824 



TEXAS. 



Kegulating corporations engaged in the business of 

 guaranteeing or acting as security for the fidelity of 

 persons in public or private offices, employments, or 

 positions. 



Giving the county judge, under the direction of the 

 State superintendent, the immediate supervision of 

 all matters pertaining to public education in his 

 county. 



Keg'ulating the establishment of quarantine. 



Authorizing Jewish rabbis to perform marriage 

 ceremonies. 



Eegulating voting in cities and towns of 5,000 in- 

 habitants or more. 



Kequiring railroad companies to provide separate 

 coaches for white and negro passengers, with penalty 

 for failure of a fine not exceeding $1,000, each trip 

 run by any train without such separate coaches to be 

 deemed a separate offense. A supplementary bill vests 

 official power in conductors, and allows nurses to travel 

 with their mistresses. 



To encourage the construction and maintenance of 

 deep-water harbors, navigable channels, docks, and 

 wharves on the Gulf coast within the State of Texas. 

 This provides that any individual, association of in- 

 dividuals, company, or corporation, who is now au- 

 thorized or who may hereafter be authorized by an 

 act of Congress of the United States to construct, own, 

 operate, or maintain with private capital a deep-wa- 

 ter harbor, navigable channel, docks, or wharves on 

 the Gulf coast of Texas, shall be permitted to purchase 

 certain lands from the State. 



The appropriations made amounted to $4,700,000. 



The Governor vetoed a bill passed accepting a bo- 

 nus to the State by the United States on the sugar 

 produced on the convict farms. 



In April, United States Senator Reagan re- 

 signed his seat, and on April 28 the Governor 

 appointed Horace Chilton, of Tyler, to fill the 

 vacancy. 



John H. Reagan, L. L. Foster, and W. P. Mc- 

 Lean were appointed railroad commissioners, 



Amendments to the Constitution, voted favor- 

 ably upon by the people and declared adopt- 

 ed, Sept. 22, allowed local option in small com- 

 munities ; reduced the legal rate of interest to 

 6 per cent., and declared anything over 10 per 

 cent, usurious ; authorized the use of 1 per cent, 

 of the permanent school fund per annum; pro- 

 vided for pre-venting and punishing frauds in 

 elections : and authorized the reorganization of 

 the higher courts of the State. 



Extra Session. An extra session of the Leg- 

 islature was called to meet in the spring of 1892. 

 Among the subjects to come up were changes in 

 the railroad commission law, the repeal or modi- 

 fication of the alien land law, the location of the 

 new courts, and the election of a successor to 

 Senator John tl. Reagan. 



Charities. The Deaf and Dumb Asylum at 

 Austin received an appropriation of $30.000 from 

 the Legislature for a new building, which was 

 finished in September. It has accommodations 

 for 350 inmates. The enrollment is 233, with an 

 attendance of 195. The Asylum for Deaf, Dumb, 

 and Blind Colored Youth has an enrollment of 

 '64, with an attendance of CO. The annual ex- 

 pense is about |15,000. 



The State Lunatic Asylum, at Austin, cost 

 $130,328.54 for the year, of which $107.946.59 

 w r as for actual maintenance. The number of in- 

 mates on Oct. 31, 1891, was 629. During the year 

 27 were discharged restored and 37 improved. 

 The percentage of recoveries of those that were 

 admitted was 25'47, and of both recovered and 

 improved, 60-37. 



The North Texas Hospital for the Insane, at 

 Terrell, had a total of 606 patients on Nov. 1, 

 1891. The whole number under treatment for 

 the year was 862. Of these, 198 were discharged, 

 50 died, and 2 escaped. It was maintained at a 

 cost of $112,137.91. 



A new institution, the Southwest Texas Luna- 

 tic Asylum, was opened in December. It is at 

 Florine, a little station on the Aransas Pass Rail- 

 way, 5 miles south of San Antonio. The biiild- 

 ing, which is composed of 5 parts, has a front- 

 age of 400 feet, and a tower rising nearly 140 feet 

 from the surface of the hill on which the struct- 

 ure stands. It is of white Calaveras brick, and 

 was built at a cost of about $180.000, exclusive 

 of the heating apparatus, the plumbing, and the 

 artesian well. About 300 patients can be accom- 

 modated in it with quarters which are much 

 more comfortable than those of the other State 

 asylums. 



Military. The State militia is made up of 

 73 companies, with an aggregate number of 3,073, 

 with armories valued at $68,100. Other armories 

 were rented at a cost of $6,518 for the year. The 

 Frontier Battalion traveled 50,929 miles, and 

 made 368 arrests, with other assistance to the 

 civil authorities. A permanent location for the 

 annual encampments has been secured this year. 

 It is about 3 miles from Austin, near the great 

 dam lake. The land and money for the neces- 

 sary improvements were given by the citizens 

 of Austin. 



A squad of United States regulars had a skir- 

 mish in Hidalgo County, Dec. 22, with a com- 

 pany of Garza's Mexican revolutionists, in which 

 Corporal Ediston was killed. Gen. Stanley sent 

 troops from San Antonio to the assistance of 

 those at Laredo. 



Minerals. A recent bulletin issued by the 

 Census Office at Washington shows the prod- 

 uct of coal in Texas during the census year to 

 have been 128,216 tons, with a spot A'alue of 

 $340,620, and an average price of $2.66. 



The amount of silver bullion credited to the 

 State in Wells, Fargo & Co.'s annual report was 

 $264,423. 



Attention has been attracted by the announce- 

 ment of the discovery of a new mineral resem- 

 bling asphalt, impervious to water, and unaffect- 

 ed by heat, acid, or alkalies. It is claimed for 

 this new substance that " it is the most perfect 

 insulator yet discovered ; that it may be used as 

 a paint that will resist the action of heat, salt 

 air, salt or fresh water, gases, or the other influ- 

 ences that destroy the paints now in use ; that 

 it will make a perfect varnish which the ammonia 

 gases of the stable will not tarnish, and that will 

 remain undisturbed under all atmospheric con- 

 ditions; that it may be rolled into a tissue that 

 is entirely free from odor and practically inde- 

 structible when ernploved in the making of 

 mackintoshes, canvas belting, water-proof tents, 

 etc. ; that it possesses peculiar powers of pene- 

 tration when applied at high temperatures, en- 

 abling it to enter and fill the pores of iron and 

 steel, making these metals absolutely impervious 

 to acids, etc., and making common leather en- 

 tirely water-proof ; and that it may be applied to 

 wood pulp in such a way as to transform that 

 material into what looks and acts like ebony or 

 horn." 



