

ARKANSAS. 



AUSTRALASIA. 



35 



and shipped 51,156,821, and had on hand 71,- 

 502,475. 



A first prize was awarded at the Paris Ex- 

 position to an exhibit of apples from the State 

 experiment station, prepared by the pomologist at 

 the university. 



State Law's. From the report of the Attorney- 

 General's office is learned that under the anti- 

 trust law passed by the last Legislature 225 suits 

 were brought against the 63 fire insurance com- 

 panies doing business in this State, to subject 

 them to the penalty of the act. Proceedings were 

 instituted also against the express companies, 

 Waters-Pierce Oil Company, American Tobacco 

 Company, Continental Tobacco Company, and the 

 various cotton-seed oil companies operating in this 

 State. 



The construction of the act was tested in the 

 Supreme Court under the style of State vs. ^Etna 

 Fire Insurance Company and The State rs. Lan- 

 cashire Fire Insurance Company, one series of 

 which was affirmed, the other, carrying the con- 

 stitutionality of the act, was reversed. The court 

 having decided adversely to the opinion of the 

 Attorney-General, the other cases were dismissed. 



Lawlessness. A negro prisoner who had con- 

 fessed to the murder of an Italian fruit vender 

 was taken from a guard and hanged by a mob 

 near Helena, April 16. A negro school-teacher, 

 suspected of having broken into a store, was shot 

 and killed by a party of men, who took him and 

 . another suspected negro to a lonely place to 

 frighten them into confession. It was declared 

 that the killing was not intentional, and that 

 only " white-capping " was intended. 



Labor. A decision was handed down in the 

 United States District Court at Fort Smith, in 

 January, making permanent the temporary in- 

 junction issued previously, restraining the strik- 

 ing coal-miners of western Arkansas from inter- 

 fering with nonunion men who took places in the 

 mines. 



Before the State election the labor unions were 

 asking of candidates for the Legislature pledges 

 as to proposed legislation in which they were in- 

 terested. A set of questions used in Sebastian 

 County is as follow : 



1. Will you favor a bill making eight hours a 

 legal day's work, with a penalty for the violation 

 of the same? 



2. Are you in favor of a law establishing semi- 

 monthly or weekly pay day? 



3. Are you in favor of the abolition of the scrip 

 system now in use by corporations? 



4. Will you favor a law compelling all corpora- 

 tions doing business in the State of Arkansas to 

 be incorporated under the State laws and char- 

 tered by the State? 



5. Are you in favor of a law establishing a uni- 

 form system of text-books to be published by the 

 State and furnished at cost to all patrons of the 

 public schools of the State? 



Political. Senator Berry and Gov. Jones were 

 candidates before the primaries for the office of 

 United States Senator, but the Governor withdrew 

 from the contest, March 23. 



The election for State officers was held Sept. 3. 

 There were three candidates for Governor, but 

 only the Democrats put out a full State ticket. 

 The Republicans and the Populists made nomina- 

 tions for Governor only. The Republican candi- 

 date was Herman L. Remmel and the Populist 

 nominee was A. W. Files. Following is the Demo- 

 cratic ticket: For Governor, Jeff Davis; Secretary 

 of State. John W. Crockett; Attorney-General, 

 George W. Murphy; State Auditor, T. C. Monroe; 

 State Treasurer, Thomas E. Little; Commissioner 



of Lands, J. W. Colquitt ; State Superintendent of 

 Public Instruction, J. J. Doyne; Commissioner 

 of Mines, Manufactures, and Agriculture, Frank 

 Hill; Associate Justice of Supreme Court, Carroll 

 D. Wood; Railroad Commissioners, F. M. Hanley, 

 Abner Gaines, J. G. Wallace. 



The platform of the Democratic convention, 

 June 26, 27, approved the national platform of 

 the party as adopted at Chicago in 1896; recog- 

 nized the Monroe doctrine as a cardinal tenet of 

 the party, and favored its strict observance; fav- 

 ored the building of the Nicaraguan Canal by the 

 Government; opposed the donation of the public 

 lands of the United States to private corporations. 

 Trusts and all illegal combinations were de- 

 nounced. The platform approved the action of 

 the last Legislature in passing laws against them, 

 and pledged the party to the passing of laws to 

 prohibit their operation in Arkansas. 



The set of resolutions at the Republican con- 

 vention for nominating delegates to the national 

 convention, March 20, favored expansion, opposed 

 trusts, favored the Nicaraguan Canal to be owned 

 and controlled by the Government, and approved 

 the protective tariff policy. It denounced the 

 Goebel act and the Nesbitt'act and "all similar 

 laws in Arkansas and elsewhere concocted to cheat 

 the honest voter, and to enable a corrupt minority 

 to govern." 



The State Republican convention, July 7, de- 

 clared in favor of a reform school, completion of 

 the Statehouse, compulsory arbitration in labor 

 troubles, and nonpartisan educational and char- 

 itable boards, and opposed competition of convict 

 with free labor, and all forms of trusts. 



The Prohibitionists nominated a presidential 

 elector at large, and declared : " The Democratic 

 and Republican parties are equally corrupt and in 

 sympathy with the liquor power of this nation, 

 and therefore unworthy the support of any Chris- 

 tian or philanthropist." 



The vote for Governor stood: Davis, Democrat, 

 88,637 ; Remmel, Republican, 40,701 ; Files, Popu- 

 list, 3,641. The State Senate will be entirely 

 Democratic; the House will have 1 Independent, 

 2 Republicans, and 97 Democrats. 



The total vote for presidential electors was 

 127,839, compared with 149,347 in 1896. The 

 Democratic candklates received 81,142 votes; the 

 Republican, 44,800; and the Prohibitionist, 584 

 a Democratic majority of 35,758. 



AUSTRALASIA, one of the grand divisions 

 of the globe, consisting of the continent of Aus- 

 tralia and island colonies of Great Britain, with 

 interjacent islands. With the exception of the 

 Dutch and German portions of New Guinea, the 

 German protectorate of Bismarck Archipelago 

 and that of the northern Solomon Islands, now 

 diminished by the cession of the Howe group, the 

 French colony of New Caledonia, and the New 

 Hebrides and smaller islands under native rule, 

 all the islands of Australasia are British colonies 

 and dependencies. The five colonies of Australia 

 and the colonies of Tasmania and New Zealand 

 are self-governing, having each its representative 

 Legislature, with a responsible ministry, disposing 

 of its own revenues, and making its own laws 

 under a charter granted by the British Parlia- 

 ment, subject to a certain reserved veto power of 

 the Imperial Government. The British Crown is 

 represented in each colony by a governor, who as 

 the executive head of the colonial Government 

 acts on the advice of the responsible ministers 

 selected from the party or coalition that forms 

 the majority in the Legislative Assembly. The 

 Crown colony of Fiji is administered in accord- 

 ance with native laws and customs, and its Gov- 



