MICH II, AN. 





thirteen hours. 37? reported twelve hour- 

 ted l-'ii hoius, 1. .')((! worked nine lion 

 worKcd eight horn-. !:;."> worked M-U-II In.'. 

 \\oi-k.-d M\ hours, and 1 worked three h,.n 



III. female laborers canvassed. 1M were Under 



the age "I twelve, while N,.")i!l were between the 



; thirl,. 11 and eighteen. Five began work 



at the age of eight, and ill at tin- age "I 1',-rly or 



out of the whole number, [,060 were or- 

 phans, '.'.oiil had no mot her. '.l,-i:\2 had no father, 

 and s,:;:;i; had both parents. The report states 

 that (>.">T1 of the women stooped over their work, 

 while ^.lis-j had to reach up. 



I. anil \ allies. The average assessed value of 

 agricultural real estate in the lower peninsula, 

 according to the assessment rolls of 1891, is $20.- 

 s-J an aere; ot c-ity realty, |2,820. 72; of village 

 realty. si:ii.n an acre; timbered land. $i:5..">:; .-in 

 jiere ; of upper peninsula mineral lund, $480 an 

 aere. The average rent of an acre of farm land 

 iits, and of an acre of city realty $ir>'j. \'<. 

 In the eity of Detroit, in 1884, there were :!.:!!() 

 pet-sons holding real property under $1,000 in 

 value, while in 1891 there were 18,774 of the 

 same class, an increase of 10,461, or 810 per cent. 



Farm M orliriiires. In 4 late report the Bu- 

 reau of Labor states that of 90,803 farms in the 

 State into the condition of which inquiry was 

 made, 84,488 were occupied by owners. The 

 number of farms mortgaged was 48,079, and 

 the number not mortgaged was 47,724. The as- 

 value of the mortgaged farms was $79,- 

 713,041, the total mortgage indebtedness $37,456,- 

 oT'-'. and the average rate of interest 7'2 percent. 



Legislation. The Legislature sat for about 

 months at the beginning of 1891. The most 

 ous of its enactments was what is known as the 



iner electoral law, which provides that the 

 presidential electors shall be chosen by con- 

 irres-jonal districts, one from each district, and 

 not on a single ticket by the State at large, as 

 before. The law has given rise to much contro- 

 versy, and has attracted national attention. The 

 railroad laws were amended in several important 

 particulars. Among the railroad laws enacted 

 was one providing that where passenger earnings 

 were reported by the company to exceed $3,000 a 



ile t he maximum rate of fare should be Scents a 

 mile ; where the reported passenger earnings 

 were less than $3,000 a mile, the maximum fare 

 should be 4 cents. A law providing for the tax- 

 ation of mortgages was enacted after bitter op- 

 position. Toward the end of the year a move- 

 ment was set on foot to test the validity of the 

 mortgage tax law in the Supreme Court. Hanks 

 declined to take mortgage security unless the 

 borrower or mortgager contracted to pay the tax 

 on the mortgage. 



The election law passed by the Legislature of 

 1891 provides in the main for the Australian 

 m of voting with a secret ballot. The new 

 m was tried in the Detroit municipal elec- 

 in the autumn of 1891, and met with uni- 

 versal approval. Hut one serious difficulty arose. 

 The law provided that the tickets nominated by 

 any regularly called convention of any party 

 were to be placed upon the official ballot by t Ill- 

 election commission, under such names and cap- 

 tions as the several parties might designate. 

 Two conventions were held by the Democratic 

 party and two tickets placed in the field. Each 



of the faction-, wanted to use the , upi ion lU-g. 

 iilar Democratic Tn-ki-1 "over n nominees on 



tile ollicial ballot to the eM-llfioll of the other 



faction. ThcSiiprrinr Court deeided, on manda- 

 mus proceedings, that lx)th (action* WIT, equally 

 entitled to u-e the eaplinn. 



Another important act of the Legislature was 

 to consolidate the >e\-ral prison UwnN into one 

 board, and place under the control of a single 

 Ixidy all the penal and reformatory institutions 

 supported by the State. 



Derisions. The mo>t important decision of 

 the Supreme Court during 1HJH was that by 

 which the law providing for indeterminate sen- 

 tences for convicted criminals was set aside as 

 unconstitutional. The law was passed in 1889, 

 and under it the trial judge of a State court 

 might sentence a criminal, duly convicted, to 

 serve an indeterminate time in prison, between 

 specified limits, the date of his idea- being left 

 to the Hoard of I'ri.-on ( 'ontrol. that body t,, u-e 

 its discretion. The Supreme Court held the law 

 to be invalid, in that it conferred judicial jMiwers 

 on the Board of Prison Control. and declared that 

 criminals sentenced under the in detenu inn 

 tern were entitled to their release at the expira- 

 tion of the minimum period of imprisoi -nt 



provided by law as punishment for the crimes 

 of which they were convicted. As a result, sev- 

 eral convicts were actually released before the 

 the expiration of the time they were sentenced 

 to serve. 



The court held, in a decision filed during the 

 year, that a female ward of the State Indust rial 

 School for Girls might marry without the consent 

 of the board of control or the managers of the 

 institution. The question arose over a girl who 

 was regularly committed to the institution and 

 \\as afterward sent into a private family on 

 ticket-of-leave, the institution still maintaining 

 its authority over her. She married without the 

 consent of the managers at the school, and was 

 by them imprisoned in punishment. Habeas- 

 corpus proceedings were instituted, and the 

 young woman's release was ordered by the Su- 

 preme Court of the State. 



Political. No general election occurred in 

 the State during 1891. At the spring elections 

 the only office to be filled was that of jus- 

 tice of the Supreme Court, the term of Chief-Jus- 

 tice John W. Champlin being about to expire. 

 Justice Champlin was a candidate for re-elec- 

 tion on the Democratic ticket, while the Repub- 

 lican candidate was R. M. Montgomery, who was 

 elected after a quiet canvass. 



The only notable elections held in the autumn 

 were thespecial congressional elect ion in the Fifth 

 District to fill the vacancy caused by the death of 

 Congressman M. K. Ford and the municipal 

 election in the city of Detroit. In the former. 

 Charles K. Belknap was the Republican candi- 

 date and .John S. Lawrence the Democratic can- 

 didate. Mr. Belknap was chosen. The Detroit 

 election was chiefly notable on account of tin- 

 split in the DemiM-ratic party. Two city con- 

 vent ions were organixed. and two tickets nomi- 

 nated. At the head of one was William O. Thomp- 

 son for mayor, and the other was led by John 

 Miner. The cam a-- wa- characterized by the 

 greatest acrimony. The Republicans nominated 

 I la/en S. I'ingree for mayor, and he was elected 



