30 



ARKANSAS. 



Finances. The following figures are taken 

 from the latest report of the State Auditor: 

 General revenue fund, balance on Oct. 1, 1888, 

 $778,937.91; total receipts for the two years 

 succeeding, $909,747.93 ; total expenditures, $1,- 

 261,114.54; balance on Oct. 1,1890, $427,571.30. 

 Common-school fund, balance on Oct. 1, 1888, 

 $439,766.24: total receipts for the two years, $625,- 

 858.32 : total expenditures, $802,441.02 ; balance 

 on Oct. 1, 1890, $263,183.54. Permanent school 

 fund, balance on Oct. 1, 1888, $266,368.38 ; total 

 receipts for the two years, $14,127.42 ; total pay- 

 ments, $6,293.98; balance on Oct. 1, 1890, $274,- 

 201.82. Sinking fund, balance on Oct. 1, 1888, 

 $2,924,501.72 ; total receipts for the two years, 

 $113,514.12; total payments, $102,733.09; bal- 

 ance on Oct. 1, 1890, $2,935,282.75. Special 

 sinking fund, balance on Oct. 1, 1888, $136,830.- 

 23; total receipts for the two years, $312,172.- 

 21 : total payments, $3,227.31 ; balance on Oct. 

 1, 1890, $445,775.13. The balance in all funds 

 in the treasury on Oct. 1, 1890, aggregated $4,- 

 799,733.46. For 1890 the State tax rate was two 

 mills for the general fund, two mills for schools, 

 and one mill for the sinking fund, a total of five 

 mills ; for 1891 the rate was two and one fourth 

 mills for the general revenue fund, two mills for 

 schools, one half mill for the sinking fund, and 

 one fourth mill for pensions. 



The bonded State debt on Oct. 1, 1890, con- 

 sisted of principal, $2,092.100 ; overdue inter- 

 est, $2,884,897.50 ; total, $4,976,997.50. This is 

 an increase of $114,982.50 over the total for 

 Oct. 1, 1888, notwithstanding the fact that the 

 State has meanwhile redeemed $395,415 of its 

 debt. The discrepancy is explained by the fact 

 that the State authorities have recently discov- 

 ered the existence of $3,000 5-per-cent. bank 

 bonds and $252,000 6-per-cent. funding bonds 

 of the series of 1870, both of which were sup- 

 posed to have been long since redeemed and can- 

 celed, as stated in memoranda in the Treasurer's 

 office. It appears, however, that these securities 

 have always been held by the United States as 

 valid demands against the State, and are so re- 

 ported by the Secretary of the Treasury. Large 

 arrears of interest are due thereon, making the 

 total discovered liability of the State about $500,- 

 000. In addition to the bonded debt there is 

 a floating indebtedness of $27,959.13 in the 

 form of certificates of indebtedness issued xinder 

 section 3167 of Mansfield's " Digest," for redemp- 

 tion of which no provision has been made. 



legislative Session. The twenty-ninth 

 General Assembly met on Jan. 12, and adjourned 

 on April 4. Early in the session United States 

 Senator James K. Jones was re-elected for the 

 full senatorial term by the following vote : Senate, 

 Jones 26, D. E. Barker 2; House, Jones 80, 

 Jacob Trieber 12, Barker 2, J. F. Sellers 1. A se- 

 cret-ballot law was enacted at this session. It 

 provides that all ballots used in any presidential, 

 congressional, State, district, county, township, 

 or municipal election, either general or special, 

 shall be furnished at the county expense by a 

 board of county election commissioners, ex- 

 cept that ballots used exclusively in municipal 

 elections shall be furnished by this board at mu- 

 nicipal expense. The ballots shall all be alike, 

 shall be printed in plain type, and shall contain 

 the names of all candidates duly nominated. A 



convention or caucus or any organized political 

 party may nominate candidates, or they may be 

 nominated by certificates signed by not fewer 

 than ten nor more than fifty electors, if the nom- 

 ination is made for any township or ward of a 

 city or town, and by not less than fifty nor over 

 one thousand electors in other cases. At each 

 polling place there shall be provided one booth 

 or compartment for each one hundred electors, 

 or fraction of one hundred, voting thereat in 

 the last preceding election. Each booth shall 

 be fitted with a table, shelf, or desk for the con- 

 venience of electors, and its walls shall be of 

 wood, so constructed as to enable each elector to 

 enter and prepare his ballot free from the inter- 

 ference of any person. The booths shall be 

 E laced at least five feet apart. No person shall 

 e permitted under any pretext to come nearer 

 than fifty feet of any door or window of any poll- 

 ing room, except as provided in the act. Each 

 elector upon entering the polling room shall be 

 given one ballot, on the back of which at least 

 one of the election judges shall write his name or 

 initials. On receiving his ballot the elector shall 

 forthwith, without leaving the polling room, re- 

 tire alone to one of the booths and prepare his 

 ballot by scratching off. erasing, or crossing out 

 the names of all candidates except those for 

 whom he may wish to vote, writing in any name 

 that is not printed where he would have it, or 

 that is not printed on the ballot at all. In the 

 case of a constitutional amendment or other 

 question, as, for instance, " For License " or 

 " Against license," the elector shall cross out 

 parts of his ballot in such manner that the re- 

 maining parts shall express his vote. 



After preparing his ballot the elector shall 

 fold it so as to conceal the face thereof, and so 

 as to show the name or initials of the judge on 

 the back, and shall hand it to the receiving 

 judge. The latter shall call out the name of the 

 elector and the number of the ballot, shall write 

 the number on the ballot, and shall deposit it in 

 the box in the sight of the elector, who shall 

 immediately leave the room and go beyond the 

 fifty-foot limit. No ballot shall be received from 

 any elector, or deposited in the ballot-box, which 

 does not have the name or initials of at least 

 one of the judges indorsed on it. No officer of 

 election shall do any electioneering on election 

 day. No person shall do any electioneering in 

 any polling room, or within one hundred feet 

 of any polling room, on election day. 



No elector shall be allowed to occupy a booth 

 or compartment for the purpose of voting for a 

 longer time than five minutes. 



Another act requires all railroad companies to 

 provide equal but separate and sufficient accom- 

 modations for the white and African races, by 

 furnishing two or more passenger coaches for 

 each train, and to provide separate waiting rooms 

 for each race of equal and sufficient accommoda- 

 tions at all passenger stations. On all lines less 

 than 25 miles long, separation of the races by 

 dividing each car by a partition may be allowed. 

 Persons in whom there is a visible and distinct 

 admixture of African blood shall, for the pur- 

 poses of this act, be deemed to belong to the 

 African race ; all others, to the white race. 



An act to pension disabled Confederate soldiers 

 and sailors, and the widows of their deceased com- 



