764 



TEXAS. 



two years ago, at an expense of $200, which 

 surpasses in the fineness of its ruling any- 

 thing heretofore produced. It is a slip of 

 glass 3 inches long and 1 inch broad, in 

 the centre of which the unassisted eye may 

 discover what appears to be a mark perhaps 

 the fiftieth of an inch in width. But when 

 placed under the microscope this mark is found 

 to be composed of a great number of parallel 

 lines. The plate, in fact, contains twenty test- 

 bands, tbat is to say, twenty series of lines. 

 Each series contains such a number of lines as 

 will occupy, or more than occupy, the field of 

 view of the microscope. The fineness of each 

 band or series varies from a ratio of 3, 000 lines 

 per square inch up to two hundred and forty 

 * thousand lines per square inch ; this last band 

 contains double the number of lines ever be- 

 fore ruled on a test-plate. 



TEXAS. The financial condition of Texas 

 is quite promising. Its total indebtedness, at 

 the end of the year, amounted to $1,662,998.78, 

 made up of the following items : 



Three hundred and fifty seven per cent. 



frontier defence gold bonds $350,000 00 



Two hundred and fifty-seven ten per cent. 



currency bonds 257,000 00 



Amount due Williams & Guion, of New 

 York City, for which as above 450 bonds 

 are security (currency) 327,074 70 



Six per cent, currency bonds issued to fund 

 old debt under the provisional act of No- 

 vember 29, 1866 125,100 00 



Six per cent, currency bonds issued to fund 



old debt under act of May 2, 1871 44.500 00 



Certificates of indebtedness issued to claim- 

 ants in last-mentioned act and act of May 

 22, 1871, currency 63,157 05 



Amount of outstanding warrants 215,000 00 



Amount for deficiencies in former appro- 

 priation, and estimated as due judiciary, 

 and officers and employes of government, 

 since September 1, 1872 150,000 CO 



Amount erroneously collected by Comptrol- 

 ler for commissions of assessors and col- 

 lectors in 1871, whicU must be returned 

 to tax-payers 131,167 03 



Total $1,662,998 78 



There is also a debt of $626,718.09, incurred 

 during the war, which, in the language of the 

 Governor, represents "State warrants or State 

 bonds issued during the war, and, representing 

 obligations which are now void, should no lon- 

 ger be borne on the Comptroller's reports." 

 There was cash in the Treasury, on January 1, 

 1873, $49,278.62 in specie, and $204,036.07 in 

 currency, belonging to special funds. The as- 

 sessed value of property in the State, accord- 

 ing to the returns for 1871, which- are the 

 latest that are complete, is $220,290,524, but 

 its actual value is estimated at nearly one-half 

 more. 



The school system of Texas was inaugurated 

 in September, 1871, and is now pretty thor- 

 oughly established. Its cost, during the past 

 year, was $1,222,221.24, of which $482,753.20 

 was paid by the State, and $739,468.04 by the 

 counties. The permanent school fund con- 

 sists of $40,708.43 specie, and $64,089.12 in 

 currency; in the hands of the Treasurer, $70,- 

 800 in United States six per cent, bonds, $271,- 

 550 in United States five per cent, bonds, and 



$2,173,278.40 in six per cent, railroad bonds, 

 or $2,620,125.99 in all, besides 2,763,073 acres 

 of land, believed to be worth $2,763,073. The 

 number of children in the State is estimated, 

 in accordance with the best official informa- 

 tion, at 228,355. The number in the schools 

 in September, 1871, was 28,800. The whole 

 number receiving instruction during the year 

 was 127,672, the average number being 81,- 

 653. The average monthly cost of each pupil, 

 including the expense for buildings, was $1.43. 



The Agricultural and Mechanical College 

 has been located at Bryan, and some progress 

 has been made in constructing the necessary 

 buildings, but the work was suspended last 

 summer on account of defects in the law, 

 which does not define with sufficient clear- 

 ness the powers of the commissioners. 



The State penitentiary contains 944 con- 

 victs, against 486 in February, 1870. The in- 

 crease, it is claimed, is the result of a better 

 execution of the criminal laws. This institu- 

 tion is leased, and the State has only to bear 

 a portion of the expense for the transporta- 

 tion of prisoners. The county jails are stated, 

 in the last message of the Governor, to be "as 

 bad as bad can be." " When so constructed 

 as to secure the prisoners confined in them, 

 they become dense and unfit for the habita- 

 tion of wild beasts. When not made secure, 

 and this is the case in about four-fifths of the 

 counties, the constant escape of prisoners is 

 made the excuse (as recently by the mob in 

 Erath and adjoining counties) for the whole- 

 sale murder of persons charged with offences." 



The area of the vacant public lands of the 

 State is 88,842,70 acres. The amount pat- 

 ented is 88,757,855 acres. The number of 

 immigrants into the State during the year was 

 91,600. 



Rapid progress has been made in the con- 

 struction of railroads, and, at the end of the 

 year, there were 1,078 miles against 511 two 

 years before. It is thought that 500 miles 

 more will be completed during the coming 

 year. 



The Comptroller, in April, refused to coun- 

 tersign and register certain bonds prepared 

 and signed by the Governor for the Interna- 

 tional Railroad Company. He said: 



The countersigning and registering of these bonds 

 would also have imposed upon me the additional 

 duty of levying a tax upon all the property, real and 

 personal, in the State, to meet the liabilities growing 

 out of the issuance of the bonds. 



I greatly doubt the power of the Legislature to 

 clothe me with these extraordinary prerogatives, and, 

 while I will cheerfully and faithfully discharge every 

 duty enjoined upon me by law, I confess I shrink 

 from the responsibility of levying this heavy tax, lor 

 so unrighteous a purpose, in, as 1 (believe, the absence 

 of all law to sustain me in doing so. 



A new legislative assembly is to convene in Jan- 

 uary, 1873, elected by, and fresh from the people ; 

 an assembly, it is presumed, that will be fully ad- 

 vised of the wants and interests of the people of the 

 State ; and I deem it wiser to have an additional 

 legislative interpretation of this measure. If the in- 

 corporators of the International Eailvoad are not will- 



