622 



NEBRASKA. 



The rapid increase of population, and the con- 

 sequent accumulation of business in the district 

 courts, seemed to make it necessary to exeivise 

 this power. Several bills in both Senate and 

 House of Representatives were therefore intro- 

 duced under different titles, but all purporting 

 to increase the number of judicial districts, 

 and provide judges and other officers for their 

 courts; even one with the definite object of 

 "dividing the State into six judicial districts" 

 was presented ; but no decisive action was 

 taken on any of these bills. 



In the absence of an organized militia, the 

 Governor, as late as April, 1879, was not able 

 to comply with a request made by the Sheriff 

 of Adams County " for a company of troops for 

 service at Hastings, to preserve peace and quiet 

 during the Olive trial " ; but a request for United 

 States soldiers was made, and they were ordered 

 by General Crook to perform that duty. Subse- 

 quently twelve companies of infantry, with one 

 of light artillery, consisting of 598 officers and 

 men, were fully uniformed at their own ex- 

 pense. Upon the occasion of the labor troubles 

 at Omaha in May, 1880, four companies of this 

 force rendered most valuable service. The 

 Legislature has since passed an act " To estab- 

 lish a military code for the State of Nebraska." 

 The act also organizes a body of State militia. 

 Its main provisions are, that every male citizen 

 between eighteen and forty-five years of age, 

 able-bodied, and not otherwise exempt by law, 

 is subject to military duty ; and that the active 

 militia force, which is to be styled " The Ne- 

 braska National Guard," shall consist of two 

 thousand men, recruited for three years by vol- 

 unteering, and distributed into four regiments. 



The usually short session of the Nebraska 

 Legislature was closed in 1881 on February 

 26th ; the bills and joint resolutions passed in 

 it amounted to 86. The aggregate number of 

 those introduced and filed in either House 

 during this session was 454136 in the Senate 

 and 318 in the House of Representatives. 

 Among the acts passed, besides those above 

 mentioned, was one "proposing an amendment 

 to section 1, Article VII, of the State Constitu- 

 tion." Its object is to give women the right to 

 vote at political elections. Both the amend- 

 ment, and the manner of submitting it to the 

 popular vote for adoption or rejection, are ex- 

 pressed in the act as follows : 



SECTION 1. Every person of the age of twenty-one 

 years, and upward, shall be an elector. Firet, citizens 

 of the United States ; aliens naturalized thirty days 

 prior to election. 



SEC. 2. The ballots at the election at which said 

 amendment shall be submitted shall be in the follow- 

 ing form : " For proposed amendment to the Constitu- 

 tion relating to rights of sufirage." " Against the pro- 

 posed amendment to the Constitution relating to rights 

 of suffrage." 



A new school law, repealing or remodeling 

 the whole system of public instruction, and all 

 amendatory acts heretofore in force in the 

 State, was adopted. The act provides for all 

 the departments of the system in detail, being 



distributed into fourteen subdivisions, and each 

 of these into a number of sections. The com- 

 mon-school course is to comprise orthography, 

 physiology, arithmetic, English grammar, and 

 English composition. School-books are to be 

 adopted by the Board of Trustees; and the 

 annual school-meetings are to be held on the 

 first Monday in April, women being allowed to 

 vote in them, provided they own personal prop- 

 erty assessed, or have children of school age. 



A new mechanics' lien law, repealing or 

 amending the one heretofore in force, was en- 

 acted as follows : 



SECTION 1. Any persons who shall perform any labor 

 or furnish any material or machinery or fixtures for 

 the erection, reparation, or removal of any house, mill, 

 manufactory or building, or appurtenance, by virtue 

 of a contract or agreement expressed or implied, with 

 the owner thereof or his agents, shall have a lien to 

 secure the payment of the same, upon such house, mill, 

 manufactory, building, or appurtenance, and the lot of 

 land upon which the same shall stand. Such lien shall 

 be preferred to all other liens or incumbrances which 

 may attach to, or upon, such lands, buildings, or im- 

 provements subsequent to the commencement of such 

 buildings, the furnishing or putting up of such ma- 

 chinery, or the making of such repairs. 



Another act to secure the payment of labor 

 performed or materials furnished for "railroad, 

 canal, bridge, and ditching companies, and per- 

 sons," was passed. A general railroad law was 

 also adopted, "to fix a maximum standard of 

 freight charges on railroads, and to prevent dis- 

 crimination therein, or secret rates, rebates, or 

 drawbacks therefor." It provides for uniform 

 rates, as follows : 



SECTION 2. No company shall hereafter charge, 

 collect, or receive for transportation of merchandise 

 or other property upon said road a higher rate for 

 such services than was charged by said road for like 

 services in November, 1880 : shall not allow drawback 

 or rebate whatever. A violation of this act shall be 

 liable to all damage sustained by such violation, and 

 liable to a fine of $500, to be recovered in the name of 

 the individual injured," and no railroad company shall 

 demand, charge, collect, or receive for such transporta- 

 tion for any specific distance, a greater sum than it de- 

 mands, charges, collects, or receives lor a greater dis- 

 tance." 



A memorial to Congress was also passed rel- 

 ative to unjust discriminations and excessive 

 freight-rates charged by railroad companies, 

 with a joint resolution requesting the Ne- 

 braska Representatives in Congress to favor 

 Federal legislation "to correct the said abuses 

 of railroads." 



An act " to prevent treating in saloons, and 

 other public places," was also passed, which 

 makes both treater and treatee guilty of a mis- 

 demeanor, and imposes on each of them a fine 

 of $10, or imprisonment in jail, or both. They 

 shall also pay to the court $16 for the prose- 

 cuting attorney. If no attorney is employed, 

 this money is to be paid to the school fund. 



An enlargement of the Capitol is under con- 

 struction, and provision has been made for the 

 erection of a building for the deaf and dumb, 

 and to establish a Home for the Friendless. 



In the following table is given the population 

 of the State by counties in 1880 and 1870: 



