itable, in this chapter, to take up the government and political life as it existed under the united Constitutional Monarchy of Norway and Sweden. In fact, it is no different t

rge of the United Kingdoms, and, as previously stated

t disagree upon a measure, they sit in joint session, when it requires a vote of two-thirds to enact it, and the approval of the king is necessary. He is also required to promulgate all the acts of the legislature. Many Norwegian statesmen assert that the king has no veto power, but merely tempor

proved, as in England, the ministry must resign and a new one be organized in sympathy with a majority of the parliament. The king may choose his own ministers, but they must represent the will of the people. They are called couns

rmative. No matter of business can be determined by the king without the advice of the ministry, unless an emergency demands a prompt decision, when he must take the responsibility of securing a ratification of his act. In the same manner the

earlier times, when the Norwegian legislature sat only once in three years and some such power was necessary, but now that there are annual and often semi-ann

ch, but exercises this power through his ministers. Dissenting congregations are not subject to government control, and may choose their own clergymen, although

but can not expend money for military purposes, not even for the national defense, without the consent of the legislature. The Norwegian constitution is silent concerning his authority to conclude treaties with foreign powers, and the question has never been raised. He condu

ree years by an indirect and complicated system which is nearly the reverse of our own. The voters of each parish, which forms an election district, assemble at a given place and time and select delegates to a convention which chooses their representatives in the storthing, and,

mmittee chooses his own chairman. There is a rather novel rule requiring bills referred to committees to be assigned for consideration to the several members in rotation. Any member may introduce a bill modifying the constitution, but all other classes or measures must proceed from the government and the members of

it the accounts of officials who have to do with the disbursement or collection of money. When an irregularity or improper expenditure is discovered, the legislature is as

longs to the people. The members of the ministry may be impeached by the odelsthing f

cutive departments are

which also has charge of charities, insurance compan

partment

ch has jurisdiction over everything th

rtment of a

rtment of p

ent of finance

partment

of public acco

y the king, is known as an "Amtmand." His duties are similar to those of the French prefects, although the theory of home-rule and self-government is carried into each county and each municipality and parish, where every magistrate is responsible to a council elected by the people from among their own number. They make the laws for the ma

e management of their own affairs, placing the administrative authority, with the power of taxation and the disbursement of revenues in the hands o

f the parish, who are elected for terms of three years, and serve gratuitously. The council elects from its own number a chairman who is the he

ficio a member and often chairman of the municipal departments or commissions, such as the board of public works, the school board, the harbor commission. In this way he becomes a connecting link between the nation

pected; each department being permitted to submit its own estimates, which are approved or amended by the council, and the amount is raised by taxation of houses, lands, personal property, and incomes, with fees for licenses to transact business. The entire system of local taxation is similar to our own, and the methods of assessment are the same. In order to meet the expense of unusual undertakings for the benefit of the mu

eformation their government has been in the hands of a board or council elected by the people, of which the pastor of the church is chairman. Everybody who pays taxes, men and women alike, may vote at the election of the council. The burgomaster serves for life, and is usually required to abstain from all other business except that which pertains to the public weal. The parishes are consolidated into twenty-four provinces, similar to our states, each having a certain independence and government of its own, although the governor-general, who also serves for life on good behavior, is appointed by the king. The city of Stockholm is an independent jurisdiction like the District of Columbia, with a governor appointed by the king. The riksdag was formerly composed of four distinct bodies,-nobles, clergymen, burghers, peasants,-representing the different classes of the com

xpayers, both men and women, the members of the first chamber may be regarded as the representatives of the property-owning portion of the community. To be eligible to the first chamber a candidate must be thirty-five years old, own property assessed at $21,000

the towns and one hundred and fifty by the rural districts. Each must have property worth $270, or have leased $1,600 worth of l

sed of progressive elements, the theorists, the artisans, the machinists, and the thinking men among the laboring element, who advocate a reduction of the tariff on imported merchandise and free trade so far as possible; a separation of church and state on the theory that no man should be taxed to

e helpless, sweeping reforms in the labor laws, and the purchase and maintenance by the state of all public enterprises that affect public welfare, such as the street-car lines, the insurance companies, the banks, etc. The peasants in the country are protectionists and belong to the conservative party. The mechanics in the cities are generally socialists. Politics, however, is

hamber-intelligent, well-educated mechanics and farmers, who take a deep interest in the affairs of the government and generally are on the

at the cathedral, where they receive the sacrament and listen to a sermon of admonition. Then they march in a body to the royal palace, where they are received by the king's ministers with great formality, and escorted to what is known as the thr

is a squad of trumpeters, then the grand marshal of the court, preceded by four heralds and followed by the assistant marshals, the grand chamberlain, the lord steward, the

g, who wears his royal robes, and, as he enters, the band plays the favorite air of the people, "From the Depths of the Swedish Heart." He wears the crown of state and a purple robe bordered and line

er position in the balcony, attended by the princesses and other members of the royal family and the officers of the court. Then he proceeds slowly until he ascends the dais an

entlemen and Swedish men." The prime minister then reads a review of the acts of state since the adjournment of parliament, which he skims over as rapidly as possible, because the printed copy will be placed in the hands of every person present as soon as the ceremony is over. The presiding offic

, the defendant three, and the court three. These nine men hear and decide the merits of the case without application of such strict rules of evidence as prevail in the legal practice of the United States. All judicial procedure in Sweden is based upon the assumption that the court is sufficiently intelli