ballot. The compensation of members of Congress is $5.000 a year, and an allowance for actual traveling expenses.

At the first session of Congress after every general election of representatives, the oath of office may be administered by any member of the House of Representatives to the Speaker, and by the Speaker to all the members and delegates present, and to the Clerk, previous to entering on any business, and to members and delegates as they afterward appear, previous to their taking their seats. Before the first meeting of each Congress the Clerk of the next preceding House of Representatives makes the roll of the representatives elected, placing thereon the names of those persons only whose credentials show that they were regularly elected, in accordance with the laws of the United States. The Sergeant-at-arms is charged with the duties of the Clerk in the event of any vacancy in that office, and in the event of the disability or absence of the Clerk; and in the event of the disability or absence of both Clerk and Sergeant-at-arms, the Door-keeper of the next preceding House of Representatives is charged with this duty. In the event of Congress being prevented, by a contagious disease or the existence of other circumstances,

making it, in the opinion of the President, hazardous to the lives of members to convene at the seat of government, he is authorized to convene them at such other place as he may judge proper.

The Senate is constituted of the senators elected by the Legislature of each State. The election takes place on the second Tuesday after the meeting and organization of the Legislature; and if an election fails to be made on the first day, at least one vote is required to be taken every day thereafter, during the session of the Legislature, until a Senator is chosen. A vacancy existing at the beginning of the session is filled in the same manner, and if a vacancy occurs during the session it is also filled by election, the proceedings for which are to be commenced on the second Tuesday after the Legislature has organized and has notice of such vacancy. The number of senators is fixed at two from each State, independent and irrespective of the size of the State or the number of its inhabitants; so that there are several instances of States, notably Oregon and Delaware and Nevada, which have two senators and but one representative.

No person can be a senator who has not attained the age of thirty years, been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not have

been, when elected, an inhabitant of the State from which he shall be chosen.

Senators are chosen for six years. They are divided into three classes, one class being chosen every second year. If vacancies happen, the Executive of a State may make a temporary appointment until the Legislature of the State can act.

The Vice-President of the United States is the President of the Senate, but without a vote, except in cases of equal division. The Senate chooses its other officers and also a President pro tempore in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise the office of President.

The organization of the Senate is provided for by the act of June 1, 1789. The oath of office is administered by the President of the Senate to each senator elected previous to his taking his seat. When a President of the Senate has not taken the oath of office, it is administered to him by any member of the Senate.

Congress is the law-making power. One House contains the direct, immediate representatives of the people, the other the indirect representatives of the people; i.e., the direct representatives of the States. Besides being part of the law-making power, the Senate shares with the President the power of appointment to office, of making treaties

of peace and declarations of war. Although Congress cannot be said to be superior to the coordinate Judicial and Executive departments of the Government, it nevertheless has, from the nature of its functions, the superior power. The history of the United States since 1865 gives several instances of the manner in which both the Judicial and Executive departments of the United States Government may, in cases of conflict, be coerced to a considerable degree by the law-making power. Notable instances of this coercion are the acts of Congress interfering with the Executive discretion of President Johnson when he was in direct conflict with the majority of both Houses of Congress, and his subsequent impeachment and all but conviction and removal; and the increase in the number of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, when a decision had been rendered upon a quasi-political subject—the constitutionality of the Legal Tender act, which did not conform to the opinions of the Executive and Legislative departments, and which was, therefore, to be reargued and reversed, an increase of personnel of the court of last resort being the coercive method found effective to secure such a result.

Among the formalities of the organization of Congress, not heretofore referred to, are constitu

tional provisions to the effect that Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and that the meeting shall commence on the first Monday in December, unless by law a different day be appointed. Each House is made the judge of the elections, return, and qualifications of its own members. A majority is constituted a quorum for the transaction of business, but power is given to a smaller number to adjourn from day to day and to compel the attendance of absent members. Congress is empowered to make rules for its own government, and each House makes its own rules. The expulsion of a member is given to two-thirds of either House. Neither House has the power during the session to adjourn, without the consent of the other House, for more than three days, nor to any other place than the one appointed by law. No senator or representative is permitted, during the term for which he is elected, to be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such term of service, and no person holding any office under the United States shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office.

All revenue laws must originate in the House of Representatives. This includes all appropriation