492 



MISSISSIPPI. 



court was reversed by the United States Supreme 

 Court, and the case remanded. It was held that 

 "the obligation was to pay what the law recognized 

 as money when the payment was to be made. The 

 bonds were therefore legally solvable in the money 

 of the United States whatever its description, and 

 not in any particular kind of money, and it is im- 

 possible to hold that they are void because of want 

 of power." 



Legislative Session, The Legislature was in 

 session from Jan. 7 to March 24. James T. Harri- 

 son was President jpro tern, of the Senate, and James 

 F. McGool Speaker of the House. 



Among the candidates mentioned to succeed the 

 Hon. J. Z. George, whose term in the United States 

 Senate will expire in 1899, were Hernando 1). 

 Money, Charles E. Hooker, Robert Lowry, John 

 M. Stone, A. J. McLaurin, W. G. Yerger. On the 

 twentieth ballot in Democratic caucus Mr. Money 

 was nominated, and he was elected Jan. 24. 



The Capitol has for some time been regarded as 

 unsafe. A special committee was appointed to pre- 

 pare a bill for a new Capitol, and an examination 

 by a skilled and disinterested expert was ordered. 

 The foundations were found to be defective, and 

 the walls not only cracked and crumbled in places, 

 but leaning and sunken at one corner. The roof 

 supports were in part rotted away. The report of 

 a second architect was still more unfavorable. The 

 Senate voted for a building to cost $1,000,000, and 

 to be on the Penitentiary site ; the House passed a 

 bill for one to be on the site of the present Capitol, 

 and to cost $550,000. No bill was agreed upon, but 

 a committee consisting of the Governor, the Attor- 

 ney-General, and the Secretary of State was ap- 

 pointed to receive and decide upon plans and speci- 

 fications for a new building. A plan was accepted 

 in December, but the commission had no power to 

 make a contract. The proposed total cost, exclusive 

 of furnishing, is to be $750,000, and it is to be fin- 

 ished in two years. 



A revenue bill was passed imposing a long list 

 of privilege taxes. There were also " an act to raise 

 revenue by making contracts valid which were null 

 under previous laws for nonpayment of privilege 

 taxes upon terms of payment of previous years' 

 dues and 100 per cent, damages within sixty days 

 from the passage of this act," and one " to raise rev- 

 enue by requiring the assessment and collection of 

 an ad valorem tax upon stocks of goods, wares, and 

 merchandise offered for sale in stores, when the 

 business is commenced after the first day of Febru- 

 ary of the current year." 



The issue of $400,000 of 5-per-cent. nontaxable 

 bonds, payable in ten years, with the option of re- 

 demption in five years, was authorized. They were 

 issued and sold at an average price of 1'03-J-. 



The State tax was fixed at 6 mills on the dollar. 



An act to encourage manufactures exempts from 

 taxation for ten years permanent factories for work- 

 ing cotton, silk, etc., or metals and pork-packing 

 and cold-storage plants where the capital amounts 

 to $10,000 or more, if established before Jan. 1, 

 1906 ; also factories for manufacturing machinery, 

 implements, carriages, clothing, shoes, barrels, 

 boxes, etc. Any factory that has been abandoned 

 for not less than three years, if resuming within 

 two years from Nov. 1, 1896, comes under the act. 

 arid also creameries established since April 1, 18!)4, 

 and those that shall be established before 1906. An 

 establishment belonging to or being a trust combine 

 or pool is not exempt. 



The " valued-policy law," which is complained of 

 by insurance companies as a cloak for fraud, was 

 modified so as to provide that the owner of the 

 property applying for insurance thereon must make 

 a sworn statement as to its value, and if such state- 



ment is willfully false and fraudulent, and the in- 

 surance company is thereby misled, then the insured 

 shall not have the benefit of the valued-policy law. 

 The bill further provides that all insurance" com- 

 panies which make no extra charge on account of 

 the valued-policy law, and whose charges for insur- 

 ance are in no way affected, fixed, controlled, or 

 influenced by any insurance association, trust, or 

 combine, shall only pay a tax of 2 per cent, on their 

 gross earnings. All other fire insurance companies 

 are required to pay a privilege tax of $1,000. 



A joint committee was appointed to examine the 

 seacoast. They reported in favor of improving the 

 harbors and approving the project' for a railroad 

 through the center of the State from north to south. 



The Governor sent in a special message, March 8, 

 recommending the passing of a law prohibiting the 

 making hereafter of contracts payable exclusively 

 in gold. A bill to that effect passed the House with 

 only 18 dissenting votes, but it did not go before 

 the Senate for final action. 



Other acts were : 



Adding caster pomace to the list of exceptions 

 from the definition of fertilizers in the law regard- 

 ing them. 



Allowing druggists and physicians to sell alcohol 

 in any quantity not less than one gallon, without 

 the license required by chapter xxxvii of the code 

 of 1892. 



To provide a record of the descent of property, 

 real and personal, in cases where persons die wholly 

 or partially intestate. 



To enable bonajlde residents of the State to select 

 other lands in lieu of the lands lost by failure of 

 title. 



To relieve certain purchasers of lands claimed by 

 the State, wherein the lands sold were the property 

 of the United States. 



Designating as navigable waters all rivers, creeks, 

 and bayous in the State, 25 miles in length, that 

 have sufficient depth and width of water, for thirty 

 consecutive days in a year for floating a steam- 

 boat with carrying capacity of 200 bales of cotton. 



Requiring supervisors to hire out the labor of 

 county convicts. 



Forbidding the sale of land at public outcry un- 

 der deeds of trust or contracts hereafter executed 

 outside the county of its location. 



Allowing attachment for debt not due in cases 

 where the creditor has reason to believe the debtor 

 will remove himself or his effects from the State be- 

 fore the debt becomes payable. 



Appropriating $40,000 for the State Board of 

 Health for two years. 



Prescribing imprisonment for not more than five 

 years in the Penitentiary for keeping or exhibiting 

 any gaming table, faro bank, or the like, or for be- 

 ing interested or concerned in one. 



To make the office of treasurer of municipalities 

 elective by the people. 



Authorizing the Mobile, Jackson and Kansas City 

 Railroad Company to locate its railroad within the 

 State. 



Allowing surety companies with paid-up capital 

 of not less than $250,000 to be received as sureties 

 on bonds. 



Amending the law concerning the liability of cor- 

 porations to employees, giving to an employee in- 

 jured the same rights and remedies for an injury 

 suffered by him from the act or omission of the 

 corporation or its employees as are allowed by law 

 to other persons not employees, where the injury 

 results from the negligence of a superior agent or 

 officer, or of a person having the right to control or 

 direct the services of the party injured, and also 

 when the injury results from the negligence of a 

 fellow-servant engaged in another department of 



