MICHIGAN. 



501 



immediately, it is certain that no element of disor- 

 der in that State can be maintained. 



In the rest of the republic the benefits of peace 

 are enjoyed, solidly supported by public opinion, 

 which, with the experience of former revolutions, 

 condemns all sorts of rebellious movements. 



It is gratifying to the Executive to state to Con- 

 gress that he has hardly had occasion to make use 

 of the extraordinary faculties which were conceded 

 to him. He has sought duly to reciprocate the con- 

 fidence of Congress by abstaining from the use of 

 them in so far as his own faculties were sufficient. 

 Nevertheless, the concession of these extraordinary 

 powers has not been fruitless, as it has prevented 

 the extension of disorder, and also because the sim- 

 ple fact of investing the Government with all neces- 

 sary power has restrained those who wished to cre- 

 ate public disorder. 



Without neglecting the other branches of the 

 Administration, the development of public improve- 

 ments has been zealously sought, under the convic- 

 tion that these will assure peace, being the most 

 efficacious element of social progress. 



The contract has been renewed with the steamship 

 company engaged in the traffic between certain of 

 our Pacific ports, for the benefit of the trade carried 

 on between them. 



The new telegraph-lines are completed between 

 the following places : San Luis Fotosi and Tampico ; 

 Mexico and Vera Cruz; Cuernavaca and Cuautla; 

 and Tepeje" and Tula in the State of Hidalgo. 



The work at the ports of Frontera and Tabasco are 

 rapidly advancing toward completion; and those at 

 the mole of Mazatlan have been commenced. 



The railway line from Vera Cruz to Zamorana is 

 completed ; and that from Vera Cruz to Jalapa has 

 been in operation since June last. The line from 

 Merida* to Progreso is in rapid course of prepara- 

 tion ; as is also the wagon-road from Tehuacan to 

 the capital of Oajaca. The surveying has been com- 

 pleted for more than 200 kilometres of the Central 

 Kailway. 



MICHIGAN. The only general election for 

 the year was for judges and Regents of the 

 University, and it resulted as follows : For 

 Justices of the Supreme Court, Benjamin F. 

 Graves was reflected for the regular term 

 without opposition. To fill the vacancy occa- 

 sioned by the election of Judge Christiancy to 

 the United States Senate, the vote was: for 

 Isaac Marston, Republican, 117,951 ; for Ly- 

 man D. Norris, Democrat, 91,876 : Republican 

 majority, 26,075. For Regents of the Univer- 

 sity, Samuel S. Walker and Byron M. Cut- 

 cheon, Republicans, were chosen over Samuel 

 T. Douglass and Peter White, Democrats, by 

 an average majority of 21,163. The following 

 persons were chosen Circuit Judges in the sev- 

 eral circuits : 



1. D. L. Pratt, Ind. 



2. H. H. Cooledge, E. 

 8. C. J. Reilly, D. 



4. M. D. Huntingdon, D. 



5. P. T. Vanzile, R. 



6. A. C. Baldwin, D. 



7. J. Turner, Ind. 



8. L. 8. Lovell, E. 



9. J. L. Hawes, D. 

 10. W. S. Tenant, Ind. 



11. D. Goodwin, Ind. 



12. W. D. Williams, Ind. 



13. K. Hatch, Jr., Ind. 



14. A. H. Giddings, E. 



15. E. W. Keightley, Ind. 



16. E. W. Harris, Ind. 

 IT. Birney Hoyt, E. 



18. 8. M. Green, Ind. 



19. H. H. Wheeler, Ind. 



20. H. Hart, E. 



Those are classed as independent who were 

 chosen either without opposition or against 

 party candidates. 



The most important legislation for the year 



* Merida is the capital of Yucatan, and Progreso the chief 

 resort of shipping in that State. V. 



was that relating to intoxicating liquors. This 

 was contained in several acts. The first im- 

 posed heavy penalties on persons preparing or 

 selling liquors adulterated with any deleterious 

 drug, substance, or liquid, which is poisonous 

 or injurious to health. The second required 

 the payment of an annual tax of $300 by every 

 non-resident selling or taking orders for dis- 

 tilled liquors in the State, and $100 by every 

 one selling or taking orders for malt, brewed, 

 or fermented liquors. The third repealed the 

 prohibitory liquor law, and imposed an annual 

 tax on dealers in liquors as follows : On retail 

 dealers in spirituous or intoxicating liquors, 

 $150; on retail dealers in brewed or malt 

 liquors, $40; on wholesale dealers in spiritu- 

 ous or intoxicating liquors, $300; on manu- 

 facturers of brewed or malt liquors not manu- 

 facturing over 1,500 bbls., $50; over 1,500 

 and not exceeding 5,000, $100; over 5,000, 

 $200 ; on manufacturers of spirituous or intox- 

 icating liquors, $300. The tax was to be paid 

 over for the benefit of the contingent fund of 

 the township, village, or city, in which the 

 business was carried on. The third made 

 stringent provisions to prevent the sale or de- 

 livery of intoxicating liquors, wine, and beer, 

 to minors, and to drunken persons or habitual 

 drunkards, and gave an action for damages to 

 the wife, child, parent, guardian, husband, or 

 other person, who should be injured in person 

 or property, or means of support, by unlawful 

 sales. The enforcement of the second of these 

 acts was resisted on various grounds, the most 

 important of which was, that it was in viola- 

 tion of a provision of the State constitution, 

 which prohibits the Legislature from authoriz- 

 ing any license for the sale of spirituous or in- 

 toxicating liquors; the argument being that 

 the taxation of the business implied a protec- 

 tion of the business, and was thus equivalent 

 to a license. This position was judicially held 

 to be unsound, the Supreme Court holding 

 that, as the business was no longer prohibited, 

 and its lawfulness did not in any manner de- 

 pend on taxation, the tax could not be a li- 

 cense, or equivalent to a license ; and, more- 

 over, that it was perfectly competent to tax a 

 business for the purpose of discouraging it, or 

 even to make an illegal business the measure 

 of the tax a man should pay if he persisted in 

 continuing it. The third act above mentioned 

 was also contested on various technical grounds, 

 but was fully sustained. The result of a change 

 in the system from a prohibition of the liquor- 

 traffic to the taxation of it, so far as the same 

 is shown by the licenses issued by the Internal 

 Revenue Bureau, is as follows: number of 

 dealers in 1874, 6,164; number in 1875, 4,991 ; 

 decrease, 1,173. Before the legislation above 

 given, dealers were not taxed at all by State 

 authority, except in a few places under muni- 

 cipal by-laws. 



The State Agricultural College has property 

 consisting of buildings and farm, in and upon 

 which instruction is given, appraised at $240,- 



