MISSOUM. 



675 



paid since 1842. The State institutions iiro the 

 jYnitcntiury, Blind Institute, Institute fur (lie 

 heat' and Dumb. and Lunatic Asylum, situated 



at .lack.Min. 'I'll.' iVniti-ntiary contains 200 



and U inadequate for the accommodation 



of tli. The con\icts are partly cm- 



'I \\ itliiu tin- walls in manufactures, and 



I>artl\ Ira-, d tn p< TMIIIS who employ them on 



public \\orks in diU'cn-nt parts of tin- State. 



Mississippi's foreign trade is indirect, and 

 aiinoM entirely through Now Orleans and Mo- 

 bile. Cotton and lumber are the chief exports. 

 Tin- co-Ming uiul river trade is large. The 

 ehielly directed to Mohilo and 

 Ncu Orleans, while the Mississippi Ilivcr trade 

 centres in the latter, and that of ihe Tonibigbeo 

 in Mohilc. The railroads terminating at these 

 two pi.? is and at Memphis are also largo car- 



riers of merchandise'. There are three cuntoou 



district*: Natchi /., IVarl liivi r (poi t oi . 

 .sliield.-liorou-hj, and Vick-biirg. 'I In- 



ii trade and the coasting-trade are cen- 

 ntiivly in the district of IVarl liivi-r. 'I ho 

 value 'Kiiiiiicrci.- for the \ar ending 



June :ju. 1 >';!, was $233,400, almost entirely 

 exports including 13,298,000 feet of \ 

 529,000 shingle.-, and l'.U.:.r,:; cul.ic 1. 

 timher. '1 he mini her of entrances in the for- 

 eign trade was 93, of 22,523 tons ; clearance*, 

 ';. <>f 20,249 tons; entrances in the coastwise 

 trade, 68, of 12,i;48 tons; clearances, 96, of 

 21,382 tons. 



In 1844 there were 26 miles of railroads in 

 the State; in 1854, 222; in 1864, 862. The 

 statistics of the different lines for 1874 are 

 contained in the following table : 



The following lines are in progress: The 

 Natchez, Jackson & Columbus Railroad, from 

 Natchez to Columbus (180 miles); Vicksburg 

 & Nashville, from Vicksburg to Nashville, 

 Tenn. (880 miles), with a branch from Grenada 

 to the Mississippi River, opposite Eunice, Ark. 

 (90 miles) ; Selma, Marion & Memphis, from 

 Selmn, Ala., to Memphis, Tenn. (280 miles); 

 Mississippi Valley & Ship Island, from Vicks- 

 burg to Mississippi City (210 miles) ; and Vicks- 

 luirir & Brunswick, from Eufaula, Ala., to Me- 

 ridian (225 miles). There are no national 

 banks in Mississippi. In 1874 there were six 

 savings-banks, with an aggregate capital of 

 about $300,000, and five banks of deposit, in- 

 corporated under State law, with an aggregate 

 capital of about $550,000. One of each 

 also does an insurance business. At the close 

 of 1873, 21 insurance companies of other States 

 and countries were doing business in the State. 



MISSOURI. The special session of the Mis- 

 souri Legislature, which began on the 6th of 

 January, ended on the 29th of March. It was 

 called mainly for the purpose of having a new 

 revenue law enacted, and provi>ioii made for 

 refunding the State bonds that came duo in 

 1874 and 1875; but the revenue bill failed al- 

 together, and no attention was given to the 

 State debt until the very last day of the ses- 



* r.m-oli.lalnj a* ihr.V-u Ofll UM, St L"!:i* .v Chu-i-.-.i 

 Railroad. 



sion, and then it was necessary for the Au- 

 ditor to call attention to the matter. The 

 necessary bill was framed, introduced, and 

 passed through both branches in three hours; 

 while the session of three months, called main- 

 ly for this business, and costing the State 

 s2")0,000, had been devoted to matters of gen- 

 eral legislation. The refunding act provides 

 for the issue of $1,000,000 in new bonds, pay- 

 able in twenty years, with interest at six per 

 cent., payable semi-annually. These were to 

 be issued from time to time on requisition of 

 the Fund Commissioners, as the proceeds were 

 needed to pay maturing bonds of the State, 

 and were to be applied to that nse only. An 

 act was passed making a new division of the 

 State into thirty-four senatorial districts. After 

 a good deal of discussion, and a strong opposi- 

 tion, an act was passed providing for submitting 

 to a vote of the people at the election in No- 

 vember the question of holding a convention 

 to revise the constitution of the State. An 

 attempt was made to carry through a bill pro- 

 viding that the State should a-Miine the debts 

 of the counties, and fund the same in bonds of 

 the Commonwealth. This occupied a good deal 

 of time, but was finally defeated. An important 

 change was ina-le in the school law. The town- 

 ship boards were abolished, and the office of 

 county commissioners created. The people are 

 empowered to vote a tax at their annual school- 



