740 



TEXAS. 



Finances. The annual report of the Comp- 

 troller for the year ending Aug. 31, 1894, showed 

 these figures : Balance, Aug. 31, 1893. $187,425.- 

 75; receipts, $2,042,731.33; total receipts with 

 balance, $2,230,157.08. Disbursements, $2,149,- 

 124.10 ; transfers, adjusting accounts, etc., $42,- 

 589.13 ; total, $2,191,713.23. The cash balance 

 on hand Aug. 31, 1894, was $38,443.85. There 

 were outstanding against this balance registered 

 warrants amounting to $430,993.57. The tax 

 rate, 15 cents on the $100 valuation, is too low 

 to meet the demands against the general revenue 

 fund. The cash in the treasury was exhausted 

 in May. 



Education. According to the Governor's re- 

 port the scholastic population during the year 

 1894-'95 was 693,752. At the University of 

 Texas the number of students during 1894-'95 

 was 405; at the Agricultural and Mechanical 

 College there were 345 students; at the Sam 

 Houston Normal Institute there were 501 stu- 

 dents ; at the Prairie View Normal School there 

 were 175 students ; and at the medical branch of 

 the State University there were 179 students. 

 The State endowment of the public schools, ac- 

 cording to the latest reports, is about $7,484,598 

 in interest-bearing bonds, more than $14,000,000 

 in interest-bearing land notes, and about 23,000,- 

 000 acres of unsold lands. Of the unsold lands 

 20,000,000 acres are leased at 4 cents an acre, and 

 the funds thus derived are added to the available 

 school fund. The total State and county perma- 

 nent fund is placed at $93,454,869. Besides the 

 State endowment fund each county has been 

 granted by the State 4 leagues of land, which 

 constitute 'the county endowment. In addition 

 the State levies an annual ad valorem school tax 

 of \\ mill, and devotes one fourth of the occu- 

 pation taxes and an annual poll tax of $1 to the 

 available school fund. The State Board of Edu- 

 cation fixed the school apportionment at $3.50 

 per capita for 1894-'95. 



Penitentiary. On Oct. 31, 1894, the number 

 of State convicts was 4,125, an increase of 550 

 over the number on Nov. 1, 1892. There were 

 321 pardons granted during the past two years, 

 against 116 for the two years preceding. Dur- 

 ing the past two years there were 150 deaths. 

 There were 2,358 convicts employed outside the 

 Penitentiary walls, distributed as follows : On 

 railroads, 397 ; on farms, 1,961. The net receipts 

 from those employed on railroads for the two 

 years were $71,462.63, or a net earning per capita 

 of $8.49 a month. The State farm consists of 

 2,788 acres of land, of which 2,200 acres are 

 in cultivation. The crop for 1894 was heavy, 

 amounting to $80,205.96. The Johnson farm, 7 

 miles from Iluntsville, is used as a prison for 

 women, of whom there are 63 negroes and 5 

 white women on hand. 



Liquor Licenses. The law changing the oc- 

 cupation tax on liquor dealers went into effect 

 Aug. 7, 1893. Under the old law there were 3 

 classifications of the liquor license, as follow : 

 First, retail liquor dealers selling in quantities 

 less than a quart, a State tax of $300 ; second, 

 quart dealers, or persons selling in quantities 

 from 1 qu"art to 5 gallons, a State tax of $200 ; 

 third, wholesale dealers, or persons selling in 

 quantities of 5 gallons and over, a State tax of 

 $300. Under the new law changing liquor deal- 



ers' licenses, quart dealers were merged with re- 

 tail and wholesale dealers, leaving only 2 classi- 

 fications, as follow : Retail liquor dealers selling 

 in quantities of 1 gallon or less than 1 gallon, a 

 State tax of $300 ; second, wholesale dealers sell- 

 ing in quantities of 1 gallon or more than 1 gal- 

 lon, a State tax of $300. The amount collected 

 from liquor dealers for the year ending April 30, 

 1892 : Selling less than 1 quart, $586.864 ; sell- 

 ing quart and less than 5 gallons. $68,400 : sell- 

 ing 5 gallons and over, $13.200 ; total, $668,464. 

 For the year ending April 30, 1894: Selling less 

 than 1 quart, $565,700 ; selling 1 quart and less 

 than 5 gallons, $11,000; selling 5 gallons and 

 over, $12,900 ; total, $589,600. 



Railroads. The report of the Railroad Com- 

 mission for the year ending June 30, 1893, con- 

 tains the following statistics : Train mileage of 

 railroads during the year : Passenger, 8.745,591 ; 

 freight, 16,986,894: mixed, 1,146,917; total, 26,- 

 879,762. Gross earnings: Passenger, $9,423,- 

 166.45 ; freight, $28,513,901.51 ; total, $38,417,- 

 670.17. Operating expenses : Maintenance of 

 way, $6,836,132.08; equipment, $4,166,182.67; 

 transportation, $15,409,492.23 ; general, $3,006,- 

 766.44; total, $29,454,067.19. Number of em- 

 ployees, 28,679. Number of persons killed. 180 ; 

 injured, 1.812. Mileage of main line, 9,088*215 ; 

 sidings, i.191-94; total length, 10,280; stock, 

 $135,120,266 ; bonds, $231,941,190. 



Farms and Mortgages. The statistics col- 

 lected for the United States census were issued 

 in a bulletin in October. They showed concern- 

 ing farms that 49*23 per cent, of the farm fami- 

 lies hire, and 50'77 per cent, own the farms cul- 

 tivated by them ; that 5'72 per cent, of the farm- 

 owning families own subject to incumbrance, and 

 94'28 per cent, own free of incumbrance. Among 

 100 farm families, 49 hire their farms, 3 own with 

 incumbrance and 48 without incumbrance. On 

 the owned farms there are liens amounting to 

 $6,494,633, which is 41 -68 per cent, of their value, 

 and this debt bears interest at the average rate 

 of 8-38 per cent., making the average annual in- 

 terest charge $75 to each family. Each owned 

 and incumbered farm, on the average, is worth 

 $2,158, and is subject to a debt of $899. The 

 corresponding facts for homes are that 60'86 per 

 cent, of the home families hire and 39*14 per 

 cent, own their homes ; that of the home-owning 

 families 95*73 per cent, own free of incumbrance 

 and 4*27 per cent, with incumbrance. The debt 

 on owned homes aggregates $2,958,082, or 42*26 

 per cent, of their value, and bears interest at the 

 average rate of 9*42 per cent., so that the annual 

 amount of interest to each home averages $103. 

 An average debt of $1,090 incumbers each home, 

 which has the average value of $2,580. 



Agriculture. The annual report of the Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture for 1892 was issued in 

 May. It gives the following items : The cotton 

 crop amounted to 1,848,333 bales a decrease of 

 178,441 bales over the crop of 1890. The average 

 production to the acre was 0*47. The average 

 yield exceeds that of any of the cotton-growing 

 States. There was an increase of 258,091 acres 

 in corn as compared with the acreage of 1891. 

 The average production to the acre was 22'6 

 bushels, which was 2*67 bushels above the aver- 

 age of the year previous. The acreage in whe;it 

 for the two years past has been as follows: In 





