FLORIDA. 



297 



reasonably great^ we answer that the constitution 

 prescribes no limit of value, and the courts cannot 

 prescribe one. As before stated, we think that a 

 man's shop, store, or mill, in which he pursues his 

 usual trade or avocation (as well as the farmer's 

 farm), if connected with and adjacent to his dwell- 

 ing, is intended to be included in his homestead. 

 It is the stand or place on which and by means 

 of which he may continue to pursue his industrial 

 labor and be a useful citizen, and is within the ob- 

 ject which the constitution has in view. 



On the night of July 21st, Dr. E. G. John- 

 son, a member of the State Senate, was shot 

 and killed, near Hart's Road, on the line of the 

 Atlantic, Gulf & West India Transit Com- 

 pany's Railroad. Dr. Johnson was a Republi- 

 can in politics, and an outspoken partisan, and 

 his assassination is supposed to have been 

 prompted by political enmity. A reward of 

 $1,000 was offered by the Governor for the 

 apprehension of the perpetrator of the deed, 

 and an additional reward of $1,000 was offered 

 by Nassau County for the same purpose. A 

 man named Harney Richard was arrested, and 

 was indicted for the crime, after one grand-jury 

 Lad failed to find an indictment. 



In November, Governor Stearns referred to 

 the justices of the Supreme Court the question 

 whether the Legislature would meet in regu- 

 lar session in January, 1876, under the opera- 

 tion of the amendment to the constitution. 

 The constitution, before amendment, provided 

 for annual sessions, and the amendment de- 

 clared that u from and after the first Tuesday 

 after the first Monday in January, A. D. 1877, 

 the regular sessions of the Legislature shall be 

 held biennially, commencing on said day, and 

 on the corresponding day of every second 

 year thereafter." Chief- Justice Randall re- 

 plied that "the original section 2 of Article 

 IV., which provided for annual sessions of the 

 Legislature, having been abrogated by the 

 amendment, and there remaining no provision 

 anywhere for a regular session in January, A. 

 D. 1876, such session would be unauthorized. 

 The original section provided that the Gov- 

 ernor might convene the Legislature in extra 

 session by his proclamation, and this provision 

 is not changed, but reiterated, by the amend- 

 ment. If a session of the Legislature is to be 

 held before 1877, it must be in virtue of such 

 proclamation. 



Mr. Justice Westcott gave an opinion to the 

 same effect, saying further : 



There are many cases in which the letter of an 

 act of the Legislature is made to yield to the spirit 

 and intention of the law-making power. The rules 

 to ascertain this spirit and intention are, for the 

 most part, simple in their nature. In this case, 

 however, admitting the application of the rule to 

 changes in the organic law, the Legislature and the 

 people have, by their action, left nothing to con- 

 struction. To say that this section, as amended, 

 which is the entire law, authorized a session in 

 January, 1876, would be simple judicial legislation. 

 In all of the States in which the method of amend- 

 ment here followed has been adopted, the unvary- 

 ing rule is that nothing of the old section which is 

 omitted from the new section as enacted is in the 

 future operative as law. The very purpose of requir- 



ing the section, as amended, to be published entire, 

 is to give certainty, by declaring the whole law, leav- 

 ing nothing open for construction. The Legislature 

 and people expressly omitting all authority for a 

 session in January, 1876, from the new section, and 

 nothing but the new section being now operative as 

 law, it follows, necessarily, that there is no constitu- 

 tional sanction for any regular session until the first 

 Tuesday after the first Monday in January, A. D. 



No general election took place in Florida 

 this year, and no important action of the po- 

 litical organizations calls for notice. The Re- 

 publican State Central Committee held a meet- 

 ing at Tallahassee on the 20th of October, and 

 determined to issue an address to the people, 

 "setting forth the objects and principles of 

 the Republican party, and inviting the coop- 

 eration and support of all liberty-loving and 

 law-abiding citizens." This was done, but 

 the document, which dealt with civil and 

 political equality, education, the suppression 

 of crime, immigration, internal improvements, 

 State finances, etc., had no immediate reference 

 to any political action. 



The Florida Fruit-Growers' Association held 

 a four days' session at Jacksonville, beginning 

 January 20th. A great variety of topics was 

 discussed, including the best means of trans- 

 porting the products of the State to the North- 

 ern markets, and the advantages and methods 

 of cultivating oranges, grapes, tobacco, sugar, 

 and other productions for which the soil and 

 climate of Florida are specially adapted. The 

 importance of special lines of steamers from 

 Florida ports was urged on the ground that a 

 large share of the advantage and credit of her 

 work was obtained by Georgia. The earliest 

 fruits were sent north from Florida, but cred- 

 ited to Savannah because shipped from that 

 port, and the finest shad from the St. John's 

 River were noticed in commercial and other 

 reports as coming from the same place for the 

 same reason. It was shown that orange-trees 

 could be made to yield from $20 to $30 a year 

 each, and that there was hardly any limit to 

 the possible production of this fruit. It was 

 also mentioned that the grape and other small 

 fruits, including the fig, could be raised in the 

 greatest abundance and of the finest quality. 

 Cuba tobacco was said to be a very profitable 

 crop wherever there had been any systematic 

 cultivation of it. It had been neglected for 

 some years, and in Gadsden County, where 

 1,200,000 pounds were raised in 1860, the prod- 

 uct in 1874 had been only 200,000 pounds, but 

 would be doubled in 1875. It was also said that 

 the sugar-cane was much better adapted to 

 Florida than Louisiana. Some comparisons 

 were made of the natural resources and advan- 

 tages of Florida for agricultural purposes with 

 those of other sections of the country, and it 

 was claimed that this State was the very gar- 

 den of the continent, needing only capital, en- 

 terprise, and systematic industry, to develop 

 its riches. 

 In a lecture on "The Resources of Florida," 



