730 



TEXAS. 



and the State as to the amount due on these loans, 

 the State claiming an indebtedness of more than 

 .$1,000,000, and the companies insisting that it has 

 been fully satisfied by payment in State warrants 

 issued during the war. Final default in payment 

 was made by the companies in 1894. and in Decem- 

 ber of that year suits were begun which resulted in 

 judgment in favor of the State in the district 

 court for $1,200,000, from which appeals have 

 been taken. The attendance at the university and 

 the medical branch has increased. Of the educa- 

 tional institutions, only the Prairie View Normal 

 School shows a decrease in the number of students. 

 The expenditures for the university during the t wo 

 years amounted to $1:30.617.20; for the Sam Hous- 

 ton Normal Institute. $5:5,717.27; for the Prairie 

 View Normal Institute, $26,753.87 ; and for the 

 Agricultural and Mechanical College, $58.234.06. 

 The State University opened in September with 126 

 students. It has recently received a gift of $30,000 

 from G. W. Brackenridge, of San Antonio. At the 

 nineteenth annual commencement of the Agricul- 

 tural and Mechanical College, in June, 4 were 

 graduated in the agricultural course, 9 in the civil 

 engineering. 3 in horticulture, and in mechanical 

 engineering. The State School of Methods opened 

 its third annual session at the university in June 

 with an attendance of 150. 



Charities. Following are the amounts expended 

 for charitable institutions for the two years: State 

 Lunatic Asylum, 1244,969.92; North Texas Luna- 

 tic Asylum. $272.547.30: Southwest Texas Lunatic 

 Asylum, $104.603.45; Blind Asylum. sss.s7'J.<i!' : 

 Deaf and Dumb Asylum, 97,641.19 ; Colored Deal' 

 and Dumb Asylum. $33,505.73: Orphans' Home, 

 $44,908.44; Confederate Soldiers' Home. $50,S35.3S. 



At the Veterans' Home during the year ending 

 Dec. 1 50 were admitted, 25 died, 1 deserted, 6 

 were out on furlough, 16 were honorably dis- 

 charged, of whom 4 were readmitted, and there 

 were at the close of the year, 175 inmates. Im- 

 provements have been made, the principal one 

 being a hospital building. 



At the Asylum for the Blind 153 were enrolled 

 during the session and 112 were in attendance in 

 November. 



At the State Lunatic Asylum there were 696 

 patients. 



Prisons. There was an increase in prison popu- 

 lation during the past two years, as follows: Nov. 1. 

 1894, convicts on hand, 4,125 ; Oct. 31, 1896. convicts 

 on hand, 4,421. The greatest number ever on hand 

 at one time was on July 18 and 19, 1896 4.523. 

 There were 339 pardons, 217 deaths, and 164 escaped. 



Crimes were classified as follow : Against lives and 

 persons of individuals, 2,007 ; against property, in- 

 cluding forgery and counterfeiting, 2,026; against 

 morality and public justice, 388; total, 4,421. The 

 men were in 39 different camps, prisons, farms, and 

 railroad gangs; 317 were employed on railroads and 

 2,463 on farms. The earnings of the force amounted 

 to $1,540,825.40, and the expenses to $1,445,524.16. 

 Permanent improvements cost $157,674.81. Peni- 

 tentiary property of all descriptions is valued at 

 $2,440,088.90. Cost of maintaining convict popula- 

 tion averages $9.80 a month. The net profits of 

 contract farms for the two years was $249,255.05, 

 or about $81.75 per capita per annum. The prisons 

 proper were largely supported by the contract, share, 

 and State farms, and the railroad gangs. 



The number of persons in the House of Correc- 

 tion and Reformatory, which is for offenders under 

 sixteen years of age, was reduced .me half in 1896. 

 The cost for the two years was $69,569.42. 



Railroads. During the past two years the Rail- 

 road Commission has established or amended tariffs 

 on almost every species of freight except lumber. 



