Elements of Civil Government Part 18

The _inspector-general_ attends to inspection of the arms and equipments of the soldiers.

The _chief of engineers_ supervises the construction of forts, the improvement of rivers and harbors, and the surveys relating to them.

The _chief of ordnance_ furnishes guns and ammunition to the army and to forts, and has charge of armories and a.r.s.enals.

The _judge-advocate-general_, who is chief of the bureau of military justice, prosecutes crimes committed in the army, and reviews all sentences pa.s.sed by military courts and military commissions.

MILITARY ACADEMY.--The military academy at West Point is maintained for the education of officers for the army. Each member of Congress appoints two cadets to the academy, and the President appoints four from the District of Columbia and eighty from the United States at large. There are also appointed two from each territory, two from Porto Rico, and a certain number of enlisted men from the army. The academy is under the charge of an army officer, appointed by the secretary of war. Each cadet receives from the government an allowance sufficient to pay all necessary expenses.

NAVY DEPARTMENT.--The secretary of the navy presides over the navy department. He has control of all affairs relating to vessels of war, the naval forces, and naval operations. He has charge of the Naval Observatory at Washington, and of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. There is an a.s.sistant secretary of the navy.

The naval department issues sailing charts, sailing directions, and other publications for the use of seamen. Among these is the nautical almanac used in navigating ships.

BUREAUS.--The naval department has a number of bureaus, which are in charge of competent officers detailed from the naval service.

The _bureau of navigation_ gives out and enforces the secretary's orders to the officers of the navy, enlists sailors, keeps the records of the service, and has charge of the naval academy. It has charge of the training and education of line officers and enlisted men of the navy.

The _bureau of yards and docks_ attends to the navy yards, docks, wharves, their buildings and machinery.

The _bureau of ordnance_ superintends the forging and testing of cannon, guns, and other military equipments, and the construction of naval torpedoes.

The _bureau of medicine and surgery_ has charge of the naval laboratory, the eight naval hospitals, and the purchase and distribution of surgical instruments and medical stores for the naval department.

The _bureau of supplies and accounts_ purchases and distributes provisions and clothing for the navy.

The _bureau of steam engineering_ superintends the construction and repair of engines and machinery for the vessels of war.

The _bureau of construction and repair_ has charge of all matters relating to the construction and repair of all vessels and boats used in the naval service.

NAVAL ACADEMY.--The naval academy at Annapolis is maintained by the national government for the purpose of educating and training officers for the navy. It bears the same relation to the navy that the military academy bears to the army. At the academy there are three midshipmen for each member of Congress; the President appoints two from the District of Columbia and ten a year from the United States at large; and fifteen enlisted men of the navy are appointed each year on compet.i.tive examination. The academy is under the charge of a superintendent, appointed by the secretary of the navy. Each midshipman receives from the government an annual sum of money sufficient to pay all necessary expenses incurred at the academy.

POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT.--The postmaster-general presides over the post-office department. He has control of all questions relating to the management of post-offices and the carrying of the mails, and appoints all postmasters whose annual salaries are less than a thousand dollars each. Postmasters whose salaries exceed this sum are appointed by the President of the United States.

BUREAUS.--The postmaster-general has four a.s.sistants, who, under him, are in charge of the various details of the vast establishment devoted to the postal service.

The _first a.s.sistant postmaster-general_ has general charge of post-offices and postmasters, and makes preparations for the appointment of all postmasters. He also controls the free delivery of mail matter in cities, and the dead letter office.

The _second a.s.sistant postmaster-general_ attends to the letting of contracts for carrying the mails, decides upon the mode of conveyance, and fixes the time for the arrival and departure of mails at each post-office. He also has charge of the foreign mail service. The United States has postal treaties with all the other civilized countries in the world, by which regular mail lines are maintained.

The _third a.s.sistant postmaster-general_ has charge of financial matters. He provides stamps, stamped envelopes, and postal cards for post-offices, and receives the reports and settlements of postmasters.

He also superintends the registered mail service, the postal savings system, and the post-office money-order business. By means of money orders people may deposit money in the post-office at which they mail their letters, and have it paid at the office to which their letters are addressed.

The _fourth a.s.sistant postmaster-general_ has charge of the rural free delivery system,--a very important service. He also furnishes blanks and stationery to post-offices throughout the United States, and supervises the making of the various post-route maps, such as those used for rural delivery and for the parcel post.

INTERIOR DEPARTMENT.--The secretary of the interior is the chief officer of the interior department. The former name, _home department_, suggests the character of the subjects under its control.

Its duties relate to various public interests which have been transferred to it from other departments. The department of the interior has charge of pensions, public lands, Indian affairs, patents, education, and the geological survey.

