VIRGINIA. 



835 



publican party to the temperance legislation of the 



:.-d by the Republican party, and its de- 

 termination that no retrograde steps shall be taken, 

 but that the lines shall be advanced until the saloon 

 shall cease to be a power in the land. 



The election occurred early in September, 

 and resulted in :m unusually large majority for 

 the Republican ticket. For Governor, Dil- 

 lingham received 48,522 votes ; Shurtleff, 19,- 

 5-27 : Seeley, 1,372. Of the Legislature chosen 

 at the same time, the Republicans elected the 

 entire 30 members of the Senate, and 219 mem- 

 bers of the House ; of the remaining 21 mem- 

 bers of the House, 19 were Democrats and 2 

 Independents. At the national election in 

 November, Republican presidential electors 

 were chosen and two Republican Congressmen 

 electe< 1 . 



VIRG1M1. State Government. The following 

 were the State officers during the year : Gov- 

 ernor, Fitzhugh Lee, Democrat 5 Lieutenant- 

 Governor, John E. Massey ; Secretary of State, 

 H. W. Flournoy ; Treasurer, A. W. Harmon ; 

 Auditor, Morton Marye ; Second Auditor, 

 Frank G. Ruffin ; Attorney-General, Rufus A. 

 Avers ; Superintendent of Public Instruction, 

 James L. Buchanan ; Commissioner of Agri- 

 culture, Thomas Whitehead ; Railroad Com- 

 missioner, James C. Hill; President of the Su- 

 preme Court, Lunsford L. Lewis ; Judges, T. 

 T. Fauntleroy, Robert A. Richardson, Benja- 

 min T. Lacy, and Drury A. Hinton. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature, which 

 was in session at the beginning of the year, ad- 

 journed on March 5. Among the important 

 bills that became laws were those providing 

 for the establishment of a board of agriculture 

 and further defining and enlarging the duties 

 of the Commissioner of Agriculture ; abolish- 

 ing the, compulsory inspection of flour and fish ; 

 and inaugurating a system of pensions for Con- 

 federate soldiers and appropriating therefor 

 $65,000 per annum. The pension act is a sub- 

 stitute for a law that has been in force for sev- 

 eral years, appropriating $70,000 annually " for 

 the relief of Confederate soldiers. 1 ' and estab- 

 lishes a better method of distributing the ap- 

 propriation than that therein provided. About 

 February 1 a fire at the State Penitentiary in 

 Richmond destroyed the shoe-shops, involving 

 a loss of $20,000 to the State. To restore this 

 building an appropriation of $30,000 was made. 

 The appropriation for the State University was 

 reduced from $40,000 to $35,000, and that of 

 the Virginia Military Institute from $35,000 to 

 $30,000. On the question of selling the State's 

 interest in the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, 

 amounting to about 17,621 shares, of the par 

 value of $100 a share, it was decided to author- 

 ize the sale, although the present value of shares 

 was but $2.50 or $3. An act was also passed 

 providing for submitting to the voters, at the 

 November election, the question whether a con- 

 vention should be called to revise the State 

 Constitution. A memorial to Congress was 

 adopted, asking the Federal Government to 



the State in paying its debt. Other acts 

 of the session were : 



To provide for the removal of obstructions from 

 Chickahominv river. 



Appro] iriuting money for furnishing the new addi- 

 tion to the Central Lunatic Asylum, and lor ti 

 port of more inmates. 



To prevent the pollution of drinking- water. 



To incorporate the Foreign Mi.-sion Board of the 

 Southern Ba; .lion. 



Authorizing the Governor to hire convicts to the 

 Abingdon Coal and Iron Railroad Company. 



To provide for the purchase of certain property, an 

 additional improvement for the State- Normal School, 

 and to make appropriation therefor. 



To give the assent of the State of Virginia to the 

 provisions ot' an act of Congress approved March 2, 

 in relation to an agricultural experiment sta- 

 tion. 



To authorize clerks of circuit courts to take acknowl- 

 edgments to deeds and other writings and to certify 

 the same. 



Amending the oyster laws and further protecting 

 the oyster interest of the State. 



The State Debt. Xo settlement of the contro- 

 versy between the State and its foreign bond- 

 holders regarding the State debt was reached 

 during the year. When the conference of 1887, 

 between representatives of the Legislature and 

 of the bondholders, failed to agree upon acorn- 

 promise adjustment of the liability of the State, 

 the contest reverted again to the courts where 

 the question regarding the right of the State to 

 refuse debt-coupons in payment of taxes was 

 at issue. The act requiring persons offering 

 coupons for taxes to surrender them, file a pe- 

 tition to prove their genuineness, and produce 

 in court the original bond from which they 

 were taken as proof, before such coupons would 

 be received, had been made practically non- 

 enforceable by the decision of the United States 

 Supreme Court declaring the tender of genu- 

 ine coupons for taxes to be payment, without 

 further proceedings by the tax-payer. The 

 Legislature of 1887 then passed the ' coupon- 

 crusher " act. by which, on tender of the cou- 

 pons, the State was to take the initiative by 

 bringing suit against the tax-payer to compel 

 him to prove his coupons, requiring as proof 

 the production of the original bond. In all 

 these cases the production of the original 

 bond, which was held by the owner in Europe, 

 was of course impossible. The action of the 

 bondholders in obtaining from the Federal Cir- 

 cuit Court an injunction against the State offi- 

 cers from enforcing this act proved abortive, 

 as the United States Supreme Court, late in 

 1887, declared such a proceeding to be con- 

 trary to that clause of the Constitution which 

 forbids suits against a State by foreign citizens. 

 The constitutionality of the "coupon-crusher" 

 act itself was not in issue in this case ; but the 

 counsel of the bondholders at once took rneas- 

 to bring that question before the State 

 courts, to secure a decision, and to obtain an 

 appeal therefrom to the United States Supreme 

 Court. Early in December, 18S8, this prelimi- 

 nary procedure had been completed and writs 

 of error were obtained from the State Supreme 



