The United States is a member of the Universal Postal Union, of which most, if not all, of the civilized countries are members.  The central office is known as the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union, and is conducted under the superintendence of the Swiss Postal Administration, and its expenses are borne by all the nations composing the Union.  The revenues of the Post Office Department nearly equal the expenditures, and would have exceeded them before this but for the fact that as soon as the amount of receipts has warranted, improvements have been made in the service, through the reduction of postage rates and the extension of the free delivery system.  It has never been the policy of the government to make this department a source of revenue.

The patronage of the postoffice department is the most important of any of the departments, and it is very largely for this reason that the Postmaster-General is a member of the Cabinet.  Crawford of South Carolina secured in 1820 the passage of an act limiting the term of office of postmasters to four years.  The appointment of postmasters does not come under the Civil Service Act.  It is the principal aim of civil service reformers, that postmasters should be appointed under its provisions.  The most important questions of public policy concerning this department, are the reduction of postage rates on letters to one cent; the advisability of the establishment of a postal telegraph service; the extension of the free delivery system, and the relation of the department to the civil service regulations.

_#The Department of Justice.#_—­The office of the Attorney-General of the United States was established in 1789; the Department of Justice not until 1870.  The Attorney-General gives advice upon legal points to the President and also, when requested to do so, to the heads of departments.  He directs the cases of the United States and sometimes appears in them, especially in the Supreme Court.  He supervises the United States Marshals and District Attorneys.  His substitute and principal assistant is the Solicitor-General.  There are two Assistant-Attorneys-General, the business of the one being connected with the Supreme Court, and of the other with the Court of Claims.  There are also, as mentioned before, certain legal officers attached to the other departments.  Additional counsel is frequently employed to assist in the argument of important cases.  To the Attorney-General belongs the duty of recommending persons to the office of judges, etc., in the United States Circuit and District Courts.

_#The Department of Agriculture.#_—­The Department of Agriculture was organized as a separate department in the year 1862.  In 1889 its head became a cabinet officer.  There is one Assistant Secretary.  The duties of the Secretary are to promote in every way the agricultural interests of the country.  For this purpose the department is separated into thirteen bureaus, under the following