Studies in Civics Part 61

The expense of these proceedings is borne by the state making the demand.

Between nations extradition is regarded as a matter of comity, and is based upon special treaty. "In this country, power to make such a surrender is conferred upon the executive [Footnote: This of course means the president, as states cannot treat with foreign powers.] only where the United States are bound by treaty, and have a reciprocal right to claim similar surrender from the other power." In relation to the crimes for which extradition may be demanded, it may be said in general that they are specified in the treaty, and are such offenses as are recognized as crimes by both countries. Consequently no two treaties are exactly alike.

Generally only things wrong in themselves, not things wrong by local prohibition, are included. Offenses merely political are not included; and "as opinions differ in different countries on what const.i.tutes a political crime, the surrendering nation is very properly made the judge of this question."

As a corollary to the preceding, it is a well-established rule of international law, that the surrendered party can be tried only on the allegations for which extradition has been accorded. This principle is also generally recognized among the states.

HOW A COURT MARTIAL IS CONDUCTED.

A court martial is "a court consisting of military or naval officers, for the trial of offenses against military or naval laws."

Courts martial are of three cla.s.ses, general, garrison, and regimental.

General courts martial consists of from five to thirteen officers, appointed by a general or by the president. Garrison and regimental courts martial consist of three officers appointed respectively by the garrison and the regimental commanders. Only general courts martial have jurisdiction of capital offenses.

There are two marked characteristics of courts martial. First, the accused is tried, not as in a civil court by his peers, but by his superiors.

Second, there is no distinction between judge and jury; the officers comprising the court act in both capacities--they determine the fact and apply the law. Sentence is by majority vote, except that to p.r.o.nounce sentence of death a two-thirds vote is necessary.

For convenience, one of the officers is designated to act as president by the order convening the court. As prosecutor in the case, and also as the _responsible_ adviser of the court, a judge-advocate is appointed, usually by the same order. The accused is ent.i.tled to counsel; but if he is unable to obtain any, the judge-advocate "must insist upon all rights belonging to the accused under the law and the evidence."

The "findings" of a court martial must in each case be transmitted to the convening authority and by it be approved, before being carried into execution. "In time of peace, no sentence of a court martial involving loss of life or the dismissal of a commissioned officer, and either in time of peace or war no sentence against a general officer, can be carried into effect without approval by the president of the United States."

The jurisdiction of courts martial extend only over offenses committed by persons enlisted in the military or the naval service of the country.

WHY AND HOW TERRITORIES ARE ORGANIZED.

The organization of territories in the United States is for two purposes: to provide good government while population is spa.r.s.e, and to encourage their development into self-governing commonwealths, and their incorporation into the federal system as rapidly as possible. (See page 217.)

Territories are organized by congress. In the organic act the boundaries of the territory are defined, and a system of government is established.

"The governor and the administrative and judicial officers are appointed by the president, but a territorial legislature is entrusted with limited powers, subject to the approval of congress."

Each of the several territories may elect one delegate to a seat in the United States Congress. The delegate may speak on subjects in which his territory is interested, but he cannot vote.

WHY AND HOW THE PUBLIC LANDS ARE SURVEYED.

The public lands are not meant to be held forever by the general government. They are designed to be owned and occupied by American citizens. To divide the land into pieces and thus to facilitate the description and the location of any piece, is the princ.i.p.al purpose of the survey. Incidentally the portions six miles square serve as bases for the political divisions called towns, and this was part of the original plan.

The "old thirteen" and Maine, Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia were surveyed in a very irregular way. Lands were described as bounded by lines running from stumps to stones, thence to a creek and down the main channel thereof. In 1785, a committee of the continental congress was appointed, with Thomas Jefferson as chairman, to devise a simple and uniform mode of surveying the public lands in what was about to be organized as the Northwest Territory.

The most noticeable peculiarity of the system is that it is rectangular. A prime meridian is first determined, then a baseline crossing it at right angles. Then from points on the baseline six miles and multiples thereof from the meridian, lines are run due north. And parallels to the base-line are run at distances of six miles. The approximate squares thus formed are called towns.h.i.+ps. The rows of towns.h.i.+ps running north and south are called ranges. Towns.h.i.+ps are numbered north and south from the base-line; ranges east and west from the meridian. The diagram on page 341 ill.u.s.trates the system.

Since meridians all terminate at the poles, the lines between ranges, being meridians, gradually approach each other as they go northward. The lines, then, soon become so much less than six miles apart that a new beginning has to be made. The parallel upon which this correction is made is naturally called the correction line. Corrections were at first made every thirty-six miles, but they are now made every twenty-four miles.

