UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (WYOMING.) 



UNIVERSALISTS. 



779 



ceding election, had been going on four years. 

 The Legislature, however, defeated the bill that 

 embodied the principles that had been approved 

 by the party, and one was substituted which was 

 said to be unworkable. Gov. La Follette vetoed 

 this bill in a message in which he charged the 

 opponents of the original measure with employing 

 lobbyists who swarmed in both houses and 

 tracked members to their hotels. The Senate, 

 which lacked only two votes of a two-third ma- 

 jority to pass the bill over the Governor's veto, 

 adopted a resolution repudiating the imputation 

 of corruption conveyed in the veto message. The 

 Governor vetoed a bill taxing mortgages, because 

 it exempted a certain class of mortgages. He 

 vetoed a bill to tax dogs, on the ground that 

 farmers, to whom watch-dogs and sheep-dogs are 

 a necessity, are already overtaxed, while corpora- 

 tions are taxed inadequately or escape taxation 

 altogether. He vetoed a great many bills, most 

 of them so carelessly drawn that they would not 

 accomplish the object intended. 



Under a new law, lobbyists are required to re- 

 port their emoluments in fees and expenses. They 

 made reports which were returned to them as in- 

 sufficient. 



WYOMING, a Northwestern State, admitted 

 to the Union July 10, 1890; area, 97,800 square 

 miles. Population in 1890, 60,705; in 1900, 92,- 

 531. Capital, Cheyenne. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year: Governor, De Forest 

 Richards; Secretary of State, Fennimore Chatter- 

 ton; Treasurer, G. E. Abbott; Auditor, Le Roy 

 Grant; Superintendent of Public Instruction, T. 

 T. Tynan; Attorney-General, J. A. Van Orsdel; 

 Adjutant-General, Frank A. Stitzer. Supreme 

 Court: Chief Justice, C. N. Potter, Republican; 

 Associate Justices, Samuel T. Corn, Democrat, 

 and Jesse Knight, Republican; Clerk, R. C. Mor- 

 ris, Republican. 



Finances. The Treasurer's statement of Sept. 

 30, 1901, shows a net balance in the general fund, 

 after allowing for outstanding warrants, of $31,- 

 570.71, a net gain of $9,260.28 over 1900. The 

 Treasurer's cash statement is as follows: Cash 

 balance Oct. 1, 1901, $218,706.40; receipts from all 

 sources, $413,863.68; disbursements, $386,876.83. 

 This shows an increase in the cash balance of $47,- 

 021.32 over the cash balance of 1900; also a gain 

 in disbursements during the year of $102,324.88. 



Every department of State, county, municipal, 

 and school government in the State is on a cash 

 basis. The bank deposits amount to $6,250,000, 

 giving Wyoming a per capita deposit of approxi- 

 mately $68. 



Valuation and Taxation. The Treasurer's 

 report shows the total valuation of property 

 within the State in 1901 to be $39,581,216.55; num- 

 ber of cattle, 402,574, valuation $6,902,311; num- 

 ber of sheep, 2,848,711, valuation $5,737,219.50. 

 The taxes levied in 1901 were as follow: State, 

 $256,255; county, $326,996; general school, $53,- 

 450; interest on county bonds, $79,278; library 

 tax, $4,123; judgment and State deficiency, $8,- 

 229; special school, $168,445; payment of school 

 bond interest, $22,120; payment of county bonds, 

 $28,657; total, $947,556. 



State Lands. The rentals for State lands in- 

 creased from $79,070 in 1900 to $86,618 in 1901. 

 The receipts from sale of State lands, given by 

 Congress, increased from $6,856 in 1900 to $22,- 

 095 in 1901. The State owns 3,001,905.48 acres 

 of school sections. Of this amount more than 

 1,250,000 acres have been leased. 



Mining". Several large copper-mines were dis- 

 covered in Wyoming in 1901. In one of these, 



the New Rambler, in the southeast portion, 

 platinum and iridium were discovered. The out- 

 put of copper for 1901 from the State was valued 

 at $1,500,000; ir.on, $300,000; gold, $500,000; sil- 

 ver, $52,000; platinum, $5,000; oil, $100,000; coal, 

 $5,490,621.25. Five new coal-mines were opened 

 this year, making 25 mines, with an output of 

 over 600 tons of coal a day. For the first time in 

 the history of the State the output for a year 

 amounted to more than 4,000,000 tons. 



Early in the year the richest illuminating-oil 

 ever found in the world was discovered in the 

 southwest corner of the State. Thq oil is 97 per 

 cent. pure. A dozen drills are now being driven in 

 the district. Oil discoveries near Lander and Cas- 

 per and in Big Horn County created great excite- 

 ment, and in the spring hundreds of wells will be 

 bored. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature con- 

 vened on Jan. 8, and adjourned on Feb. 16. 

 Among the laws enacted were the following: 



Providing that no divorce shall be granted un- 

 less the plaintiff shall have resided in the State 

 for one year immediately preceding the time of 

 filing the petition. 



For teaching in the public schools humane treat- 

 ment of animals. 



For payment of bounties on predatory wild 

 animals, and appropriating $40,000 therefor. 



For the permanent location of public institu- 

 tions in the State, and that the question shall be 

 submitted to a vote of the people in 1904. 



For the protection of song and other birds. 



Changing the name of the Stinkingwater river 

 to the Shoshone. 



Providing for the creation of the office of State 

 geologist. 



For the establishment of a State board of 

 health. 



For the repeal of laws licensing gambling, to 

 become effective Feb. 26, 1902. 



For levying a tax on railroad-cars owned by 

 other corporations than a railroad company. 



For the refunding of county bonds. 



For the publication of a State pamphlet descrip- 

 tive of Wyoming. 



For a new legislative representation according 

 to the population as returned by the census of 

 1900. Under this provision the legislative mem- 

 bership will be increased to 23 in the Senate and 

 49 in the House. 



UNIVEBSALISTS. The trustees of the 

 Universalist General Convention reported at its 

 meeting in October the following summary of the 

 statistics of the denomination for Dec. 31, 1900: 

 Number of parishes, 983; of families, 51,174; of 

 church-members, 52,873; of members of Sunday- 

 schools, 57,529; value of parish property, less 

 debts, $9,933,453; amount of parish expenses and 

 contributions, $1,264,555. Several new parishes 

 had been organized and received into fellowship, 

 although, on account of the dropping of inactive 

 and moribund parishes by several of the State 

 conventions, the whole number of parishes was 

 apparently less than in the previous year. Four- 

 teen new church buildings had been erected or 

 purchased. The year's receipts for the funds and 

 various interests of the convention, including sev- 

 eral bequests and large gifts, had been $72,131; 

 the Twentieth Century fund of $100,000 had been 

 completed, and the amount contemplated for it 

 even promised to be exceeded. 



The General Convention met in Buffalo, N. Y., 

 Oct. 17. The Hon. Charles L. Hutchinson was 

 chosen president. The general superintendent re- 

 ported concerning his labors during about three 

 years, in the course of which he had visited and 



