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CHAPTER XII.

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION.

The Various Departments-Employees and Expenses-American and English Governments Compared, Etc.

As an interesting feature to every tax-paying citizen of our country, a synopsis of the different departments as they existed in 1860 is here given.

The business of the government is conducted in seven departments-State, Treasury, Interior, War, Navy, Post-Office and Attorney-General, constituting the President's Cabinet.

The State Department, at first designated as "the Department of Foreign Affairs," has charge of all correspondence with consuls, foreign ministers and nations, etc., and also of the original laws of Congress. There were twenty-four clerks employed in 1860, and the expenses of the department were about $85,000 per annum.

The Treasury Department has charge of all the moneys and accounts of the United States, and the collection of the customs. Its dutiesare very important and require a large number of clerks. There were three hundred and sixtythree persons regularly connected with the department in 1860, and the appropriation for its expenses was over $700,000.

The Department of the Interior was estab lished in 1849. It has charge of the patent office, land office, Indian affairs, agriculture, pension office, public buildings and mineral lands. Each of these bureaus is presided over by commissioners, and the regular clerical force numbered two hundred and fifty persons in 1860. The annual cost at that time was $660,000.

The War Department has charge of all matters connected with the army of the United States. It had a force of seventy-four officers and clerks, and the expenses of the department were estimated at $125,000.

The Navy Department has charge of the construction, equipment and employment of the vessels of war, and all other matters pertaining to the naval establishment of the United States. Its affairs are sub-divided among the following burcaus: yards and docks, construction and repairs, provisions and and clothing, clothing, ordnance and hydrography, and medicine and surgery. The force numbered about fifty persons, and the expenses were estimated at $110,000.

The Post-Office Department has cognizance of all matters pertaining to the mail service, the selection of mail routes, keeping accounts with postmasters, etc. There were eighty-seven persons on the rolls of the department in 1860, and its contingent of expenses was about $175,000 per annum.

The Attorney-General is required to prosecute

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION. 145

all suits in which the United States government are concerned, and to give opinion and advice when required by the President and heads of departments. He was allowed one assistant and three clerks, and the appropriation for the expenses of the office was about $17,000 per annum. The heads of departments are chosen by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, and constitute his cabinet of advisors.

A few remarks on the difference between our government and that of England, upon which it was partly modelled, will be of interest. In both countries the general features are the same, as here shown in contrast:

UNITED STATES.

The President.

The Secretaries of Departm's.

Congress: {Hous

Sena'e.

The Judiciary.

But the division of

ENGLAND.

The King or Queen.
The Ministers.

Commons,

Parliament: {Lords.

The Judiciary.

powers is quite differ

In England the king is a mere figurehead, the most of the duties of our President devolving upon the Prime Minister, who is held to be responsible for all mismanagement of the public affairs, and is expected to resign as soon as a want of confidence is shown by an adverse vote of the Parliament. The Commons are elected, and, like our House of Representatives, possess the full control of the purse, which

gives them the controlling influence in shaping the policy of the government.

The supply of Lords is kept up by the law of primogeniture, and it has been the policy of that government to keep up and increase the ranks of the aristocracy by conferring titles of nobility upon those subjects who have become eminent and wealthy.

In every respect our government is a very great improvement upon that of England, and we might perhaps increase the improvement by diverging still further from our original pattern.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

OF

Eminent Statesmen.

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