[53] This was due to the fact that there was doubt as to whether the militia could be called out and sent abroad for the purpose of prosecuting a war against a foreign country, in view of the specification in the Constitution of the objects for which the militia may be called into the service of the United States. Under the Act of 1916, the organized militia may be drafted into the service of the United States for use anywhere if Congress declares that an emergency exists. They were so drafted in 1917 and sent to Europe, not as militia, but as a part of the regular army.
[54] According to the report of the secretary of the navy for 1916, the naval militia of the states numbered 9,170 men and 636 officers.
[55] Most of the ships of the navy have been constructed by contract with private ship-building companies, but several experiments have been made of government construction in the navy yards. Thus the battleship Louisiana and several others were constructed by the government in its own shipyards.
[56] For further information concerning the naval academy, see p. 338.
[57] The rank of commodore no longer exists except for its survival on the retired list. There are some twenty-five or thirty rear admirals. The act of 1899, under which Dewey was appointed admiral, provided that the office should cease to exist with his death, but in 1915 the rank of admiral and vice admiral was reëstablished and the former rank is now held by the commanders of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Asiatic fleets.
[58] Or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of the Constitution. This exception was made out of respect to the distinguished men of foreign birth, such as Alexander Hamilton and James Wilson, who were members of the convention that framed the Constitution. As more than a hundred years have elapsed since the adoption of the Constitution, the exception, of course, no longer has any meaning.
[59] Mr. Roosevelt became President by the death of President McKinley about half a year after the beginning of the latter's second term. He served out the unexpired term of Mr. McKinley and was elected to the following full term of four years.
[60] The first was made by ex-President Grant, who in 1880 was a candidate for the Republican nomination for a third term, but failed to secure it. The second was made by ex-President Roosevelt in 1912.
[61] "This Country of Ours," p. 77.
[62] It sometimes happens that the electoral vote of a state is divided, though the instances are rare. This may be due to the personal unpopularity of one of the electoral candidates of the majority party, or it may be due to the mistake of many voters in casting their ballots for the candidate for elector at the head of the ticket only, believing that they are thereby voting for the whole ticket. As a result of the former cause, Harrison received one vote in California in 1892, while Cleveland had the other eight. As a result chiefly of the latter blunder, Taft received only two electoral votes in Maryland in 1908, and Bryan received the other six. In 1916 the vote of West Virginia was divided, Wilson receiving one vote and Hughes the other seven.