MISSISSIPPI. 



387 



address he emphasized the necessity of action on 

 the Statehouse question, the need of a textile 

 school, of a general primary election law, and of 

 another convict farm, considered the subject of the 

 suppression of mob violence, and expressed disap- 

 proval of the proposition to divide the school 

 money between white and colored schools accord- 

 ing to the proportion of school taxes paid by each 

 race. 



Two United States Senators were to be chosen, 

 one to fill out the unexpired term of the late Sena- 

 tor Walthall, and the other to succeed him at the 

 end of the term in 1901. Anselm J. McLaurin was 

 the unanimous choice of the caucus for the long 

 term, and was elected. For the short term two 

 candidates were before the caucus, ex-Gov. Rob- 

 ert Lowry and William V. Sullivan, who had been 

 appointed to fill the place in the interval before the 

 meeting of the Legislature. Mr. Sullivan was 

 nominated by a vote of 88 to 72, and was elected. 



Laws to the number of 198 were made, and 9 

 resolutions were passed. 



The antitrust law was revised. 



An important bill provides for elections to fill 

 vacancies in offices where they have heretofore 

 been filled by appointment of the Governor. Offi- 

 cials are to be elected where the unexpired term is 

 longer than a year, if it is a district office; or fif- 

 teen months if it is a State office. 



Corporations, associations, and individuals are 

 authorized to exercise eminent domain in construc- 

 tion of canals, ditches, tramways, and pole roads 

 for private transportation. Another act allows 

 public roads to be worked by contract. 



A Statehouse commission was created, to consist 

 of the Governor, the Attorney-General, and three 

 other members, one appointed by the Governor, one 

 by the Senate, and one by the House ; and an issue 

 of $1,000,000 of bonds was authorized for the pur- 

 pose. 



A military board was established, to be com- 

 posed of the Adjutant General, Judge- Advocate 

 General, and the commanding officers of the regi- 

 ments of the National Guard ; they are to make 

 the order and instruction of the militia conform 

 as nearly as practicable to those of the United 

 States army. 



The Governor is to appoint a commission to lo- 

 cate the positions of the State troops in the defense 

 of Vicksburg in 1863, and recommended legislation. 

 An appropriation of $20,000 was made for a monu- 

 ment at Chickamauga Park. 



Acts were passed regulating reinsurance and re- 

 ports of companies, and requiring foreign fire and 

 marine insurance companies to transact their busi- 

 ness in the State through licensed resident agents ; 

 exempting mutual assessment insurance companies 

 from taxation; and allowing mutual benefit soci- 

 eties to do business without complying with the 

 law in regard to foreign companies. 



The laws on taxation were amended in some par- 

 ticulars : Canning factories, steam laundries, 

 money-lending establishments, oil depots, round- 

 bale presses, and land timber mills are to be taxed; 

 branch banks must be taxed in their own districts, 

 and the amount of capital there assessed must be 

 deducted from the assessment of the main bank. 

 Names of persons delinquent on poll taxes are to be 

 published. 



Acts were passed to secure better enforcement of 

 the liquor license laws. Supervisors were author- 

 ized to drain overflowed lands and pay by tax on 

 them at ten cents an acre. 



Xew business enterprises established before 1910 

 are to be exempt from taxation five years. 



A branch experiment station is to be established 

 by the board of the Agricultural College where 



land is given for the purpose. It is to be in what 

 is known as the " piney woods " region, south of 

 the tier of counties on the line of the Alabama and 

 Vicksburg Railroad. 



An appropriation of $40,000 was made for a 

 textile school at the Agricultural College. 



A historical commission was created, to consist 

 of five members appointed by the President of the 

 State Historical Society. Its duty is to make a 

 full, detailed, and exhaustive examination of all 

 sources and materials, documentary and record 

 manuscripts, of the history of Mississippi from the 

 earliest times, whether in this State or elsewhere, 

 and to include therein the records of Mississippi 

 troops in all wars in which they have participated, 

 and also of the location and present condition of 

 battlefields, historic houses and buildings, and 

 other places of historic interest and importance in 

 the State. 



The names of the institutions for the insane were 

 changed. The one that has gone under the name 

 Lunatic Hospital will be known as the State In- 

 sane Hospital, and the other as the East Missis- 

 sippi Insane Hospital, instead of asylum. The 

 Board of Control was directed to buy an artesian 

 well-boring outfit for use at State institutions. 

 Provision was made for an additional farm or 

 farms for the Penitentiary of 8,000 to 15,000 acres. 



The law on sale of public lands was amended so 

 that when the title has failed the patentee may re- 

 ceive from the State the return of the purchase 

 money, fees, and interest; and if the land has yield- 

 ed no profit, he may receive also the taxes paid, 

 with interest. 



The classification of municipal corporations was 

 changed: Cities, 2,000 inhabitants; towns, 300 (in- 

 stead of 500) to 2,000; villages, 100 to 300. 



An act to raise revenue provides for making 

 valid all contracts made previous to the passage of 

 this act and subsequent to Jan. 1, 1895, which are 

 or were null and void or voidable under previous 

 or existing laws because of nonpayment of privi- 

 lege taxes due when such contracts were made, 

 upon terms of full payment of all such privilege 

 taxes so in default with 200 per cent, damages 

 thereon within sixty days from the passage of 

 the act. 



Among other enactments of the session were: 



Regulating the sale and giving of cocaine. 



Exempting Confederate soldiers who are infirm 

 or over sixty years of age from the operation of the 

 act imposing privilege taxes on certain industries, 

 except those on the selling of liquor, deadly weap- 

 ons, pool tables, and some others. 



Defining the concealment of a lien in case of sale 

 as false pretense. 



Authorizing boards of supervisors to compel vac- 

 cination ; also to pay for isolation and disinfection 

 in cases of contagious and infectious diseases. 



Fixing the number of pounds to the bushel of 

 wheat, corn, rye, and other products in all, 33. 



Providing that a transfer of property between 

 husband and wife shall not be valid against a third 

 person unless it is placed on record. 



Providing for pensioning Confederate soldiers 

 and sailors and widows: appropriating $150,000 

 for each of the two years to come, instead of $75,- 

 000 yearly, as heretofore. 



An appropriation of $1,000.000 was made for the 

 public schools, and $272,535 for colleges, white and 

 colored ; for hospitals and other charitable institu- 

 tions, $289,918. 



Two constitutional amendments were passed, to 

 be submitted to vote in November. One requires 

 the poll tax of each county to be retained for the 

 school fund there, repealing the provision that all 

 the poll tax money be apportioned among the 



