552 



MICHIGAN. 



upon the amount of the previous year of $4,510,- 

 640, or 6-33 per cent. 



Banks. On Jan. 7, 1889, when the present 

 State banking law went into effect, there were 

 80 banks doing business in the State, with assets 

 amounting to $38,963,417. At the close of this 

 year there were 107 State banks, with assets 

 amounting to $56,648,415, an increase in two 

 years of 27 in number and $17,684,998 in assets. 

 Sixty-seven State banks are savings banks or 

 banks with savings departments. These, on Dec. 

 19, reported their savings deposits as $27.779,136, 

 and the number of depositors in the savings de- 

 partment as 124,664. The average rate of in- 

 terest paid to depositors is 3*76 per cent. 



Salt. The salt - producing territory of the 

 State is divided into 9 districts, having a manu- 

 facturing capacity of 5,950,000 barrels. There 

 are 122 salt manufacturing companies, and 97 

 of them were operated during the year with 99 

 steam and 7 pan blocks and 4,000 solar salt 

 covers. The amount of salt inspected during 

 the year to Nov. 30 was 3,838,637 barrels. The 

 amount inspected in 1889 was 3,846,979 barrels. 



Farm Mortgages. An elaborate report of 

 the State Labor Commissioner regarding farm 

 mortgages was published during the year. The 

 report embraces returns from seven tenths of the 

 State, which are summarized as follow: Num- 

 ber of farms, 90,803 ; farms occupied by owners, 

 84,488; number of farms not mortgaged, 47,724; 

 number of farms mortgaged, 43,079; assessed 

 value of farms mortgaged, $79,713,041 ; total 

 mortgage indebtedness, $37,456,372 ; average 

 rate of interest, 7'2. The percentage of mort- 

 gages on farms is about the same as that on 

 other real estate. 



Decisions. Since the adjournment of the 

 Legislature of 1889 many of the important 

 measures passed by it have "been brought before 

 the State Supreme Court to test their constitu- 

 tionality. In the case of Attorney-General vs. 

 Detroit, decided by that court late in 1889, it 

 was held that the act of that year providing a 

 registration law for the city of Detroit was un- 

 constitutional, because it operated to disfranchise 

 certain classes of citizens. 



On May 9 of this year a decision was given, in 

 the case of Rode vs. Phelps, declaring null and 

 void the high-license act of 1889. The court 

 found, on inspection of the legislative journals, 

 that the act certified to by the presiding officers 

 of each house and approved by the Governor 

 was not the act that was finally passed by both 

 houses, but was the original bill without the final 

 amendments. It was decided that the court had 

 authority to go behind the certificate of the pre- 

 siding officers and to examine the records of 

 each house. As the act had never passed either 

 house in its existing form it was declared void, 

 and the license act of 1882 became operative. 



On Oct. 10, in the case of Feek vs. Blooming- 

 dale, the constitutionality of the local-option 

 law of 1889 was sustained by the same court. 

 Among other points, the court decided that the 

 provision prohibiting a vote on the license ques- 

 tion in any county more frequently than once in 

 two years was not an attempted delegation of 

 irrepealable legislative power to the people of 

 each county, but was such a delegation of power 

 as the State Constitution authorized in Article 



IV, section 38, thereof. The court also held that 

 there was nothing in the State Constitution to 

 prevent the Legislature from passing laws for 

 particular localities, or from suspending the op- 

 eration of general laws in any locality, as con- 

 templated by this act. 



Four days later the same court filed a decision 

 in the case of Detroit vs. Rush upholding the 

 Australian ballot law of 1889. It decided that 

 there was nothing in the law to prevent persons 

 blind or otherwise disabled from receiving as- 

 sistance in preparing their ballots, or from being 

 conducted to the polls when unable to go alone ; 

 that it therefore disfranchised no one ; that its 

 provisions could be carried out by the proper 

 officers by the exercise of common sense and 

 reason ; that mandamus would issue to compel 

 them to make the attempt ; and that the fact that 

 no provision was made for paying the expenses 

 necessary to carry out the act was no objection, 

 as the imposition of a duty upon a municipal 

 officer carries with it an obligation on the part 

 of the municipality to bear the expense. 



On Dec. 24 the same court rendered two other 

 important opinions. In the case of Wellman vs. 

 Chicago & Grand Trunk Railroad, it upheld the 

 constitutionality of the Chapman graded passen- 

 ger fare act of 1889. Under this law all Michi- 

 gan roads whose gross passenger earnings were 

 $3.000 a mile were limited to a charge of two 

 cents a mile, those between $2.000 and $3,000 to 

 two and a half cents, and all others to three cents, 

 with special provisions for the upper peninsula 

 roads. The constitutional amendment of 1870 

 authorized the Legislature to establish " reason- 

 able maximum rates of charges for the trans- 

 portation of passengers and freights on different 

 railroads in this State," and Justice Morse, in 

 his opinion, holds that this, beyond all doubt, au- 

 thorizes the Legislature to fix maximum rates, 

 with the sole restriction that such maximum 

 rates shall be reasonable. Not only this, but the 

 opinion maintains that the word " different," as 

 used in this provision of the Constitution, au- 

 thorizes the Legislature not only to classify the 

 railroads in such legislation, but to legislate dif- 

 ferently for different roads. The rates are be- 

 lieved by the court to be reasonable: and the 

 classification of roads according to their gross 

 earnings is approved. 



In the other opinion of this date the court de- 

 clared the law of 1889, providing for cumulative 

 voting for Representatives in the Legislature, in 

 districts where more than one Representative is 

 to be chosen, to be unconstitutional. Under this 

 statute the Republicans of the Detroit city dis- 

 trict, which is entitled to seven Representatives, 

 cumulated their votes upon four candidates, and 

 the Republicans of Grand Rapids, which is en- 

 titled to two, cumulated their votes upon one. 

 In each case Democratic boards of canvassers 

 canvassed the cumulative ballots as a single vote 

 and issued certificates to the Democratic candi- 

 dates. The court declares the action legal. 



Political. The first State ticket in'tho fioM 

 this year was nominated by the Prohibitionists, 

 in State convention at Lansing, on July 30, and 

 contained the following names : For Governor, 

 Azariah S. Partridge; for Lieutenant-Governor, 

 Henry I. Allen ; for Secretary of State, Edwin S. 

 Palmiter; for Treasurer, Ansel P. Coddington ; 



