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TEXAS. 



veto. Members of the Legislature receive not 

 more than five dollars for each day's attend- 

 ance, and not more than five dollars for each 

 twenty-five miles' travel to and from the capi- 

 tal. The judicial authority is vested in a Su- 

 preme Court, a Court of Appeals, District 

 Courts, county courts, and justices of the peace 

 (inferior cases). The Supreme Court consists 

 of a Chief-Justice and two Associates, and has 

 appellate jurisdiction of civil cases of which 

 the District Courts have original or appellate 

 jurisdiction. The Court of Appeals consists 

 of three judges, and has appellate jurisdiction 

 of criminal cases, and of civil cases of which 

 the county courts have original or appellate 

 jurisdiction. The Judges of the Supreme Court 

 and Court of Appeals are elected by the quali- 

 fied voters for six years, and receive an an- 

 nual salary of $3,500 each. A District Court 

 is held twice a year in each county, having 

 original jurisdiction of felonies, divorce, land 

 titles, etc., and of civil cases involving $500 

 and upward, and appellate jurisdiction of pro- 

 bate cases from the county courts. A District 

 Judge (annual salary, $2,500 ; term, four years) 

 is elected by the qualified voters of each of the 

 twenty-six judicial districts. A county judge 

 is elected by the qualified voters of each coun- 

 ty for two years. The county courts have 

 original jurisdiction of misdemeanors, probate 

 cases, and civil cases involving from $200 to 

 $1,000, and appellate jurisdiction of judgments 

 of justices of the peace. The right of suf- 

 frage is conferred upon every male citizen of 

 the United States, or person who has declared 

 his intention to become such, of sound mind 

 and not a pauper or convict, who has attained 

 the age of twenty-one years, and has resided one 

 year in the State and six months in the county 

 or district. Elections are by ballot. In elections 

 in cities and corporate towns to determine ex- 

 penditure of money or assumption of debt only 

 tax-payers may vote. General elections are 

 held biennially on the Tuesday next after the 

 first Monday of November in even years (com- 

 mencing 1878). Amendments to the constitu- 

 tion must be proposed by two-thirds of each 

 House of the Legislature, and approved by a 

 majority of the people. Texas is entitled to 

 six Representatives and two Senators in Con- 

 gress, and therefore has eight votes in the 

 electoral college. 



After the most exhaustive discussion of the 

 subject of education, the convention deter- 

 mined to limit the present taxation on the 

 people in support of free schools to one-fourth 

 of the annual revenue of the State, and a poll- 

 tax of one dollar on each male inhabitant 

 between the ages of twenty-one and sixty 

 years, which, added to the annual interest on 

 the permanent school-fund, will now amount 

 to the annual sum of about $775,000, so long 

 as the general revenue shall remain as it now 

 is. Besides this the 17,712 acres of land be- 

 longing to every county in the State is an ad- 

 ditional fund for educational purposes. Some 



of the counties have lands worth $5 to $10 per 

 acre. Others are less fortunate, but to all this 

 grant is a material auxiliary to the resources 

 for common-school education, and provision is 

 made for bringing it into market and preserv- 

 ing its principal as a perpetual fund, the inter- 

 est being annually used for school-purposes by 

 the counties themselves. 



While a liberal policy is adopted for the en- 

 couragement of railway construction in the 

 State, every needful power is retained in the 

 hands of the people through the Legislature 

 from time to time, so to regulate and control 

 them as to protect the people from all unjust 

 monopolies and unfair discriminations. 



On this subject the convention has followed 

 the example of Pennsylvania and Missouri in 

 then* constitutions recently adopted after long 

 experience. Neither the Legislature nor any 

 county or town may vote the public money, or 

 fasten a debt by way of subsidy, to any private 

 corporation, whether railroad or other associa- 

 tion for private profit. 



The convention encountered its most diffi- 

 cult problems in trying to reform the judiciary 

 system of the State, under which the greatest 

 burdens have heretofore rested on the people. 

 For the past six years, with forty judges a part 

 of the tune on the bench, the administration of 

 justice has been far behind in nearly all the 

 counties. Parties litigant in civil cases, as 

 well as parties charged with crime, have been 

 so delayed as to amount in thousands of cases 

 to a denial of justice. But the most potent 

 wrong has been upon witnesses and jurors taken 

 from their respective industries and held for 

 days, weeks, and sometimes months, in wait- 

 ing upon the courts ; and the enormous costs 

 in enforcing the criminal laws. This state of 

 things has been deplorable, and a severe tax 

 upon the people. Judicial delays have kept 

 the jails filled with prisoners at a ruinous ex- 

 pense to the counties ; and many misdemeanors 

 having been unwisely placed in the list of 

 felonies, the penitentiary, at great cost to the 

 State, has been made to overflow with con- 

 victs, mostly for short terms. 



It is believed that important advantages 

 have been gained by the judiciary article of 

 the new constitution. By its provisions it is 

 hoped all suits, civil and criminal, may be 

 speedily disposed of, and, if time proves it 

 defective, the Legislature may, to a large ex- 

 tent, remedy the defect. The relief thus af- 

 forded to the people cannot be estimated with 

 accuracy, but may be summed up as an enor- 

 mous annual saving to the industry of the 

 State. There will also be a substantial finan- 

 cial saving. 



Ordinances were adopted dividing the State 

 into twenty-six judicial districts, thirty-one 

 senatorial districts, and seventy-nine repre- 

 sentative districts. 



On the same day on which the constitution 

 was ratified, an election was held for State 

 officers, which resulted in the success of the 



