the two states. The instruments of 1867
vest the supreme command of the army and navy in the joint monarch,
yet the armed establishments of the states are maintained on the basis
of separate, even if approximately identical, laws, and each is placed
under the immediate supervision of a separate minister of national
defence. Each country maintains its independent arrangements for the
raising of the yearly contingent of recruits. It is only after the
quotas have been raised that the dual monarch can exercise his power
of appointing officers and regulating the organization of the forces.
The authority of the joint war minister is confined largely to matters
of secondary importance, such as equipment and the commissariat. Only
a close understanding between the ministries at Vienna and Budapest
can be depended upon, in the last analysis, to avert an utter
breakdown of the admittedly precarious military establishment.[712]

[Footnote 712: V. Duruy, L'Armee austro-hongroise,
in _Revue de Paris_, Jan. 15, 1909; M. B., L'Armee
autrichienne, in _Annales des Sciences Politiques_,
May, 1909; Com. Davin, La marine austro-hongroise,
in _Questions Diplomatiques et Coloniales_, Aug.
16, 1909.]

The third common ministry is that of Finance. Each of the two states
maintains an independent finance ministry and carries its own budget,
because, within certain limitations, the administration of fiscal
matters is left to the states in their separate capacities; but
questions of joint expenditure, the establishment of the joint budget,
and the examination of accounts are committed to a common ministry at
Vienna. The powers of the joint minister of finance are, in point of
fact, limited. Like the other joint ministers, he may not be a member
of either the Austrian or the Hungarian cabinet, nor may he have
access to the separate parliaments. His function is essentially that
of a cashier. He receives the contributions made by the two states to
the common expenses and hands them over to the several departments.
Until the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1908, it devolved
upon him, by special arrangement, to administer the affairs of these
semi-dependent territories.

*564. Fiscal and Economic Arrangements.*--In 1867 it was agreed that the
common expenditures of Austria and Hungary should be met, in so (p. 512)
far as pos