TKXAS. 



739 



'.. Acts were passed dividing the State 

 into 13 Congressional districts and establishing 

 new districts for members of the Senate and House 

 of lu'pivM'ntiiiivcs. The judicial system of the 

 State was changed by the abolition of both the 

 Court of Appeals and the Commission of Appeals 

 and the establishment of courts of appeal having 

 final iurisdiction over many cases heretofore 

 brought into the Supreme Court. The State was 

 divided into three judicial districts, each having 

 a Court of Civil Appeals composed of three 

 judges elected by the people of the district for 

 the term of six years. A single Court of Crim- 

 inal Appeals for the whole State was also estab- 

 lished, the three judges composing it to be elected 

 by tin- people for the same terra. These changes, 

 which took effect on Sept. 1, were for the purpose 

 of relieving the pressure of business before the 

 Supreme Court. 

 Other acts of the session were as follows : 



Appropriating $348,700 to pay that part of the 

 bonded debt of the State held by individuals and 

 falling due March 1 and April 1, 1892. 



Amending the laws governing usury. The legal 

 rate of interest is fixed at 6 per cent., but parties 

 may agree to a higher rate not exceeding 10 per 

 cent. Usurious contracts shall be void only as to 

 the interest stipulated. The principal may be re- 

 covereil. 



Forbidding the ownership of land in the State by 

 non-resident aliens, except for a limited period, and 

 providing for the escheat of land held contrary to 

 the provisions of the act. 



Providing for the transfer annually of one per 

 cent, of the permanent school fund of the State to 

 the available school fund, to be applied in the sup- 

 port of the public schools for that year. 



Authorizing the Governor to collect the money 

 due the State as a refund of the direct tax of 1861 

 and providing for its disbursement to the people 

 entitled thereto. 



The session ended on April 12. 



Education. The total number of children of 

 school age in the State in 1892 was 605,495. 

 divided as follows : white males, 234.070 ; white 

 females, 219,740 ; colored males, 76,765 ; colored 

 females, 74,920. For the education of these 

 children during the year the State appropriated 

 x:;,nj7,475, or $5 per capita. The State Consti- 

 tution requires that public schools shall be sup- 

 ported for six months each year, but there are 

 no statutes to enforce this provision. 



The State Agricultural and Mechanical College 

 is in a flourishing condition, 230 students being 

 in attendance at the close of 1892. The various 

 normal schools are also doing good work. 



Charities. At the North Texas Hospital for 

 the Insane there were 606 patients on Oct. 31, 

 1891 ; 388 patients were admitted during the 

 year following and 285 discharged, leaving 7^9 

 remaining on Oct. 81, 1892. The expenses for 

 the year were $123,956.39. The new Asylum of 

 the Insane at San Antonio was opened for patients 

 in the early part of this year, the buildings there- 

 for having been accepted by the State on Feb. 

 5. At the State Institute for the Deaf and Dumb 

 the number of attendants enrolled at the close of 

 the year was 235. 



Prisons. At the State Penitentiary there were 

 3,575 convicts on Oct. 81, 1892, an increase of 376 

 in two years. Of this number 588 are employed 

 outside of the walls of the Penitentiary upon rail- 



road building and 1,287 upon farms. The State 

 employs 4'.'7 of the latter number on its own 

 farms, and the remaining 810 are leased to indi- 

 viduals for work on private plantations. 



Itailroad Commission. On April 30 five suits 

 were begun in the United States Circuit Court of 

 Texas against five of the leading railroads of the 

 State, the Railroad Commissioners, and the At- 

 torney-General, in which the constitutionality of 

 the railroad commission law of 1891 was brought 

 in question. These cases came up before Judge 

 A. P. McCormick in July upon the question 

 whether a preliminary injunction should be issued 

 restraining the railroads from putting in force the 

 rates established by the Railroad Commissioners 

 and restraining the latter and the Attorney-Gen- 

 eral from bringing suits to enforce such rates. 

 The plaintiffs contended that the Commissioners' 

 rates were unreasonably low and that the entire 

 law was unconstitutional, because it deprived the 

 railroads of their property without due process of 

 law. By a decision rendered on Aug. 22 Judge 

 McCormick supported these contentions and 

 ordered the injunctions to issue. The defendants 

 therefore appealed to the United States Supreme 

 Court, where the case is still pending. 



Drouth. On April 13 an appeal for help was 

 made to the people of the State in behalf of the 

 citizens of Starr and Hidalgo counties, where dry 

 weather for several seasons had prevented the 

 growth of crops and reduced the inhabitants 

 nearly to starvation. In response to this appeal 

 contributions of corn and money were forwarded 

 to the local relief committee, which, according 

 to a report made in July, was assisting no fewer 

 than 4,100 destitute people. The citizens of 

 Cameron county in July made a similar appeal 

 for aid on account of the drouth. Nearly every 

 county in the Southern portion of the State ad- 

 jacent to the Rio Grande river suffered severely 

 during the year from the same cause. 



Political. The political contest of 1892 was 

 one of the most interesting and important in the 

 history of the State. During its progress the 

 People's party for the first time developed elements 

 of strength, while the Democrats became hope- 

 lessly divided over questions connected with Gov. 

 Hogg's administration. Division arose in the 

 Republican ranks also by reason of the attempt 

 of certain leaders to establish a new party organi- 

 zation controlled only by white men. Although 

 a National election was impending, the National 

 issues which held prominence in other States were 

 almost lost sight of, and State questions became 

 the chief theme of platform discussion. 



On March 9 a Republican State convention met 

 at Austin and selected delegates to the National 

 convention of the party at Minneapolis. Five 

 weeks later another Republican convention, to 

 which only white men were admitted as delegates, 

 met at Dallas, selected another set of delegates to 

 the Minneapolis convention, and nominated Presi- 

 dential electors and the following State ticket : 

 For Governor. Andrew J. Houston, son of Gen. 

 Sam Houston ; for Lieutenant-Governor, James 

 W. Newcomb ; for Comptroller. J. S. Schmitz; 

 for Treasurer. R. B. Baer ; for Attorney-General. 

 Waters Davis ; for Superintendent of Public In- 

 struction, D. C. Morgan ; for Land Commissioner. 

 R. \\ . Thompson. Resolutions were adopted in 

 favor of the McKinley tariiff and opposing the so- 



