there is no State university, the inspection may be done by the State department of education.

258. Education and Law. It sometimes happens that a city or town has many careless people in it who will not. do what the inspectors advise. It is then necessary to call in the officers of the law, for the welfare of the whole State will be in danger if any part of it neglects its duty. There are also some places where the people are so poor that they cannot employ teachers or build schools. Such places the State government often aids with money and the State inspectors tell them how to spend the money which is supplied.

SUGGESTIONS AND QUESTIONS

1. Has your State a department of health? How is it appointed? How may its members be removed?

2. What kind of experts are needed by a department of health? Are such experts likely to be found among the active politicians? Are the politicians likely to prefer to have such experts appointed?

3. Ask some older person for several examples of the work of your State department of health. Is this work connected with that of your city health officers?

4. Has your State any laws to prevent the sale of cigarettes to children? How are these laws enforced? Has it laws against the sale of drugs that injure the health? How are these enforced?

5. Has your State a law requiring vaccination against smallpox? How is the law enforced? Are the children in your school immune? Ask a doctor about these things.

6. Is there a law requiring quarantine for infectious diseases? What diseases are included in this law? Who enforces it?

7. Has your State a compulsory education law? Is it well enforced in your city? By whom?

S. Has your State a university? What is its relation to the government of the State? How does it get its money? What does it do for the people of the State besides conduct classes?

How is it

9. Have you a State department of education? organized? How is the head of it appointed? How are his assistants appointed? Are his assistants experts with long training and experience?

10. Does your State maintain training or normal schools for teachers? What must one do to be admitted to such schools?

11. Is your school inspected by a representative of the State university or department of education? What does the inspector do when he visits the school? Does he report to any one after his visit to your city? What effect does his report have?

12. Why do you think people without any children should be required to pay a tax to support the schools?

CHAPTER XXVII

ORGANIZING THE STATE GOVERNMENT

259. The Work To Be Done. We come now to the task of making a constitution for the State. Our questions or problems deal with two things. First, what is the work the State has to do? and, second, How shall we organize it to do this work? That is, what organs shall we create for doing it? We have seen that the State government must develop the law by providing courts to decide difficult questions about our rights; and that now and then the law has to be changed by the legislature. We also must have officers such as the governor who sees that the law is obeyed. We also must have officers who do work for us, who aid our efforts at coöperation. Such officers conserve our resources; aid business by providing for transportation and assisting the organization of corporations; and watch over the public education and health. For these and other kinds of work we have to provide in the constitution.

260. The Constitution and Statutes. When we start out to write a constitution we at once meet the problem, how long do we wish to make it? We shall be tempted to make it very long, and to put into it a great many things that seem to us important. But we must remember that it is possible, and perhaps wiser, to put many of these things into the statutes. We should put in the statutes at least those things that are likely to be changed frequently. If we make the constitution too complicated the people will not read it, and so they will not understand their government.

In some States the citizens put into the constitution such rules as that railroads must not give free passes. Is this important enough to go into the constitution? Would it not be better to make a statute of it? Let us make our constitution so simple that those who vote for it may understand what they are voting about.

261. The Legislature. What arrangement shall we make for changing and correcting the laws? As we have seen, most States have a legislature made up of two houses. One of these may be called the assembly and the other the senate. Do we need two houses? The members are generally elected from districts into which the State is divided. They hold office for one, two, three, or four years. The legislature meets at the capital every year or every second year, and sits for several months in regular sessions. But it may be called together for special sessions by the governor when he thinks it is necessary. Some States provide that the special session may not discuss anything except what the governor recommends, in order to prevent time from being wasted and to make it certain that the matter the governor wants attended to will not be neglected. The constitution sometimes provides just how the laws shall be passed. For example, it says that every bill must be read three times, and that it must be printed before it is put to a final vote. Other constitutions leave matters of this sort to the rules of the legislature.

262. Limits on the Powers of the Legislature. The citizens of many States do not think it safe to trust their legislature completely. They therefore write into the constitution what is called a bill of rights which says that the government must not interfere with some things, such as freedom of the press, of religion, and the like. Some

constitution-makers are also very careful about such things as the State debt. They forbid the legislature to make a debt larger than a certain amount; or to spend money in large amounts without first asking the people about it through a referendum. Some also provide in the constitution for the initiative, through which a certain per cent of the people may sign a petition requiring a vote on some new law proposed by them.

263. The Courts. An important part of the constitution describes the courts and the method of selecting judges.

This diagram suggests the arrangement of essential courts. Many States have other courts in addition to these. The lowest blocks represent the minor courts, such as those of the justice of the peace. Above these are the important courts of first instance. At the top is the court of appeals, which unifies the judicial work of the State.

It is usual to think of the courts of the State as divided into three grades. We might almost compare them to the elementary schools, the high schools, and the colleges or universities. There are many of the first grade scattered thickly throughout the State for trying unimportant cases