The Secretary of the Treasury manages national finances, administers revenue, currency, and national banking laws.
The Secretary of War has charge of all matters of national defense, river and harbor improvements, and is responsible for the maintenance of the Army.
The Attorney-General is the legal adviser of the President and the National government.
The Postmaster-General conducts the affairs of the United States Post-Office Department and the transportation of the mail.
The Secretary of the Navy has charge of the Navy and its equipment, yards, and docks.
The Secretary of the Interior and his department have charge of public lands and Indian affairs. He has the granting of pensions and patents.
The Secretary of Agriculture has for his business the improvement of agriculture in the United States. He also has charge of the Weather Bureau, animal and plant industry, and the forest service.
The Secretary of Commerce must aid and develop the commercial interests of the country, including mining and transportation. He takes the census every ten years.
The Secretary of Labor and the Department of Labor are designed to protect the welfare of the wage earners. To this department belong the Bureau of Immigration and the Children’s Bureau.
The tendency of the past few years has been to enlarge the powers of the National government. With the rapid increase of means of transportation distant parts of the country have been brought close together. Sectionalism is diminishing. To “States’ rights” is being added a national pride. In the administration of the business of the nation, State boundaries can often no longer be considered without a distinct loss of economy and efficiency. To give one example: the State control of railroads resulted in obstructive and entirely different requirements being made by neighboring States, on the same railroad passing through several of them. The power of separate States to control, independent of each other, such things as marriage and divorce laws, has resulted in the deplorable situation that a couple may be legally married in one State and the marriage may not be recognized in another.