TEXAS. 



797 



which is limited to $30. It is believed that 

 the present endowment of the university will 

 be largely increased by additional appropri- 

 ations, so as from the beginning to insure the 

 establishment of a university of the first class 

 on a firm foundation. The Agricultural and 

 Mechanical College, formerly a literary high- 

 school, has been made an agricultural and me- 

 chanical college in reality, instructing the stu- 

 dents in the science and art of agriculture, in 

 the mechanic arts, and in natural science gen- 

 erally. Tuition is free, and board is given at 

 the low rate of $130 for the scholastic year; 

 and, in addition, the board expenses and books 

 of 93 students, selected by competitive exami- 

 nation from the 31 senatorial districts, are paid 

 by the State. The number of matriculants on 

 December 31st was 200. The present outfit of 

 this college is very insufficient, both in farm 

 machinery and in stock. The directors of the 

 institution, in their last report, point out these 

 deficiencies, and ask for an appropriation of 

 $50,000 to purchase a well-stocked and fully 

 equipped farm, and additional tools and me- 

 chanical appliances for the workshops. Means 

 are also asked to provide quarters for 200 ad- 

 ditional students. The State Democratic Con- 

 vention, at Galveston, adopted the following in 

 relation to the public schools as a part of their 

 platform : 



We favor the fullest education of the masses, white 

 and colored, in separate common schools, and the ad- 

 vanced education of the youths of the country in our 

 higher schools and State University. We favor the 

 maintenance of normal schools for the instruction of 

 teachers. 



We favor the submission to the people of a consti- 

 tutional amendment authorizing the levy and collec- 

 tion of a special school-lax, separate from the general 

 revenues, to the end that an efficient system of public 

 free schools may be maintained, and that the State 

 tax may be reduced to the actual necessities of the 

 State government. 



We favor the protection of the public school lands 

 of the State from waste and sacrifice, and pledge our- 

 selves to secure returns from said lands, commensu- 

 rate with the real value of the same. 



There are a number of well-conducted and 

 numerously attended colleges mostly denomi- 

 national and private academies throughout 

 the State, the principal of which are, the 

 Methodist College, at Fredericksburg, Gillespie 

 County; Marvin College, at Waxahachie, in 

 Ellis County ; male and females colleges at Go- 

 liad and Sherman ; Woodland Female College, 

 at Paris; Trinity University (Presbyterian), 

 at Tehuacana Hills, and Polytechnic Institute, 

 at Mexia, Limestone County ; Waco University 

 (Baptist), and Female College (Methodist), at 

 Waco; Southwestern University (Methodist), 

 and Hound Rock College, at Georgetown, Will- 

 iamson County; and Soule University and 

 Chapel Hill Female College in Washington 

 County. The Methodist denomination are 

 about to establish a college at San Saba. 



STATE INSTITUTIONS. There are two State 

 Penitentiaries, one at Huntsville, Walker Coun- 

 ty, and one at Rusk, Cherokee County. The 



policy of the Legislature with regard to these 

 institutions is to provide as far as practicable 

 for the accommodation and profitable employ- 

 ment of the convicts within the walls of the 

 Penitentiary, and abandon, gradually, the prac- 

 tice of leasing the convicts for outside labor. 

 At the close of this year, the two penitentiaries 

 were leased for fifteen years from the 1st of 

 January, 1883, for $10,000 per annum for each, 

 commencing with 300 convicts at Rusk, to be 

 increased in equal numbers each year, until 

 the number reaches 800 at the end of the third 

 year, and with 400 convicts at Huntsville, in- 

 creasing to 600 by the end of the third year. 

 About 900 convicts, in numbers not less than 

 60, were leased on August 15th for five years 

 to individuals for work on farms, at an average 

 of $15 per month for each convict, yielding, 

 after paying cost of guards, etc. (about $9), a 

 net revenue of $6 per month for each convict. 

 The lessees of the two penitentiaries assume 

 and agree to carry out these contracts for farm- 

 labor made by the State. The convicts are 

 said to be well fed, clothed, and lodged, to be 

 humanely treated, and worked for not more 

 than ten hours per day. The net proceeds of 

 the lease of the convicts, according to the last 

 report made in 1882, amount to $255,134.47. 



The Asylum for the Education of the Blind, 

 and the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, at 

 Austin, have been well managed and efficient, 

 as far as the means appropriated for their sup- 

 port and enlargement would permit. The 

 Asylum for the Insane is totally inadequate to 

 accommodate even one half the applicants for 

 admission, who are now confined in the jails, 

 homes, and log-cabins in all parts of the State. 

 Credible persons state that in many places, 

 families too poor to hire nurses or keepers have 

 confined their insane relatives in pens, feeding 

 them, like wild beasts, through the spaces be- 

 tween the logs, and that many of these unfor- 

 tunate people have perished from want of 

 proper care and ordinary good treatment. 



One hundred and one thousand, nine hun- 

 dred and four acres of the public lands have 

 been set apart to each of the State asylums- 

 Deaf and Dumb, Blind, Insane, and Orphans' 

 Asylum. 



EXPORTS OF PRODUCE. The following is an 

 exhibit of the value of the products of Texas 

 actually exported during the year ending Au- 

 gust 31, 1882 : 



Cotton, 878.854 bales 



Wool, 22,299,652 pounds 



Hides, 13,572,795 pounds 



Cattle, 681,367 head 



Horses and mules, 43,724 head 



Cotton-ceed, cake, and oil 



Sugar and molasses 



Miscellaneous 8.4->7.5b8 



$81,238,554 



The falling off in the cotton-crop of 1881-'82, 

 as compared with the previous year, amounted 

 to 381,393 bales. 



The cattle, sheep, and wool interests of Texas 

 are second only to those of agriculture, and 



