name, but their work corresponds to that of the modern notary public. Modern European nations adopted the office from the Romans. During the Middle Ages notaries were appointed by popes or emperors.

Appointment. The office of notary is familiar in all civilized and commercial nations. In England notaries are appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. In most of the states of the Union they are appointed by the governor. Notaries in the United States are, in a certain sense, county officers, in that they must state in their notices that they are notaries public "in and for

county." In Iowa, if a notary changes his residence to another county he ceases to be a notary.

Business men generally prefer to have all deeds, mortgages, and important papers attested by a notary public, or some officer who has a seal, rather than by a justice of the peace. If parties outside of Iowa wish to make a conveyance of land in Iowa, they are required by law to have the deed acknowledged before an officer with an official seal, or, if before a justice, the fact that he is a justice must be attested by an officer with an official seal. The governor, in addition to the notaries in all parts of the state, appoints a number of notaries and commissioners for Iowa in other states.

Business men of Iowa prefer to have deeds attested by an officer whom our governor has appointed rather than by a local officer in other states. If in a foreign country one wishes to make a transfer of the title to land in Iowa, he must have it acknowledged before a consul or some United States officer, or, if before some foreign officer, a United States officer must certify to the legality and genuineness of the acknowledgment.

CHAPTER XVII.

DEPARTMENTS OF GOVERNMENT.

Three Departments. The work of governing has three quite distinct parts. First, it must be decided what the government will do, and how it will do it; that is, laws are made or adopted, and ways and means provided for carrying these laws into effect. This department of the work of governing belongs to what is called the Legislative Department. The actual doing of the things determined upon and provided for by the legislative department, is left to what is called the Executive Department. All laws are not understood, and laws which are understood, are not obeyed; crimes are committed, rights are violated, grievances arise, disputes occur between citizens which they cannot settle. To interpret the law and apply it to particular cases, to determine the rights of litigants, and to enforce the law against criminals, courts are established. This part of the work of governing belongs to what is called the Judicial Department.

Legislation. For the legislative department in the state, we have, first, the state legislature, which makes general laws and establishes and provides for the support of state institutions; second, local boards in counties, townships, and school districts, which, in obedience to state law, establish local institutions and provide for the support of local government; third, town and city councils, which make local laws for the government of towns and provide for the support of town

government. The local boards of counties, townships, and school districts are executive rather than legislative bodies. The town council is, in part, an executive, but is chiefly a legislative body.

The Work Limited. The work of the legislative department is but a small part of the work of governing. The state legislature holds a session of two or three months, once in two years. It is called the lawmaking body, yet it makes few laws. The great body of the laws under which we live has existed for centuries. Our legislatures have adopted them. Only such slight changes and additions are made as increased experience and changing circumstances seemed to demand. The state government is as often injured by too many statutes as by too few. The first state legislature put the business management of our county governments into the hands of three men, elected by the county; another legislature afterward put it into the hands of one man; another, still later, put the county management into the hands of a body of men, chosen, one by each township; again this was changed, and the board of three supervisors was established. Now, if this is really the best system, it would have been better for the state to have chosen legislators wise enough to let the first law alone.

Law-making, from the very nature of the work, is limited. The work is finished when the best possible laws are established; but, as we are never sure that we have the best, we keep constantly striving to get them. A city council soon enacts the ordinances essential to the city government, and the work of the council after that, is to make slight additions or changes to meet new demands.

Executive Business. The work of executing the laws, on the other hand, does not diminish. The executive is the constantly working department of government. It is often called the government, because it is the part most seen. The great body of the officers of government belong to the executive department. The general legislative work of the state is performed by one hundred and fifty men, actively employed two or three months in each alternate year. This work is supplemented by local boards in counties, townships, and school districts, and by city councils. The executive work of government in the state employs a great army of officers. There are seven thousand five hundred sub-directors. There are more than three thousand independent school districts. In each of these is a school board, consisting of from three to six persons. Altogether, for the administration of the school law in all the school districts of the state, there are not less than twenty-two thousand officers. The officers charged with the government of the civil townships of Poweshiek County number two hundred and fifty-five. This county is of average size, and little more than average population. At this rate, the civil township officers for the entire state are twenty-five thousand. Add to these the officers for the government of towns, and the number cannot be less than fifty thousand. For the administration of county government, there are more than a thousand officers. The state executive officers and the officers in charge of state institutions number less than a hundred.

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The Work Done Chiefly by Local Officers. - From these facts it appears that the greater part of the execu

tive work of the state is in the hands of local officers within the limits of the civil township. These officers are nearly all chosen by the voters of the town, township, and school district, in whose interest they administer the laws. The actual work of these officers is by no means so great as their number would indicate. Most of them spend only a small portion of their time in official service, and many of them receive no compensation. The aggregate work of these officers, however, is great, much more than the executive work of county and state government.

There are a half-dozen officers in each county whose official duty requires their entire time, and some of them employ assistants. There are also a few state executive officers who are thus employed. The governor is called the State Executive, or the chief executive officer of the state; yet, ordinarily, he has almost nothing to do with administering the laws of the state. His duties in connection with the making of laws are much more important. State laws are executed by counties, townships, towns, and school districts.

The Judiciary. The legislative department has determined what shall be done by way of government, and executive officers have been chosen to do the things prescribed; but, if a particular executive officer fails or refuses to perform his duty, government is thus far at an end, unless a remedy is provided. One remedy which the law provides in such a case is to bring the delinquent before a court and compel him to do his duty, or punish him for refusing. Courts are thus used as a compelling force to the executive. But the greater part of the work of courts is to settle cases which arise