their working conditions, and advancing their opportunities for profitable employment. The department consists of the Bureau of Immigration, the Bureau of Naturalization and Labor Statistics, and the Children's Bureau.

The Bureau of Immigration prepares and revises all regulations pertaining to immigration, decides questions as to the right of aliens to enter this country, investigates supposed violations of the alien-contract-labor laws, and supervises the work done by the inspectors of immigrants.

The Bureau of Naturalization has full charge of the administration of the laws regarding the naturalization of foreigners, that is, of the laws which make it possible for a citizen of a foreign country to become a citizen of this.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics collects full and complete statistics each year concerning the conditions of labor and the products, and distribution of the products, of labor, and these become the basis of the action of the secretary.

The Children's Bureau investigates and reports to the department all matters pertaining to the welfare of children and child life among all classes of our people, especially such questions as infant mortality, the birth rate, orphanage, juvenile courts, desertion, dangerous occupations, accidents and diseases of children, employment, and legislation affecting children in the several states and territories.

The department has established a chain of employment offices throughout the country and renders valuable aid to the unemployed.

Federal Trade Commission. In 1914 Congress established the Federal Trade Commission consisting of five members, each commissioner to receive a salary of $10,000 per year. In order to prevent unfair competition in business, the commission has power to investigate the organization, conduct, and management of the business of any

corporation, joint-stock company, or corporate combination engaged in commerce among the several states and with foreign nations, except banks and common carriers, and to gather such information and data as will enable the president of the United States to make recommendations to Congress for legislation for the regulation of such commerce, and to report to the president from time to time such data as he shall require; and the information so obtained, or as much thereof as they may deem expedient, shall be made public. The commission has power to order that unfair competition shall cease in any given case after a hearing has been granted. The order of the commission has all the force of a court order until set aside. Orders of the commission may be set aside by the United States Circuit Court of Appeals.

Independent Boards and Commissions. In addition to the regular executive departments there have been created at different times commissions and boards executive in character though not connected with any of the departments. Among these are the Civil Service Commission and the Interstate Commerce Commission. Special officers or boards exist also for the purpose of conducting the work of the Government Printing Office, of the Library of Congress, of the Smithsonian Institution, of the National Museum, and of the Bureau of Ethnology. The work of the Interstate Commerce Commission has been already described (p. 237). The Civil Service Commission consists of three commissioners, only two of whom may be of the same political party, appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. There are also a chief examiner and a secretary. It is the duty of the commission to provide for competitive examinations to test the fitness of candidates for the civil service, and to regulate and improve that service.

Library References. Macy, chaps. xxiv-xxv, xxvii-xxxi; Macy, First Lessons, chap. xix; Dawes, chaps. viii-ix; Bryce, Vol. I. chap. ix; Fiske, pp. 244-250; Harrison, chaps. xi-xix; Wilson, §§ 11091120; Hinsdale, chap. xxxiii; Curtis, Vol. I, pp. 574–576; Congressional Directory; Wilson, Congressional Government, pp. 257-275, 277-293; Dole, chap. xiv; Lalor, Article on State Department, Treasury Department, etc.; Woodburn, pp. 189-193.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

1. Was the cabinet contemplated by the Constitutional Convention or provided for in the Constitution? Discuss fully. 2. Name with their titles the persons composing the president's cabinet. How are the members of the cabinet chosen? 3. (a) Describe the parcel-post system. (b) How does it affect the express business?

4. Through what department does the United States conduct its business with other nations?

5. Describe the duties of the Adjutant-General; InspectorGeneral; Quartermaster-General.

6. How many classes of mail are there? What are the postal rates for each? In which class do letters belong?

7. What are the principal duties of the Department of the Interior? Mention the two ways of looking at the pension question as given by ex-President Harrison.

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8. What is meant by "preëmption of public lands"? by a homestead claim"? by "a timber claim "?

9. What direct aid has the United States government given to education in the different states?

10. Mention two duties of the Commissioner of Education. 11. Upon what grounds has the federal government a right to interfere with a private business?

12. What department of the cabinet has charge of taking the national census? How often and in what years is it taken? 13. What is the civil service? What is the spoils system?

CHAPTER XXIV

JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT: FEDERAL COURTS

Necessity of Federal Judiciary. "Laws are a dead letter without courts to expound and define their true meaning and operation." Under the Confederation there existed no separate federal judiciary, and the judicial powers vested in Congress were very limited indeed. It had become clear that somewhere in the nation there must exist an authority empowered to interpret the laws and treaties of the United States and to determine whether or not acts passed by Congress harmonized with the fundamental law of the land as embodied in the Constitution in other words, to pass upon their constitutionality. It had become equally clear that such interpretation could not safely be intrusted to the state courts. In the first place, such an arrangement would be sure to result in a complete lack of uniformity. The same point might and probably would be decided in ways as various as the courts before which it was brought. In the second place, the state courts were unfitted for the work, both because of the nature of many of the matters in dispute and because of the character of the parties to federal suits. Matters of a quasiinternational character, such as admiralty jurisdiction, are obviously not matters to be properly adjudicated by the courts of any particular state; nor could state courts be completely trusted, because of local prejudices, to do full justice between citizens of their own states and citizens of

HOUSE (below)

President Washington selected the site of the White House and laid the corner stone, October 13, 1792. He lived to see it completed. It was partially destroyed by the British in 1814. After it was restored, the stone walls were painted white to obliterate the marks of the fire; whence the name