TEXAS. 



729 



following Democratic ticket : Governor, Eich- 

 ard Coke; Lieutenant-Governor, K. B. Hub- 

 bard; Controller, S. H. Darden ; Treasurer, 

 A. J. .Dora ; Commissioner of Land Office, J. 

 J. Groos ; Attorney-General, H. H. Boone. 

 Supreme Court Judges : Chief-Justice, O. M. 

 Eoberts; Associates, George F. Moore, R. S. 

 Gould ; Appellate Bench, John P. White, C. 

 M. Winkler, M. D; Ector. 



The platform upon which this ticket was 

 elected had been adopted by the State Con- 

 vention, which had assembled in Galveston 

 early in January, and' was as follows : 



We, the Democracy, in convention assembled, 

 hereby declare our principles and policy, and ask 

 for them the popular approval : 



1. We reaffirm our faith in the principles of the 

 Democratic party as heretofore enunciated by our 

 State Conventions; and congratulate the people up- 

 on the faithful redemption of all the pledges upon 

 which the Democratic party was recently placed in 

 power in Texas, and point to the honesty and effi- 

 ciency of our present State administration as a guar- 

 antee of our continued fidelity to the interests of the 

 State and people. 



2. The Democratic party, now as in the past ad- 

 hering to its policy of maintaining an efficient sys- 

 tem of general education, declare it to be the duty 

 of the Legislature of the State to speedily establish 

 and make provision for the support and maintenance 

 of public free schools, and to this end to exercise the 

 whole power with which it is invested. 



3. The sufferings and losses of our people on the 

 frontier from the forays of savages, and upon the 

 Mexican border from invasions, murder, and rapine, 

 by the Mexican banditti, enlist our deep and sincere 

 sympathy ; and while we hereby pledge our most en- 

 ergetic efforts to afford them adequate protection in 

 person and property by the State, we also earnestly 

 appeal to the General Government to give that pro- 

 tection and security to our people and their property 

 thus exposed, to which they are entitled under the 

 Constitution of the United States. 



4. That the Democratic party, firmly upholding 

 the Constitution of the United States as the founda- 

 tion and limitation of the powers of the General 

 Government, and the safe shield of the liberties of 

 the people, demands for the citizen the largest free- 

 dom consistent with public order, and for every State 

 the right of self-government and home-rule ; that to 



uphold the former and protect the latter the Democ- 

 racy of Texas plants itself for the great leading prin- 

 ciples enunciated in the inaugurafof President Jef- 

 ferson and the farewell address of the immortal 

 Jackson, and enters the contest of 1876 with the 

 firm conviction that the elements of opposition to 

 the national Administration should be consolidated 

 in the approaching presidential campaign, without 

 prejudice to the unity and perpetuity of the Demo- 

 cratic organization. 



5. We pledge to the nominees of this convention 

 our earnest and active support. 



The assessed value of property in 1874 was 

 $241,841,860 ; in 1875 it was believed that with 

 a proper system of assessment it would amount 

 to $300,000,000. The taxation of 1873 amount- 

 ed to $2,517,394, of which $1,286,188 ($168,- 

 254 on polls and $1,117,934 on property) was 

 State and $1,231,206 county. The estimated 

 receipts during the year ending August 31, 

 1876, available for the general expenses of the 

 State, are $1,289,348; available for school-pur- 

 poses, $715,129.70 : total, $2,004,477.70, of 

 which $1,400,130 are from taxes on property, 

 $279,000 from occupation-tax, $170,347.70 

 from poll-taxes, $125,000 from interest on per- 

 manent school-fund, and $30,000 from office- 

 fees. The appropriations for the same period 

 are as follows : for executive departments, 

 $182,230; judicial department, $256,625; school 

 department, $505,400, including $500,000 for 

 teachers' wages ; Blind Asylum, $16,120.; Deaf 

 and Dumb Asylum, $14,000 ; Lunatic Asylum, 

 $38,300; penitentiary, $40,000 ; interest, $480- 

 000 ; frontier defense, 150,000 ; other purposes, 

 $5,610: total, $1,688,285. The bonded debt 

 on August 31, 1875, amounted to $4,107,588; 

 floating debt, $614,326.36: total, $4,721,914.36. . 

 Besides this there was a debt of doubtful va- 

 lidity, amounting to $829,687.66, and consist- 

 ing of bonds issued by the State to the school 

 and university funds, with accrued interest 

 thereon. 



The railroads now in operation in Texas are 

 as follows : 



The Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio 

 Railroad is in progress (1876) toward San 

 * Consolidated as the International & Great Northern. 



Antonio, and the extension of the Gulf, West- 

 ern Texas & Pacific Eailroad to that city is 

 contemplated. The Houston & Texas Central 



