I'M TED STATES OF AMERICA. 



appointed; advising the total refraining from such 

 amusements as can not be taken in the name of the 

 Lord Jesus, and condemnation of them ; and disap- 

 proving of questionable methods (by fairs, raffles, 

 etc.) of raising money for the Church. Reports 

 were received from Albright College, Pennsylvania, 

 Central Pennsylvania College, and Lafayette Col- 

 lege. Oregon. The establishment of theological 

 departments was recommended to all the higher 

 institutions of learning. An invitation to take part 

 in the (Ecumenical Conference of Methodism to be 

 held in 1899 was accepted, and provision was made 

 for the representation of the United Evangelical 

 Church on the Committee of Arrangements for the 

 siime and in the Conference. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, a federal 

 republic in North America. The legislative power 

 is vested in the Congress, consisting of the Senate 

 and the House of Representatives. There are 90 

 Senators, 2 from each State, elected by the State 

 Legislatures for six years, one third being renewed 

 every two years. The House of Representatives has 

 357 members, elected by the ballots of all the quali- 

 fied voters of the several States, which are divided 

 into congressional districts, containing each ap- 

 proximately 173,900 inhabitants at the census of 

 1890. The executive power is vested in the Presi- 

 dent, who is commander-in-chief of the military and 

 naval forces, and has a power of veto over acts of 

 Congress which can be overcome by a two-thirds 

 vote of both houses. The Vice-President is presi- 

 dent of the Senate, and in case of the death, re- 

 moval, or resignation of the President he succeeds 

 the latter for the remainder of the term. In case 

 of the death or disability of both President and 

 Vice-President, the Secretary of State becomes act- 

 ing President, and after him the other members of 

 the Cabinet in their order. The Senate can remove 

 the President after a trial on articles of impeach- 

 ment presented by the House of Representatives, 

 and other executive officers can be removed for un- 

 constitutional actions by the same procedure. The 

 President nominates the officers of the Cabinet, who 

 are the heads of the eight administrative depart- 

 ments, and all other superior officials, but his 

 appointments must be confirmed by the Senate. 

 The President and Vice-President are elected by a 

 college of electors chosen in each State in the man- 

 ner that the Legislature prescribes, which is in al- 

 most every State by popular suffrage, their number 

 being equal to the sum of the Senators and Repre- 

 sentatives of the State. It is the custom of political 

 parties to nominate in national convention their 

 candidates for the presidency and vice-presidency 

 and for the electors, who are chosen by each State 

 on a collective ticket, to vote solidly for the candi- 

 dates designated by their party beforehand. Thus 

 the election of the President and Vice-President 

 has come to be in fact, though not in form, by the 

 direct vote of the nation. The term of the presi- 

 dency is four years, and elections are held on the 

 Tuesday following the first Monday in November. 

 The President-elect is sworn on March 4. 

 President for the term ending March 4, 1901, is 

 William McKinley, of Ohio, and the Vice-President 

 is Garret A. Hobart, of New Jersey. The Cabinet 

 at the beginning of 1898 was composed as follows : 

 Secretary of State, John Sherman, of Ohio; Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury. Lyman J. Gage, of Illinois 

 Secretary of War. Russell A. Alger, of Michigan ; 

 Attorney-General, Joseph McKenna, of California 

 Postmaster-General, James A. Gary, of Maryland; 

 Secretary of the Navy, John D. Long, of Massachu- 

 setts ; Secretary of the Interior, Cornelius N. Bliss, 

 of New York; Secretary of Agriculture, James 

 Wilson, of Iowa. 



Upon the resignation of John Sherman, the 



President, on April 26, nominated William R. Day, 

 of Ohio, to be Secretary of State. 



William Riif'ii.s Day was born in Ravenna, Ohio, 

 April 17. 1849. He was the son of a lawyer of note, 

 a ]udge of the Supreme Court of Ohio. 'After com- 

 pleting his collegiate course in the University of 

 Michigan in 1870 he studied in the law school at 

 Ann Harbor, and in 1872 began practice at Canton. 

 His firm, which he usually represented in the courts, 

 became known in a short time through the length 

 and breadth of Ohio. He was a zealous Republican 

 politician, but neither sought nor accepted office 

 for himself until he was nominated by both Repub- 

 licans and Democrats to a judgeship in the Court 

 of Common Pleas in 1886. After a brief while he 

 resigned from the bench to return to general prac- 

 tice. In 1889 he declined, on account of failing 

 health, the appointment of judge of the United 

 States district court. When President McKinley 

 made up his Cabinet he appointed Judge Day As- 

 sistant Secretary of State. 



John Hay was born in Indiana in 1838. He was 

 graduated at Brown University, and studied law in 

 Springfield, 111. He was assistant secretary to 

 President Lincoln through his term of office, and 

 served for a time as assistant adjutant general 

 with Gens. Hunter and Gillmore. He was secre- 

 tary of legation at Paris in 1865-'67, and charge 



JOHN HAY, SECRETARY OF STATE. 



d'affaires at Vienna in 1867-'68. Afterward he was 

 secretary of legation at Madrid a year, and then 

 for five years was an editorial writer on the "New 

 York Tribune." In the administration of Presi- 

 dent Hayes he was First Assistant Secretary of 

 State, and in 1881 he was president of the Inter- 

 national Sanitary Congress in Washington N\ lu 

 President McKinley assumed office. Col. Hay wfta 

 appointed 'ambassador to the Court of St. James, 

 from which post he was called to raooeed Judge 

 Dav as Secretary of State. Ho has published 

 "Castilian Days,'' a biography of Abraham Lincoln 

 (with John G. Nicolay), ami a volume of poems. 



James Albert Gary retired from the postmaster- 

 generalship in April, and Charles Kmory ^mith, of 

 Pennsylvania, was immediately appointed his suc- 



Ce Cnarles Emory Smith conducted I the Phila- 



his editorship. 



