COLOKADO. 



141 



4,978, and redistr.cted the State accordingly. 

 The clanger of alien landlordism was provided 

 against by a law prohibiting non-resident 

 aliens from acquiring agricultural, arid, or 

 range lands in the State, or any interest therein 

 greater in value than $5,000, mines and min- 

 ing property being excepted from the opera- 

 tion of the act. Real estate owned in viola- 

 tion of these provisions is forfeited to the 

 State. A new code of civil procedure was 

 adopted, which abolishes the distinction be- 

 tween actions at law and suits in equity, pro- 

 vides that a married woman may sue or be 

 sued as if sole, and otherwise simplifies the 

 common-law practice. Several measures tend- 

 ing to increase in the revenue available for 

 maintaining the State Government were passed. 

 By the constitution, mines and mining prop- 

 erty were exempt from taxation for ten years 

 subsequent to its adoption. That period hav- 

 ing elapsed, a bill taxing this large class of 

 property was passed at this session. It was also 

 voted to submit to the people, at the next elec- 

 tion for members of the General Assembly, in 

 accordance with a provision of the Constitu- 

 tion, the following question : " Shall the rate 

 of taxation on property for State purposes for 

 the years 1889-'90 be increased to five mills on 

 each dollar of valuation for each of those 

 years?" The present rate is four mills. An 

 amendment to the Constitution, to be voted 

 tipon at the same election, was proposed, modi- 

 fying the clause that forbids a State debt. It 

 provides that within certain limits, the State 

 may contract debts to meet casual deficiencies 

 in revenue, to erect public buildings for the 

 State, to suppress insurrections, to defend the 

 State, and in time of war to assist in defending 

 the United States. Considerable changes were 

 made in the government and methods of the 

 public schools. The city of Denver obtained 

 extensive amendments to its charter. Other 

 acts of the session were : 



To prevent and prohibit the sale of injurious or un- 

 wholesome articles of food or drink. 



To establish agricultural-experiment stations in El 

 Paso, Bent, and Delta Counties, and San Luis Valley. 



To regulate the use of artesian wells, and to prevent 

 the waste of subterranean waters. 



To prohibit the black-listinsr or publishing of em- 

 ployes when they have been discharged. 



To establish a bureau ot labor statistics. 



To provide for the sale of lots and lands given to 

 the Territory of Colorado tor the purpose of aiding in 

 tne erection of a capitol building. 



To prohibit the employment of children under 

 fourteen years of age in any underground works or 

 mines, or in any smelter, mill, or factory. 



To restore the riu r ht of trial by jury. 



To prevent the hiring out of convicts by the State 

 or its officers, and to prevent the importation of 

 materials made by convicts for use on public improve- 

 ments. 



To provide for the formation of corporations for the 

 purpose of wan-anting or insuring the title to real 

 property. 



To establish the county of Logan, and the county- 

 scat tli. 



h the county of Washington, and the 

 county-seat thereof. 



To prevent cruelty to children. 



To protect the food-fishes in the natural streams of 

 the State. 



Designating the first Monday in September of each 

 year as a public holiday, to be known as " Labor day." 



Kegulating tho lease, sale, and management of the 

 State lands. 



To prevent discrimination in the sale or delivery of 

 news items, news dispatches, or press reports. 



To prevent frauds in the nominating of public of- 

 ficers at primaries, or conventions, or otherwise. 



To regulate the practice of pharmacy, licensing 

 persons to carry on such practice, and providing for 

 the appointment and defining the duties of a iState 

 board of pharmacists. 



To straighten the channel of the Eio Grande river, 

 and to build a levee along the same at Alamosa. 



To provide for the study of the nature of alcoholic 

 drinks and narcotics, and of their effects upon the 

 human system, by the pupils in the public schools. 



To set aside not less tnan six hundred and forty 

 acres in that portion of Saguache County ; which in- 

 cludes the Royal Arch and Echo mountains, for the 

 purpose of a State park. 



Education. The value of public-school prop- 

 erty in the State is about $2,500,000, an in- 

 crease of 300 per cent, in tive years. This is 

 twice as much in proportion to the school pop- 

 ulation as New York holds in school proper- 

 ty, and only slightly less in proportion than 

 Massachusetts. The number of teachers has 

 doubled in five years, while the enrollment 

 shows a large increase. Of the higher institu- 

 tions, the School of Mines and the Agricultural 

 College are well attended, the latter having a 

 total enrollment of 116 pupils in 1886. "With 

 reference to the State University at Boulder, 

 the Governor says : " There is a general and 

 well-founded feeling throughout the State that 

 this institution is disappointing the expecta- 

 tions of its founders. It is supported by a 

 dedicated tax of one fifth of one mill on all tha 

 property in the State, which produces an in- 

 come of about $22,000, and by a noble endow- 

 ment of lands from the nation, which largely 

 increases its resources. It has an excellent 

 faculty of able and learned instructors; its 

 funds are ample for its needs, and yet it lacks 

 somewhere the vitalizing energy that insures 

 success. There are but ten counties, besides 

 the one in which it is situated, represented on 

 its roll, and these ten by only fourteen scholars. 

 The county in which it is situated sends one 

 hundred scholars, and all other States and Ter- 

 ritories only eighteen." 



State Institutions. The Legislature of 1887" 

 provided for the establishment of a State Home 

 and Industrial School for Girls, at or near Den- 

 ver. The State Industrial School for Boys, at 

 Golden, has been in existence for several years. 

 At the close of 1886 it contained ninety pupils. 



The total number of prisoners in the State 

 Prison during the past two years was 682, the 

 average number being 356. This is a large 

 average in proportion to the population. The 

 cost of maintaining the prison for the past two 

 years, including betterments and every descrip- 

 tion of charge, has been $269,036 ; total rani- 

 ings, exclusive of prison-labor, on real estate, 

 $70,067, showing an increase over the previous 



