MISSISSIPPI. 



MISSOURI. 



575 



braced in this section. The soil is a rich, dark 

 alluvium, made by the overflow of the Missis- 

 sippi, Yazoo, and their tributaries, covering 

 over with rich deposits the immense vegeta- 

 tion of the bottom lands. These lands, when 

 above overflow or protected by levees (em- 

 bankments or dikes), produce immense crops 

 of cotton and corn, frequently two bales of 

 cotton per acre and 60 to 80 bushels of corn. 

 Stock, such as cattle and hogs, do remarkably 

 well in this section, and can be raised very 

 cheaply. The timber trees of this region are 

 vast and various white, water, and willow 

 oaks, ash, beech, sweet-gum, cottonwood, hick- 

 ory, black-gum, willow, sycamore, and elm ; 

 while the sloughs, bayous, and lakes are filled 

 with gigantic cypress, towering above the other 

 trees in the forest. These cypress-brakes are 

 of immense value, as the cypress lumber is very 

 durable and well suited for shingles and other 

 building purposes. The " bluff region," or 

 eane hills, run parallel with the Yazoo and 

 Mississippi Rivers from the mouth of the Yalo- 

 busha, gradually widening out to the Louisiana 

 line. At Vicksburg the bluff formation ex- 

 tends east to the Big Black River, at Natchez 

 as far as four or five miles east of Fayette, in 

 Jefferson County, and in Wilkinson clear across 

 the county and as far as one or two miles east 

 of Centerville, in Amite County. It comprises 

 the western hills of Leflore, Carroll, Holmes, 

 and Yazoo, and nearly the whole of Warren, 

 Claiborne, Jefferson, Adams, and Wilkinson 

 Counties ; also a portion of the western parts 

 of Franklin and Amite. Near the Mississippi 

 the hills are of a steep bluff character, gradu- 

 ally growing less abrupt eastward until they 

 become gently undulating. On the Big Black, 

 Bayou Pierre, and Homochitto Rivers there 

 are vast areas of the finest bottom lands, equal 

 in fertility to the Mississippi bottom lands. 

 The soil of this region is composed of a brown- 

 ish loam of the greatest fertility, underlaid with 

 silt largely mixed with small shells. The hills 

 are covered with trees of enormous size white, 

 red, and black oaks, poplar, beech, hickory, 

 etc. This is the home of the magnolia, which 

 is one of the most prominent and largest forest 

 trees ; they are so numerous in the southern 

 portion of this region that when in bloom 

 their grand flowers perfume the whole forest 

 with their fragrance. This region is rated at 

 the head of the uplands in the State in point 

 of fertility and for agricultural purposes. 



The prevalance in the State of yellow fever 



during the summer caused a great loss of life 



and much damage to its material prosperity, 



^ which was estimated at $40,000,000. (See 



FEVER, YELLOW.) 



The only election held in the State during 

 the year was for the choice of members of 

 Congress. It took place on November 5th, 

 and resulted as follows : First District Henry 

 L. Muldrow, Democrat, 9,632 ; Reuben Davis, 

 National, 6, 602. Second District Van H. Man- 

 ning, Democrat, 7,339 ; J. H. Amacker, Na- 



tional, 5,969. Third District H. D. Money, 

 Democrat, 4,028 ; scattering, 12. Fifth Dis- 

 trict Charles E. Hooker, Democrat, 4,816; 

 J. H. Deacon, Republican, 697. Sixth District 

 James R. Chalmers, Democrat, 6,663 ; E. J. 

 Costello, Republican, 1,388. 



Each branch of the State Legislature has a 

 large Democratic majority. 



An act passed by the Legislature, to exclude 

 the importation of diseased cattle from Texas 

 into the State, was declared to be unconstitu- 

 tional by the Federal Supreme Court during 

 the summer. The points decided were as fol- 

 lows: 



1. A statute of a State which prohibits driving or 

 conveying any Texas, Mexican, or Indian cattle into 

 the State, between the first day of March and the 

 first day of December in each year, is in conflict with 

 the clause of the Constitution of the United States 

 that ordains, u Congress shall have power to regu- 

 late commerce with foreign nations and among the 

 several States, and with the Indian tribes." 



2. Such a statute is not a legitimate exercise of 

 the police power of the State. It is more than a 

 quarantine regulation. 



3. The police power of a State can not be exer- 

 cised over a subject such as inter-State transporta- 

 tion of subjects of commerce confined exclusively to 

 Congress by the Federal Constitution. 



4. While a State may enact sanitary laws, while, 

 for the purpose of self-protection, it may establish 

 quarantine and reasonable injunction regulations, 

 while it may prevent persons and animals suffering 

 under contagious or infectious diseases from enter- 

 ing the State, it can not interfere with transpor- 

 tation into or through its borders, beyond what is 

 absolutely necessary for its self-protection. 



5. Neither the unlimited power of a State to tax, 

 nor any of its police powers, can be exercised to 

 such an extent as to work a practical assumption of 

 the powers conferred by the Constitution upon Con- 

 gress. 



6. Since the range of a State's police power comes 

 very near to the field committed by the Constitution 

 to Congress, it is the duty of courts to guard vigi- 

 lantly against any needless intrusion. 



MISSOURI. No topic attracted more dis- 

 cussion in this State during the year than that 

 of the alleged irregularities in the office of the 

 State Treasurer, Elijah Gates, by which, it was 

 charged, the State had sustained considerable 

 losses. In view of these disclosures a com- 

 mittee was appointed by Governor Phelps to 

 inquire into the financial transactions of the 

 Treasurer, and to report the actual condition 

 of the Treasury. This committee consisted of 

 State Senator M. H. Phelan and Representa- 

 tives Dabney C. Dade and Francis M. Harring- 

 ton. The investigation was begun December 

 10th, and the report was made early in Janu- 

 ary. It was found that the Treasurer's books 

 showed on the 31st of December, 1878, the 

 following : 



Balance received from former Treasurer $525,473 55 



Receipts during 1877 3.583,457 26 



Receipts during 1878 2,962,163 71 



Total receipts $7,071,094 52 



Warrants paid in 1877 $3,538,699 17 



Warrants paid in 187S 3,059,929 48 



Balance on hand 472,465 92 



Total $7,071,094 52 



