himself to be the real author of the invention; must file in the patent office a full description of the article, together with drawings and possibly a model; and must pay a fee of $15 on filing his application, and an additional $20 if the patent be allowed. A patent holds for a term of seventeen years, and may be renewed for a term of seven years by the Commissioner of Patents or by act of Congress, provided, however, that the inventor has not received an adequate money return.

The National Capital. By the same clause of the Constitution which gave Congress power to control all places purchased for the erection of forts, magazines, etc., power was also conferred upon it to "exercise exclusive legislation

over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States." The need for such a provision had been shown by an unpleasant experience suffered in Philadelphia by the Congress of the Confederation at the hands of an unpaid portion of the Revolutionary troops in 1783. The failure of the state government to afford the protection asked for had made it clear that the federal legislature must be given the power to protect itself and the seat of the federal government from the possibility of a repetition of such insults. From 1785 to 1790 New York was the national capital. In 1790 the seat of government was transferred to Philadelphia, where it remained until 1800, when it was permanently located in the District of Columbia. This was a piece of territory, originally ten miles square, lying along the Potomac, which was ceded to the United States by the states of Maryland and Virginia to be used as the seat of the national government. About thirty square miles on the right bank of the river were afterward receded to Virginia.

The Government of the District is provided for entirely by the federal authorities, the people having no political rights. The executive officers are three commissioners, two of whom are appointed for three years by the president with the consent of the Senate, and one detailed from the corps of engineers of the United States army by the president to serve during his pleasure. They have general charge of municipal affairs, providing for the policing of the District, fire protection, education, etc. All officers other than the three commissioners are appointed by the president. The commissioners have the power to recommend needed legislation, but Congress is the legislative body of the District, and all bills relating to it are passed in the regular manner. Congress pays one half the expenses for the government of the territory; the other half is met by taxation of the inhabitants. The judicial power of the District is vested in a court of appeals (consisting of a chief justice and two associate justices), a supreme court (consisting of a chief justice and four associate justices), justice courts, a police court, and a juvenile court.

The Government of Territories. Closely allied to this special power granted to Congress, to govern the territory in which is located the seat of the federal government, is the power granted it in another article of the Constitution, "to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States." It is from this provision that Congress derives the authority to govern its territories. We have already seen that before the adoption of the Constitution the vast tract of land known as the Northwest Territory, the different portions of which were claimed by several of the states, had been ceded by those states to the general government. Following these cessions the Congress of the

Confederation passed the act known as the Ordinance of 1787, providing a government for this vast public domain — an act that has been called " the most important piece of general legislation of the Confederation epoch." It is certain that Congress under the Articles of Confederation had no power to pass such an ordinance, and many writers have declared it of no effect. It matters little now, for the first Congress that assembled under the Constitution, having been given the authority to pass such legislation, reënacted the ordinance, which has ever since furnished the model upon which the territories of the United States have been organized.

Organized and Unorganized Territories. The SpanishAmerican War, resulting as it did in the acquisition by the United States of a number of insular possessions, most of them containing a population very different in character from that of the states and other territories, has very considerably complicated the problems of territorial government. Previous to that war the territories were simply divided into two classes organized and unorganized. In the organized territories of Hawaii and Porto Rico the government conforms, with slight variations, to the following type. There are the three departments of government, legislative, executive, and judicial, — with similar duties performed by corresponding departments of state governments. The executive department consists of a governor, appointed by the president with the consent of the Senate for a term of four years; a secretary, similarly appointed; a treasurer, an auditor, and usually a superintendent of public instruction, appointed by the governor. The governor is ex officio commander of the militia. He has a veto power over the acts of the legislature, but his veto may be overridden by a two-thirds vote

of the house. He makes annual reports to the president and sends a message to the territorial legislature. The legislature consists of two houses, a council and a house of representatives, elected for a term of two years by the voters of the territory, voting in districts. The sessions are biennial and limited to sixty days. The sphere of legislation is nearly as wide as that of the state legislatures, but Congress has the power to annul or modify any act, thus controlling the internal affairs of the territory. The people of the territory send to Congress a delegate who has the privilege of debate but no vote. The judicial department consists of a supreme court of three or more judges appointed for a term of four years by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. In 1912, Congress provided for a legislature in Alaska, consisting of two houses and meeting biennially. Thus the last of our territories except our smaller island possessions has been organized.

Territories: a New Classification. Since the SpanishAmerican War a decision of the Supreme Court has practically established a new classification for the territories. According to this decision there are (1) those constituting

a part of" the United States, and (2) those "belonging to" the United States. To the first class belongs Alaska; to the second belong Hawaii, Porto Rico, the Philippines, Guam, and the Samoan possessions of the United States. Hawaii and Porto Rico have been given organized territorial governments conforming in a general way to the type existing in the organized territories constituting "a part of" the United States. Hawaii is "an integral part' of the United States according to the treaty of annexation. The other territories "belonging to" the United States are variously governed by the military or naval authorities or by special commissions.

Power to Establish Courts. One other specific power the Constitution intrusts to Congress-namely, the power "to constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court." In accordance with this grant of power Congress created, by the Judiciary Act of 1789, the district and circuit courts and defined their functions. In 1855 it established the Court of Claims, in 1891 the circuit courts of appeals, and abolished circuit courts in 1911 (see Chapter XXIV).

The Elastic Clause. So far we have been dealing with specific powers granted to Congress by the Constitution. There remains to be considered a very important clause, often called the "elastic clause," conferring upon Congress, by a general grant of power, the right to do whatever may be necessary and proper for carrying out the provisions of the Constitution. The exact wording of the clause is as follows: [Congress shall have power] "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof." It is out of the difference of opinion as to the interpretation of this clause that the two great schools of constitutional construction have arisen: the strict constructionists and the liberal constructionists the defenders of the doctrine of state rights and the upholders of the opposing doctrine of implied powers. The first insist that the Constitution, and in particular this clause of it, should be strictly and narrowly construed, so as to give Congress power to pass only such laws as are absolutely necessary in order to make effective the powers expressly granted. The liberal constructionists, on the other hand, maintain that by the phrase "laws which shall be necessary and proper" is meant not only such as