672 



'UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (ARKANSAS.) 



priating $50,000, plans were obtained and the 

 foundation laid on the site chosen that where 

 the old penitentiary stood convict labor being 

 employed tor a large part of the work. The cor- 

 ner-stone was laid Nov. 27, 1900. An act was 

 passed in 1901 providing for the completion of the 

 building, limiting the cost to $1,000,000, and levy- 

 ing a tax of one-half a mill for the purpose. It 

 was provided that a new board should be appoint- 

 ed, and that the plans that had been adopted 

 should be examined by an architect to be recom- 

 mended by the supervising architect of the Treas- 

 ury Department of the United States. 



The commission, in November, decided that, as 

 the building could not be completed as originally 

 projected and upon the existing foundations for 

 $1,000,000, and as the commission was not war- 

 ranted in erecting a smaller and different Capitol 

 building upon another and different foundation, 

 the board could proceed no further because of 

 the prohibiting terms of the act of 1901. 



Legislative Session. The General Assembly 

 met Jan. 14, and adjourned May 3, the session 

 having been extended by joint resolution beyond 

 the constitutional limit of sixty days. 



Robert J. Wilson was chosen President of the 

 Senate, and T. H. Humphreys Speaker of the 

 House. In the House were 97 Democrats, 2 Re- 

 publicans, and 1 Independent. The Senate was 

 entirely Democratic. 



United States Senator James H. Berry was re- 

 elected bv the unanimous vote of the Democratic 

 members, the 2 Republicans voting for H. L. Rem- 

 mel. 



At the close of the session M. P. Huddleston 

 was elected president pro tern, of the Senate. 



An important measure was the act to punish 

 and suppress gambling. A fine of $500 to $1,000 

 is to be imnosed upon any person, firm, or cor- 

 poration who shall set up, keep or exhibit, any 

 .gambling-table, or gambling device. The in- 

 formant is to receive one-half the fine, and the 

 other half goes to the common-school fund. The 

 same fine is to be imposed upon the owner or 

 controller of any building where such gambling 

 devices are set up and operated; upon any official 

 accepting a bribe to secure violators of the law 

 from arrest and prosecution, one-half to go to the 

 person or persons from whom the money was re- 

 ceived, and the other half to the common-school 

 fund. 



The Governor, in August, remitted all but $10 

 of fines of $500 that had been imposed upon two 

 negroes arrested for shooting craps. The Gov- 

 ernor said he did not intend to see the new act 

 *' made odious and ridiculous by the officials of 

 this county by having them permit the gambling- 

 houses to run wide open in this city and a jury of 

 their peers acquit them, and see the severe pen- 

 alty of this law inflicted on the ignorant negroes 

 for shooting craps." 



The office of pomologist at the State Univer- 

 sity was abolished. 



A collateral-inheritance law requires a tax of 

 5 per cent, on the property inherited, and calls 

 for interest at 9 per cent, on such tax not col- 

 lected by the end of one year from the death of 

 the decedent. 



An act was passed to prohibit the making of 

 false statements of banks and the receiving of 

 money and deposits when insolvent. 



Under a former law when land that had been 

 washed away along a navigable stream reformed 

 as an island, it belonged to the State. This was 

 changed so as to give title to the former owner, 

 his heirs, or assigns. 



The school laws were amended so as to require 



full and elaborate reports concerning pupils and 

 schools. 



The organization of traction companies was 

 provided for, and the maintaining and operating 

 electric roads between cities and towns. 



The game-law was amended so as to make 

 section 343 read : " It shall be unlawful to catch, 

 kill, or injure any wild buck, deer, doe, or fawn 

 in this State between the 1st day of March and 

 the 1st day of September in any year; provided, 

 the citizens of this State shall have the right to 

 kill any wild or undomesticated animal upon his 

 premises destroying or in the act of destroying 

 the crops of any such citizen at any season of the 

 year, and it shall also be unlawful to catch, kill, 

 or pursue with intent to catch, kill, or injure, 

 any wild turkey between the 1st day of May 

 and the 1st day of September in any year, and it 

 shall also be unlawful to catch, kill, or injure, 

 or pursue with intent to catch, kill, or injure, any 

 pinnated grouse, commonly called prairie-chicken, 

 between the first day of December and the last 

 day of October of each year, or any quail, some- 

 times called Virginia partridge, between the 1st 

 day of March and the 1st day of October in any 

 year." 



To prevent destruction of fish it was made un- 

 lawful to own, control, use, or construct, in any 

 river or creeks of this State, any fish-trap for 

 the purpose of catching fish. Some counties were 

 excepted. 



Other enactments were: 



Defining kidnaping as taking into custody for 

 the purpose of exacting a ransom or reward any 

 man, woman, or child, and making the penalty 

 imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for the 

 term of not less than five nor more than twenty- 

 one years. 



Prohibiting the sale of adulterated candies. 



Designating the first Monday in September as 

 Labor Day. 



Authorizing cities of the first class to establish 

 and maintain training-schools for nurses and to. 

 issue diplomas to graduates. 



Compelling corporations to redeem scrip in cash. 



Exempting $300 from attachment on behalf of 

 widows and orphans. 



Requiring licenses from non-resident peddlers 

 of lightning-rods, steel stove-ranges, clocks, 

 pumps, and vehicles. 



Grading punishments for illegal sales of liquor. 



Authorizing counties to buy bloodhounds for 

 pursuing criminals. 



Making the levy for Confederate pensions three- 

 fourths of a mill. 



The estimated amount of appropriations was 

 $1,100,000. 



A resolution that was offered in the House, 

 but failed to pass by a vote of 15 yeas to 68 nays, 

 was for an amendment to the Constitution pro- 

 viding that school funds collected from whites and 

 from corporations owned by whites should be kept 

 separate from those collected from negroes, and 

 that the funds from each race should be used only 

 for the education of that race. 



Constitutional Amendment. An amend- 

 ment was adopted by vote Sept. 3, 1900, permit- 

 ting surety companies to sign bonds of State, 

 county, and municipal officers. 



Judicial Decisions. In January the Su- 

 preme Court decided that the acceptance of pay- 

 ment of the poll-tax as a gift is contrary to the 

 spirit of the requirement of the Constitution and 

 does not entitle the person so accepting to vote. 



The Attorney-General gave out an opinion in 

 February that women are ineligible to appoint- 

 ment as notaries public. In June Chancellor Le- 



