GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS 



615 



has the powers usually vested in State governors, 

 including limited pardoning power, and a veto 

 which may be overridden by a two-thirds 

 majority of all the members of each House. 

 Officials elected for two years are the lieutenant- 

 governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, 

 and superintendent of public instruction. 



Norway. The union with Sweden, which 

 had endured from 1814 to 1905, was dissolved 

 l>y the action of the Norwegian Storthing on 

 June 7, 1905, following a protracted dispute 



u the two countries as to their diplo- 

 matic representation abroad; and the Karlsbad 

 Convention was signed September 24, 1905, 

 settling the details of a mutual agreement for the 

 repeal of the union. King Oscar declined the 

 offer of the throne to a prince of his house, and 

 after a plebiscite it was offered to and accepted 

 by Prince Charles of Denmark, who became King 

 as Haakon VII. The Norwegian Constitution 

 of 1M4, several times modified since, vests the 

 Ii-szisl.-itive power in the Storthing, which has 123 

 members (forty-one from urban and eighty-two 

 from rural districts), who are elected for'three 

 years. Every male citizen of 25 who has re- 

 sided in the country for five years is qualified as 

 an elector, except for legal disabilities. For 

 l>u-iness purposes it is divided into the Odels- 

 thing, composed of three-fourths of the mem- 

 bers, and the Lagthing, consisting of the remain- 

 der; all new bills originate in the former. The 

 king has the right of vetoing the laws passed by 



rthing, but if the same bill pass three 

 Storthings separately and subsequently elected, 

 his veto is overridden. The executive power 

 is in the hands of the king with a council of 

 state composed of a minister of state and eight 

 councilors. 



Ohio. The Constitution of 1802 was super- 

 se.le.l by that of 1851, which, with amendments 

 adopted in 1875, 1883, 1885, and 1903, is still 

 in force. Amendments of the Constitution, pro- 

 posed in either House of. the Legislature and 

 agreed to by a three-fifths majority of the mem- 

 bers of each House, must be published in pre- 

 scribed manner in tin- counties for six months 

 before the next election of members of th- 

 and at that flection they must I 

 mitti-d to th<- electors; if approved by a major- 

 ity of those who vole, they become part of the 



ut ion. The question of a general revision 

 Constitution is submitted to the 



( all the members of each House. Officials 

 elected for two years are the lieutenant-gov- 



i ernor, secretary of state, attorney-general, 

 treasurer, and a dairy and food commissioner. 



I The common schools commissioner is elected 

 for three years, and the State auditor for four 

 years. Ohio is divided into eighty-eight count ies. 

 Oklahoma. The President of the United 

 States on November 16, 1907, signed the Consti- 

 tution of Oklahoma and issued a proclamation 

 announcing its admission as a State into the 

 Union. The Census Bureau on September 19, 

 1907, reported the result of a special census 

 taken of the population of the new State, to be 



: 1,414,042. 



The most notable feature of the State Constitution 

 was its provisions for the regulation of corporations. 1 n 

 line with its other corporation provisions were the 

 adoption of 2 -cent passenger fares, electric lines not 

 included, and the abolition of the doctrine of the fellow- 

 servant. 



The initiative and referendum was given a prominent 

 ; place in the constitution, but the right of recall usually 

 regarded as practically a parallel proposition, was 

 I rejected. 



Separate schools for white and negro children were 

 1 provided; all other races than negroes being classed as 

 "" 



r-. provision being made for the 



ap|H,intment of a convention to draft alterations. 



-i-lature consists of a Senate of ihirly- 



four members, and a House of Hepre-entat i\ > 



3 members, both Houses bein^ elected for 



ars. Any bill may be proposed in either 



ami is subject to amendment or rejection 



in the other. Kliuil>l<' to eilher House are all 



male citizens 21 years of age, resident 



in the State and in the district one year next 



'n. but paid Office-bol 



.ion or of the State are not eligible. 1 !.. 



mtliority is vested in the gOV- 



r two yean (the present gov- 



ernor for three years). He has the p<>\\ers 



entrusted to State gov< -hiding 



: pardoiri.i: |M>\ver and the veto, which 



may be overridden oy a two-thirds majority of 



white. 

 The State was given the right to 



in any busi- 



ine otate was given the right to engage in any 

 ness or occupation, but the grant was limited by 

 qualification that it shall be "for public purposes." 



Trial by jury was granted in contempt cases for viola- 

 tions of injunctions or orders of restraint, and an oppor- 

 | lumt y to be heard must be given on all contempts before 

 I punishment is imposed. Three-fourths jury verdicts 

 were provided for in civil cases and criminal 

 felon 



iy. The grand jury system was not made man- 

 Persons were granted immunity from prose- 



than : 

 ! datory. ._,.__. . 



| ! cution if their testimony incriminated themselves. 

 Records, books and films of all corporations shall be 

 subject to full visitation and inquisition, notwithstanding 

 the immunities and privileges conferred by the bill of 



rights. 

 For 



every sale, the applicant must make a sworn 

 .statement as to the purpose for which the liquor is to 

 be used, and each sale must be registered. 



The control of all publio-aervioe corporations was 

 vested in a corporation commission of three members, 

 elected by the people for six-year terms. Commis- 

 sioners are required to take an path that they are not 

 interested directly or indirectly in any company which 

 may come under their supervision. All railroads, oil. 

 pipe, car, express, telephone or telegraph lines are 

 required to receive and transport each other's business 

 without delay or discrimination. All railroads were 

 declared public highways. Public service corporations 

 ami their officials were prohibited from consolidating 

 with or owning stock in any competing corj>oration. 



"Transportation companies" were defined a.* including 

 railroads, street railways, canals, Nteamhoat lines, 

 freight car companies or car aasocia! .* com- 



panies and sleeping-car companion. "Transportation 

 companies" include telegraph and telephone lines, and 

 both of these classes were rated as common carriers. 



The common law doctrine of fellow-servant was 

 abrogated as to all railroad, street or intorurban 



1 mining companies, and recovery may be had 

 as fullv in cases where death occurs as where it doe* not. 



Campaign contributions by corporations were for- 



hidden and it was sought to prevent the issuance of 



w.n.-i.d stock by providing that no stock shall be issued 



r money, labor done or property actually 



received to the amount of the par value of the stock. 



Oman. An in.lrtx-n.lmt state in South- 

 eastern Arabia extending along a coast 

 southeast ami southwest of almost 1.000 

 miles fnni tin- (iulf of Orrmu and inland to 

 the deserts. Area, 82,000 square miles: popu- 

 lation. estimated at 800 OOO. -Im-Hy Arabs. The 

 r:ipit:il. Maakat. and the adjacent town of Mat 

 have together about 25,000 inhabitant*. Maakat 

 was occupied by the Portuguese till the Seven- 

 tivntli ('ii irious vicissitudes it 



was taken in the Ki^hteenth Century by Ahmed 



