XXXII. THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DEPART

MENTS

"Cultivate peace and harmony with all."-Washington.

Introduction. We may now begin to study the workings of the great executive departments of our National Government. The business of these departments extends over the whole of the United States. Indeed the business of some of them extends over the entire world. The central offices, however, of all the departments are located at our national capital, and it is in these great government workshops, the department buildings at Washington, that we can best study the subject that is now before us.

The Department of State. Of all the large and magnificent office buildings in Washington the largest and most magnificent is the State, War, and Navy Building located about a stone's throw west of the White House. This building might well be called the Peace and War Building, for beneath its roof are done both the things that keep us on terms of peace and friendship with foreign nations and the things that enable us to wage war on land and on sea. In this huge structure are the offices of the Department of State, the Department of War, and the Department of the Navy.

The Department of State is the department of foreign

affairs. The United States must transact a great deal of business with the other countries of the world, and the management of this business is in the hands of the Secretary of State. Every important nation sends to Washington an ambassador or minister whose duty is to represent his home country and to defend its interests in the United States. The Secretary of State assists the President in receiving these ambassadors and ministers upon their arrival in Washington, and does what he can to make their

stay in the city pleasant and agreeable. A foreign minister is a very important personage and he must be treated with great honor and distinction. The land on which he lives is regarded as a little patch of sacred territory upon which no one must enter against the wishes of the minisThe person of a foreign minister is also regarded as

ter.

sacred, and so are the persons of the members of his family and of his secretaries and servants. A secretary of a foreign ambassador was arrested in a New England town for running an automobile too fast, and was fined. The State Department took the matter up and caused the money to be given back, and the judge who imposed the fine was reprimanded.

Besides attending to the business that is brought up by the foreign ambassadors and ministers residing in Washington, the State Department has charge of the work carried on by our own ambassadors and ministers in other countries. In almost every country of the world the United States has either an ambassador or a minister. The ambassador is the higher officer in rank and is supposed to be the personal representative of the President himself. An ambassador and a minister have practically the same duty, and that is to uphold and defend the interests of the United States and its citizens in the countries to which they are sent.

The State Department also has charge of the consular service of the United States. A consul is a business agent sent by the government to a foreign seaport or an inland city to look after the commercial interests of the home country. The consul also attends to many affairs of a private nature. He certifies to marriages, births, and deaths among his countrymen in his consular district; he looks after the property of deceased persons when there is nobody else at hand to do this; sometimes he issues passports. Very often in the hour of need the American citi

zen in a foreign land finds in the American consul a real friend.

The Department of War has charge of the land forces of the United States. It has control of the regular or standing army, the army that is always ready for fighting. This army when compared with the regular armies of other countries is very small, consisting of less than 100,000 men. In times of peace this number is large enough, but in times of war it is of course too small. When necessary, however, the United States can put a larger army in the field. The National Guard, which is the organized militia of the several States and which consists of about 120,000 men, is at the service of the National Government. Moreover, the President may call for volunteer soldiers and in this way raise a very large army.

The President is the commander in chief of the army, but the actual management of military affairs falls into the hands of the Secretary of War. This officer is assisted in the performance of his duties by the General Staff and by the heads of the several bureaus of the War Department. The General Staff is a body of trained officers whose duty is to prepare plans for the conduct of military operations. Through the Chief of Staff the Secretary of War exercises a direct control over the troops. One great bureau of the department is that of the Quartermaster Corps, which attends to the clothing and to the transportation of the troops, gives them their pay, and supplies them with their rations. The office of the SurgeonGeneral cares for the sick and wounded and has charge

of the army hospitals. The Judge-Advocate-General is the head of the bureau of military justice. Officers and soldiers frequently get into trouble and are accused of wrongdoing and when this happens they are not tried by a jury as other citizens are, but by a military court known as a court-martial. The Judge-Advocate-General has a general supervision over courts-martial. The Chief of Ordnance has charge of the bureau that purchases or manufactures the guns, swords, cannon, and ammunition used by the army.

The War Department has charge of the fortifications by which the great cities along the sea coast are defended. It also has control of the great Military Academy at West Point where young men receive thorough training in the arts of war. The War Department has also established at Washington an Army War College for advanced students. The Department of the Navy has charge of the forces that defend us on the seas. The President is commander in chief of the navy as he is commander in chief of the army, but the Secretary of the Navy is the real manager of naval affairs. The business of the Navy Department is distributed to several bureaus, all of which work toward the same end: the placing on the seas of well-built, wellequipped, and fully-manned fighting ships. The Bureau of Construction and Repair attends to the designing and building of the ships of the navy. The Bureau of Yards and Docks has charge of the yards where ships for the navy are built. The Bureau of Navigation takes care that the ships of the navy are supplied with properly trained officers and sailors. The Naval Academy at Annapolis