90 



CALIFORNIA. 



000 gallons of brandy were made, consuming 

 4,000,000 or 5,000,000 gallons of wine, and leav- 

 ing 10,000,000 gallons of wine as the total out- 

 put for the year. 



The production of hops on the Pacific coast 

 in 1888 and 1889 was as follows : 



Insurance. The State Insurance Commis- 

 sioner makes the following report for 1889 : The 

 amount of fire insurance written was $352,- 

 179,528 ; premiums, $6,158,754.64 ; losses paid, 

 $2,572,001.93 ; ratio of losses to premiums, 41-7. 

 The amount of marine insurance written was 

 $141,015,459; premiums, $1.602,434.12; losses 

 paid, $926,811.88; ratio of losses to premiums. 

 57'8. The number of new life-insurance poli- 

 cies written by life-insurance companies in the 

 State was 5,105, amounting to $22.094,645, on 

 which premiums amounting to $979,544.16 were 

 paid. The policies in force Dec. 31 amounted to 

 $83,278,827. The losses and endowments paid 

 amounted to $1,545,497.51. Accident, fidelity, 

 steam-boiler, and plate-glass insurance policies 

 in force Dec. 31 amounted to $39,378,233. The 

 losses paid amounted to $63.545.06. 



Irrigation. The formation of irrigation dis- 

 tricts under the provisions .of the Wright law 

 progressed encouragingly during the year. Early 

 in September a meeting of the officers of all the 

 districts in the State met at Tulare for the pur- 

 pose of organizing a State association of district 

 officers. Fourteen districts were represented. 

 It was shown that 12 districts had issued bonds 

 aggregating $5,960,000 in value, and that nearly 

 $2,000,000 worth had been sold in the State, 

 in the East, and abroad. The total number of 

 acres in these 12 districts is 1,059,244, and the 

 average bonded indebtedness per acre $5.62. 



The highest indebtedness is that of the Escon- 

 dido district, $35.12 per acre, and the lowest that 

 of the Brown's valley district, $2.54 per acre. 



Between 25 and 30 districts are in various 

 stages of organization, under the law, from the 

 Anaheim and Alta (old Seventy-six Canal) dis- 

 tricts, which now have water in their lands, to 

 those whose organization is only in preliminary 

 stages. The total area included in these districts 

 is placed at 2,000.000 acres, ranging in individ- 

 ual district area from 15.000 to 300,000 acres. 



Admission Anniversary. The fortieth an- 

 niversary of the admission of California to the 

 Union was celebrated throughout the State on 

 Sept. 6, 8. and 9, the last day being made a legal 

 holiday by proclamation of the Governor pursu- 

 ant to an act of the last Legislature. In San 

 Francisco, where the exercises were in charge of 

 the societies of California Pioneers, Native Sons, 

 and Native Daughters, an imposing celebration 

 took place, which attracted people to the city 

 from all parts of the State. On the evening of 

 the sixth there was a torchlight parade, followed 

 by a pyrotechnic display. The second day was 



devoted to games, races, and other outdoor sports, 

 followed by a grand concert in the evening. On 

 the third day there was an imposing parade, a 

 public meeting (at which addresses were made 

 by the Governor, the mayor, and others), and a 

 public reception by the societies. Buildings 

 throughout the city were decorated. 



Decisions. The validity of the act of 1889 

 creating a board of Supreme Court commission- 

 ers to assist the court in disposing of its calen- 

 dar was called in question early this year, but 

 by a decision rendered in February the court 

 fully sustained the law. It says : 



The Supreme Court in appointing the commission- 

 ers in February, 1889, by necessary implication held 

 the act to be a valid law. Under a similar act ap- 

 proved in 1885 the Supreme Court appointed a com- 

 mission for a like purpose with like powers. That 

 commission and the present one have, unchallenged, 

 assisted the court in the examination and preparation 

 for decision of over 1,000 cases. These judgments 

 would not have been valid if the commission was not a 

 lawfully constituted body. To reverse a construction 

 which must of necessity have been given to these 

 statutes before or at the time of the appointment of 

 the commissions, and which has been acquiesced in 

 for so long a time, and thereby produce such results 

 as would follow such a reversal, is a thing that ought 

 not to be done by any court unless there is found the 

 most grave necessity for doing it. 



In the case of the State vs. Central Pacific 

 Railroad Company, decided by the Supreme 

 Court on March 8, the State was again defeated 

 in its attempt to collect taxes from the railroads. 

 The suit was brought to compel payment of the 

 taxes assessed for 1886, and the chief point at 

 issue was the validity of sections 3665 to 3670 

 of the political code of the State, which provided 

 a special method for assessing, levying, and col- 

 lecting taxes upon railroads running through 

 more than one county. It was contended by 

 the defendant corporation that these sections 

 were in conflict with Article IV, section 25 of 

 the State Constitution, which forbids special 

 laws " for the assessment and collection of taxes," 

 while the State claimed that they were in exact 

 accordance with Article X, section 13 of the same 

 Constitution, which provides as follows: "All 

 property, except as hereinafter provided, shall 

 be assessed in the county, city, county and city, 

 town, township, or district in which it is situ- 

 ated, in the manner prescribed by law. The 

 franchises, roadway, roadbed, rails, and rolling 

 stock of all railroads operated in more than one 

 county in this State shall be assessed by the 

 State Board of Equalization at their actual value, 

 and the same shall be apportioned to the counties, 

 etc., in which such railroads are located, in pro- 

 portion to the number of miles of railway laid 

 in such county," etc. The court were of opinion 

 that this section related only to the method of 

 assessment, and not to the levy and collection of 

 taxes, and that the provisions of the Political 

 Code (section 3665 to 3670). so far as they pre- 

 scribe a method for levying and collecting the 

 tax, were not enacted in pursuance of this sec- 

 tion, and were invalid because they prescribed a 

 special procedure for levying and collecting taxes, 

 not from all railroads (which might be consid- 

 ered a general law), but from a special class of 

 railroads, those running through more than one 

 county, and because they were, therefore, con- 



