4.The Number in Each House.The number of men in the two houses differs in different countries.In the upper house of the British legislature there are nearly 600members and in the lower house nearly 700.In our American national legislature we have only 90in the upper house and 357in the lower house.
5.How Laws are Made.If any member of the legislature thinks that there ought to be a law of a certain kind，he writes it out and proposes it at a meeting of the house to which he belongs.In this form it is called a bill.This bill is then usually sent to a committee a small group of members who talk the bill over and report their opinion of it to the house.Then it is talked over in the house，all the arguments for it and against it being pretty apt to be thought of by somebody.This talk is called a debate .After the bill has been thoroughly examined and debated，the house take a vote，all members who favor the bill voting aye ，and those opposed to it voting no .If there are more ayes than noes the bill is said to have passed that house.Then it goes to the other house，where again it is proposed，debated，and voted upon.But unless it passes this house also，the bill cannot become a law.
6.It is easy now to see the advantage of having two houses in a legislature.As every bill has to be debated and voted on by two different sets of men，it can seldom be passed through both bodies in too great a hurry for some one to find out its faults.So we are much less likely to get careless and bad laws than if the legislature had only one house.
7.The Administration.We have said that after a law is made it is necessary to have a number of public officers whose duty is to see that it is obeyed.
8.In a republic the highest of these officers we usually call the president .The president of the United States has under his authority a very large number of other officers，all of whom are busy in carrying out the laws made by the national legislature.These officers，from the president down，are called the administration ，or the administrative officers .The president is the head of the administration.In a monarchy the head of the administration is usually called a king，or an emperor.
9.How the President Shares in Making Laws.In our republic the president is not merely the head of the administration.He also has something to do with making laws.
10.As he sees how all the laws work and so can easily learn what is needed，it is his duty to advise the legislature from time to time what laws he thinks ought to be made.
11.Then，when a bill has been voted by both houses，before it canbecome a law it is sent to the President.If he approves it，the bill at once becomes a law.But if he thinks it ought not to be a law，he sends it back to the legislature with his objections.This is called a veto of the bill.Then the bill has to be debated and voted on all over again.And it cannot be a law unless twothirds of both houses vote for it.
12.The Courts.In every wellgoverned country some men are selected to decide what the law means.These men are called judges.But，besides the judges we have another set of men selected every time a man is accused of breaking the law，or when two men dispute about property and cannot settle their disagreement themselves.This other set of men is called a jury，and their duty is to decide on the facts in dispute.That is，they decide whether the accused person really has broken the law，or，in case of a dispute between two men，the jury decides what actually happened.Then the judge explains the law.The judge and jury together form what is called a court .Sometimes there are no facts in dispute.Then the jury is omitted，and the judge alone is still called a court.And in some courts there are several judges instead of one.The method in which a court proceeds is pointed out in Chapter XIII.
13.The Government.Thus we see that there are three sets of officers busy in managing public affairs.And，as we said before，these three sets，taken together，form the government.A country which has a good government has good laws and good men to do the public business.A country which has a bad government has bad laws，or bad men as officers，or both.
14.The government of our republic is made by the people.All its officers are either chosen by the people or are appointed by others who are thus chosen.
15.That being the case，we see at once how important it is that everybody should understand what sort of laws we have and what officers are selected to attend to the public business.It is a common saying that “What is everybody’s business is nobody‘s business.”That ought not to be true in our republic，for with us it certainly is everybody’s business to see to it that we have a good government.But nobody，can do his share if he is ignorant.Ignorance may do in a monarchy.It has no place in a republic.