He has complete
control of the Congressional Library, now situated in the Capitol
building. The books now collected in this library have been purchased
from time to time by Congress. There is a law requiring that two copies
of every book, pamphlet, newspaper, photograph, etc., copyrighted in the
United States, shall be sent to the Congressional Library. It thus
receives large and valuable additions yearly. The Library now numbers
over half a million volumes. A new building for the library is in
process of construction, and it will have cost when completed between
seven and eight million dollars.
[Footnote 1: A valuable and suggestive paper on The Origin of the
National Scientific and Educational Institutions of the United States,
by Dr. G. Brown Goode, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution, was published by the American Historical Association. Vol.
IV, Part 2. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1890.]
CHAPTER XI.
The Federal Judiciary.
In forming the Constitution the framers of our government were
controlled by the principle that the powers which belong to all
governments can be most safely and satisfactorily exercised by dividing
them according to their nature among three separate branches, the
executive, the legislative, and the judicial. Under the Articles of
Confederation this maxim of government had been disregarded. The old
Continental Congress had been given under that plan, not only
legislative powers, but also those executive and judicial powers which
the States had yielded to the central government.
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