592 



MICHIGAN. 



Chancery, sales of lands in pursuance of decrees. 



Contracts for sale of real estate, incompetent persons. 



Co-operative and mutual benefit insurance compa- 

 nies, to bring suits against. 



County of Iron organized. 



Corporations, election of directors by minority stock- 

 holders. 



Distribution of estates, act amended. 



Debtors, distribution of property among creditors, 

 act amended. 



Debts and legacies of deceased persons, act amended. 



Day's work, ten hours, act to provide for. 



English sparrow, act to authorize the killing thereof. 



Execution, property exempt from levy. 



Estates, partition and distribution of, act amended. 



Employment of children and women, act to regulate. 



Estates, act to provide wives with property and 

 maintenance from. 



Insurance companies, act for incorporation, to in- 

 sure against cyclones. 



Lands, protection of, cutting timber, act amended. 



Lead-ore, specific tax on, suspended. 



Logs, lumber, timber, protection of, act amended. 



Live-stock, Sanitary Commissioners, State Veterina- 

 rian, appointment of. 



Pardons, Advisory Board. 



Purchasers and settlers on swamp lands, act for 

 relief of, to repeal acts. 



Sanitary Commission, etc., provided for. 



The Governor vetoed a bill abolishing the contract- 

 labor system in prisons. 



A bill to re-establish the death-penalty passed the 

 House, but failed in the Senate. 



A prohibitory constitutional amendment passed the 

 House, but failed in the Senate. 



Financial, The appropriations made by the 

 Legislature, payable in 1885, aggregate $854,- 

 925.77; for 1886, $395,267, making a total of 

 $1,250,192.77 ; to which add appropriations 

 made by previous Legislatures and payable in 

 1885, $160,163.50; and in 1886, $157,663.50; 

 for the two years $317,827; or a total for 1885 

 of $1,015,089.27; for 1886, $552,630.50 ; mak- 

 ing a grand total for the two years of $1,568,- 

 019.77. The amount of tax to be levied for 

 1885 is $1,665,361.40; for 1886, $1,195,389.- 

 17 ; or a grand total for the two years of $2,- 

 850,750.57. 



The entire taxation for State purposes for 

 1885 was a trifle over two mills on the dollar 

 of the equalized valuation ; in 1883 it was one 

 mill and eight tenths. 



Railroads. The report of the Commissioner 

 presents in detail the condition of sixty cor- 

 porations reporting for the year ending Dec. 

 31, 1884, under the control of thirty-four man- 

 agements. The total miles of main track with- 

 in the limits of the State at the close of the 

 year were 5,120-94, an increase from 1883 of 

 155*06 miles. The Commissioner estimates the 

 additional main tracks to be constructed dur- 

 ing 1885 at 98-85 miles. The capital stock of 

 the corporations is reported at $278,792,854.31, 

 an increase upon the preceding year of $18,- 

 139,699.29. It is $2 1,706 per mile of road. Only 

 about 5-85 per cent, of the whole is held by 

 Michigan stockholders. The total indebtedness 

 of the corporations at the close of the year 

 was $345,787,796.36, or $30,231.50 per mile. 



The total traffic earnings during 1884 were 

 $81,807,316.08. From passengers $26,043,964.- 

 73, from freight $55,763,351.35, a decrease from 



the previous year of 9 '43 per cent. The total 

 tax paid by Michigan railroads into the State 

 treasury for the year 1884 was $634,817.28. 



Insurance. In the year ending Dec. 31, 1884, 

 the whole number of insurance companies do- 

 ing business in the State was 177, of which 

 number 124 were joint-stock companies as fol- 

 lows : Three home companies, 96 companies of 

 other States, and 25 foreign companies having 

 branches in the United States. There are also 

 one mutual fire-insurance company of another 

 State, and 52 mutual fire-insurance companies 

 of the State. The net decrease in the number 

 of companies was ten, and the net decrease 

 of capital represented was $2,962,080. 



State Prison. The net earnings for the year 

 ending Nov. 80, 1885, were $87,402.33. The 

 total expenses were $99,613, the expense ex- 

 cess over the earnings being $12,210.66, against 

 $18,501.99 in 1884. The number of inmates 

 is larger than for three years past, being 734, 

 against 670 last year. 



Liquor-Traffic. The number of dealers and 

 collections reported in 1884 was : Dealers, 

 4,167; tax collected, $1,055,473. The total 

 collections for ten years aggregate $6,057,838. 

 While the figures show an increase of 263 sa- 

 loons in the State during the last year reported, 

 an analysis proves that the greater part of the 

 gain came from lumbering and mining coun- 

 ties, or counties in which are large cities. 



Political. The Republican State Convention 

 met in Lansing on March 11, and nominated 

 for Regents of the University Charles S. Draper 

 and A. Y. McAlvay, and for re-election as Jus- 

 tice of the Supreme Court, Thomas M. Cooley. 



The Fusion (Democratic and Greenback) 

 candidates were : Supreme Court Justice, Al- 

 len B. Morse; Regents, C. R. Whitman and 

 Moses W. Field. The Prohibitionists nomi- 

 nated L. S. Ellis and F. B. Cressey for Regents, 

 but seem to have supported Morse for Justice. 

 The election occurred on the 6th of April, and 

 resulted in the success of the Fusion ticket. 

 The following was the vote: For Supreme 

 Justice, Cooley, Republican, 138,694; Morse, 

 Fusion, 168,625. Morse's majority is 29,931. 

 For Regents, Draper, Republican, 138,353 ; Mc- 

 Alvay, Republican, 137,515; Whitman, Fusion, 

 155,743 ; Field, Fusion, 153,626 ; Ellis, Prohi- 

 bition, 14,708; Cressey, Prohibition, 14,! 

 Whitman's majority over Draper is 17,390; 

 and Field's majority is 16,111 over McAlvay. 



Judicial Decisions. The State Supreme Court, 

 in a case arising tinder the Detroit election 

 law, decided that law to be unconstitutional. 

 The act in question required that the Board ot 

 Commissioners to be appointed for the city o1 

 Detroit should be appointed equally from 

 two leading political parties, and that any vi 

 cancy should be filled by the appointment 

 man from the same political party as the o 

 whose place he was to fill. The Court h< 



It is an important principle under our constitutional 

 system that no one shall be affected in any of his leg 

 or political rights by reason of his opinion on poll 