The _commissioner of pensions_ has charge of the examination of pension claims and the granting of pensions and bounties for service in the army and the navy. There are about a million names on the pension rolls of the United States, and the annual payment of pensions amounts to about one hundred and forty million dollars.

The _commissioner of the general land office_ superintends the surveys and sales of the lands belonging to the national government. The United States surveys divide the public lands into ranges, townships, sections, and fractions of sections. Ranges are bounded by north and south lines, six miles apart, and are numbered east and west. Ranges are divided into townships, each six miles square, numbered north and south. A township is divided into thirty-six sections, each one mile square, and containing six hundred and forty acres of land; and sections are divided into quarter sections.

The _commissioner of Indian affairs_ has charge of questions relating to the government of the Indians. Its agents make treaties, manage lands, issue rations and clothing, and conduct trade with the Indians.

The _commissioner of patents_ conducts all matters pertaining to the granting of patents for useful inventions, discoveries, and improvements.

A _patent_ gives the inventor the exclusive right to manufacture, sell, and use the patented article for a period of seventeen years.

A _copyright_, which is somewhat similar to a patent, gives the author of a book the exclusive right to print, publish, and sell it for a period of twenty-eight years, with the privilege at the expiration of that time of renewing for twenty-eight years more.

An inventor or author may sell a patent or copyright, as well as other property.

The _commissioner of education_ investigates the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories, and collects information relating to schools, school systems, and methods of teaching. The facts collected are distributed among the people in annual reports published by the office.

The _director of the geological survey_ sends out parties of scientific men, who explore various parts of the Union, trace the sources of rivers, measure the heights of lands, and gather other facts relating to the natural resources of the country. He publishes excellent maps of the regions that have been explored.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.--The attorney-general presides over the department of justice. He is the chief law officer of the government, and the legal adviser of all the departments. He is a.s.sisted by the solicitor-general, who is the second officer in rank; by nine a.s.sistant attorney-generals, and by several solicitors for particular departments. The department of justice conducts before the supreme court all suits to which the United States is a party; conducts suits arising in any of the departments, when requested by the head thereof; exercises supervision over the district attorneys and marshals of the United States district courts; examines the t.i.tles of lands proposed to be purchased by the United States, as sites for forts, a.r.s.enals, barracks, dockyards, customhouses, post-offices, and other public purposes; examines and reports upon applications for judicial offices and other positions requiring legal ability.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.--The department of agriculture was reorganized in 1889. Previous to that time it had been a bureau of the interior department. The secretary of agriculture is the chief officer of the department of agriculture.

This department collects and diffuses among the people useful knowledge relating to agriculture and agricultural products. Experiments are conducted upon farm and garden products, and the seeds of choice varieties are distributed among the people. Similar attention is given to stock-raising and the care of forests. The _bureau of chemistry_ a.s.sists in the enforcement of the pure food law.

The department also includes the _weather bureau_, which collects and publishes telegraphic reports of storms and the condition of the weather, in the interest of agriculture and commerce.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.--The department of commerce and labor was created in 1903, and ten years later was divided into two departments.

The secretary of commerce presides over the department of commerce.

Its duty is to promote and develop commerce, mining, manufacturing, and fisheries. It collects and publishes facts and figures on all these subjects; supplies exactly true weights and measures for any one to copy; controls stations for stocking waters with valuable fish; inspects and licenses steamships, rejecting any that are unseaworthy; surveys the seacoast of the United States, and maintains lighthouses at dangerous points.

The work of the department is divided among a number of bureaus, many of which were already in existence when the new department was formed.

Among these is the _census office_, which takes a census of the United States every ten years, besides collecting other statistics at shorter intervals.

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.--The secretary of labor presides over the department of labor. Its duty is to promote the welfare of wage earners. It makes important investigations, and publishes statistics concerning laborers. This department includes the _children's bureau_, which studies problems, affecting children's welfare. It also includes the _bureau of immigration_ and the _bureau of naturalisation_, which supervise the enforcement of United States laws regarding immigration and naturalization.

SEPARATE COMMISSIONS.--In addition to the civil service commission, Congress has created two other important commissions not connected with any department. The _interstate commerce commission_, consisting of seven members appointed by the President, supervises interstate railroads, express companies, etc., and enforces the laws which control them. The _federal trade commission_, consisting of five members appointed by the President, supervises the business of persons and companies engaged in interstate commerce, except those under the control of the interstate commerce commission.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

1. Why does the Const.i.tution require that the President shall be a native of the United States?

2. Who is now President, and of what State is he a citizen?

3. When was he elected?

4. Should the President be eligible for reelection?

5. Do you think he should have the veto power?

6. Of what use is a pa.s.sport in traveling?