Plumed Knight.-A sobriquet of James G. Blaine, originating in a speech of Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, who said: "Like an armed warrior, like a plumed knight, James G. Blaine marched down the halls of the American Congress and threw his shining lance full and fair against the brazen forehead of every defamer of this country and maligner of its honor." Political Bargain is a corrupt arrangement whereby a politician promises support to a measure or man in consideration of similar support to be given to some measure or man of his choice. The election of John Quincy Adams in 1824 was charged to a bargain between him and Henry Clay, the price being the Secretaryship of State. Clay was, as a matter of fact, appointed to this position, but although the charge clung to him, and in after years injured him politically, there is no proof of its truth. Clay always denied the charge. Political bargains are now so common as not to be matters either for surprise or comment. Political Boss is a politician that absolutely controls his party or faction. Such were Tweed and Kelly in New York. Political Workers. (See Boys, The.) Polk, James Knox, was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, November 2, 1795. He died at Nashville, Tennessee, June 15, 1849. He was graduated at the University of North Carolina and admitted to the bar. In politics he was a Democrat. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1825 to 1839, and during the last four years was speaker. From 1839 to 1843 he was Governor of Tennessee; from 1845 to 1849 he was President. During his administration the Mexican War was fought and the Oregon boundary dispute was settled. Poll Tax.-A poll tax is a tax levied on every head or poll of the population. It is a direct tax, and in its original form bears necessarily more heavily on the poor than on the rich; the tendency at present, therefore, is to supply its place with an income tax. Congress has power, by Article 1, section 9, of the Constitution, to levy a poll tax in proportion to the census, but this power has never been exercised. The States, however, have very generally levied such taxes. In 1860 it was employed by twenty-seven of the States and Territories. It is not now so common, and some of the State Constitutions forbid it. In some States, as in Massachusetts, its payment is a necessary pre-requisite for voting. Where it is employed it is not uncommon to except certain classes, as ministers, from its payment. Pond Tax Law. (See Prohibition.) Poor Man's Dollar.-The silver dollar is so-called by those favoring its compulsory coinage. (See Silver Question.) Poor Richard.-In 1732 Benjamin Franklin began the publication of "Poor Richard's Almanac." It has become renowned by reason of the homely but striking maxims it contained. Popular Sovereignty. This name was applied to the doctrine that the principle of slavery "should be kept out of the national Legislature, and left to the people of the Confederacy in their respective local governments." It was first stated as above by Lewis Cass in 1847. Behind this doctrine the Northern Democrats sought refuge, both from the Wilmot Proviso and from the Southern demands for active measures in benalf of slavery. On the other hand, Calhoun maintained that a man's right to his property, even though it be in slaves, must everywhere be maintained, so that a man could take his slave into any territory regardless of the wishes of the inhabitants thereof. Calhoun nicknamed the doctrine "" squatter" sovereignty. Douglas, its chief supporter, maintained that it was the basis of the compromise of 1850, and in the Kansas-Nebraska Bill another attempt to apply it was made. But when it became evident that this doctrine meant the admission of all future Territories as free, the interpretation was strained so as to bring it within Calhoun's declarations, on the ground that a Territory could not manifest its intentions on the subject until it was ready to be admitted as a State, in other words, not through its Territorial government. A disagreement on this subject led to the withdrawal of a part of the Democratic national convention which nominated Douglas in 1860. Population of the United States.-The table on page 399 gives the population of the United States as shown by the decennial census which the Constitution provides for (Article 1, section 2, clause 3). Indians. not taxed are excluded, as are also the whole populations of Alaska and Indian Territory, which have not yet been fully organized. The first were estimated in 1881 at 245,000; the second, in 1880, at 30,178; and the third, in 1880, at 70,000. The total population, actual and estimated, in 1880 was about 50,500,000. The totals of the last three censuses include a few Chinese, Japanese and civilized or taxed Indians, who together numbered 1,054 in 1880. According to the census of 1890 the total population of the United States was 62,622,250. The following table shows the population of the various States and Territories for 1890: STATES AND TERRITORIES. 1890. STATES AND TERRITORIES. 1890. |