vice President is elected at the same time as the President, for the same term and with the same qualifications. He is provided as a substitute to take the place of the President in case of a vacancy. His only official duty is to preside over the Senate. He receives a salary of eight thousand dollars. Four Vice Presidents have succeeded to the Presidency. Harrison and Taylor died in office and were succeeded by Tyler and Fillmore; Lincoln and Garfield were assassinated and were succeeded by Johnson and Arthur.

3. Presidential Elections.—The President and Vice President are not elected by the direct vote of the people. It was the original intention that each State should elect a body of men called electors, who should meet, deliberate, and choose of their own free will the best man for President; but it was soon found that this plan would not work in practice. The Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution was adopted with the intention of overcoming the deficiency of the original Constitution, but still the difficulty has not been met. The development of government by political parties has made of the Presidential Electors a mere device for registering the vote of each State.

(1) Electors. Each State elects a number of electors equal to the total membership of the State in both houses of Congress. These electors are chosen at the regular election on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November of the year which immediately precedes the expiration of the Presidential term. In the meantime each political party has met in National convention and has nominated candidates for President and Vice President. The electors are nominated in state conventions. The people vote directly for the electors, but it is well understood that the electors will vote for the candidates for President and Vice President nominated by

their party. Each State decides for itself how it will elect its electors. West Virginia nominates one elector for each Congressional district and two from the State at large; but all the candidates for elector are chosen by the total vote of the State.

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(2) How Presidents are Chosen.-The electors chosen at the November election are required by act of Congress to meet at the capitals of their respective States on the second Monday in January, and vote by ballot for President and Vice President. One of the candidates voted for must not be from the same State as the electors. A separate ballot is cast for President and Vice President. The meeting of the electors is called the Electoral College. The ballots are counted and lists made of all persons voted for. These separate lists are made, signed, and certified, two of which are transmitted to the President of the Senate of the United States,-one by mail and one by special messenger, and the other is filed with the judge of the District Court of the United States for the district in which the electors meet. The President of the Senate opens and counts these returns on the second Wednesday in the following February in the presence of the Houses of Congress sitting in joint session. The person having a majority of all the electoral votes is declared elected President. If no one has a majority, the House of Representatives must choose immediately, by ballot, the President from among the persons, not exceeding three in number, having the highest number of votes for President. In this ballot each State has one vote to to be determined by the majority of the representatives from that State, and a majority of the States is necessary to a choice. Two-thirds of the States is necessary to form a quorum for such an election. If the House of Representatives should fail to elect a President by the fourth of March, the person chosen as Vice President shall act as President. the Electoral Colleges should fail to elect a Vice President as well as a President, the Senate must choose a Vice President from the two having the highest number of votes. Two-thirds

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of the Senate is necessy to a quorum, and a majority of the whole Senate is necessary to elect. The House of Representatives has chosen two Presdents: Thomas Jefferson in 1801, and John Quincy Adams in 1825, although Andrew Jackson had more electoral votes than Adams.

4. Inauguration. The formal ceremony attending the administration of the oath of office to the President is called the inauguration. This takes place on the fourth day of March following his election. He usually delivers an inaugural address, stating the principles and policies that shall guide him during his administration. The oath of office prescribed by the Constitution is then administered to him, usually by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In the early days of the Republic an inauguration was quite a simple affair; but in recent years it has come to be attended with much pomp and ceremony, participated in by delegations from all parts of the United States and the Territories.

5.

Official Residence.

The official residence of the Presi

dent in Washington is called the White House. Here the President resides with his family and performs most of his official functions. At his public receptions held upon stated occasions any person may pay his respects to the President. These receptions preserve the democratic spirit of our institutions, and emphasize the cardinal principle of the politcal equality of all men.

6. The Presidential Succession.-In 1792 Congress provided that in case of a failure of both the President and Vice President the President pro tempore of the Senate, and next after him the Speaker of the House, should succeed to the Presidency. Many objections arose to this line of succession, because it might happen that neither House would have a presiding officer and because these officers might not belong to the same party as the President and might change the political complexion of the administration. So in 1886 a new act was

passed which gives the succession to the heads of deparments