Government
The Constitution of the United Stales is the basic law of the country, and all other laws and statutes are framed in a similar manner, each State, county, town, and city having its own laws or statutes.
Government, including that of the United States, is divided into three distinctive departments: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial.
The Executive head is known as President, Governor, Mayor, etc., and it is his duty to execute the laws.
The Legislative department is usually subdivided into two bodies,—a Senate or Upper House and a House of Representatives or Lower House. State Governments are formed similar to that of the National Government, the Upper House being known as the Senate, and the Lower House as the House of Representatives or Assembly. Most bills are presented to the Lower House, and do not become laws until they pass both the Upper and Lower Houses.
The Legislative authority of a city is usually vested in a board of Aldermen and a Council or Common Council, but occasionally there is only one legislative body, known as a Council.
The Commission Form of Government is becoming somewhat prevalent. It consists of a committee elected by the citizens, who have absolute control of the government, and this body is both executive and judicial.
The Judicial department consists of several courts: first, the Supreme Court, and a lower court, usually known as the Superior Court, and District or Police Courts. Ordinary cases are tried by the Police or District Courts and may be appealed to the Superior Court and even to the Supreme Court. Besides these courts there are several courts known as Probate Court, Court of Equity, etc. The Supreme Court, as a rule, deals only with questions at law, and few cases reach it which have not been appealed from the lower courts.
Grain Industry.—There was raised in the United States during last year over 3,000,000,000 bushels of Indian corn, about 730,000,000 bushels of wheat, 1,500,000,000 bushels of oats, about 224,000,000 bushels of barley, about 36,000,000 bushels of rye, and about 19,000,000 bushels of buckwheat.
Gravity.—The force of gravity, unscientifically speaking, is the influence which one body has upon another, commonly known as attraction. All material substances attempt to draw others to them, and the larger the substance, the greater its attractiveness or drawing power. The earth, being larger than anything near it, draws everything to it. A ball thrown into the air returns to the earth as soon as the force which propelled it upward is exhausted. If the ball were larger than the earth, the earth would move toward the ball, or rather each would move toward the other, but the smaller body would go the greater distance. The entire universe would, undoubtedly, come together in one solid mass if the bodies were not held apart by laws and energies, which are not yet fully understood by men. Sir Isaac Newton discovered the action of gravity, but no one knows exactly what it is.