234 



FLORIDA. 



68,077. Total males, 81,712; total females, 79,716. 

 Grand total, 161,428. 



Charities. The School for the Deaf and Blind 

 had an enrollment of 59 for the year ending July 1, 

 1900, divided as follows: White deaf girls, 17; 

 white deaf boys, 12; white blind girls. 3; white 

 blind boys, 6; negro deaf girls, 7; negro deaf boys, 

 10; negro blind boys, 4. Appropriation made by 

 the State for the support of the school was $11,000. 



The Hospital for the Insane had on Jan. 1, 

 1900, 561 inmates. During the eleven months end- 

 ing Nov. 30, 203 patients 64 white males, 50 white 

 females, 48 negro males, 41 negro females were 

 admitted, a total of 765 being under treatment 

 during this period. On Nov. 1, 632 patients were 

 in the hospital 200 white males, 184 white fe- 

 males, 131 negro males, 117 negro females. Of 

 patients admitted between Jan. 1, 1899, and Nov. 

 30, 1900, 237 were natives of the State, 157 of other 

 States, and 36 of foreign birth. The inmates of 

 the hospital have increased 120 per cent, during 

 the past eight years, and 162 per cent, during the 

 past ten years. This increase is probably due to 

 the fact that the management of the hospital so 

 greatly improved that more patients were sent to 

 it than in former years. The State in 1899 ex- 

 pended $71,716.35 in the maintenance of the Hos- 

 pital for the Insane. 



Penitentiary. On Dec. 1 there were 778 State 

 convicts, of whom 102 were white males and 2 

 white females, 651 were colored males and 23 col- 

 ored females. From Dec. 1, 1899, to Dec. 1, 1900, 

 18 convicts died, 6 were pardoned, and 14 escaped. 

 The State has no prison, and the convicts are 

 leased to contractors. On Dec. 1 the 778 convicts 

 were in 7 phosphate mining camps and 6 naval 

 stores camps. The office of Supervisor of State 

 Convicts was created by act of Legislature in 1899, 

 and the hours of labor, the food, clothing, and 

 housing of the convicts was regulated by law. A 

 marked improvement in the condition of the con- 

 victs has resulted. A reform school for minors 

 is situated at Marianna. 



Health. The annual report of the State Board 

 of Health, issued March 15, 1900, gives the follow- 

 ing statistics, based upon the population of 464,639 

 (State census of 1895) : 



In the year ending Dec. 31, 1899, there were 

 in the State 8,180 births, 5,390 deaths, 6,112 mar- 

 riages. 



\ellow fever appeared in epidemic form at Key 

 West and Miami, introduced from Cuba, in the 

 summer and autumn of 1899. The disease was 

 very mild, and the mortality was light. Stringent 

 quarantine regulations prevented its spread, and 

 the disease did not reappear in 1900. 



In the spring of 1900 the Marine Hospital Serv- 

 ice established a detention station for the South- 

 ern States, which Surgeon-General Wyinan de- 

 clares to be the best equipped of five or six simi- 

 lar stations kept up by the Marine Hospital Serv- 

 ice. It is on the main line of the Savannah, 

 Florida and Western Railroad, on the south side 



of St. Mary's River, where it divides Florida from 

 Georgia. It will accommodate 2,000 persons, and 

 can be made ready at twenty-four hours' notice. 



Political. The Democratic State Convention 

 met in Jacksonville, June 19, and nominated the 

 following ticket: For Governor, William S. Jen-, 

 nings; Justice of the Supreme Court, Francis B. 

 Carter; Secretary of State, John L. Crawford; 

 Comptroller, W. H. Reynolds; Attorney-General, 

 W. B. Lamar; Superintendent of Public Instruc- 

 tion, W. N. Sheats; State Treasurer, J. B. Whit- 

 field ; Commissioner of Agriculture, B. E. McLin ; 

 Railroad Commissioner, J. L. Morgan. 



The platform approved the Chicago platform of 

 1896, and the stand taken by William J. Bryan 

 on all great questions since that time; denounced 

 maintenance of a large standing army, imperialism, 

 and trusts; favored an income tax, reduction of 

 tariff to a revenue basis; demanded repeal of war 

 taxes, and a return to Democratic principles of 

 economy. 



On State issues the platform said : " We declare 

 in favor of the most liberal support and develop- 

 ment of the public school system. 



" We favor the passage of such laws as will best 

 tend to the improvement of our system of public 

 roads. 



" We favor municipal ownership of all public 

 utilities, pledging the passage of such laws, and, if 

 necessary, such constitutional amendments as will 

 enable municipalities to acquire, own, and operate 

 all such utilities, and the passage of such laws as 

 will, until such ownership, prohibit the granting 

 of municipal franchises for more than a limited 

 term of years, and without the consent of the 

 municipal electors expressed at an election. 



" We favor the nomination of all candidates for 

 office, both State and county, and of United States 

 Senators, by a majority vote in white Democratic 

 primary elections, held under the provisions of law. 



" We demand a radical reform of the State 

 convict system." 



The platform declared that the question of the 

 removal of the State capital from Tallahassee and 

 of the holding of a constitutional convention 

 should be settled by the white Democratic electors 

 of the State, at a primary to be held at the time 

 of holding the State election, Nov. 6. 



On Sept. 12 the Prohibitionists met at Ocala 

 and chose candidates for presidential electors. 

 A. M. Morton was nominated for Governor, but 

 no other State nominations were made. Resolu- 

 tions were passed approving the action of the 

 National Prohibition party at Chicago in 1900, 

 condemning the liquor trade, and requesting voters 

 to withhold support from all candidates who were 

 not pledged to use their influence against liquor. 



The Republican convention held two meetings, 

 the first on Jan. 19, at St. Augustine, the second 

 at Ocala, on July 21. The following ticket was 

 nominated : For Governor, Mathew B. Macfarlane : 

 Secretary of State, George W. Allen; Attorney- 

 General, Frederick Cubberly; Treasurer, Walter 

 G. Robinson; Comptroller, John W. Powell; Su- 

 perintendent of Public Instruction, George W. 

 Holmes; Commissioner of Agriculture, Otto C. 

 Butterwick; Justice of Supreme Court, Henry C. 

 Goodell; Railroad Commissioner, Lambert M. 

 Ware. 



The convention adopted a platform approving 

 the administration of President McKinley and de- 

 claring for the gold standard. On State issues the 

 ]>l;i( form declares: 



"We demand legislative enactments providing 

 that State convicts from the several counties be 

 employed in the construction of good roads in 

 their respective counties. 



