760 



TEXAS. 



TREATY-MAKING POWER. 



pupils for the year. At the Austin Lunatic 

 Asylum 691 patients were cared for during the 

 year, 556 remaining at the end. The Terrell 

 Lunatic Asylum contained 601 patients during 

 the year, and 372 at its close. 



Penitentiary. There were at the Penitentiary 

 and the various convict camps of the State. 

 3,033 prisoners on December 31. A part of 

 these were leased to individuals, a part em- 

 ployed on State plantations in raising cotton 

 and sugar-cane, others were engaged in brick- 

 making, and the remainder worked within the 

 walls of the prisons at Huntsville and Rusk. 



Constitutional Amendments. Six amendments to 

 the Constitution, proposed by the Legislature 

 in March, were submitted to the people at an 

 election held on the first Thursday in August. 

 The first and most important of these provided 

 that " the manufacture, sale, and exchange of 

 intoxicating liquors, except for medical, me- 

 chanical, sacramental, and scientific purposes," 

 should be prohibited in the State. An aggress- 

 ive campaign was made by the friends of this 

 measure, but it was defeated by a vote of 

 129,270 yeas to 220,627 nays. The other five 

 amendments proposed an increase in the pay 

 of members of the Legislature, an enlargement 

 of the list of securities in which the Univer- 

 sity fund may be invested, a provision by which 

 the Legislature should regulate the assessment 

 of taxes in unorganized counties, a repeal of 

 the provision forbidding the registration of 

 voters, and a reorganization of the judicial sys- 

 tem, which should include an increase in the 

 number of Supreme Court judges. All of these 

 amendments were defeated by majorities vary- 

 ing from 60,000 to nearly 150,000, that in- 

 creasing the pay of legislators being most un- 

 popular. 



Greer Comity. Jurisdiction over this territory, 

 which lies between the North and Prairie Dog 

 forks of the Red River, has long been a subject 

 of dispute between the State and the United 

 States, the difficulty arising out of some doubt 

 as to which fork of the river was intended to 

 be the boundary between it and Indian Terri- 

 tory. As early as 1860 the State gave the 

 name of Greer County to the region, and it has 

 since exercised numerous acts of jurisdiction 

 over it, chiefly for judicial purposes. Three 

 years ago it was surveyed by State officials, a 

 county organization perfected, and locations of 

 veteran land-scrip made within it by the State. 

 These locations have, however, been adjudged 

 invalid by the State Supreme Court. For sev- 

 eral years negotiations have been in progress 

 looking toward a settlement of the question, 

 and a boundary commission created by Con- 

 gress has passed upon the conflicting claims. 

 The majority of the commission, in their report 

 to Congress, reject the claims of Texas, while 

 the Texas members of the commission report 

 favorably for their own State. The matter 

 siwaits the decision of Congress, but meanwhile 

 a complication has ari?en by the action of the 

 State Land Commissioner, who, upon the ad- 



vice of Attorney-General Hogg, announced in 

 the latter part of the year that the Greer Coun- 

 ty lands were open for sale by the State on the 

 same terms as other State land. This was met 

 by a proclamation of the President, issued on 

 Jan. 3, 1888, forbidding any exercise of author- 

 ity by the State over this region, and claiming 

 it, in accordance with the majority report or' 

 the commission, as a part of Indian Territory. 



Political. In April an election was held in 

 the Second Congressional District, to choose a 

 successor to John H. Reagan, Senator-elect. 

 Hon. William H. Martin, the only candidate, 

 was elected. 



TREATY-MAKING POWER OF THE UNITED 

 STATES. This was the subject of an important 

 opinion rendered by the United States Supreme 

 Court. What are the scope of and limitations 

 on the authority vested by the Constitution in 

 the President and Senate 3 what are the powers 

 of Congress or the prerogative of the House of 

 Representatives? what is the effect of a treaty 

 or an act of Congress when the two are in 

 conflict 1 are questions which have been peri- 

 odically discussed since the foundation of the 

 Government. The provisions in the Federal 

 Constitution bearing directly and indirectly 

 on the treaty-making power are as follow : 



He [tho President] shall have power, bv and with 

 the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, 

 provided two thirds of the Senators present concur. 

 Art. II, sec. 2, cl. 2. 



No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or 

 confederation. Art.- 1, sec. 10, cl. 1. 



This Constitution, and the laws of the United 

 States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and 

 all treaties made, or which shall he made, under the 

 authority of the United States, shall be the supreme 

 law of the land; and the judges in every State shall 

 be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or 

 laws of anv State to the contrary, notwithstanding. 

 Art. VI, cl." 2. 



The judicial power shall extend to all cases in law 

 and equity arising under this Constitution, the laws 

 of the United States, and treaties made, or which 

 shall be made, under their authority. Art. Ill, sec. 

 2, cl. 1. 



The Congress shall have power : To regulate com- 

 merce with foreign nations, and among the several 

 States, and with the Indian tribes. Art. I, sec. 8, 

 cl. 3. 



All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the 

 House of Eepresentatives ; but the Senate may pro- 

 pose or concur with amendments as on other bills. 

 Art. I, sec. 7, cl. 1. 



The powers not delegated to the United States by 

 the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, 

 are reserved to the States respectively, or to the peo- 

 ple. Amendment X. 



The scope of the treaty-making power as 

 compared with the legislative power of the 

 Government, and the effect of treaties as com- 

 pared with acts of Congress, are not defined 

 by the Constitution, but they have been con- 

 sidered in numerous cases by the Federal 

 courts and with no diversity in the decisions. 

 As early as 1829, Chief Justice Marshall, de- 

 livering the opinion of the United States Su- 

 preme Court, in Foster vs. Neilson (2 Peters's 

 Reports, 314), thus expounded the law : 



