on be made by that time, the Secretary of the
Navy fills the vacancy by appointing an actual resident of the district
in which the vacancy exists. The President selects the candidates at
large and the cadet for the District of Columbia. At the conclusion of
the six years' course, two of which are spent at sea, the graduates are
assigned in order of merit to the vacancies that may have occurred in
the lower grades of the line of the navy and of the marine corps. Cadets
who are not assigned to service after graduation are honorably
discharged and are given $500, the amount they have received each year
of their course at the academy.

THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.

The Attorney-General.--The Attorney-General is the legal adviser of
the President and of the heads of the departments. He supervises the
work of all the United States district attorneys and marshals, and is
assisted by the Solicitor-General. Unless otherwise directed, all cases
before the Supreme Court and the Court of Claims in which the United
States is a party are argued by the Attorney-General and the
Solicitor-General.

THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT.

The Postmaster-General.--The Postmaster-General is at the head of
this department. He appoints all of the officers of the department with
the exception of the four assistant postmasters-general and postmasters
of the first class, whose appointments are made by the President with
the consent of the Senate. The Postmaster-General may, with the consent
of the President, let contracts and make postal treaties with foreign
governments.

The Postal Union.--Since 1891 the United States has been a
member of the Universal Postal Union. By this union over fifty
distinct powers became parties to an agreement by which uniform
rates of postage were agreed upon and every facility for carrying
mails in each country was extended to all the others.

THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.

The Secretary of the Interior.--The Interior Department, under the
supervision of the Secretary of the Interior, is one of the most
complex and important of the departments. There are two assistant
secretaries in the department, while at the head of the other offices
are six commissioners and two directors.

The Commissioner of the General Land Office.--The Commissioner
of the General Land Office has charge of all the public lands of
the government, and supervises the surveys, sales, and issuin