MISSISSIPPI. 



491 



child labor, compulsory arbitration, liberal pen- 

 sions, reduction of exorbitant official salaries, and 

 payment of all fees into the public treasury; 

 election of President and Senators by direct vote ; 

 prohibition of trusts and speculation in margins; 

 Government control of railroads and the like arid 

 ultimate ownership of them by the Government ; 

 exclusion of aliens from ownership of land ; lim- 

 itation of private ownership of land; reclamation 

 of unearned grants to railroads ; abolition of the 

 fee requirement from candidates for office, or at 

 least its reduction 75 per cent., and the follow- 

 ing: 



Wo demand liberal provision for public instruction 

 in the English language, and are opposed to the ap- 

 propriation of public funds for any sectarian purposes 

 in the State or nation. 



We insist that, in this State, the railroads should be 

 required by statute to resume their common-law du- 

 ties as common carriers, and especially to provide 

 warehouses and elevators for the handling of all kinds 

 of grain and produce for all persons, upon equal 

 terms, and without discrimination, and thus open to 

 all people a free market for grain and produce. 



The Democratic State Convention met Sept. 

 6, and nominated the following candidates : For 

 Governor, George L. Becker; Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor. John Ludwig; Auditor, Adolf Bierman ; 

 State Treasurer, Charles A. Lambert ; Secretary 

 of State, Charles J. Ilaines ; Attorney-General, 

 Logan Breckinridge ; Clerk of Supreme Court, 

 Thomas Kurtz; Chief Justice of Supreme Court, 

 Seagrave Smith ; Associate Justice, John W. Wil- 

 lis. 



The resolutions commended the national Ad- 

 ministration, favored direct popular election of 

 Senators, demanded economy in the State ad- 

 ministration, denounced the American Protect- 

 ive Association, demanded the enactment of 

 laws permitting the investment of public moneys 

 in municipal and school securities of the State, 

 and included the following : 



We are in favor of the free coinage of silver when- 

 ever it can be accomplished consistently with the 

 maintenance of a sound and safe currency. 



We congratulate the workingmen and women of 

 the land on the dawning of a new day of promise by 

 the passage of the Democratic tariff bill. 



We favor the taxation of railroad lands, provided 

 the same can be done without the impairment of the 

 present gross-earnings system of taxation. That laws 

 be enacted which will compel the owners of mines 

 and mineral lands to bear a just proportion of taxation 

 with other property of the State. 



The Republicans elected their entire State 

 ticket and all their candidates for Congress. 

 The vote for Governor stood : Nelson. Repub- 

 lican, 147,944; Becker, Democrat. 53,579 ; Owen, 

 Populist, 87,931 ; Hilleboe, Prohibition, 6.879. 

 On joint ballot the Republicans of the State 

 legislature will have 141, the Democrats 13, and 

 the Populists 14. An amendment to the Con- 

 stitution submitted by the last. Legislature was 

 carried by a vote of 108,332 in favor, to 41,242 

 against. It provides for a tax on inheritances, 

 devises, bequests, legacies, and gifts. 



MISSISSIPPI, "a Southern State, admitted 

 to the Union Dec. 10, 1817; area, 40,810 square 

 miles. The population, according to each de- 

 cennial census since admission, was 75,448 in 

 1820; 136.621 in 1830; 375,651 in 1840; 606.526 

 in 1850 ; 791,305 in 1860 ; 827,922 in 1870 ; 1,131,- 



597 in 1880; and 1,289,600 in 1890. Capital, 

 Jackson. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year: Governor, John M. 

 Stone, Democrat; Lieutenant-Governor, M. M. 

 Evans ; Secretary of State, George M. Govan ; 

 Treasurer, J. J. Evans ; Auditor, W. W. Stone : 

 Attorney-General, Frank Johnston : Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction, J. R. Preston ; 

 Railroad Commissioners, J. F. Sessions, Walter 

 McLaurin, and J. H. Askew; Chief Justice of 

 the Supreme Court, J. A. P. Campbell, who was 

 succeeded by Timothy E. Cooper; Associate 

 Judges, Thomas H. Woods and Albert PI. Whit- 

 fried, who was appointed on Feb. 8 to the va- 

 cancy made by the retirement of Chief-Justice 

 Campbell. 



Legislative Session. A special session of 

 the State Legislature was convened in Jackson 

 on Jan. 2 in accordance with the law that re- 

 quires the meeting to begin on the first Tuesday 

 after the first Monday in January. It con- 

 tinued until Feb. 10, the session of thirty days 

 having been extended for ten days by the Gov- 

 ernor. The Senate was presided over by the 

 Lieiitenant-Governor and the House by James K. 

 Vardaman. The resignation of United States 

 Senator E. C. Walthall, on account of failing 

 health, was transmitted to the Legislature. At a 

 Democratic caucus the names of J. A. P. Camp- 

 bell, Robert Lowry, A. J. McLaurin, and R. H. 

 Taylor were voted, and on the sixty-seventh ballot, 

 Messrs. Campbell and Lowry having been with- 

 drawn, Mr. McLaurin was chosen by a vote of 

 78 against 62 for Mr. Taylor. A joint session of 

 the Legislature was held on Feb. 7, when the 

 nominations of A. J. McLaurin and Frank Bur- 

 kitt were made, resulting in the following vote : 

 McLaurin 142, Burkitt 18, scattering 4; neces- 

 sary for choice, 83 votes. The most important 

 matter before the Legislature was the considera- 

 tion of the penitentiary question, for the reason 

 that the leasing system of convicts expired by 

 limitation on Dec. 31. It resulted in the passage 

 of a bill creating a commission of 5 to pur- 

 chase a tract of land of from 4,000 to 8,000 acres 

 on which to establish a penitentiary farm, on 

 which to conduct such industrial enterprises as 

 the manufacture of drainage tile and bricks, 

 and other advantageous pursuits, as the making 

 of wagons, agricultural implements, gearing, 

 etc., used in the carrying on of the farm. Other 

 acts of the session were as follow : 



For repairs upon the public buildings of the State 

 University. 



To repeal the act entitled " An Act to incorporate 

 the Board of Lease Commissioners for the Yazoo 

 Mississippi Delta, and for other purposes," and in lieu 

 thereof to enact an act entitled " An Act to levy a 

 privilege tax on certain callings, business, and profes- 

 sions for other purposes." 



To adopt the Mississippi State flag and coat of 

 arms, and to provide for the expense of procuring 

 the same, and for the preservation thereof. 



The expenses of the Legislature to the State 

 were as follow: Salaries of Representatives, 

 $26.440; salaries of Senators, $8,220; mileage 

 of Representatives, $4,671.87; mileage of Sena- 

 tors, $1.579.60: paid Senate employees, $1,640; 

 paid House employees. $2.497.30; contingent 

 expenses of both houses, $747.50; total, $46,- 

 798.27. 



