426 



INDIANA. 



736 ; against, 45,975 ; majority, 77,761 : second 

 amendment for, 124,952 ; against, 42,896 ; 

 majority, 82,056 : third for, 128,038 ; against, 

 40,163 ; majority, 87,875 : fourth for, 125,170 ; 

 against, 42,162; majority, 83,008: fifth for, 

 128,731 ; against, 38,348 ; majority, 90,386 : 

 sixth for, 116,570; against, 41,434; majority, 

 75,136: ninth for, 126,221; against, 36,435 ; 

 majority 89,786. 



As the close of the session drew near, the 

 Governor issued a call for the Legislature to 

 hold a special session, which by the Con- 

 stitution might be continued for forty days. 

 This was rendered necessary by the accumu- 

 lation of business resulting from the attempt 

 of the Legislature critically to consider the 

 vast body of legislation proposed for adoption 

 by the commission appointed by the act of 

 1879 to compile and revise the existing statutes 

 of the State. 



The acts of the session were strictly of a 

 local nature. A joint resolution was adopted 

 proposing an amendment to the Constitution 

 whereby the manufacture and sale of liquor of 

 any kind for purposes other than mechanical, 

 medicinal, and sacramental, shall be unlawful. 

 Another joint resolution for the amendment of 

 the Constitution proposed to give to women 

 the right of suffrage at all elections; another 

 proposed to lengthen the terms of county offi- 

 cers to four years ; and another increases the 

 number of Supreme Court judges. 



The joint resolution to prohibit the manu- 

 facture and sale of intoxicating liquors, as above 

 mentioned, was adopted, instead of a stringent 

 liquor law, which a large body of the members 

 of the Legislature were pledged to support. In 

 the House it was passed by a vote of 47 yeas 

 to 36 nays. The vote of both Houses was po- 

 litically divided as follows: 



The returns of the census of 1880 have not 

 yet been fully compiled ; but, by those of 1870, 

 the number of establishments in the State at 

 that time which would have been closed up by 

 such a constitutional amendment was as fol- 

 lows : 



At the same session the legal disabilities of 

 married women to make contracts were changed 

 as follows : A married woman may hold prop- 

 erty and control it an if she were unmarried, 

 and may in her own name sell, exchange, and 

 convey her personal property. She shall be 

 bound by estoppel and by her covenants of 

 title, but she shall not become a surety. Mar- 



ried women shall be liable for their torts, and 

 the husband shall not be liable for the contracts 

 or torts of his wife unless where torts are com- 

 mitted with his consent. If he has received 

 property through her he shall be liable to that 

 extent for her debts contracted before nuir- 

 riage. The wife alone shall be liable for re- 

 pairs of her property. Where the husband 

 deserts his wife and children, or is sent to the 

 penitentiary, or is an habitual drunkard, or re- 

 fuses to live with his wife, and also fails to 

 provide for his wife and children, the wife may 

 commence an action to recover any obligation 

 in favor of the husband, and the court may 

 make allowances out of the same, and the 

 court may also order the real or personal prop- 

 erty of the husband to be sold or leased to 

 make provisions for his wife and children, or 

 the court may authorize the wife to convey or 

 encumber the real estate without the husband 

 joining in the deed or mortgage. This last 

 provision also applies where the husband is 

 insane. 



The Legislature of 1879, appreciating the dif- 

 ficulty of making a revision, provided that the 

 Supreme Court judges should appoint three per- 

 sons as revision commissioners. The judges 

 accordingly appointed three distinguished mem- 

 bers of the bar, the result of whose labors 

 appears all through the acts of 1881, and will 

 further appear in the acts of 1883, not only in 

 a briefer and better expression of the old stat- 

 utes, but also in the addition of many new pro- 

 visions. Their services will also extend to a 

 better arrangement of the sections of the laws, 

 with appropriate catch-words at the head of 

 each section, and with a careful and elaborate 

 index, and annotation citing the decisions of 

 the courts, and with the correction of occa- 

 sional misprints. 



In the year 1880 there were devoted to the 

 production of cereals 6,972,191 acres, as fol- 

 lows: 



Estimating the population of Indiana at 2,- 

 000,000, it will be seen that the acres devoted 

 to bread-crops amounted to something more 

 than three acres per capita, with a product 

 above eighty-eight bushels per capita. 



The crop of tobacco in the State, as returned 

 to the Census Bureau, presented the following 

 result : 



Acreage, acres . ... 11,955 



Production, pounds 8,872,842 



Value of crops in farmers' hands $448,642 00 



Value per 100 pounds 



Value per acre 



Cost of production per 100 pounds 8 60 



Difference between cost and value per 100 pounds 1 40 



