House of Commons. If a member is appointed to office he thereby vacates his seat, but he may be immediately reëlected and take his seat. There is an advantage attending this arrangement. The leaders of the administration, the heads of departments, can, as members of the house, bring forward and advocate their plans. They are always on hand to give information or answer objections.

Art. 1, § 7, 1. "All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on other bills."

This provision is borrowed from the House of Commons. Whatever reasons may exist for it there, they do not exist in the United States. As the Senate has the power of amending what are termed "money bills," it might just as well have the power of orig inating them.

The English Constitution requires that all money bills originate in the House of Commons, and the House of Lords must pass or reject them without alteration. This gives the democratic portion of the government wellnigh supreme power, if they choose to exercise it. The House of Commons may attach to a money bill a rider requiring concessions very distasteful, it may be, to the aristocracy. The Lords can make no alteration in the bill. They must pass it with its obnoxious provision or reject it. To reject it

may be to deprive the government of funds, to stop the payment of pensions, and throw things into confusion. If the Commons will it, they can compel the Lords to pass any measure they may choose to propose. Reverence for the aristocracy seems to keep them from exercising their power.

Art. 1, § 7, 2. "Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve, he shall sign it, but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration, two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress, by their adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law."

A qualified negative on the acts of Congress is thought to be needed, to prevent the legislative from encroaching on the executive department. It is an additional check upon the legislative bodies, and may prevent hasty and unconstitutional legislation.

The King of England has an absolute negative on the acts of Parliament, but there has not been an example of its exercise for nearly two centuries.

It was not expected that the veto power would be often used by the President. It was designed to meet emergencies. Washington used it but once, and that on constitutional grounds. This veto plainly prevented a violation of the Constitution.

In defence of this provision of the Constitution, it may be said, that any measure so important that the country would suffer great inconvenience if it were not passed, cannot be prevented by the President's veto. It would secure the votes of two-thirds of both houses and thus become a law.

It cannot be denied that when parties in Congress are not far from equal, the President can, in consequence of possessing the veto power, exercise an undue control over the course of legislation.

Art. 1, § 7, 3. "Every order, resolution or vote, to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment), shall be presented to the Presi dent of the United States; and before the same shall

take effect, shall be approved by him, or, being dis approved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a

bill."

If an order or resolution might take effect without the signature of the President, a bill or matter of great importance might under the name of a resolution become a law without the President's assent.

Learn the following asticus

CHAPTER XII.

POWERS OF CONGRESS.

ART. 1, § 8, 1. "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States."

The former of the two first clauses sustains to the latter the relation of means to end. Congress shall have power to lay taxes in order to pay the debts and promote the general welfare. If this be not the true interpretation, then Congress has unlimited power. They can do every thing that they think tends to provide for the common defence and the general welfare. Now, it is well known that it was designed to form a government of limited powers, and to state the limitations is one of the objects of the Constitu tion.

This part of the Constitution gives Congress power