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, the Virgin Islands, 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

are indispensable to the exercise of the powers granted Congress, but all such as are in any way conducive to their complete execution. The decisions of the Supreme Court, when that body has been called upon to settle constitutional questions arising under this clause, have in general been made on the principle of liberal construction. Special Powers of Each House. We come now to the consideration of certain special powers granted to each of the two Houses of Congress but not to Congress as a whole. We have seen that each House is given the power of controlling its own organization and members, but there is given to each in addition certain important governmental powers. The special powers possessed by the House of Representatives are three in number: the power to initiate all bills for raising revenue, the power of impeachment, and the power of electing the president in case no choice is made by the electors. The special powers of the Senate are the power to ratify treaties and to confirm presidential appointments, and the power to act as a court of impeachment.

The House: Revenue Bills. Doubtless the convention, in intrusting only to the House of Representatives this power of initiating revenue bills, was largely influenced by the practice of England, where for several centuries that power had resided in the House of Commons. It was felt that the House, being renewed at frequent intervals by popular election and thus standing more closely in touch with the people than could the Senate, ought to be given control of the power of taxing the people. But the convention was influenced also by a less theoretical reason. The larger states, fearful that they might be unfairly taxed if the Senate were given equal powers with the House in this matter, demanded this provision as a protection and also as a compensation for having yielded to the Senate the right to ratify