792 



WASHINGTON. 



WEST INDIES. 



We strongly condemn the course of Senators 

 Allen and Squire in advocating the appropriation 

 for the Lake Washington ship canal, to the exclu- 

 sion of needed appropriations for the necessary 

 improvement of our rivers and harbors. 



Upon the present Republican administration in 

 this State we call down the indignation of an out- 

 raged people. In its executive branch it has been 

 weak, negligent, profligate, without capacity and 

 without patriotic spirit. In its legislative it has de- 

 fied the wishes of the people, acted with total dis- 

 regard to the public good, and squandered the peo- 

 ple's money in idle and extravagant schemes, while 

 the State went without a oapitol building and the 

 patriotic members of the National Guard went un- 

 paid. 



We believe that eight hours should constitute a 

 day's labor on all public works. 



We favor the abolition of the poll tax and de- 

 nounce the present revenue law in regard to the 

 collection of delinquent taxes which confiscates the 

 property of our people. 



We pledge ourselves in favor of such legislation 

 in Congress as will at once settle to the so-called 

 lieu lands in Washington, in order that the settlers 

 thereon shall be enabled to complete their title to 

 said lands at once. 



We pledge ourselves to favor reasonable legisla- 

 tion reducing freight rates and fares charged by 

 transportation companies in this State. 



The Prohibitionists met at Tacoma on Aug. 

 26, nominated Roger S. Greene for Governor, and 

 selected candidates for the other State offices, for 

 Congressmen, and for Presidential electors. The 

 convention adopted resolutions favoring prohibi- 

 tion ; no distinction of sex in the elective fran- 

 chise ; that the tariff should be levied as a de- 

 fense against foreign governments which levy 

 upon or bar out our products, the revenue being 

 incidental ; an increase in the circulating me- 

 dium ; restriction of foreign immigration ; elec- 

 tion of President, Vice-President, and United 

 States Senators by the vote of the people ; aboli- 

 tion of the poll tax, and the adoption of a system 

 of public road-making ; a law enforcing the Sab- 

 bath, and the establishment of State courts of 

 arbitration. 



After an interesting canvass, the entire Repub- 

 lican ticket was successful at the November elec- 

 tion. For Presidential electors the vote was : 

 Republican, 36,470 ; Democratic, 29,844 ; Peo- 

 ple's party, 19,105 ; Prohibitionist, 2,553. For 

 Governor, McGraw received 33,228 votes ; Snively, 

 28,948 ; Young, 23,780 ; Greene, 3,941. Two Re- 

 publican Congressmen were elected. Members 

 of the Legislature were chosen as follows : Senate 

 Republicans, 25 ; Democrats, 9 ; House Repub- 

 licans, 50 ; Democrats, 19 ; People's party, 8. A 

 proposed constitutional amendment, increasing 

 the State debt limit, was submitted to the people 

 at this election and defeated, the vote being 13,- 

 625 in its favor and 35,207 against it. 



WEST INDIES. The islands of the West 

 Indies, with the exception of the independent 

 republics (see HAYTI and SANTO DOMINGO) and 

 the Spanish colonies (see CUBA and PUERTO Rico) 

 belong to Great Britain, Denmark, France, and 

 the Netherlands. 



The British colonies are Jamaica, the Bahama 

 Islands, Barbadoes, Trinidad, and the Leeward 

 and Windward Islands. 



Jamaica. The colony of Jamaica has repre- 

 sentative government. The Legislative Assembly 

 is composed of 18 members, half of whom are 



elected by the people and half are nominated by 

 the Governor, or official, the latter composing the 

 Governor's privy council. The Governor receives 

 a salary of 6,000. The present incumbent is 

 Sir Henry Arthur Blake. The area of the island 

 is 4,200 square miles. Turk's and Caicos Islands, 

 which are attached to it, besides the small Cay- 

 man Islands and Pedro and Movant Cays, have 

 an area of 224 square miles. The population at 

 the census of 1891 was 639,491, divided into 

 305,948 males and 333,543 females. The white 

 population in 1881 was 14,432. Kingston, the 

 capital, has about 40,000 inhabitants. There 

 were in 1889 in the colony 13,041 coolie immi- 

 grants from the East Indies, the importation of 

 whom was stopped in 1886. The number of 

 marriages in 1889 was 3,323 ; of births, 22,044 ; 

 of deaths, 13,874. There were 867 elementary 

 schools in 1890, receiving a government grant of 

 26,859, and having 75,613 pupils on the rolls. 



The chief products of Jamaica are sugar, rum, 

 coffee, fruit, vegetables, cacao, cinchona, cattle, 

 and pimento. The area under cultivation in 

 1890 was 628,035 acres, an increase of 13,134 

 acres over the preceding year. Of the individual 

 holdings 84,283 are under 5 acres and 457 

 exceed 1.000 acres. The railroads have a length 

 of 64 miles, from which the receipts were 60.- 

 819 in 1889, while the expenses were 32,321. 

 There are about 650 miles of telegraph. The 

 number of messages in 1889 was 86,604. The 

 number of letters sent through the post-office 

 was 1,451,718. The cays called Turk^s Islands 

 are the seat of an important salt industry. 

 About 2,000,000 bushels are exported annually 

 to the United States and Newfoundland. From 

 the Cayman Islands cocoanuts and turtles are 

 exported. 



The revenue of Jamaica for 1890 was 788,888, 

 and the expenditure, 666,415. In Turk's Islands 

 a revenue of 8,901 was collected, while the ex- 

 penditure was 8,263. Of the revenue of Jamaica 

 378,542 were derived from customs, and of that 

 of Turk's Islands, 6,479. The expenses of civil 

 administration in Jamaica amounted to 400,200 

 in 1889. The public debt of the colony in 1891 

 was 1,543,120, of which 823,695 were raised 

 for railroads. 



The exports of Jamaica in 1890 were valued at 

 1,902,814, and the imports at 2,188,937. The 

 exports from the Turk's Islands were 42,651, 

 while the imports amounted to 42,108. Of 

 the imports into Jamaica cotton goods were 

 valued at 326,057 ; wheat flour, 188,026 ; salt 

 fish, 122,512 ; rice, 41,916. The export of 

 sugar amounted to 236.188; rum, 199,198; 

 coffee, 283,800 ; fruit, 444 368. The tonnage 

 entered and cleared in 1890 was 1,230,506 tons. 



Barbadoes. The island of Barbadoes, lying 

 east of the Windward Islands, has an area of 166 

 square miles, and a population, after the census 

 of 1891, of 182,322. The capital, Bridgetown, 

 has 21,000 inhabitants. The number of births 

 in 1890 was 7,419 ; of deaths, 5,000. Barbadoes 

 has been the headquarters of the British military 

 force in the West Indies. In 1892 the garrison 

 numbered 47 officers and 844 men. The Gover- 

 nor of the colony is Sir Walter J. Sendall. The 

 chief commercial product is sugar. About 

 30,000 acres are planted to sugar-cane, yielding 

 85,261 hogsheads in 1890. There are 370 boats 



