TKXAS. 



715 



Individuals, corporations, and firms were pro- 

 hibited from employing in the State any armed 

 force of detect ives or other persons not residents 

 t hereof. 



The public-school lnw was nmeiiiled in matters 

 of detail. The State was divided into ."> supreme 

 judicial districts in>tead of :'. as previously ar- 

 ranged. and a court of civil appeals was estab- 

 lished in each of the 2 new districts. 



The Penitentiary lioard was authorized to pur- 

 cha-e farms on which convicts may he employed 

 on the State's account, and to borrow the neces- 

 sary money from the permanent school fund, the 

 expenditure for this purpose being limited to 



Lire-insurance companies and life and acci- 

 dent insurance companies were made liable for 

 an annual tax of 1^ per cent, on their gross pre- 

 mium receipts in the State; and fire, marine, 

 health, live-stock, guarantee, and accident insur- 

 ance companies were taxed one half of one per 

 cent, on such receipts. Each telephone company 

 was required to pay an annual tax of 25 cents for 

 every one of its telephones in the State. An an- 

 nual franchise tax of $10 was levied on each 

 private domestic corporation and on each foreign 

 corporation having permission to do business in 

 the State. 



Two amendments to the Constitution were pro- 

 posed, and provision was made for their submis- 

 sion to the people in November, 1894. One au- 

 thorizes the establishment of a home for disabled 

 Confederate soldiers and sailors; the other pro- 

 vides for the election of railroad commissioners 

 by the people. Other acts of the session were as 

 follow : 



Authorizing minors to bring suit by next friend. 



Making the first Monday in September a legal holi- 

 duv, to be called Labor Day. 



1'roviding for the distribution of the direct tax re- 

 funded to the State under an act of the Fifty-first 

 Congress. 



To authorize the rescue of girls and boys under the 

 age of twelve years from the custody of improper 

 persons. 



To provide for determining the rights of nonresi- 

 dents, persons unknown, and transient persons to 

 property in the State. 



Authorizing the Governor to call to his aid two 

 ptTs'iris. who shall perform such duties as he may di- 

 rect in disposing of applications for pardon, and who 

 shall be known as a board of pardon advisers. 



To punish persons enticing minors away from the 

 custody of their parents or guardians, and to give 

 certain benevolent institutions and orphans' homes 

 the rights of guardians over minors surrendered to 

 them. 



Appropriating $10,000 for the relief of the city of 

 Cisco and other portions of Eastland County which 

 were visited by a tornado on April 28, 1893. 



To define who are and who are not fellow-scrvnnts, 

 and to prohibit contracts between employer and em- 

 ployee based upon the contingency of the injury or 

 death of the employee, ami limiting the liability of 

 the employer for damages. 



Under the law authorizing the Governor to 

 veto separate sections of appropriation bills, 

 Gov. Hogg struck off appropriations made at 

 this session aggregating about f 350,000. He also 

 vetoed an act authorizing the superintendent of 

 the Penitentiary to receive from the United 

 States the bounty that might be claimed upon 

 sugar raised on the Penitentiary farms. 1 1 is 

 objections were based upon the character of the 



Federal law authorizing the payment of this 

 bounty. 



Impeachment Trial. On April ( a commit- 

 tee appointed to investigate charges made 

 against Land-Commissioner W. I,. McfJnughey 

 made a report to the Lower J louse of the I 

 hit ure recommending his impeachment, and on 

 the following day a committee of ten was ap- 

 pointed to prepare articles of impeachment, t'n- 

 der this authority a list of 25 articles wa* pre- 

 sented, in which the commissioner was charged 

 with selling school lands to persons not actual 

 settlers thereon and at prices below their real 

 value, with willfully misconstruing the provisions 

 of law respecting sales of schorl lands, with col- 

 luding with purchasers, with allowing unauthor- 

 ized persons to have access to the files of his of- 

 fice, with refusing to renew leases on applica- 

 tion, and with other grave misdemeanors. A 

 demurrer and an answer to these charges were 

 filed by the commissioner on April 20. The de- 

 murrer was ftrst argued, and on April 28 was 

 sustained in respect to 10 of the articles. On 

 the remaining 15 charges a trial was had before 

 the bar of the Senate, lasting until May 5, when 

 the defendant was acquitted upon every article, 

 not more than 8 votes being cast against him on 

 any article. 



Penitentiary. On Oct. 1 the number of State 

 convicts was 3,763, an increase of 188 over the 

 figures for Oct. 1, 1892. Of this number, 971 

 were on contract farms, 258 on share farms, 192 

 on the Harlem State farm, 173 on railroads, 1,135 

 at the Penitentiary at Rusk, and 1,034 at the 

 Huntsville Penitentiary. During the year the 

 railroads dispensed with 415 convicts, 190 were 

 added to the farm labor, and 419 were added to 

 the population at Rusk and Huntsville. 



Agriculture. The official statistics of agri- 

 culture for 1892 include the following: 



Manufactures. The number of factories in 

 the State in 1892 was 6.657: the value of mate- 

 rials used was $21,927,471 ; the value of the fin- 

 ished product was $ 36,950,864; and the number 

 of operatives 87.7(i:!. 



Timber. There are 25.000,000 acres of tira- 

 ber land in the State. Ten counties produce 

 the long-leafed pine, namely: Angelina. Ilardin, 

 Jasper. Nacogdoches, Newton. Polk, Sabine, San 

 Augustine, Trinity, and Tyler. 



The Austin Dam. On" May 2, 1890. the last 

 stone was laid completing a great dam across the 

 Colorado river at Austin (see "Annual Oyclopip- 

 dia"for 1892. pp. 252-254). The lake 'formed 

 by the dam is nearly 30 miles long and nearly a 

 quarter of a mile wide. It is estimated to con- 



