TENNESSEE. 



737 



The State Industrial School has 425 inmates, 

 of whom 97 are girls. The State owns 90 acres 

 of land adjoining the school, and an adjacent 

 farm of 40 acres is rented. Telegraphy, stenog- 

 raphy, and mechanical drawing are taught, as 

 well as blacksmithing, cabinet-making, printing, 

 and other trades. 



Military. There are 21 companies in the Na- 

 tional Guard, infantry and artillery, all equipped. 

 The Legislature appropriated $45,000 for the two 

 years, and $11,000 has been expended. 



Exercises were held on the battlefield of Shi- 

 loh, April 6, in commemoration of the thirty-sec- 

 ond anniversary of that famous conflict. Many 

 veterans from Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, arid other 

 States were present, and the positions of the com- 

 mands that took part in the battle were marked. 

 The reunion was under the auspices of the Shiloh 

 Battlefield Association, which has secured an 

 option on the 2,500 acres on which the battle 

 was fought. 



Education. At its last commencement the 

 University of Tennessee celebrated the centenary 

 of the founding of its parent institution, Bloun't 

 College, which was established Sept. 10, 1794. 

 The institution now known as the University of 

 Tennessee is thus nearly two years older than 

 the State itself. 



The biennial report of the university an- 

 nounces that it now offers free tuition to all stu- 

 dents who pass the required examinations. 



The State's expenditures for public schools 

 grew from $683,000 in 1870 to $744,000 in 1880 

 and $1,526,000 in 1890. In 1890 the number of 

 pupils in attendance daily upon the public 

 schools in the United States was 64-1 of the en- 

 rollment. In Tennessee it was 72-2, and was 

 equaled by only Vermont, 73'7, and South Car- 

 olina, 73-4. 



Industries and Products. The coal miners' 

 strike was joined by most of the miners of the 

 State, but it was not attended here with any 

 serious violence. The - miners were not in con- 

 dition to stay out long without help, as the out- 

 put had been much smaller than that of the 

 preceding year. Most of them were working at 

 reduced wages. In obedience to an order of the 

 United Mine Workers, those of the Coal Creek, 

 Jellico, Oliver Springs, and Mingo Mountain dis- 

 tricts signified their intention of leaving April 

 21, arid by May 3 the only miners at work, be- 

 sides convicts and nonunion men, were at Brice- 

 ville. Before the end of May the men in most 

 of the districts had returned to work. The Jel- 

 lico miners remained out, and induced the Coal 

 Creek men to leave work again. Shots were ex- 

 changed in a fight between strikers and men 

 working at Rathbun, June 1, but no one was 

 hurt. Many factories were forced to suspend 

 operations from lack of coal. 



The amount of coal produced in 1893 was 

 1,904,974 short tons, and the value $2,053,977. 



The corn crop of 1894 is given as 68,060,314 

 bushels, an increase of about 4,400,000 bushels 

 over that of 1893. 



Extensive deposits of phosphate rock have 

 been discovered in the southern part of the 

 State, especially in Lewis and Hickman Coun- 

 ties. They cover a territory about 80 miles long 

 by 25 wide. Phosphate rock is found at differ- 

 ent points all through this territory, but it ap- 

 VOL. xxxiv. 47 A 



pears that the workable deposits cover an area 

 not exceeding 20 miles long by 8 wide on the 

 waters of Swan creek, covering the Tottys' Bend 

 and Fall Branch deposits. The average thick- 

 ness of the veins at. the most promising territory 

 examined was 30 inches. The thickest vein 

 measured was 40 inches. Three companies were 

 at work in Hickman County in August, makin- 

 daily shipments of about 150 tons. 



The oil fields of Putnam and Overton Coun- 

 ties, in the north central part of the State, though 

 long known, have not heretofore been developed 

 to any extent on account of lack of transporta- 

 tion. By the building of the Nashville and 

 Knoxville road this disadvantage was removed, 

 and a large amount of territory has been leased 

 for testing the flow of oil. A successful well was 

 sunk near Cookeville in August. 



Railroads. In a suit between the State and 

 the Mobile and Ohio Railroad concerning the 

 collection of taxes, the United States Supreme 

 Court, by a majority of one, decided in favor of 

 the railroad. A provision in its charter declared 

 that no tax that would reduce the dividends be- 

 low 8 per cent, should ever be laid. The court 

 held that this was a valid charter contract, and 

 the counsel for the road declared in court that 

 it never had paid a dividend on its stock. It 

 was contended that this provision was contrary 

 to the Constitution of 1834, under which the 

 charter was granted, which says : " All property 

 shall be taxed according to its value, that value 

 to be ascertained in such manner as the Legis- 

 lature shall direct." The case involved about 

 $250,000 in past-due taxes. 



The East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia 

 Railroad was sold at auction, July 7, to the 

 Southern Railway Company for $1,505,000. 



Damage by Electrolysis. Suit was brought 

 by the Cumberland Telegraph and Telephone 

 Company against the United Electric Railway 

 to recover damages alleged to have been sus- 

 tained by the plaintiff company by reason of the 

 construction and operation of a contiguous plant 

 by the defendant company. The plaintiff al- 

 leged that the defendant, in the operation of its 

 plant, generated or collected electricity in such 

 unusual quantities, and applied and used it in 

 such violent, turbulent, and varying currents as 

 to produce an unnatural and disturbed condition 

 electrically not only within the streets but for a 

 distance of half a mile on either side, and that 

 in consequence the plaintiff's plant was for a 

 time paralyzed and its utility destroyed. The 

 Supreme Court of the State held that, in so far 

 as the loss was due to a conflict of poles and 

 wires, it was imputable to defendant's fault or 

 want of care, but that the loss by induction 

 could not be imputed to any fault or negligence 

 of the defendant. 



Centennial of Admission. A State conven- 

 tion was held at Nashville, June 19, and an or- 

 ganization was formed for celebrating by an ex- 

 position the one hundredth anniversary of the 

 admission of the State to the Union, in 1896. 

 A. W. Willis was chosen director general. A 

 committee report was adopted, fixing the time 

 of the exposition from Sept. 1 to Nov. 15. the 

 place Nashville, and the capital stock at $300,- 

 000, shares $25 each, with privilege of $500,000. 

 It will be especially an exhibit of the history, 



