738 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



SPAIN. 



or special. Two joint resolutions proposing 

 amendments to the State Constitution were 

 passed, and will be submitted to the people in 

 November, 1888. One is to strike out the pro- 

 vision for the election of a school commissioner 

 by the people, every two years, in each county. 

 The other proposes to make the term of office 

 of the probate judge four years instead of two. 

 The more important new laws are as follow : 



To regulate the delivery of warehousemen's receipts. 



To provide for the redemption of the State defi- 

 ciency bonds by the issue of new bonds, running forty 

 years and bearing four and one half per cent interest. 



To amend the lawagainstdiscrimination by railroads, 

 so as to give them the power to make special rates_ tor 

 the purpose of developing manufacturing, mining, 

 milling, and internal improvements in the State. 



To submit the question of license or no license to 

 the voters of Abbeville and Greenville counties. 



To declare the law relating to the separate estate 

 of a married woman, so that she may convey or charge 

 her separate estate, and so that all her earnings and 

 income shall be her own separate estate. 



To provide for scholarships for one young woman 

 from each county in the State in the Winthrop Train- 

 ing School for Teachers. 



To require the railroads to carry merchandise by 

 the route designated by the shippers, and to deliver 

 it promptly. 



To restore to the tax lists unimproved lands that 

 have been allowed to remain forfeited, because the 

 taxes amount to more than the land is worth. 



To change the time of listing property for taxation. 



To prevent cock-fighting within three miles of any 

 institution of learning. 



To provide for obtaining lists of all persons who are 

 disqualified from voting by reason of their conviction 

 of disqualifying offenses. 



Different propositions looking to a provision for 

 disabled Confederate soldiers and sailors, and their 

 widows, were discussed. It was not considered ad- 

 visable to establish a system of pensions and a soldiers' 

 home as well. The result was the passage of a law 

 providing for a pension of $5 a month to every dis- 

 abled soldier or sailor who is incapable of earning his 

 own livelihood, and is without means. The law ap- 

 plies equally to the widows of the disabled soldiers or 

 sailors. The sum of $50,000 was appropriated for this 

 purpose for 1888. 



A bill for the reorganization of the South Carolina 

 University was debated, in connection with a proposi- 

 tion for the establishment of a separate college. Un- 

 der its new organization the university will consist 

 of the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, the 

 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the College 

 of Pharmacy, together with a normal-school and law- 

 school. 



Provision was made for the transfer of the State 

 canal to a board of trustees, and the city of Columbia 

 was authorized to guarantee the interest on such bonds 

 as the trustees should issue to insure its completion. 



The State tax-rate for 1888 was fixed at five and 

 one half mills, an increase of one and one quarter mill 

 over 1887. 



Industrial Statistics. The following compari- 

 son of the products of the State in 1880 and 

 1887 is made by the State Department of Agri- 

 culture: 



The yield of cotton, estimated at 605,000 

 bales grown upon 1,714,937 acres, is larger 

 than in any year since 1882; the corn-crop 

 was above the average, and the minor crops 

 show the effect of a favorable season. The 

 value of the cotton-crop is placed at $23.476,- 

 328, and that of the corn-crop at $11,543,855. 

 About 54,000,000 pounds of rice were raised, 

 valued at $1,080,000. The value of wheat 

 raised was $1,166,299. 



In manufactures there has been an increase 

 in seven years of 1,193 establishments, giving 

 employment to more than twice as many hands 

 as were employed in 1880, and both the capi- 

 tal and production of these establishments have 

 been nearly doubled in the seven yeHrs. 



Granite is quarried at Winnsboro in Fair- 

 field County. Phosphate mining is one of the 

 most valuable industries of the State. During 

 the year twelve companies were engaged in 

 mining land rock, with a capital of about $2,- 

 000,000; and twenty companies and individ- 

 uals in mining river rock, with a capital of 

 $1,500,000. 



Railroads. In the two years from November, 

 1885, to November, 1887, 176 miles of railroads 

 were constructed in the State. Since 1880, 387 

 miles of railroad have been completed. The 

 number of miles in the State is 1,813. 



SPAIN, a monarchy in southwestern Europe. 

 The legislative authority is vested by the Con- 

 stitution of June 30, 1876, in two bodies, form- 

 ing the Cortes. The Senate is composed of (1) 

 princes of the blood and grandees of Spain, 

 who are senators in their own right, and cer- 

 tain high functionaries, who are senators by 

 virtue of their offices ; (2) senators appointed 

 for life; (3) senators elected by communal and 

 provincial states, religious bodies, universities, 

 and other corporate institutions. The number 

 in the first two classes taken together must not 

 exceed 180, and the elective members are lim- 

 ited to the same number. The Chamber of 

 Deputies is composed of members elected for 

 five years by electoral colleges in the propor- 

 tion of one to every 50,000 inhabitants. 



The present King is Alfonso XIII, born May 

 17, 1886, the posthumous child of Alfonso 

 XII. The royal power is exercised during his 

 minority by his mother, the Queen-Dowager 

 Maria Christina, born July 21, 1858, daughter 

 of the Archduke Carl Ferdinand, of Austria, 

 who was elected Regent by the Cortes. 



The ministry, constituted Oct. 9, 1886, is 

 composed as follows : President of the Coun- 

 cil, Praxedes Mateo Sagasta ; Minister of For- 

 eign Affairs, Segismundo Moret ; Minister of 

 Finance, Maquin Lopez Puigcerver ; Minister 

 of Grace and Justice, Manuel Alonso Martinez ; 

 Minister of the Interior, Albereda; Minister of 

 Commerce and Agriculture, Carlos Navarro 

 Rodrigo ; Minister of War, Lieut.-Gen. Cnsso- 

 la ; Minister of Marine, Admiral Rafael Rodri- 

 guez de Arias ; Minister of the Colonies, Vic- 

 tor Balaguer. Alhereda, who had been am- 

 bassador at Paris since Jan. 22, 1886, succeeded 



