682 



TEXAS. 



appears from the following statistical tables, 

 officially published': 



Number of convicts December 1, 18T8 1,158 



Number of convicts received since December 1, 18T8.. 1,104 

 Number of escaped convicts recaptured 29 



Total.. 



Number of convicts December 1, 1880 1,241 



Discharged under the acts of 1866 and 1870 C51 



Discharged at expiration of sentence 85 



Died 135 



Pardoned 81 



Escaped 86 



Keleased by order of Court 3 



Remanded for new trial and released 4 



Total.... .... 2,286 



The convicts are now confined at the fol- 

 lowing places: 



At main prison, Nashville 663 



At Tracy mines, Grundy County 302 



At < 'oal Creek mines, Anderson County 112 



At Ensley's farm, Shelby County 139 



At Spence's farm, Davidson County 25 



Total.... ~1,241 



Of these 1,241 convicts, the number of white 

 persons is 420 males 409, females 11 ; col- 

 ored 821 males 790, females 31. Among 

 them there are 507 married persons and 734 

 single. 



TEXAS. The opposite political parties of 

 Texas, besides holding their conventions to 

 select delegates to the. National Conventions 

 that were to assemble in June at Chicago and 

 Cincinnati respectively, also assembled in 

 State Conventions, to choose their nominees 

 for State officers and Presidential electors. 



The Greenbackers, so called, convened at 

 Austin, on June 23d, and continued in session 

 two days, one hundred and forty-eight dele- 

 gates from all sections of the State being pres- 

 ent. About twenty among the delegates were 

 colored. The nominations were as follows: 

 For Governor, W. H. Hamman ; Lieutenant- 

 Governor, George "W. Givens ; Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, Jenkins ; Comptroller, Ward Taylor ; 



State Treasurer, Guffin ; Commissioner of 



the General Land -Office, R. T. Kennedy; 

 Presidential electors for the State at large, 

 H. L. Bentley and Andrew Young. 



The following platform was adopted: 



"We, the representatives of the Greenback party 

 of Texas, in convention assembled, view with pride 

 the action of the National Greenback-Labor party of 

 the United States, in convention at Chicago, and most 

 cordially and heartily ratify and endorse the platform 

 of principles adoptecl, and candidates nominated by 

 said convention. 



SECTION 1. Kealizing the fact that there exist great 

 abuses and wrongs in the administration of the State 

 government, under the control and management of 

 the. party in power, we condemn the Democratic 

 party of 'Texas for its wasteful and extravagant ex- 

 penditure of money in the administration of the gov- 

 ernment, and demand a reduction in governmental 

 expenditures. 



SEC. 2. We demand a reduction in the rate of tax- 

 ation from 50 to 331 cents on the one hundred dollars' 

 worth of property. 



SEC. 3. We demand the repeal of the occupation- 

 tax and the substitution thereof of a graduated income- 

 tax. 



SEC. 4. We demand the prompt abolishment of all 



useless offices, and a general and radical decrease of 

 all public salarieSj and that county officers shall not 

 be allowed to receive exceeding 1,500 per annum i'or 

 their services, and, whenever practicable, especially 

 in judicial offices, compensation should be fixed by 

 special salaries ; and, further, that in future the gov- 

 ernment of Texas shall be conducted on the strictest 

 business principles and on the most economical plan. 



SEC. 5. We favor a radical change in our cumber- 

 some and expensive judicial system, and demand a 

 more economical and effective system. 



SEC. 6. We demand the repeal of the iniquitous 

 road law, poll-tax law, and law for the collection of 

 ad valorem taxes from delinquents. 



SEC. 7. We demand the repeal of the present pre- 

 tense of a school law, and the establishment ol an 

 efficient system of public free schools, and demand 

 the appropriation by the Legislature of the full con- 

 stitutional limit of one fourth of the general revenue 

 for that purpose. 



SEC. 8. Believing it to be the part of wisdom to 

 preserve the public-school lands of Texas as the basis 

 of a grand school fund, we demand the immediate re- 

 peal of all laws providing for the sale of the same, 

 other than to actual settlers, in quantities of not more 

 than one hundred and sixty acres to any one pur- 

 chaser. 



SEC. 9. We demand that the public domain of Texas 

 be reserved for a permanent school fund, and for the 

 benefit of actual . settlers under the homestead laws, 

 and a repeal of the law providing for the sale thereof. 



SEC. 10. Believing that labor is the basis of all 

 wealth and prosperity, and that an increase in popu- 

 lation will add to the material wealth of Texas, 

 inducements should be offered to all honest and in- 

 telligent immigrants to come to assist in the develop- 

 ment of the resources of the great State of Texas. 



SEC. 11. We demand a modification of the Sunday 

 law. 



SEC. 12. We demand the immediate and uncondi- 

 tional repeal of the bell-punch law. 



SEC. 13. We demand a perfect and positive protec- 

 tion that will guarantee safety both to the settler and 

 the vast interest of our herdsmen. 



SEC. 14. We denounce all laws restricting the right 

 of suffrage, or impairing the secrecy of the ballot-box, 

 and any legislative interference with the free exercise 

 of religious opinion by the people of this State. The 

 Greenback party everywhere denounces the attempt- 

 ed disfranchisement of citizens as a crime, whether 

 committed by Kepublicans or Bourbon Democrats in 

 Texas. 



SEC. 15. That we are unqualifiedly opposed to con- 

 vict-labor coming in conflict with honest labor, and 

 demand the repeal of all laws permitting the same. 



SEC. 16. The heroes whose valor wrested this State 

 from the Government of Mexico deserve the profound- 

 est gratitude of a generous people, and we demand 

 payment of an annual pension to the survivors of that 

 memorable struggle. 



SEC. 17. We remember with profound gratitude the 

 struggles of the fathers of Texas in defense of the 

 right of themselves and their fellow-citizens, and, 

 viewing the government which they consecrated with 

 their sufferings and cemented with their blood as a 

 rich and inestimable boon handed down by them to 

 us, we are pledged to aid in every way possible in 

 securing its prosperity, and will oppose with all the 

 earnestness of our nature every step looking to the 

 destruction or the impairing of its integrity. 



Finally, having thus set forth our distinctive prin- 

 ciples and views, we most cordially invite the coop- 

 eration of all men in Texas, regardless of their ante- 

 cedents and political affiliations, who love the weal 

 of their State and the prosperity of her people more 

 than party, however differing with us on other ques- 

 tions, substantially agreeing with us in their affirm- 

 ance and support. 



The Democrats assembled in State Conven- 

 tion, at Dallas, on the llth of August, and 



