Boy Scouts Handbook Part 73

United States Courts

The Supreme Court of the United States is at Washington, D. C., but there are other courts of the United States held in the several states, called district courts.

Washington, D. C.

The capitol at Washington is the home of Congress, and the Supreme Court. The Library of Congress, the Treasury, Army and Navy, Pension, Post-office, and many other buildings of public character are located in Washington. These during certain hours are open to visitors.

The Army

The President, in accordance with the Const.i.tution, is commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States and of the militia of the several states when called to the actual service of the United States. The law provides that the total strength of the army shall not exceed at any one time 100,000. As now organized (1910) the total strength of the staff and line is 76,911 not including the provisional force and the hospital corps. These figures include the Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry, the Service School Detachments, the Military Academy (officers, soldiers and cadets), the Indian Scouts, 52,000 native scouts in the Philippine Islands, 193 First Lieutenants of the Medical Reserve Corps on active duty, and 11,777 recruits, etc.

They do not include the veterinary surgeons, the officers of the Medical Reserve Corps not on active duty, nor the retired officers and enlisted men of the army. The appropriation for the maintenance of the army for the year 1909-10 was $100,330,181.

Militia

The law of our country states that in time of war every able-bodied male citizen, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, {343} shall be counted a member of the state militia. The state militia is divided into two cla.s.ses: one, the organized, known as the national guard; and the other the unorganized, known as the reserve militia.

The membership of the national guard is voluntary. One may join or not, as he chooses, except that in some states the law requires that students at the state university shall receive military training for at least a part of their university course, and during that time they are accounted a part of the national guard of the State. The governor of each state holds the same relationship to the state militia as the President to the army and navy: he is commander-in-chief.

Military Academy

The United States Military Academy is at West Point, N. Y., on the Hudson River. The number of students is limited to 533, and appointments to the academy are made in accordance with the rule which permits each United States senator and each congressman to have one representative, and also gives the President the right to make forty appointments at large. Candidates for appointment must be between the ages of seventeen and twenty-two; must pa.s.s the required physical examination; also an examination in English grammar, composition and literature, algebra and geometry, geography and history. The course of instruction is four years; the discipline very strict. Only one leave of absence is granted during the entire four years, and this comes at the close of the second year. The pay is $709.50 per year, and on graduation a cadet is commissioned a second lieutenant. To receive an appointment to West Point, one must apply to his United States senator or to a congressman in the state in which he lives, or to the President.

The Navy

The enlisted strength of the navy, as in the army, is limited. The law allows 47,500 men and apprenticed seamen. The number of officers and enlisted men at the present time is 46,898, and the annual expenditure for the support of the navy at this date (1911) is about $130,000,000.

Naval Enlistment

The enlistment of men in the United States navy, as in the army, is voluntary. The term is four years. To be eligible for enlistment one must be between the ages of eighteen and {344} twenty-two. He must be of good moral character, must pa.s.s the physical examination, must be able to write English, and take the oath of allegiance.

Naval Militia

In the District of Columbia and in twenty of the states we have what is known as the naval militia. The a.s.sistant secretary of the navy stands in a special relation to the naval militia through the governor and the adjutant-general of the several states. The naval militia holds the same relationship to the navy that the national guard does to the United States army.

Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy is at Annapolis, Md. The students are called midshipmen, and candidates for appointment must be between the ages of sixteen and twenty. The appointment of candidates is made as at West Point--through senators and congressmen and the President, the only difference being in the number of appointments that may be made: each senator and representative may be represented by two midshipmen at Annapolis, while at West Point he is represented by but one cadet.

The President has the appointment of seven men to the Naval Academy--two from the District of Columbia and five from the United States at large. He may also appoint one from Porto Rico, who must be a native. The midshipmen's course is six years--four at Annapolis, and two at sea. The pay is $600 per year.

Civil Service

In the administration of the government of the United States, thousands of men and women are employed in the various offices at Washington, and are sometimes termed the great "peace army."

In one period of our country's history, it was believed that each President, when he came into office, had the right to turn out of office every person employed by the government in any of its civil departments, should it please him to do so, and to put into office his own friends or the friends of his party. This right was claimed on the ground that "to the victor belong the spoils"--a theory of government administration that has been severely dealt with and reformed through what is known as the "Civil Service Act." The Civil Service Act was pa.s.sed {345} by Congress January 16, 1883, and by this act a civil service commission was brought into existence. The three members of this commission are appointed by the President with consent of the Senate, not more than two of whom may be members of the same party.

Thus, by this civil service act, positions in the government service are now obtained for the most part through compet.i.tive examinations, and such positions are not affected in any way by the incoming of a new President or the appointment of a new head of a department.

In some states and in most of the large cities civil service appointments are now made through compet.i.tive examinations. Anyone interested in learning what positions may be secured in the service of the government, may apply to the Civil Service Commission at Washington, D. C., or make inquiry at the local post-office.

