COLORADO. 



193 



Fish, crabs, and shrimps are sold in little net- 

 ted bags. The necessaries of life, although 

 brought here at great expense, are cheaper 

 than at the coast. There are no printed signs 

 over the doors, as the natives can not read ; 

 but, instead, are animals painted in large pro- 

 portions. Hundreds of mendicants lounge in 

 the streets. The police regulations are very 

 strict, the men, on duty by night only, being 

 signaled by a bell to change their posts at the 

 corners of the streets every fifteen minutes. 

 They are armed with lassoes and short bayo- 

 nets. There are no letter-carriers, for the 

 houses are not numbered, but there are letter- 

 boxes at the general post-office. There are six 

 newspapers, including the official organ of the 

 Government. A large proportion of the print- 

 ing is on hand-bills, which are posted on the 

 street corners, by individuals on their private 

 affairs as well as by the Government on affairs 

 of state. In the revolution of 1885, fifty differ- 

 ent hand-bills were posted daily on the walls 

 of the city. Most of the newspaper reading is 

 done at the street corners by means of these 

 bulletins, and for the announcement of a death 

 the hand-bills are bordered with black. The 

 people dress in the latest Paris fashion, but the 

 ladies have not yet discarded the graceful man- 

 tilla. There are con vent- schools of a high 

 order. The University of Bogota, an institu- 

 tion of wide influence, has an astronomical 

 observatory, which has no equal except in 

 the National Observatory in Washington. The 

 Foundling Hospital, capable of accommodat- 

 ing several hundred infants, is no longer used 

 for the purpose. The military are not of the 

 average height of United States troops, but are 

 well drilled, having been trained by a United 

 States army officer who spent three years in the 

 city for that purpose. The officers' uniform is 

 a' dark-blue dress-coat lined with scarlet, scar- 

 let epaulets, and scarlet stripes on the dark- 

 blue trousers. The arms used are those known 

 as the Springfield, English, and Austrian pat- 

 terns. 



COLORADO. State Government. The following 

 were the State officers during the year : Gov- 

 ernor, Benjamin H. Eaton, Republican ; Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor, Peter W. Breene ; Secretary 

 of State, Melvin Edwards ; Treasurer, George 

 R. Swallow ; Auditor, Hiram A. Spruance ; 

 Attorney-General, Theodore H. Thomas; Su- 

 perintendent of Public Instruction, Leonidas 

 S. Cornell ; State Engineer, E. S. Nettleton ; 

 Railroad Commissioner, William B. Felker; 

 Forest Commissioner, E. T. Ensign; Supreme 

 Court : Chief-Justice, William E. Beck ; Asso- 

 ciates, Joseph C. Helm and Samuel H. Elbert. 



Population. The total population of the State, 

 as shown by the census of 1880, was 199,327. 

 The population on June 1, 1885, was 243,910, 

 an increase of 49,583, or 25'56 per cent, in 

 five years. The present population is divided 

 among the races as follows, Indians upon res- 

 ervations not included : White, 239,585 ; ne- 

 groes, 3,262 ; Chinese, 861 ; Indians, 200. It 

 VOL. xxvi. 13 A 



is further divided as to sexes as follows : Males, 

 144,781 ; females, 99,129. 



Political. The Republican State Convention 

 met in Denver on the 28th of September, and 

 nominated the following ticket : For Governor, 

 William H. Meyer; Lieutenant- Governor, N. 

 H. Meldrum ; Treasurer, P. W. Breene ; Secre- 

 tary of State, Rice; Auditor, D. P. 



Kingsley; Attorney-General, Alvin Marsh; 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, L. S. 

 Cornell ; Congressman, George D. Symes. 



The Democratic State Convention met at the 

 same place on the 5th of October, and nomi- 

 nated the following ticket : For Governor, Alva 

 Adams ; Lieutenant-Governor, L. H. Gillespie ; 

 Secretary of State, Jerry Mahoney ; Treasurer, 

 James F. Benedict; Auditor, Casimero Barelli ; 

 Attorney-General, Col. Stirman; Congress- 

 man, Myron W. Reed. The following are 

 among the resolutions adopted : 



Resolved, That we favor the coinage of silver on the 

 same terms as gold, and the adoption in the first in- 

 stance of unlimited, silver coinage by our own Gov- 

 ernment, to be followed by active measures to bring 

 about its consideration as an international subject. 



We denounce the corrupt and wasteful extrava- 

 gance of successive Legislatures which Democratic 

 members have vainly opposed. The State Legislature 

 has been ^Republican since 1876. Each successive 

 session has squandered the money of the people with 

 reckless and increasing wastefulness, until the annual 

 expenses of the State" are wholly beyond reasonable 

 bounds. To provide places for an army of parasitical 

 Party workers, official positions have been multiplied 

 beyond the necessities of government and far beyond 

 the ability of the State to pay for. As a consequence, 

 the State tax levy of nearly five mills is in excess or 

 the constitutional limitation and void, and the credit 

 of the State is threatened. We pledge the Democratic 

 party, its nominees, and its representatives in the 

 General Assembly, to a reduction of expenditures and 

 of taxation to honest and legal limits. 



That the interests of the people of this State, col- 

 lectively and individually, demand immediate legisla- 

 tion with the power to summarily enforce its observ- 

 ance, whereby railroad corporations shall be limited 

 in their power to fix rates for passenger and freight 

 traffic, such rates to be arranged with due regard as 

 well to the actual amount of capital invested in said 

 companies, as to the amount and cost of business 

 transacted ; to prevent and punish fictitious capitali- 

 zation of said companies, discriminations or rebates 

 in rates, either as between individuals or localities ; 

 to compel the granting of common privileges and 

 rights to all classes of people, as_well as an inter- 

 change of business with connecting or competing 

 terminal lines ; to enforce a strict compliance with all 

 constitutional and other legal requirements having 

 for their object the public weal and the restraint ot 

 power, and to prevent any further identification of the 

 business of common carriers with that of dealers in 

 the commodities to be carried. We demand legisla- 

 tion upon this important subject that may be enforced 

 either by means of a commission properly appointed, 

 or directly by summary proceedings in the courts of 

 justice. 



That the definition of conspiracy is not confined to 

 strikes and impulsive efforts of the poor by violence 

 to better their condition, but extends as well to the 

 secret conclaves of capital to pool and combine their 

 franchises in aid of unjust exactions from shippers 

 and passengers. 



That the interests of the farming classes and of our 

 cities demand that the next General Assembly shall by 

 proper legislation regulate and fix the charges to bo 



