as some of the citizens were in the time of Washington. Therefore we have gradually given it more and more authority. The whole system of money is under its control and many of the banks are inspected by it; it is taking more and more control of corporations and of large business, for nearly all of their business is in interstate commerce; there is agitation for government ownership of the railroads which carry interstate commerce; some would have it also take over the telegraph and telephone service, which they would have united with the post office. There is a Federal income tax, and many favor using the taxing power to reduce the size of large fortunes. There is constant discussion about the powers which the Federal government should have, and we are so much interested in it that we are in danger sometimes of forgetting the State governments altogether.

328. New Departments in the Government. It is clear that new departments must be organized to help the President enforce the law which controls all of this complex work. When the government was first formed the President had only four men in his cabinet: Secretaries of State, Finance, and War, and an Attorney-General. Since then we have added Departments of the Navy, Postal Service, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor, until there are now ten in all; and, as we have seen, many people think we should add two others,-one of Health and another of Education. If the President is to advise Congress in the making of laws to bring about coöperation throughout the country he must have helpers to advise him; and if laws are made when he so advises, there must be departments to administer the laws.

329. Congress. It is also clear that the country must have constant control over this great government that is

growing so rapidly. If the Federal government is to make laws on all these various subjects, then the work of Congress must be pretty well understood by all of us. What is the Congress of the United States? In the first place it is a body of citizens who go to Washington once a year or oftener from all parts of the country to talk over the country's welfare and to make its laws. This country is very large, being nearly three thousand miles long and fifteen hundred miles wide. The different parts of it have different interests; and if people from the different parts do not get together and talk things over, the country is likely to break up into pieces. Sometimes the Congress has to stay together the whole year because it is so difficult for its members to agree about what it is best to do for the whole country. Their debates help the people of the different States to understand each other and to be reasonable as to the things about which all do not agree.

330. Two Houses. When the constitution was being written by our great leaders in Washington's time they 'isagreed about the kind of Congress they should establish. Some wanted one house and some wanted two. Washington thought that two houses would be better because such an arrangement would require every new law to be gone over twice, and so the work would be done more carefully than if there were only one house. Franklin wanted only one house because he thought it would do the work more promptly than two would. He wanted the people to act more quickly than Washington did. The people differed also about the number of members each State should send. The large States wanted each to send members in proportion to its population; and the small ones wanted equal representation with the large States. After a long argu

Iment it was decided to have two houses. Each State was allowed two members in the upper house or Senate, but the States are represented in the lower in proportion to their population. Consequently, Delaware has only one Representative and two Senators; while New York has also only two Senators, but it has as many Representatives as a dozen other States combined. These two houses make and change the laws for our Federal government.

331. The President and the Laws. The President helps Congress to make laws in two ways. First, he suggests to them service which the country needs; and, second, he reviews such laws as they pass, vetoing those he does not approve. Each member of Congress is likely to be more interested in the State or district which elects him than in the welfare of the whole country. The President is elected for the whole country, and so it is his particular duty to forget the State he comes from and to think about the country as one. He has his cabinet composed of members who are interested in different kinds of work for the whole country. He meets with them now and then and talks over all the work. Therefore he is able to see more plainly what laws are needed to make the work efficient than the members of Congress can.

332. Leading Congress. Most of the Presidents have merely sent messages to Congress about the needs of the country; but Washington, John Adams, and Wilson have all gone to it and told it in speeches just what it ought to do. The President has no control over what Congress shall do, but it is a useful thing to have the country and the members know what the President and cabinet think is important. All of our strong Presidents have complained about the difficulty of getting Congress to make the laws

that seemed to be needed, and probably their complaints were just. But we must remember that there are many different kinds of members, and that these hundreds of men from different parts of the country find it hard to agree. Self-government is difficult and we must all be patient with it, for we do not want a monarch to rule us; we want public opinion to rule, even if our progress is slow. The President should be the leader, but we cannot expect him to lead any faster than Congress can follow.

333. The Supreme Court and the Law. We have seen that the Congress can make laws only about work which the constitution permits the Federal government to do. Sometimes there is a difference of opinion as to what the constitution means. Then the Supreme Court has to decide cases in which the law seems to contradict the constitution. For example, the Congress imposed an income tax; a citizen refused to pay the tax because he said the Congress did not have power to impose such a tax. He brought a suit to keep an officer from collecting the tax from him and the Supreme Court decided against Congress. But the people wanted the Federal government to have the power so they changed the constitution by an amendment expressly giving Congress this power. A new income tax law was then passed and enforced. The power to set aside the acts of Congress gives the court great authority. It is so great that some people want to change the constitution and to take away this power; but others think this is a wise safeguard against mistakes due to making new laws too carelessly.

SUGGESTIONS AND QUESTIONS

1. In the last four chapters we have suggested a little of the work the government of the United States has to do. Mention

three laws which you think this government should make to back up its work.

2. Is the government of the United States free to make any laws the Congress thinks wise, to aid in its work? What limits are placed on it by the constitution?

3. Does the power of the United States government to make laws tend to increase or decrease? Has public opinion anything to do with the meaning of a written law? What effect does public opinion have on the opinion of judges as to the meaning of law? Do the judges of the United States Supreme Court always agree as to what the law means?

4. Write a paragraph on the following subject: “As we become more and more dependent on each other we give more power to our government."

5. Do you think it wiser for us to depend on the President to recommend laws to Congress or to depend on the members of Congress to do so? Why is this?

6. Explain why the President, who is the head of ten great departments of government, is in a position to recommend to the Congress most of the laws we need. Mention five laws you think we need, and then mention the department of the government which would naturally recommend each of these laws to the President.

7. Look over the newspapers and find some mention of the work of Congress. What department of the government would be likely to know more about each of these matters than would any single member of Congress?

8. When a campaign for the election of the President is on, is the discussion about needed laws of great interest? If we elect a President who wishes these needed laws, can he make Congress pass them?

9. Find one case where the Supreme Court has declared a law unconstitutional. Then find the exact section in the constitution on which the Supreme Court based its decision. Explain why it is necessary to permit the Supreme Court to have this power if we are to have a written constitution of the kind we have.

10. Make a diagram of the Federal government showing the President, the ten departments, and several important bureaus in each department.