GEORGIA. 



GERMANY. 



341 



DoUegM giving military instructions. The fourth 



is that rivaling u battalion of naval militia. 



A lull in relation to (lit- dismissal of cases by 

 the Supreme Court provides that no case shall 

 be dismissed on account of errors in the record, 

 or because too much or not enough of the record 

 has been sent up. In such event time is to be al- 

 lowed in which to make the necessary corrections. 



Public executions were prohibited a measure 

 that met with general commendation. 



A joint resolution for the codification of the 

 laws was passed after a prolonged struggle. 



Legislation affecting the city of Atlanta pro- 

 vided for the extension of the city limits, taking 

 in the new water works for police purposes, and 

 annexing West End, a suburb whose citizens had 

 voted in favor of annexation, to go into effect 

 Jan. 1. 



The city was authorized to borrow annually 

 $200,000, instead of $150,000. Certain officials 

 heretofore chosen by vote of the council will now 

 be elected by the vote of the people. 



Resolutions were adopted declaring it to be 

 the sense of the Legislature of Georgia that it is 

 " to the interest of the people of the United 

 States that the Government should coin both 

 gold and silver as the money of final payment, 

 without discriminating against either metal, the 

 dollar unit of coinage of which shall be of equal 

 intrinsic and exchangeable values." That it is 

 " the constitutional right of the several States to 

 enact their own banking laws, by which banking 

 corporations within their borders shall be em- 

 powered to issue bank bills for circulation among 

 their people for the necessary transaction of busi- 

 ness, and that there is no constitutional right in 

 the General Government to lay upon the States a 

 prohibition against the exercise of such right, or 

 to restrict, regulate, or control the exercise of 

 such right." That " taxation, whether direct or 

 indirect, is only justified as a means of raising 

 revenue for the support of the Government, and 

 that, therefore, customs duties should be laid for 

 the purpose of revenue only ; and we indorse the 

 present Administration and the present Congress 

 in their efforts so to readjust the tariff laws that 

 they shall be upon a strict revenue basis only," 

 and favoring a graduated income tax. 



Other measures passed were these : 



To create a board of pharmaceutical examiners. 



To make all laws regulating the business of insur- 

 ance in this State by companies apply to individuals, 

 associations, and corporations in like "business. 



To permit foreign executors to transfer stocks, etc. 



To provide for granting corporate powers to bank- 

 ing, insurance, railroad, canal, navigation, express, and 

 telegraph companies. 



To amend the general road law. 



To make it penal to threaten to destroy property by 

 lire. 



To punish larceny of election returns. 



To permit Confederate soldiers to peddle without 

 license. 



To extend certain privileges to all Confederate sol- 

 diers. 



Requesting a continuance of Federal appropriations 

 to the experimental station. 



To require the Commissioner of Agriculture to pub- 

 lish statistics. 



To prohibit commercial notaries public from issuing 

 garnishments. 



To amend the law relative to time of residence of 

 applicants for divorce. 



To allow county authorities to condemn land for 

 drain.. 



To forbid the sale of liquor in any prohibition 

 county. 



For the relief of holders of real-estate security for 

 d*bi 



To define newspaper libel. 



To amend the law in regard to pensions of widows 



of ( 'olll'eilenite soldiers, designed to provide Cor such 



as have beeome widows since Ihlto, and soldiers' wives 

 who may be widowed hereafter. 



Claim against the United States. Under 

 an act of 1802, Georgia ceded to the General Gov- 

 ernment territory now embraced in Alabama ami 

 Mississippi, for which the sum of $1,250,000 was 

 to be paid to the State " out of the first net pro- 

 ceeds of the sales of the lands thus ceded, which 

 net proceeds shall be estimated by deducting 

 from gross amount of sales the expenses incurred 

 in surveying and incident to the sale," as a con- 

 sideration for the expense incurred in relation to 

 the territory ; " and, for the better securing as 

 prompt a payment of the said sum as is practica- 

 ble, a land office for the disposition of the vacant 

 lands thus ceded shall be opened within twelve 

 months." It is claimed that while $1,000,000 or 

 more has been paid, the records do not show that 

 a complete settlement has ever been reached, the 

 Government claiming certain offsets to whatever 

 balance was left. The State has tried several 

 times to secure a settlement. The subject is now 

 brought up again, and a resolution was passed in 

 the Legislature calling for an investigation. 



GERMANY, an empire in central Europe, 

 constituted at the close of the Franco-Pnis-ian 

 War, when the states of the North German Con- 

 federation, the Kingdoms of Bavaria and WGr- 

 temberg, and the Grand Duchies of Hesse and 

 Baden offered the crown and dignity of German 

 Emperor to the King of Prussia. The procla- 

 mation of the empire took place at Versailles on 

 Jan. 18, 1871. The Constitution of April 16, 

 1871, provides that all the states of Germany 

 form a perpetual union for the protection of the 

 Reich and the welfare of the people. The 

 Deutscher Kaiser, or German Emperor, is the 

 chief commander of the military forces; he can 

 make treaties, declare war, and conclude peace; 

 but for an offensive war he must obtain the con- 

 sent of the Federal Council. All diplomatic 

 representatives are accredited to him. The 

 Bundesrath, or Federal Council, is composed of 

 58 plenipotentiaries, appointed by the sovereigns 

 of the states forming the empire. Alsace-Ix>r- 

 raine is represented in the Bundesrath by 4 com- 

 missioners, appointed by the Statthalter. who 

 have no vote. The Bundesrath can legislate, 

 together with the Reichstag, upon all matters 

 concerning military and naval forces, finances, 

 commerce, domicile, communications, and jus- 

 tice. The Reichstag consists of 397 members, 

 elected bv universal suffrage for the term of five 

 years. The Emperor has the right to prorogue 

 or dissolve the Reichstag with the consent of 

 the Bundesrath. All bills must receive an abso- 

 lute majority of the Bundesrath and Reichstag, 

 and bills thus passed can not be vetoed by the 

 Emperor, but in order to become effective "must 

 have his consent and be countersigned by the 

 Chancellor of the Empire. 



The reigning sovereign is Wilhelm II, born 

 Jan. 27, 1859, eldest son of Friedrich III, whom 