The first prime meridian starts at the mouth of the Great Miami and forms the western boundary of Ohio. The second prime meridian begins at the mouth of Little Blue Creek, in Indiana. The third, at the mouth of the Ohio; the fourth at the mouth of the Illinois; and the fifth at the mouth of the Arkansas. [Ill.u.s.tration: RANGES AND TOWNs.h.i.+PS] [Ill.u.s.tration: The numbering of sections in a towns.h.i.+p.] [Ill.u.s.tration: Divisions of a section.] The first prime meridian has several base-lines. The base-line of the second meridian crosses it about twenty-four miles north of its point of beginning, and the base-line of the third is a continuation of that of the second. The princ.i.p.al base-line of the fourth meridian coincides with the southern boundary of Wisconsin. It has also a short base-line about six miles north of Quincy, Ills. The base-line of the fifth meridian is just south of Little Rock, Ark.

From the first meridian most of Ohio is surveyed; from the second, Indiana and the eastern twenty-four miles of Illinois; from the third, the rest of Illinois, except a small portion north of Quincy; from the fourth, the portion of Illinois just referred to, all of Wisconsin, and that part of Minnesota east of the Mississippi; from the fifth, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota west of the Mississippi, and the Dakotas east of the Missouri.

The sixth coincides with meridian 97 22', west of Greenwich. From it are surveyed Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota south and west of the Missouri, Wyoming, and all of Colorado except the valley of the Rio Grande del Norte.

Michigan, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and the states and territories in the far west are surveyed from special meridians.

HOW TO SECURE PUBLIC LANDS.

As a general rule, only surveyed lands are subject to entry. Under the mineral land laws, however, claims can be located upon unsurveyed lands.

The public lands are divided as to price into two cla.s.ses: those whose minimum price is $1.25 per acre and those whose minimum is $2.50 per acre.

The latter, usually called "double minimum lands," are in most cases the alternate sections reserved in railroad or other public land grants. In some cases Indian reservations restored to the public domain have been rated differently, the price varying from below the single minimum to above the double minimum.

The remaining public lands are subject to entry under the homestead law, the desert land law, and the timber and stone act; by the location of scrip; and as town-site entries. Mineral lands are subject to entry only under the mining laws; and special laws provide for the disposal of coal lands and lands containing petroleum. Any person who is the head of a family or is over twenty-one years old, and who is a citizen of the United States, or has declared his or her intention to become such, may enter 160 acres of land without cost, except the land-office fees provided by law, inhabiting, cultivating, and making actual residence thereon for the period of five years; or such a settler may at the expiration of fourteen months from date of settlement commute the entry by paying the government price for the land.

No part of the public domain is now (since 1889) subject to private cash entry, except in the state of Missouri and in cases where Congress has made special provision therefor. The preemption and timber culture laws were repealed in 1891. It has also been provided that no public lands of the United States shall be sold by public sale, except abandoned military reservations of less than 5,000 acres, mineral lands and other lands of a special nature, and isolated tracts that have been subject to homestead entry for three years after the surrounding land has been disposed of.

HOW SLAVERY WAS ABOLISHED IN THE SEVERAL STATES.

The slave _trade_ was prohibited by congress in 1808. From that time on it was a felony to bring slaves into the United States.

Slavery never legally existed in the states carved out of the Northwest Territory. It was forbidden by the ordinance of 1787.

Vermont abolished it in forming her state const.i.tution in 1777. [Footnote: Before her admission into the Union.]

Ma.s.sachusetts, by const.i.tution, 1780.

Pennsylvania, gradual abolition by statute, began in 1780; had 64 in 1840.

New Hamps.h.i.+re, by const.i.tution, 1783.

Rhode Island and Connecticut, gradual abolition, 1784.

New York began in 1799, finished July 4, 1827.

New Jersey began in 1804, but had 18 in 1860.

By the Missouri compromise, 1820, slavery ceased "in all that territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of 36 degrees and 30 minutes north lat.i.tude," [Footnote: Thomas amendment to act for admitting Missouri.] except Missouri. This part of the act was, in the Dred Scott case, declared by the supreme court to be invalid, still a provision forbidding slavery found its way into the const.i.tution of each of the states afterward seeking admission.

By the emanc.i.p.ation proclamation, Jan. 1, 1863, the slaves of those in arms against the United States were declared free.

The thirteenth amendment, adopted 1865, abolished slavery in all parts of the United States.

HOW VOTING IS DONE IN LEGISLATIVE BODIES. [Footnote: See also Among the Lawmakers, pp. 168-70.]

Acclamation.--The most common way of voting on ordinary questions is by acclamation; that is, when a question is put those in favor of it say "aye," and then those opposed say "no." In this case, a majority of those voting prevails. This is sometimes called voting _viva voce._

Division.--If the presiding officer is uncertain as to which side is in the majority, he may call for a division, or this may be demanded by any member. Then those voting in the affirmative stand and are counted, after which those voting in the negative do similarly.

Yea and Nay.--On important questions in congress, or on any question by demand of one-fifth of the members, the vote is by "yeas and nays" that is, the roll is called, and each member responds "yea" or "nay." In some states, including Minnesota, _all bills_ must be voted on in this way, and must receive a majority of the total members.h.i.+p in order to pa.s.s.