T68 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (TEXAS.) 



local-option districts to be paid for on delivery 

 are prohibited in order to make prohibition in 

 such districts more effective. An offset to this 

 bill is one absolving saloon-keepers from the pen- 

 alty attached to sales of liquor to habitual drunk- 

 ards, provided they make such sales unknowingly. 

 Aliens who have resided twelve months in Texas 

 and have declared their intention to become citi- 

 zens are entitled to vote. A constitutional amend- 

 ment to be submitted to the people provides that 

 the payment of the poll-tax shall be a prerequisite 

 to the right to vote. A law against barratry 

 makes it a criminal offense for a lawyer to seek 

 employment in any suit or action either by per- 

 sonal solicitation of his own or by procuring an- 

 other person to solicit for him. The Legislature 

 amended and extended the laws relating to pub- 

 lic roads in many counties. A mineral survey of 

 State lands was ordered, and provision was made 

 tor an official analysis of mineral specimens. A 

 .general land bill opens certain State lands to set- 

 tlement. There was a demand for the abrogation 

 of leases to cattlemen, to enable settlers to select 

 agricultural lands thus leased, or at least a cor- 

 rection of the abuse by which these lessees are 

 able to obtain the fee simple with the help of 

 employees or other agents w^ho take up sections 

 for them at half or two-thirds of the price that 

 settlers are willing to pay. Acts regulating rail- 

 roads extend the police powers of the Railroad 

 Commissioners and prescribe a general penalty 

 for violation of the railroad laws where no pen- 

 alty was specified, empower the commission to 

 regulate crossings, and require railroad companies 

 to prevent Johnson grass or Russian thistles from 

 going to seed on their right of way. Various 

 special railroad acts were passed, and certain 

 companies were allowed a longer time to complete 

 their lines. A general act permits companies to 

 issue stock and bonds in extensions without re- 

 gard to the stock and bonds outstanding on the 

 part of the railroad already completed. The At- 

 torney-General had given an opinion that, under 

 the law as it stood, the Railroad Commission, in 

 treating applications for the issuance of stock and 

 bonds, consider the capitalization of the entire 

 line, since the extension would also be affected 

 by the mortgage covering the railroad. The Rail- 

 road Commission believed many of the older lines 

 to be overcapitalized, and under this rule would 

 have to deny applications for the right to issue 

 new stock and bonds for extensions, which would 

 <?ause a suspension of railroad building in Texas. 

 Railroad construction in this State in 1901 ex- 

 ceeded that in any other, amounting to 583 miles, 

 and a still greater mileage was projected for 1902. 

 The venue of suits against railroad companies for 

 damages on account of personal injuries was fixed 

 by a new law in the county in which the injury 

 occurred, or that in which the plaintiff resides. 

 This act and the one defining barratry were in- 

 tended to remedy a disreputable species of legal 

 practise to which the Railroad Commission called 

 attention in its annual report. Another act per- 

 mits the formation of companies for growing 

 fruit, vegetables, or tobacco. Another permits land 

 companies chartered in Texas to do business out- 

 side of the State. An act regulating mutual fire 

 insurance companies requires evidence of their 

 solidity, and thus supplies an omission in the 

 existing act. An act affecting practically lumber 

 and mining companies prohibits the payment of 

 employees with merchandise checks. 



The* Legislature met in special session on Aug. 

 10 to vote appropriations for the two years begin- 

 ning Sept. 1, 190L and to redistrict the State. 

 The Governor thought that both measures could 



be dealt with, but the legislators were deter- 

 mined to have two special sessions of thirty days 

 or less. The bills apportioning the State into 

 districts for Senators and Representatives in the 

 Assembly, on the basis of the last census, were 

 passed, but not the bill dividing the State into 

 judicial districts. The State was divided into 16 

 congressional districts. The general appropriation 

 bill was not passed before the session ended on 

 Aug. 31, and a second special session had to be 

 called on Sept. 3. Bills were passed permitting 

 owners of lands and town lots that had been sold 

 for taxes to redeem them; authorizing Galveston 

 to build a breakwater, and to compromise its 

 indebtedness; providing for the maintenance of 

 deaf, dumb, and blind children; granting unin- 

 corporated towns and villages permission to in- 

 corporate for school purposes only. 



The Treasurer having placed State funds in a 

 bank that failed and the Comptroller being 

 charged with assessing his clerks for his campaign 

 expenses, the Legislature ordered a general inves- 

 tigation of the departments. The appropriation 

 bill having been agreed to, the session ended on 

 Oct. 1. Confederate pensions were increased from 

 $100,000 a year to $150,000 by the last Legisla- 

 ture, and were now increased to $200,000. There 

 were 6,225 pensioners at the beginning of the year, 

 and several hundred were added afterward. The 

 salaries of clerks in various departments were 

 raised, while appropriations for charitable insti- 

 tutions were cut down, and very little was voted 

 for permanent improvements. The Legislature, 

 in furtherance of the policy to do away with the 

 convict-labor system, sanctioned the purchase of 

 2,500 acres adjoining the leased farm on Brazos 

 river bottom, making the whole convict farm 

 8,000 acres, on which 500 negro convicts will be 

 employed in growing sugar-cane. 



Prosecutions. The Attorney-General and his 

 subordinates prosecuted companies and associa- 

 .tions that were violating the State antitrust law 

 of 1899. Several Texas breweries lost their char- 

 ters for entering into a combination to regulate 

 prices, and penalties were collected from them 

 and from foreign brewing companies. The mas- 

 ter plumbers' association was dissolved. The local 

 oil company distributing the products of the 

 Standard Oil Company was prosecuted vigorously, 

 although it had been reconstituted so as to con- 

 form to the statute. Proceedings were begun 

 against the associated companies that bale cotton 

 for foreign destinations with patent compresses. 



The Damage by Storm. The storm that 

 caused damages to the extent of $20,000,000 to 

 Galveston and millions more to other parts of 

 the coast region, on Sept. 8, 1900, and the loss of 

 about 8,000 lives, drew contributions from all 

 parts of America and from some of the countries 

 of Europe. The sum expended in relief amounted 

 to $1,948,414, of which $1,518,467 were devoted to 

 the people of Galveston. The Legislature voted to 

 allow Galveston to use State taxes for the next 

 two years assessed on its property, for raising the 

 grade. The Government is dredging thc"docks at 

 Galveston to a depth of 25 feet, and has plans for 

 a channel of that depth through Buffalo Bayou 

 to Houston. 



Houston. This city, w^hich in ten years in- 

 creased in population to 44,633 in 1900, was al- 

 ready an important railroad center and manu- 

 facturing city and a mart for the lumber, rice, 

 sugar, and tobacco of southern Texas before the 

 discovery of oil, and now the trade in fuel-oil and 

 its local use in manufacturing have increased the 

 city's growth and importance. Including suburbs, 

 it has about 65,000 inhabitants, having doubled 



