Eurasia | Page 4

gate we were at once
admitted by the officer on duty, who informed us that the President was
holding a Cabinet meeting and would receive meimmediately. The
President's private secretary met me at the door and introduced me to
the President, who shook my hand warmly, and introduced me to his
Cabinet in the following order:
Mr. __, the Minister of State. Mrs. __, the Minister of Justice. Mr. __,
the Minister of Railways. Mrs. __, the Minister of Education. Mr. __,
the Minister of Finance. Mrs. __, the Minister of Information. Mr. __,
the Minister of Agriculture. Mrs. __, the Minister of Health. Mr. __, the
Minister of Commerce. Mrs. __, the Minister of Manufactures. Mr. __,
the Minister of Mines. Mrs. __, the Minister of War. Mr. __, the
Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mrs. __, the Minister of Labor.
I informed the President that I wished to learn all I could about the
Government and Institutions of the country, to which he replied by

handing me the Official Directory, and added that he and his Cabinet
would assist me to the fullest extent. I expressed my heartfelt thanks for
their kindness, and, going back to my hotel, I opened the, Official
Directory. I found the country governed by a President elected directly
by the people for five years, but the law provided that if his government
was not satisfactory to the people, a petition signed by five per cent. of
the voters called for an election, and if a majority voted against him, he
was removed from office and the Minister of State assumed the
Presidency for the remainder of the term. The Cabinet was composed
of fourteen members-seven men and seven women-and were chosen by
the Parliament, who were free to select them from their own members
or outsiders, provided that the person chosen was a voter and
twenty-five years of age. When the Parliament met, which it did on the
first day of January, and adjourned on the first of March, sine die, the
Ministers presented their reports of their work for the previous two
years, and if the Parliament approved them, they continued in office;
but if the Parliament by a majority vote disapproved of any of them,
then the Minister resigned and the Parliament appointed another person
to take his or her place. The members of Parliament were elected for
two years and to serve without pay, but their expenses were paid by the
Government and the amount necessary was fixed by law and could not
be raised or lowered, only by two-thirds vote of the qualified voters of
the Nation. The country was divided into districts and every district
elected a member for every hundred thousand of population, provided
that every other member from a district should be a female, thus giving
both sexes full representation in the Government. Each district was
governed by a Governor, elected for two years, and a Court of Judges,
consisting of a Chief Justice, a Prosecuting Attorney, an Attorney for
the Defense and twelve Justice Jurors, who tried all felony cases and
civil cases that could not be settled by Arbitration, and who sat also as
a Board of Equalization and as Supervisors.
The law provided that eight Jurors or two-thirds of them (if any were
absent through sickness or any other reasonable cause), in every case
could bring in a verdict of guilty in criminal cases or for the
Complainant or Defendant in civil cases, and if eight did not find the
Defendant guilty, the case was dismissed-but if guilty the Defendant

had only to say "I appeal," and a copy of the evidence was sent
immediately to the Supreme Court, composed of Judges, elected by the
people, one from each district, to serve for five years.
The Court sat six days in each week, excepting four weeks
inJuly-August, when all the Courts were allowed by law four weeks'
vacation. They were required to work eight hours each day beginning at
eight a. m., with one hour rest at noon, and ending at five p. m.; but
they could work longer if they so desired, but the law forbade any
adjournment and to prevent bribery the documents in every case-civil
or criminal-arriving daily were placed in a lottery wheel, and, on the
Court assembling at eight a. m., the wheel was revolved, and in the
presence of the Minister of Justice a blind boy and girl drew the
documents out and handed them to pages who delivered them to the
Judges in alphabetical order. Three Judges, forming a committee,
decided every case that came into their hands on the same day. There
was no delay in Justice, and, if any Judge misbehaved, the voters in his
district could remove him under the same law that applied to the