ment. This change does not necessarily indicate a feebler sense of political duty. It is due to that shrivelling up of the State to which I referred in last chapter.

In saying this I do not mean to withdraw or modify what was said, in an earlier chapter, of the greatness of an American State, and the attachment of its inhabitants to it. Those propositions are, I believe, true of a State as compared to any local division of any European country, the cantons of Switzerland excepted. I am here speaking of a State as compared with the nation, and of men's feelings towards their State to-day as compared with the feelings of a century ago. I am, moreover, speaking not so much of sentimental loyalty to the State, considered as a whole, for this is still strong, but of the practical interest taken in its government. Even in Great Britain many a man is proud of his city, of Edinburgh say, or of Manchester, who takes only the slenderest interest in the management of its current business.

We may accordingly say that the average American voter, belonging to the labouring or farming or shopkeeping class, troubles himself little about the conduct of State business. He votes the party ticket at elections as a good party man, and is pleased when his party wins. When a question comes up which interests him, like that of canal management, or the regulation of railway rates, or a limitation of the hours of labour, he is eager to use his vote, and watches what passes in the legislature. He is sometimes excited over a contest for the governorship, and if the candidate of the other party is a stronger and more honest man, may possibly desert his party on that one issue. But in ordinary times he follows the proceedings of the legislature so little that an American humourist, describing the initial stages of dotage, observes that the poor old man took to filing the reports of the debates in his State legislature. The politics which the voter reads by preference are National politics; and especially whatever touches the next presidential election. In State contests that which chiefly fixes his attention is the influence of a State victory on an approaching National contest.

The more educated and thoughtful citizen, especially in great States like New York and Pennsylvania, is apt to be disgusted by the sordidness of many State politicians and the pettiness

of most. He regards Albany and Harrisburg much as he regards a wasp's nest in one of the trees of his suburban garden. The insects eat his fruit, and may sting his children; but it is too much trouble to set up a ladder and try to reach them. Some public-spirited young men have, however, occasionally thrown themselves into the muddy whirlpool of the New York legislature, chiefly for the sake of carrying Acts for the better government of cities. When the tenacity of such men proves equal to their courage, they gain in time the active support of those who have hitherto stood aloof, regarding State politics as a squabble over offices and jobs. By the help of the press they are sometimes able to carry measures such as an improved Ballot Act, or an act for checking expenditure at elections, which is not only valuable in their own State but sets an example which other States are apt to follow.

A European observer, sympathetic with the aims of the reformers, is inclined to think that the battle for honest government ought to be fought everywhere, in State legislatures and city councils as well as in the National elections and in the press, and is at first surprised that so much effort should be needed to secure what all good citizens, to whichever party they belong, might be expected to work for. But he would be indeed a self-confident European who should fancy he had discovered anything which had not already occurred to his shrewd American friends; and the longer such an observer studies the problem, the better does he learn to appreciate the difficulties which the system of party organization throws in the way of all reforming efforts.

CHAPTER XLVI

THE TERRITORIES

Or the 3,501,404 square miles which constitute the area of the United States, 2,667,535 are included within the bounds of the forty-five States whose government has been described in the last preceding chapters. The 833,899 square miles which remain fall into the three following divisions:

Of these the three latter may be dismissed in a word or two. The District of Columbia is a piece of land set apart to contain the city of Washington, which is the seat of the Federal government. It is governed by three commissioners appointed by the President, and has no local legislature nor municipal government, the only legislative authority being Congress.

Alaska (population in 1890, 31,795, of whom 4303 were whites and 23,274 Indians) and the Indian Territory are also under the direct authority of officers appointed by the President and of laws passed by Congress. Both are chiefly inhabited by Indian tribes, some of which, however, in the Indian Territory, and particularly the Cherokees, have made considerable progress in civilization. Neither region is

1 There are five civilized tribes in this Territory, Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles. "Each tribe manages its own affairs under a Constitution modelled upon that of the United States. Each has a common school system, including schools for advanced instruction, all supported by the Indians themselves. The agent of the National Indian Defence Association says that there is not in the Cherokee Nation a single Indian of either sex over fifteen years of age who cannot read or write." - Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1886. The census of 1890 gives the total numbers of these tribes at 66,289, of whom 52,065 are pure Indians. The total number of Indians in the United States (excluding Alaska) is returned at 249,273.

likely for a long time to come to receive regular political institutions.

Until 1889, the organized Territories, eight in number, formed a broad belt of country extending from Canada on the north to Mexico on the south, and separating the States of the Mississippi valley from those of the Pacific slope. In that year Congress passed acts under which three of them, Dakota (which divided itself into North Dakota and South Dakota), Montana, and Washington became entitled to be admitted as States; while in 1890 two others (Idaho and Wyoming) and in 1894 Utah also were similarly permitted to become States. These have now (1896) enacted constitutions and thereby organized themselves as States. They are the seven States of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. To the two remaining Territories one has been added by the carving out of Oklahoma, in 1890, from the Indian Territory. These three require some description, because they present an interesting form of autonomy or local self-government, differing from that which exists in the several States, and in some points more akin to that of the self-governing colonies of Great Britain. This form has in each Territory been created by Federal statutes, beginning with the great ordinance for the government of the Territory of the United States north-west of the river Ohio, passed by the Congress of the Confederation in 1787. Since that year many Territories have been organized, by different statutes and on different plans, out of the western dominions of the United States, under the general power conferred upon Congress by the Federal Constitution (Art. iv. § 3); and all but the abovementioned three have now become States. At first local legislative power was vested in the governor and the judges; it is now exercised by an elective legislature. The present organization of the three that remain is in most respects identical; and in describing it I shall ignore minor differences.

The fundamental law of every Territory, as of every State, is the Federal Constitution; but whereas every State has also its own popularly enacted State constitution, the Territories are not regulated by any similar instruments, which for them are replaced by the Federal statutes establishing their government and prescribing its form. However, some Territories

have created a sort of rudimentary constitution by enacting a Bill of Rights.

In every Territory, as in every State, the executive, legislative, and judicial departments are kept distinct. The executive consists of a governor appointed for four years by the President of the United States, with the consent of the Senate, and removable by the President, together with a secretary, treasurer, auditor, and usually also a superintendent of public instruction and a librarian. The governor commands the militia, and has a veto upon the acts of the legislature, which, however, may (except in Arizona) be overridden by a two-thirds majority in each house. He is responsible to the Federal government, and reports yearly to the President on the condition of the Territory, often making his report a sort of prospectus in which the advantages which his dominions. offer to intending immigrants are fondly set forth. He also sends a message to the legislature at the beginning of each session. Important as the post of governor is, it is often bestowed as a mere piece of party patronage, with no great regard to the fitness of the appointee.

The legislature is composed of two Houses, a Council of twelve (in Oklahoma thirteen) persons, and a House of Representatives of twenty-four (in Oklahoma twenty-six) persons, elected by districts. Each is elected by the voters of the Territory for two years, and sits only once in that period. The session is limited (by Federal statutes) to sixty days, and the salary of a member is $4 per day. The Houses work much like those in the States, doing the bulk of their business by standing committees, and frequently suspending their rules to run measures through with little or no debate. The electoral franchise is left to be fixed by Territorial statute, but Federal statutes prescribe that every member shall be resident in the district he represents. The sphere of legislation allowed to the legislature is wide, indeed practically as wide as that enjoyed by the legislature of a State, but subject to certain Federal restrictions. It is subject also to the still more important right of Congress to annul or modify by its own statutes any Territorial act. In some Territories every act was directed to be submitted to Congress for its approval, and, if disapproved, to be of no effect; in others submission has not been