UNITED STATES. 



809 



men suffrage movement requires persistent appeal to 

 the Legislature of each State by the citizens thereof, 

 by means of petitions, supported at legislative hear- 

 ings, by competent advocates, and accompanied by 

 public meetings and a wide circulation of tracts and 

 newspapers. And 



Whereas, The United States Courts have affirmed 

 that the regulation of suffrage belongs exclusively to 

 the States, and that " women are citizens and, as 

 such, may be made voters by appropriate State lelsla- 

 tion " ; and 



Whereas, A sixteenth amendment to the Federal 

 Constitution abolishing political distinctions on ac- 

 count of sex, although just and necessary, can be 

 more easily obtained when several States have set 

 the example : therefore, 



_ Resolved, That we urge every existing State Asso- 

 ciation to renewed effort upon the next and the fol- 

 lowing State Legislature ; and in every State where 

 no such association exists, we urge individual effort 

 and the immediate formation of a State society. 



The crops of 1878, as has already been else- 

 where remarked, were enormous. The corn 

 crop was some 30,000,000 bushels larger than 

 that of 1877. The oat crop was somewhat in 

 excess of that of 1877, making it the largest 

 ever raised in this country. The average yield 

 per acre, however, was less than in 1877, and 

 the quality in most of the States was inferior. 

 There was no material change in the barley 

 crop from 1877, except that California in- 

 creased her acreage from 450,000 to 650,000 

 acres, and almost doubled her yield per acre. The 

 total product for the year was, in round num- 

 bers, 42,000,000 bushels against 34,500,000 in 

 1877. The rye crop was about one sixth larger 

 than in 1877, but the quality of the crop was 

 inferior in the New England (except Connect- 

 icut) and the Southern States, while in the 

 States of the West, Northwest, and Pacific 

 slope, it was superior, except in Illinois and 

 Nebraska. The potato crop showed a large 

 decline as compared with 1877, though the 

 acreage was about the same, the difference 

 being less than one per cent. The average 

 yield of the whole country was 96 bushels per 

 acre, against 94 in 1877, making a total prod- 

 uct, in round numbers, of 124,000,000 bush- 

 els for 1878 against 170,000,000 in 1877. The 

 hay crop .was 20 per cent, greater than last 

 year. Sorghum is receiving increased atten- 

 tion, especially in the trans-Mississippi States 

 and Territories. In Stearns County, Minn., a 

 variety called amber-cane is reported as yield- 

 ing as high as 300 gallons of sirup per acre. 

 Delaware County, Iowa, manufactured 100,000 

 gallons of sirup during the year, and found a 

 home demand for the whole. The tobacco crop 

 was larger and exceptionally good. There is 

 more cotton, more wheat, more corn, and more 

 pork to export to other nations than at any 

 other time in the history of the country. (See 



COMMEEOE.) 



The importation of the single article of for- 

 eign dry goods has declined in value since 1873 

 as follows : 1873, $114,160,465 ; 1874, $106,520,- 

 453; 1875, $99,816,025; 1876, $80,716,163; 

 1877, $77,756,778; 1878, $74,863,197. 



A decision of the United States Supreme 



Court set at rest all questions relating to the 

 opening and examining of postal matter while 

 at the office of deposit, in transit, or at the 

 office of delivery. It attaches to sealed letters 

 and packages sent by mail the right of privacy 

 as completely as to the writings of citizens in 

 their own houses. The opinion was delivered 

 by Justice Field. Its points are as follows : 



1. The power vested in Congress to establish 

 t post-roads and post-offices " embraces the regula- 

 tion of the entire postal system of the country. Un- 

 der it Congress may designate what shall be carried 

 m the mails and what shall be excluded. 



2. In the enforcement of regulations excluding 

 matter from the mail a distinction is to be made be- 

 tween different kinds of mail matter between what 

 is intended to be kept free from inspection, such as 

 letters and sealed packages subject to letter postage, 

 and what is open to inspection, such as newspapers 

 magazines, pamphlets, and other printed matter, pur- 

 pbsely left in a condition to be examined. 



3. Letters and sealed packages subject to letter 

 postage in the mail can only be opened and exam- 

 ined under like warrant, issued upon similar oath or 

 affirmation, particularly describing the thing to be 

 seized, as is required when papers are subjected to 

 search in one's own household. The constitutional 

 guarantee of the right of the people to be secure in 

 their persons against unreasonable searches and seiz* 

 ures extends to their papers, thus closed against in- 

 spection, wherever they may be. 



4. Regulations against transportation in the mail 

 of printed matter which is open to examination can 

 not be enforced so as to interfere in any manner with 

 the freedom of the press. Liberty of circulating is 

 essential to that freedom. When, therefore, printed 

 matter is excluded from the mail its transportation 

 in any other way can not be forbidden by Congress. 



5. Regulations excluding matter from the mail may 

 be enforced through the courts, upon competent evi- 

 dence of their violation obtained in other ways than 

 by the unlawful inspection of letters and sealed pack- 

 ages ; and with respect to objectionable printed mat- 

 ter, open to examination, they may in some cases 

 also be enforced by the direct action of the offices 

 of the postal service upon their own inspection, as 

 where the object is exposed and shows unmistakably 

 that it is prohibited, as in the case of an obscene pic- 

 ture or print. 



6. When a party is convicted of an offense, and 

 sentenced to pay a fine, it is within the discretion of 

 the court to order his imprisonment until the fine is 

 paid. 



An important decision of Attorney-General 

 Devens, respecting the preparation of patents 

 and patent cases, was sent to the Secretary of 

 the Interior on August 14th. It was to the 

 effect that letters patent issuing to two or more 

 persons, when but one of them is the real in- 

 ventor, are void, and can not be made valid by 

 any act of the parties concerned or by the Pat- 

 ent-Office. This decision was designed to cor- 

 rect an irregularity of long standing in the al- 

 lowance of patents. 



In the act of Congress passed February 1,9th 

 to authorize the free coinage of the silver stand- 

 ard dollar and to restore its legal-tender char- 

 acter, there was a provision that the President 

 should invite the Governments of the countries 

 composing the Latin Union, so called, and of 

 such other European nations as he might deem 

 advisable, to join the United States in a confer- 

 ence to adopt a common ratio between gold 