Foreign Service

The foreign service of our government is carried on through the diplomatic corps and the consular service. In the diplomatic corps, we have amba.s.sadors, envoys, ministers, diplomatic agents, and secretaries; in the consular service, consuls general, consuls, and consular agents.

Our diplomatic representatives abroad look after our interests as a nation in the family of nations. They represent us socially as well as politically in the great foreign capitals of the world. They are received as our representatives of state, and it is their duty to sustain and promote good-will and friendly feeling between us and other nations. The consular service is more directly responsible for our trade relationships in the great centres of the world. Through our foreign service, also, Americans abroad, whether as tourists, or residents, are protected in person and in property interests.

Appointments to the foreign service are made by the President with the advice of the Senate.

As we send our representatives abroad, so the countries to which our representatives go in turn send their representatives to us. In the city of Washington, one may see representatives of all the princ.i.p.al nations of the earth living there as amba.s.sadors, for the purpose of promoting friendly commercial and political relationships. The secretary of state is the representative of our government through whose office the great work of the foreign service is directly carried on, and upon him devolves therefore the great affairs of state relationships with other countries. When our independence as a nation was declared in 1776, it {346} was important to gain as quickly as possible from other nations a recognition of our independence and of our entrance into the family of nations. France was the first to give us recognition, and the first to enter into a treaty relationship.

Some of the most thrilling and interesting stories of our national life are to be found in the adventurous determination of our representatives to gain the recognition of our independence as a nation from the great powers of the earth. The name of Benjamin Franklin, sent to the court of France, stands at the head of our diplomatic service; and we may read with interest of the first appearance of our diplomatic representative, John Adams, at the court of Great Britain. When we speak of court in this sense, we mean, of course, the king's court--the place of meeting--usually the throne room. In our country, foreign representatives are received by the President at the White House, or by the secretary of state in his office apartments. Some foreign countries have built for their representatives in Washington palatial and beautiful residences, over which floats the flag of the country to which the palace or residence belongs. Our own country has already begun to make this residential provision for her representatives abroad, and in time will undoubtedly own residences in all of the princ.i.p.al foreign capitals.

State Government

The states of the United States are not all alike either in const.i.tution or government, although there is a likeness at many points. For instance, each state has about the same officers, a governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor, adjutant general, superintendent of schools, etc.

Each state has its own state legislature: a senate to which state senators are elected, and a house of representatives sometimes called the a.s.sembly, to which state representatives or a.s.semblymen are elected. Each state legislature makes laws only for its own state; therefore not all state laws are alike. Indeed, there is a great deal of individuality to each state, and rightly so. As each person has his own individuality, and as each family has its own characteristics, so each state has an individuality and characteristics peculiar to itself. The history of each state reveals its character, so also the climate, the hills, the valleys, the mountains, the plains, the lakes, the rivers, the harbors, the schools, the colleges, the towns, the villages, and the cities within its borders, all help in forming the character of a state.

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Towns, Villages, and Cities

The government of the town, or the village, or the city is called local government. It is government close at hand--home government. And out of the home government of each town, village, and city in a state must come, by the votes of the people at the ballot-box, the men whom they choose as their representatives, in the government of the state and the nation--for the people rule through representatives of their own choosing.

Politics

In every presidential election, the people, through the rule of the majority, as determined by the Const.i.tution, elect their chief magistrate, the President, who becomes the "first citizen" of the nation and is ent.i.tled "Mr. President." The people of a state by the same rule elect their chief magistrate and ent.i.tle him "His Excellency, the Governor"; he is the state's chief or leading citizen.

The people of the city by the same rule elect their chief magistrate and ent.i.tle him "His Honor, the Mayor," the city's leading citizen.

The people of the town, in the New England States, elect their chief officers three to five men--and ent.i.tle them the "Selectmen"; although in towns of the middle and western states, they are called "Supervisors."

So, likewise, the people in town, village, and city by the same "rule of the majority" elect aldermen, councilmen, state senators, representatives or a.s.semblymen, and congressmen.

And the state legislatures in turn elect, according to the Const.i.tution of the United States, the state's United States senators, two in number. Thus, by the rule of the majority, are all officers of town, village, and city, county and state elected, except such few as are appointed by law to offices by superior officers, heads of departments, bureaus, or districts of supervision or administration.

Property

The ownership of property, both real and personal, and the protection of that ownership, is made possible in the organization of society--termed the government--and in the power of that government to make and enforce its laws. Real property is the kind of property which pertains to land, the ownership of which is transferred from one person to another, either by a deed recorded in the office of the register of deeds in the county court house, or else transferred by descent, or by will through the {348} administration of the county court, usually called the probate court. This latter proceeding is in the case of the owner's death when his property is divided by the court and distributed to the heirs--the family or other relatives according to his will; or in case no will is left the law provides for the manner of its distribution.

The Register of Deeds: County Court House