362 



GEORGIA. 



GERMANY. 



Judge of the Supreme Court, and United States 

 Senator Oolquitt to be his own successor in the 

 United States Senate. There was no oppo- 

 sition to either candidate. The appropriation 

 bill and the tax bill were the most important 

 measures passed. Unusual liberality was 

 shown in these toward the educational inter- 

 ests of the State. The Technological School 

 recently established obtained an appropriation 

 of $18,000 ; the branch colleges belonging to 

 the State University received a separate ap- 

 propriation for the first time, and an additional 

 tax of one half of one per cent, for 1889, and 

 of 1 per cent, for 1890 was voted for the pub- 

 lic schools. The annual session of these schools 

 may now be lengthened from three months to 

 four months in 1889 and five months in 1890, 

 and a corresponding increase in their efficiency 

 is expected. The act of Congress providing 

 for establishing agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions in the various States was accepted, but 

 instead of establishing such a station in con- 

 nection with an agricultural college, as required 

 by the terms of the act, the Legislature appro- 

 priated $5,000, in addition to the sum payable 

 to the State under the act, for the construction 

 of a new State institution to be located by a 

 board of commissioners. The sum of $85,000 

 was appropriated as the final payment for the 

 construction of the new Capitol, and $92,000 

 for furnishing it and for ornamenting the 

 grounds. Provision was also made for an addi- 

 tional sinking-fund to meet the State debt 

 when it shall become payable. It was made 

 unlawful for corporations or other employers 

 to pay their employes in checks or orders 

 payable in merchandise at the employer's 

 store ; all such notes or checks must be re- 

 deemable in cash. Banks and building associ- 

 ations were relieved from the double taxation 

 heretofore imposed upon them. 



Political. The Democratic State Convention 

 met at Atlanta on August 8, and renominated 

 Governor Gordon, Secretary Barnett, Treas- 

 urer Hardeman, Comptroller Wright, and At- 

 torney-General Anderson. It adopted the fol- 

 lowing resolutions : 



We heartily indorse the platform of principles 

 adopted by the Democratic National Convention at St. 

 Louis this present year, and the nominations of 

 Grover Cleveland and Allen G. Thurrnan as candi- 

 dates upon the principles embodied in it. Federal 

 taxation can only be rightfully imposed to provide for 

 the necessary and proper purposes of the General Gov- 

 ernment economically administered. Luxuries should 

 not be unbridled in order that necessities may be bur- 

 dened. We indorse the platform of the National 

 Democracy of 1888, and the recent message of the 

 President as the proper construction of the platform 

 of 1884, advanced to the conditions of 1888. 



The Democracy of Georgia deplore the spirit of 

 sectionalism which seems still to animate the passions 

 of the leaders of the Republican party and some of 

 their misguided followers. We seek a manly frater- 

 nity among all the States and peoples of the United 

 States, and declare that the only enemies ol perpetual 

 American concord are those Republicans who insist 

 upon reviving and maintaining the passions of past 

 conflicts, terminated forever and honorably adjusted. 

 Let others deal in post-mortem feuds. " We face 



the rising and not the setting sun," and invite all men 

 who love liberty regulated by law to unite with us in 

 efforts after the highest progress of our State and com- 

 mon country. We denounce the Republican party as 

 having been the worst and most destructive enemy of 

 our State. 



With no grudge against the policy or the people 

 who preserved the Union, we hail with pleasure the 

 accession to Democratic ranks of those Republicans 

 who abandoned that party when convinced that it 

 had ceased to struggle to perpetuate the Union, and 

 had left for its mission only the tasks of keeping 

 alive feuds and oppressing the poor, and who have 

 joined the party which opposes legislation for favored 

 classes and propounds a policy for the general good. 



There was no opposition ticket, and at the 

 election in October Governor Gordon received 

 the entire vote cast. A State Legislature was 

 elected at the same time, composed almost en- 

 tirely of Democrats. The people also voted 

 upon a constitutional amendment proposed by 

 the last Legislature, increasing the number of 

 Supreme Court judges from three to five. This 

 was defeated by a vote of 37,638 votes in favor, 

 to 46,720 against, four counties not reporting. 

 At the November election, Cleveland received 

 according to unofficial returns 100,472 

 votes; Harrison, 40,443 votes ; and Fisk, 1,802 

 votes. An unbroken Democratic delegation to 

 Congress was chosen. 



GERMANY, an empire in Central Europe, con- 

 sisting of a confederation of twenty-six states, 

 united under the Constitution of the German 

 Empire, which went into force on May 4, 1871. 

 At the beginning of 1888 the reigning sovereign 

 was Emperor Wilhelm I, born March 22, 1797, 

 who was proclaimed the first German Emperor 

 at Versailles, Jan. 18, 1871, and died March 9, 

 1888. He was succeeded by his eldest and only 

 surviving son, Friedrich, born Oct. 18, 1831, 

 who at the time of his accession to the throne 

 was suffering from what proved to be cancer 

 of the larynx, and died, after a reign of three 

 months, June 15, 1888. (See FEIEDRICH WIL- 

 JIELM.) His eldest son, the present Emperor, 

 Wilhelm II, was born Jan. 27, 1859. The 

 heir-apparent is Friedrich Wilhelm, born May 

 6, 1882. 



The legislative functions of the empire are 

 vested in two bodies of representatives of the 

 people : the Bundesrath or Federal Council, 

 composed of 62 members, appointed each year 

 by the individual states that they represent ; 

 and the Reichstag, or Diet of the Realm, num- 

 bering 397 members, elected for a term of three 

 years by universal suffrage. There are 9,769,- 

 802 electors, constituting 20-9 per cent, of the 

 population. In the general election of 1887, 

 7,540,938, or 77'5 per cent, of the electors 

 voted. Both the Bundesrath and the Reichs- 

 tag meet in annual session. The members of 

 the Reichstag are elected from 397 districts, of 

 which 21 consist wholly of towns, 93 of dis- 

 tricts each containing a town of at least 20,000 

 inhabitants, and 283 of districts without any 

 large towns. In 252 districts the majority of 

 the population is Protestant. The Bundesrath 

 is presided over by the Chancellor of the Em- 



