STATE 



5535 



STATEN ISLAND 



America, each gave up its sovereignty in re- 

 gard to certain matters, and so ceased to be 

 a state in the highest political sense. 



The Study of a State. Like any other geo- 

 graphic unit, the state is best studied with the 

 aid of an outline. The outline given herewith 

 is applicable to all the states of the American 

 Union, despite the differences of detail which 

 must of necessity exist. 



STATE, DEPARTMENT OF, one of the execu- 

 tive departments of the United States, estab- 

 lished by act of Congress in 1789. Through 

 the department the national government re- 

 ceives all communications from foreign coun- 

 tries or from individual states of the Union. The 

 business of the department is divided among 

 a number of bureaus and divisions whose names 

 indicate their functions: divisions of Latin- 

 American Affairs; of Far Eastern Affairs; of 

 Near-Eastern Affairs and of information; bu- 

 reaus of accounts; of rolls and library; of 

 appointments; of indexes and archives and of 

 citizenship ; the consular bureau, and the diplo- 

 matic bureau. Besides the chiefs of these bu- 

 reaus, the Secretary is aided by three assist- 

 ant-secretaries (salaries, $5,000 a year), a coun- 

 selor (salary, $7,500) who is an expert adviser 

 on international law and custom, and a solic- 

 itor (salary, $5,000), who is a general legal ad- 

 viser. 



The Secretary of State, like all other Cabi- 

 net officers, receives a salary of $12,000 a year, 

 and is appointed by the President, to whom he 

 is responsible and under whose direction he 

 works. He has charge of negotiation of trea- 

 ties and all correspondence with foreign na- 

 tions, and is responsible for the publicity of 

 treaties, laws and other public documents, and 

 for the preservation of the originals. He is 

 official keeper or custodian of the Great Seal 

 of the United States, which must be affixed to 

 proclamations, warrants and appointments by 

 the President. He receives foreign ministers and 

 ambassadors and presents them to the Presi- 

 dent, and he also prepares the credentials of 

 American representatives abroad (see DIPLO- 

 MACY). He issues passports to American citi- 

 zens who desire to travel abroad; formerly he 

 signed them in autograph, but his signature in 

 facsimile is now stamped on them. 



These numerous duties, on all of which he 

 must make annual reports, are in charge of a 

 clerical force of about 150 people, but the Sec- 

 retary's responsibility for them makes him log- 

 ically the leader in the President's Cabinet. 

 The Secretary of State stands first in the line 



of succession to the Presidency in the event 

 of the deaths or permanent disability of the 

 President and Vice-President. Besides standing 

 first in rank, the department is also the oldest, 

 for it is merely a continuation, under another 

 name, of the Department of Foreign Affairs, 

 the first executive department, established in 

 1781, under the Articles of Confederation. The 

 position of the Secretary of State, while fre- 

 quently compared to that of the Premier of 

 Great Britain, is not like it, because the Pre- 

 mier is a legislator as well as an executive, and 

 is responsible through Parliament to the peo- 

 ple, whereas the Secretary of State is responsi- 

 ble only to the President, and has no influence, 

 except such as his personal prestige commands, 

 over Congress. 



As the chief office next to the President, in 

 the executive department of the United States, 

 quite overshadowing the Vice-President, the 

 Secretary of State has almost invariably been 

 a man of outstanding ability, and in a few 

 instances the Secretary has overshadowed the 

 President who appointed him. W.F.Z. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 

 Cabinet Premier 



Diplomacy President 



STATE BANKS, banks chartered by state 

 authority and conducted under strict super- 

 vision. A national bank, unless in a town of 

 less than 3,000 people, must have at least $50,000 

 capital, but a state bank may operate with half 

 that capital, in small cities. The banking meth- 

 ods of the two do not differ in any material re- 

 spects in their relation to customers. See 

 BANKS AND BANKING. 



STAT'EN ISLAND, an island about five 

 miles from the southern extremity of Manhat- 

 tan Island, N. Y., forming the former county 

 and borough of Richmond, but now a part of 

 Greater New York. It is triangular in shape, 

 thirteen and one-half miles long, with a maxi- 

 mum width of eight miles, and covers an area 

 of seventy square miles. It is connected by 

 ferry with Manhattan (New York City) and 

 Perth Amboy, N. J. Fort Wadsworth and Fort 

 Tompkins on Staten Island form the strongest 

 defenses of New York harbor. The chief towns, 

 or villages, are New Brighton, West New Brigh- 

 ton, Port Richmond, Stapleton, Tompkinsville, 

 Tottenville and Richmond, the county seat. 



The island was bought by the Dutch West 

 India Company in 1630 from the Indians, who 

 received in exchange "some kettles, axes, hoes, 

 wampum, drilling awls, jew's-harps and divers 



