434 



KANSAS. 



genius, this work was a labor of love to him, 

 and he lavished upon it all his thought and all 

 his knowledge, with this result that there are 

 no accidental effects, and there are no defects, 



either in the association of colors or forms, or 

 the unity of scale in the details of the different 

 objects entering into the composition of a great 

 harmonious whole. 



K 



KANSAS. The Legislature of Kansas met 

 at Topeka on the 13th of January, and ad- 

 journed on the llth of March, having been in 

 actual session fifty-six days. Little legislation 

 of general importance was effected. The Hon. 

 James M. Harvey, who was Governor of the 

 State from 1869 to 1873, was elected United 

 States Senator. The State Treasurer, Josiah 

 E. Hayes, was impeached and removed for 

 misdemeanors in office, after a thorough ex- 

 amination into his administration by a legisla- 

 tive committee, the trial taking place at a spe- 

 cial sitting of the Senate held for the purpose 

 in May. A new apportionment of the State 

 into three congressional districts was made, 

 so that the counties of Leavenworth, Doni- 

 phan, Brown, Nemaha, Marshall, Washington, 

 Republic, Jewell, Smith, Phillips, Norton, 

 Graham, Rooks, Osborne, Mitchell, Cloud, 

 Clay, Ottawa, Lincoln, Riley, Pottawatomie, 

 Jackson, Jefferson, Atchison, Davis, and all the 

 territory lying north of the second standard 

 parallel, constitute the first district ; the coun- 

 ties of Montgomery, Labette, Cherokee, Craw- 

 ford, Neosho, Bourbon, Allen, Anderson, Linn, 

 Miami, Franklin, Johnson, Douglas, and "Wy- 

 andotte, constitute the second district ; and all 

 that part of the State not included in the first 

 and second districts constitutes the third dis- 

 trict. A joint resolution in favor of submitting 

 to a vote of the people an amendment of the 

 constitution, giving women the right to vote, 

 received 48 votes to 32 against it in the House, 

 but failed for lack of two-thirds in its favor. A 

 bill for the regulation of the traffic in intoxicat- 

 ing liquors, which occupied a good deal of at- 

 tention and passed in the House, was defeated 

 in the Senate. An act was passed requiring 

 any corporation existing under laws of the 

 State to have its general office and its books 

 within the State, and at least three of its direc- 

 tors residents of the State. A new tax bill was 

 passed making it optional for the tax-payer to 

 pay the whole or one-half of his tax on or be- 

 fore the 20th of December, and ona-half on or 

 before the 20th of June following, allowing a 

 rebate of 5 per cent, on the half due in June, 

 if it is paid in December, and adding a penalty 

 of 5 per cent, to that due in December, if not 

 paid then, 5 per cent more in March, if still 

 unpaid, and 5 per cent, more in June. The. 

 taxation of personal property used in busi- 

 ness was authorized to be made where the 

 property was used, and not where the owner 

 resided. The following act, to " secure civil 

 rights to the citizens 'of the State," was 

 passed : 



Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas : 



SECTION 1. That if any of the regents or trustees 

 of any State university, college, or other school of 

 public instruction, or the owner or owners, agents, 

 trustees, or managers in charge of any iun, hotel, or 

 boarding-house ; or any place of entertainment or 

 amusement, for which a license is required by any 

 of the municipal authorities of this State ; or the 

 owner or owners, or person or persona in charge 

 of any steamboat, railroad, stage-coach, omnibus, 

 street-car, or any other means ot public carriage for 

 persons or freight within the State, shall make any 

 distinction on account of race, color, or previous con- 

 dition of servitude, such person so offending shall 

 be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon con- 

 viction thereof in any court of competent jurisdic- 

 tion, shall be fined in any sum not less than ten dol- 

 lars, nor more than one thousand dollars ; and shall 

 also be liable to damages in any court of competent 

 jurisdiction to the person or persons injured thereby. 



SBO. 2. All fines collected under and by virtue of 

 this act shall be paid over to the public school fund 

 of the county in which the offense is committed. 



SEO. 3. Tnat all acts or parts of acts in conflict 

 with this act be and the same are hereby repealed. 



SEO. 4. This act shall take effect and be in force 

 from and after its publication in the statute-book. 



There was a special session of the Legislature 

 in September, called by the Governor, to adopt 

 some measure for the relief of destitute citi- 

 zens in the western counties of the State, whose 

 crops had been destroyed by grasshoppers. 

 The Governor, in his message to this body, esti- 

 mated the number of destitute persons at 1,500, 

 and declared that 120,000 bushels of wheat 

 would be required for their subsistence in ad- 

 dition to the corn which they had. Two relief 

 acts were passed, one providing for the issue 

 and sale of $73,000 of State bonds to be used 

 in purchasing bonds of the counties in which 

 the -relief was needed ; and the other author- 

 izing these counties to issue special relief bonds. 

 Private organizations were also formed for the 

 aid of the destitute, and contributions were re- 

 ceived from other parts of the country. In 

 seventeen counties in which 158,000 acres were 

 planted with corn, not a bushel was raised. In 

 five of these counties an average crop of wheat, 

 rye, oats, barley, and buckwheat, was raised, 

 but in twelve frontier counties, with a popula- 

 tion of 23,000, the settlements had all been 

 made within three years, and their supplies 

 were almost wholly destroyed. In eight coun- 

 ties, with 1,700 people, this was the first season 

 after settlement, and the means of the inhab- 

 itants had been used up in building houses and 

 putting in their first crop, which was almost 

 totally destroyed by grasshoppers and drought. 



The bonded debt of Kansas is $1,341,775, 

 of which $703,825 has been purchased and 

 placed to the credit of the sinking-fund, mak- 



