THE CENTURY BOOK OF FACTS. 



same manner and at the same time as the 

 President, fills the office of Chairman of the 

 Senate, but has otherwise no political power. 

 -The President is commander-iii-chief of the 

 troops, and appoints to all civil, military, and 

 judicial offices, and has the right of presenta- 

 tion to bishoprics ; he is responsible with the 

 ministry for the acts of the executive ; both 

 President and Vice-President must be Roman 

 Catholics, Argentine by birth, and cannot be 

 re-elected. 



The Ministry, appointed by and acting un- 

 der the orders of the President, consists of eight 

 Secretaries of State namely, of the Interior, 

 Foreign Affairs, Finance, War, Justice, Agri- 

 culture, Marine, and Public Works. 



The President lias a salary of 3 6,000 dollars, 

 the Vice-President of 18,000 dollars, and each 

 of the five ministers of. 16,800 dollars per 

 annum. 



Local Government. The Constitution, with certain 

 small exceptions, is identical with that of the United 

 States. Such matters as affect the Republic as a whole are 

 under the superintendence of the Central Government. 

 The governors of the various provinces are invested 

 with very extensive powers, and in their constitutional 

 functions are independent of the central executive. 

 They are not appointed by the President of the Repub- 

 lic, but elected by the people of each province fora term 

 of three years and four years. The provinces elect their 

 own legislatures, and nave complete control over their 

 own affairs; they can contract loans (internal and e\- 

 ternal) under their sole and exclusive responsibility. 



Religion and Instruction. Although the Consti- 

 tution recognizes the Roman Catholic religion as that of 

 the State, all other creeds are tolerated. There are 1 

 archbishop and five suffragan bishops. For the instruc- 

 tion of the clergy there are 5 seminaries. In 1888 civil 

 marriage was established in the Republic. 



Primary education is free, secular, and compulsory 

 for children from 6 to 14 years of age. The elementary 

 schools are supported in the capital and each province 

 by the taxes established in their Education Acts, aided 

 by large subsidies? rom the general Government. 



The.-e are also 35 normal schools with 10,049 pupils. 

 There are 3 universities, at Cordova, Buenos Ayres, and 

 La Plata, comprising faculties of law, medicine, and 

 engineering, with a total of 2,500 students; a school of 

 mines (39 students), 2 colleges of agriculture, a naval 

 and military school. There is a well-equipped national 

 observatory at Cordova, and another at La Plata, 

 museums at Buenos Ayres and La Plata, and a meteoro- 

 logical bureau. 



Justice. Justice is exercised by a Supreme Court of 

 five judges andan attorney-general, which isalsoa court 

 of appeal, and by a number of inferior and local courts, 

 trial by jury being established by the Constitution for 

 criminal cases. Each State has 'its own judicial sys- 

 tem. 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



Austria and Hungary, or, as in international 

 relations they are officially called, the Austro- 

 Hungarian monarchy, consists of two States, 

 the Austrian Empire and the Hungarian King- 

 dom. The relation between the two States in 

 its present form was fully regulated by the so- 

 called Compromise of 1867. According to 

 this agreement the two States are perfectly 

 independent of each other, possessing each its 

 own constitution, its legislative power, and its 

 executive departments for most branches of 

 State affairs. There is, however, a close polit- 



ical connection between them through the 

 identity of the Sovereign and the community 

 of certain departments of state affairs. 



The common head of the monarchy is the 

 Emperor (Kaiser") of Austria and King (Kintly) 

 of Hungary. The crown is hereditary in the 

 llabsburg- Lothringen dynasty, passing by 

 right of primogeniture and lineal succession to 

 males and (on failure of males) to females. 

 The monarch must be a member of the Roman 

 Catholic Church. He is styled " His Imperial 

 and Royal Apostolic Majesty," being " Em- 

 peror of Austria, King of Bohemia, etc., and 

 Apostolic King of Hungary." 



Affairs common to the two States are : (1 ) 

 Foreign affairs; (2) military and naval affairs, 

 but excluding legislation concerning the army ; 

 (3) finance relating to common affairs, but 

 each State provides separately for the assess- 

 ment, collection, and transmission of its con- 

 tribution. The two States, moreover, form 

 one commercial territory, having the same sys- 

 tem of coinage and of Aveights and measures, 

 a joint bank of issue, and the same commercial 

 (as well as political) representation abroad, 

 while the monopolies and taxes connected 

 with industrial production (salt,, tobacco, 

 spirits, beer, sugar, and mineral oil) are the 

 same in both. This commercial union, unlike 

 the political connection, which has a perma- 

 nent character, depends on a compromise re- 

 newable every ten years. 



Legislative power relating to common affairs 

 is exercised by the Parliaments of both States, 

 but the voting of money to be applied to com- 

 mon purposes, and the control of the official 

 action of the common ministries, belong to the 

 so-called Delegations. Of these there are two, 

 each consisting of 60 members, of -whom 20 

 are chosen from each of the Upper Houses (the 

 Austrian Herrenhaus and the Hungarian For- 

 endihdz), and 40 from each of the Lower 

 Houses (the Austrian Abgeordnetenhaus and 

 the Hungarian K^pv^selohdr). The members 

 are appointed for one year. The Delegations 

 are summoned annually by the Emperor, al- 

 ternately at Vienna and Budapest. They de- 

 liberate independently of each other, their 

 decisions being communicated reciprocally in 

 writing ; and if, after three such interchanges, 

 they do not agree, then all the delegates (or 

 an equal number of members from each Dele- 

 gation) meet together, and, without discussion, 

 settle the matter by vote. The three minis- 

 tries or executive departments for common 

 affairs are : 



1. The Common Ministry of Foreign Affairs 

 ami of the Imperial House. 



%. The Common Ministry of War. 



3. The Common Ministry of Finance. 