The general merchandise tariff was put into opera- 

 tion Aug. 0, 1*95. Railway bonds on completed 

 road aggregating $1,609,000 wen- examined and 

 registered under t lie act to prevent fraudulent and 

 fictitious issues. .More than 3.000 miles of railroad 

 have been inspected and valued as a basis for the 

 issue of bonds. The total amount saved to the 

 people for the two years by the reduction of rates, 

 a> estimated by the commission, is $2.231.000. 



The amount of assessed value of rolling stock of 

 railroads in the Slate, as given by the Comptroller, 

 :. 962.91)5. The Texas Western renders no roll- 

 ing stock, and the International and (ireat North- 

 ern only that portion subject to taxation and not 

 belonging to the exempt line. 



Banks. In 1896 12 banks in the State went 

 into liquidation or failed, and 21 new banks were 

 organized. 



Insurance. In a paragraph on insurance, in his 

 message to the Legislature, the Governor says; 

 "Life insurance companies principally chartered 

 by and domiciled in the State of New York have 

 for years done a large business in this State. The 

 cxeoso!' premiums over losses paid the>e companies 

 by the people of Texas for the year 1S95 was $2,471,- 

 192. The premiums which our people paid 3 New 

 York companies for the past ten years amounted 

 to $18.044.124.85. and the policies which they paid 

 aggregated only $4.947.569.51. The excess in 

 premiums, the sum taken out of the State in that 

 time, was $13.096.555.34. less inappreciable com- 

 missions paid the agents." The receipts in fees of 

 the State Insurance Department for 1895 were 

 |18,810. 



Industries and Products.--The cotton crop of 

 1S:)5 was reported at 1.905,337 bales, larger than 

 that of any other State, but much smaller than that 

 of the preceding year. The corn crop amounted to 

 107.906,000 bushels, and the wheat crop to 2,082,000 

 bushels. 



The elevator service of Galveston was found to be 

 inadequate for handling the grain sent to the port 

 after the harvest. Over 3.500 cars were reported 

 Sept. 13 to be on the railroads awaiting the raising 

 of the grain blockade at the port. This was at- 

 tributed .in part to the lack of ocean tonnage. 



The recent deflection of trade to the Gulf ports 

 and the ability of Galveston, owing to her now ac- 

 quired deep water, to take advantage of this change 

 in methods resulted during the year in an immense 

 increase in the export business. 



The principal exports in British vessels from Gal- 

 veston during 1896 were: Cotton, bales, 987.389; 

 "it on-seed meal, sacks, 1,964,010; cotton-seed-oil 

 cake, sacks, 186,962 : wheat, bushels. 2.886,159 ; corn, 

 bushels, 4,897,472; cotton-seed oil, gallons, 1,097.- 

 9s3 : walnut lumber, pieces, 29,370: walnut logs, 

 484 ; spelter, plates, 2.097,386 ; borax, sacks, 23.364 ; 

 copper matte, sacks, 28,261; lead, bars, 35,987: 

 lumber, feel . 203,621 : lumber, pieces, 138,972 ; cedar 

 logs. 2.602: staves, 101,015. 



The improvement of the Sabine pass has stimu- 

 lated the trade in lumber from southeastern Texas. 

 The coastwise shipments for the year amounted to 

 8.36S.072 feet, of which 5,331, 296' feet went to New 

 York. The total amount shipped to foreign ports 

 was S23.1S5.656. and its value $262,911. this was 

 sent to Mexican. South American, and West Indian 

 ports, to Port Natal, to London, and to Greenock. 



The channel of Galveston harbor has been deep- 

 ened. At the end of the year the depth at mean 

 low tide was 25^ feet. Ultimately a depth of 30 feet 

 is to be reached. 



The Hangers. The Adjutant-General said in his 

 report in December: ' In every train robbery which 

 has occurred in Texas, the robbers have been cap- 

 tured or killed wherever it was possible to carry 



