MISSISSIPPI. 



MISSOURI. 



561 



from the general fund in the State treasury sufficient 

 to maintain the common schools for the term of four 

 months in each scholastic year ; said sum shall be dis- 

 tributed among the several counties in proportion to 

 the educable children in each, but any county or sepa- 

 rate school district may levy further tax to maintain its 

 schools for a longer time than the term of four months. 

 Corporations shall be formed under general laws 

 only, which laws may from time to time be altered or 

 repealed ; and no charter for any private corporation 

 for pecuniary gain shall be granted for a longer period 

 'than ninety-nine years. 



The property of all private corporations for pecun- 

 iary gain shall be taxed in the same way and to the 

 same extent as the property of individuals, but the 

 Legislature may provide for the taxation of banks and 

 banking capital by taxing the shares according to the 

 value thereof, augmented by the accumulations, sur- 

 plus, and unpaid dividends, exclusive of real estate, 

 which shall be taxed as other real estate is. 



The power to tax corporations and corporation prop- 

 erty shall never be surrendered nor abridged by any 

 contract or grant to which the State or any political 

 subdivision thereof may be a party, except that the ' 

 Legislature may make such contracts in the encour- 

 agement of manufactures and other new enterprises 

 of public utility extending for a period not exceeding 

 five years, the time of such exemptions. 



No county, city, town, or other municipal corpora- 

 tion shall hereafter become a subscriber to the capital 

 .stock of any railroad or other corporation, or associa- 

 tion, or make appropriation or loan its credit in aid 

 of such corporation or association. 



The rolling stock, movable and other property be- 

 longing to any railroad company or corporation in this 

 State shall be liable to execution and sale in the same 

 manner as the property of individuals. 



No railroad or other transportation company shall 

 grant free passes or tickets, or passes or tickets at a 

 discount, to members of the Legislature, or the mem- 

 bers of the Board of Equalization, or any State, dis- 

 trict, county, or municipal officers. 



State convicts shall not be leased or hired to any 

 person or corporation after the first day of January, 

 1895, nor for a term that shall extend beyond that 

 date, and the Legislature shall provide as soon as 

 practicable before said date for the custody and em- 

 ployment of said convicts, under the exclusive control 

 and management of the State. 



The existing penitentiary, in the city of Jackson, 

 on or before the date named in the first section of this 

 article, shall be abandoned as a prison, and the Legis- 

 lature shall make timely provision for the establish- 

 ment and maintenance of a penitentiary farm, or farms, 

 for the reformation and punishment of penitentiary 

 convicts, and may provide for the carrying on of such 

 industries therein as may be deemed wise and proper, 

 as well as the cultivation of food and other agricult- 

 ural products ; or the Legislature may provide for the 

 working of said convicts in such other manner as may 

 be deemed expedient, not inconsistent with the first 

 section of this article. 



The Legislature shall provide by law for the man- 

 agement of such penitentiary farm or farms by a 

 board of control or otherwise ; for the maintenance 

 of a reformatory school ; for commutation of sentence 

 on account of g'ood behavior ; for the constant separa- 

 tion of the sexes, and for religious worship : for the 

 separation of the whites and blacks as far as practica- 

 ble ; and for the keeping of juvenile offenders from 

 association with hardened criminals. 



The political year of the State shall commence on 

 the first Monday of January in each year. 



The Legislature shall have full authority to provide 

 for the maintenance of a system of levees embracing 

 such territory as it shall deem proper, and to provide 

 for a suitable system of taxation for that purpose. 



For a period of ten years from the date of the adop- 

 tion of this Constitution there shall be no taxation of 

 money loaned at interest where the rate of interest 

 charged does not exceed seven per cent, per annum. 

 VOL. xxx. 36 A 



The marriage of a white person with a negro or 

 mulatto, or person who shall have one eighth or more 

 of negro blood, shall be unlawful ; and such marriage 

 shall be void. 



A general election for all elective officers shall be 

 held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday of 

 November, A. D. 1895, and every four years there- 

 after ; provided the Legislature may change the day 

 and date of general elections to any day and date in 

 October, November, or December. 



A general election shall likewise be held on the first 

 Tuesday after the firwt Monday in November, 1S91, 

 for three railroad commissioners and for members of 

 the Legislature, district attorneys, and county officers, 

 whose terms shall expire Jan. 1, 1892. 



As no general election of the principal State 

 officers is provided for until November, 1895, an 

 ordinance was passed extending until Jan. 1, 

 1896, the terms of the -Governor, Lieutenant- 

 Governor, Secretary, Treasurer, Auditor, Attor- 

 ney-General, and Superintendent of Education. 



Amendments to the Constitution must be ap- 

 proved by two thirds of each branch of the 

 Legislature, and must receive a majority of the 

 popular vote. 



An ordinance was adopted introducing the 

 Australian ballot system in all except Congres- 

 sional elections, such ordinance being irrepeal- 

 able before Jan. 1, 1896. 



It was decided that the convention had au- 

 thority to establish the Constitution as the law 

 of the State without submitting it to the people, 

 and it was accordingly promulgated by that 

 body as the Constitution of Mississippi on and 

 after Jan. 1, 1891. 



Political. There was no election for State 

 officers this year in November. 



Seven Democrats were elected to Congress 

 from the seven districts. 



MISSOURI, a Western State, admitted to 

 the Union. Aug. 10, 1821; area, 69,415 square 

 miles. The population, according to each de- 

 cennial census since admission, was 140,455 in 

 1830; 383,702 in 1840; 682,044 in 1850; 1,182,- 

 012 in 1860; 1,721,295 in 1870; 2,168,380 in 

 1880 ; and 2,679,184 in 1890. Capital, Jefferson 

 City. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year: Governor, David R. 

 Francis, Democrat ; "Lieutenant-Governor. Ste- 

 phen H. Claycomb ; Secretary of State, Alexan- 

 der A. Lesueur: Auditor, James M. Seibert; 

 Treasurer, Edward T. Noland, deposed from office 

 on March 4 and succeeded on March 12 by Lon 

 V. Stephens ; Attorney-General, John M. Wood ; 

 Register of Lands, Robert McCulloch ; Superin- 

 tendent of Public Schools, William E. Coleman ; 

 Railroad Commissioners, William G. Downing, 

 John B. Breathitt, T. J. Hennessy: Chief Jus- 

 tice of the Supreme Court, Robert D. Ray ; As- 

 sociate Justices, Thomas A. Sherwood, Francis 

 M. Black, Theodore Brace, and Shepard Bar- 

 clay. 



Finances. Under a provision of the State 

 Constitution, at least $250,000 of State indebted- 

 ness must be retired annually. During 1890 but 

 $218,000 of State bonds matured, and in order 

 to comply with the requirements of the Consti- 

 tution the Treasurer, with the approval of the 

 Governor and Attorney-General, purchased $32,- 

 000 of State bonds on the market. There will 

 be no maturities during 1891, and only $185,- 

 000 will mature during 1892. 



