602 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



thirds vote of all members present is m . 

 to impeach. Impeachment cases are tried by 

 the Senate. Legislators must be qualified elec- 

 tors in the counties they represent. The chief 

 executive officer of the State is the governor. 

 who is elected for four years, and is not eligible 

 for the next term of office. He lias the usual 

 powers of State governors, including a veto on 

 legislation which may be overridden by a two- 

 thirds vote of the members present ID each 

 House. Other State oflicers elected for four 

 are the attorney-general, the comptroller, 

 the treasurer, the superintendent of public in- 

 struction, and the commissioner of agriculture. 



France is a Republic, governed by the Con- 

 stitution of 1875, modified in 1879, 1884, 1885, 

 and 1899. The Legislature consists of the Assem- 

 bly, sitting in two Houses, viz: the Senate of 

 300 members, indirectly elected for nine years 

 (one-third retiring every three years) by dele- 

 gates chosen by the municipal councils and the 

 senators, deputies, councilors-general, and 

 district councilor of the departments (there 

 are a number of Senators originally elected for 

 life by the two chambers, but as these die the 

 vacancies are filled up by the election of Senators 

 for a period of nine years only) ; and the Chamber 

 of Deputies of 594 members, elected for four 

 years by universal suffrage. Voters are required 

 to be over 2 1 and to have a six months' residen- 

 tial qualification. Both Houses can initiate and 

 frame laws, except in the case of financial laws, 

 which must first be presented to and voted by 

 the Chamber of Deputies. Deputies and Senators 

 are both paid at the rate of 15,000 francs a year. 

 The presidents of the two chambers each receive 

 in addition 72,000 francs a year for the expense 

 of entertainment. Members of both chambers 

 travel free on all railways on making a small 

 annual payment. The executive power is con- 

 fided to the President, who is elected for seven 

 years by the two Houses united in National 

 Assembly, and receives 600,000 francs a year, 

 and a further allowance of 600,000 francs for 

 expenses. He appoints the ministers and makes 

 all civil and military appointments. War can 

 be declared by the President only with consent 

 of the two Houses, and his every act must be 

 countersigned by a minister. The colonies are 

 looked upon as being politically part of France, 

 and are represented in the Senate by four Sena- 

 tors and in the Chamber by ten Deputies. 



Georgia. Georgia entered the Union as 

 one of the original States and its first Constitu- 

 tion, adopted in 1777, was succeeded by those 

 of 1789, 1798, 1865, and 1877. The last has 

 been amended seven times, most recently in 

 1904. Amendments proposed in either House 

 and approved by a two-thirds vote of the mem- 

 bers of each House, must be submitted to the 

 people; if ratified by a majority of those who 

 vote, they become part of the Constitution. 

 The Legislature consists of a Senate of forty- 

 four members and a House of Representatives 

 of 175 members, known collectively as the Gen- 

 eral Assembly. Both Senators and Representa- 

 tives are elected for two years. Senators must 

 be citizens of the United States, 25 years 

 old, resident in the State four years pre- 

 ceding election and one year in the district for 



which elected. Representatives must be 

 citizens of the United States, 21 years old, 

 resident in the State two years and in the county 

 one year next preceding election. The seat of a 

 member of either House is vacated on his re- 

 moval from the district or county from which 

 lie was elected. The House of Represent a t ives 

 has sole power of impeachment, and the Senate 

 tries impeachment cases. All bills to raise money 

 must originate in the House of Representatives. 

 The chief executive officer of the State is the 

 governor, who is elected for two years. He has 

 the usual limited powers of pardon and veto. 

 He has power to iill vacancies not otherwise 

 provided for by law, and is required to see that 

 the laws of the State are faithfully executed. 

 He is commander-in-chlef of the State militia. 

 Other elective officials are the secretary of state, 

 the comptroller, the treasurer, the attorney- 

 general, and the superintendent of education. 

 Georgia is divided into 137 counties. 



German Empire. The Constitution of 

 the German Empire is based upon the decree of 

 the 16th of April, 1871, which took effect on the 

 4th of May following. The presidency of the 

 empire belongs to the Crown of Prussia, to 

 which is attached the hereditary title of Em- 

 peror of Germany. The prerogatives of the 

 emperor are to represent the empire in its rela- 

 tion to other states, to declare war if defensive, 

 and conclude peace in name of the empire, to 

 contract alliances, etc. The emperor has also 

 the supreme command of the army and the 

 navy, appoints and dismisses officials of the 

 empire, appoints consuls, and superintends the 

 entire consulate of the empire. The legislative 

 authority is vested in the Bundesrath (Federal 

 Council) and the Reichstag (Imperial Diet), the 

 former consisting of fifty-eight representatives 

 of the different states of the empire, seventeen 

 from Prussia, six from Bavaria, four each from 

 Saxony and Wiirtemberg, three each from Baden 

 and Hesse, one from Saxe-Weimar, etc. The 

 Reichstag consists of 397 deputies elected by 

 secret voting in all the states of the empire. 

 As a rule, one member is returned to the Reichs- 

 tag for every 131,604 of the inhabitants of 

 each state. The election of Wilhelm I., King of 

 Prussia, as German Emperor in 1871, was by the 

 vote of the Reichstag of the North German Con- 

 federacy, and upon his acceptance of the dignity 

 the imperial office became hereditary in the 

 House of Hohenzollern. Wilhelm, " Der Grosse, " 

 reigned until 1888, when he was succeeded by his 

 son, Frederick, who lived but a few weeks. Fred- 

 erick's eldest son, the present emperor, Wilhelm 

 II., was born January 27, 1859. On February 

 27, 1881, he married Princess Victoria of Schles- 

 wig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (born 

 October 22, 1858), daughter of the late Duke 

 Frederick. 



The Heir Apparent. The heir apparent to 

 the German throne is Prince Frederick William, 

 born May 6, 1882, the eldest son of the present 

 Emperor-King. 



The Ministry. The Imperial Secretaries of 

 State of Germany do not form a ministry or 

 cabinet, but act independently of each other 

 under the general direction of the Chancellor of 

 the Empire. They are as follows: 



