Y22 



TEXAS. 



JOSEPH DRAPER SAYER8, 

 GOVERNOR OF TEXAS. 



TEXAS, a Southern State, admitted to the 

 Union Dec. 29, 1845 ; area, 265,780 square miles. 

 The population, according to each decennial census 

 since admission, was 212,592 in 1850; 604,215 in 

 1860 ; 818,759 in 1870 ; 1,591,749 in 1880 ; and 2,235,- 

 523 in 1890. Capital, Austin. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers in 1897 : Governor, Charles A. Culberson ; 

 Lieutenant Governor, George T. Jester ; Secretary 

 of State, J. W. Madden ; Treasurer, W. B. Wortham ; 



Comptroller,R.W. 

 Finley ; Superin- 

 tendent of Public 

 Instruction, James 

 M. Carlisle : Com- 

 missioner of the 

 Land Office, An- 

 drew J. Baker ; 

 Commissioner of 

 Agriculture and 

 Insurance, Jeffer- 

 son Johnson ; At- 

 torney-General, 

 Martin M. Crane ; 

 Adjutant General, 

 Woodford H. Ma- 

 bry, who died Jan. 

 4,1899; HealthOffi- 

 cer, R. M. Swear- 

 ingen, who died 

 Aug. 7, and was 

 succeeded by Wal- 

 ter F. Blunt ; Chairman of the Railroad Commis- 

 sion, John H. Reagan ; Chief Justice of the Supreme 

 Court, Reuben R. Gaines ; Associate Justices, Leroy 

 G. Denman and Thomas J. Brown ; Clerk, Charles 

 S. Morse. All are Democrats. 



Finances. The outstanding bonds of the State 

 aggregate $3,992,030, of which $3,254,040 are held 

 by special funds and $737,990 by individuals. 

 These latter bonds consist of $1,790, $663,200, and 

 $73,000, bear 4, 5, and 7 per cent, interest, and are 

 due in 1899, 1909, and 1904, respectively. 



The Comptroller's report shows $677,086.23 col- 

 lected as occupation taxes by the State for the year 

 ending April 30, 1898 ; and the total of occupation 

 taxes collected in the counties was $941,701.08. 



The receipts of the Department of State for the 

 year were $62,833. 



A decision of the Supreme Court in January sus- 

 tains the validity of the courthouse, jail, road, and 

 bridge bonds issued by the counties, holding that it 

 is not necessary for a county commissioners' court 

 to make provision for the levy of a tax to pay inter- 

 est and establish a sinking fund for such bonds at 

 the time they are issued. A constitutional amend- 

 ment seeking to validate such bonds held by the 

 school fund was voted down by the people in Au- 

 gust, 1897. The decision of the court validates them 

 by whomsoever held. 



Education. The law limits the School Board to 

 investments of the fund in county bonds bearing 

 not less than 5 per cent, interest. The Comptrol- 

 ler's report says that $1,134,247 was in the treasury 

 Dec. 1 to the credit of the permanent school fund, 

 and that it could not be invested because the board 

 could not buy 5-per-"cent. county bonds at par, and 

 the amount of this class of securities held for the 

 fund has decreased $344,491 the past year. 



Of the 75,916,277 acres of unlocate.d public do- 

 main, including the bays that were in the State at 

 the time of the adoption of the present Constitu- 

 tion, half was to be made a part of the perpetual 

 school fund. But this fund has received only 23,- 

 970,000 acres and the proceeds of the sale of 4,131,- 

 617 acres, leaving over 9,800,000 acres still due: 

 while 44,006,966 acres have been alienated for other 



purposes, leaving only about 3,800,000 acres that 

 may be turned into the school fund. This state of 

 affairs threatens to unsettle the titles of many 

 who have acquired land under the homestead law 

 and in other ways. 



A dispatch from Dallas, Oct. 18, said : " The grand 

 jury of Webb County has found nearly 20 indict- 

 ments against men for school-census frauds. More 

 than 1,000 fraudulent names have been discovered 

 on the rolls of the public schools of Laredo, the re- 

 sult of importing Mexican children across the Rio 

 Grande. These indictments are the result of 

 charges by the Populist candidate for Governor, 

 that during the last seven years more than $3,000.- 

 000 of State school funds had been paid to south- 

 western Texas politicians by the school-census pad- 

 ding plan." Ihe school population of 1897 was 

 given as 775,933. 



The regents of the State University report press- 

 ing need of more room. An increase is reported in 

 the income from university lands which has made 

 possible the construction of the east wing of the 

 main building, at a cost of $38,642.50, and the re- 

 pair of the foundation and walls of the auditorium. 



The Agricultural and Mechanical College had an 

 attendance of 391 in 1898, and some applicants wen- 

 turned away on account of lack of room. Special 

 appropriations, amounting to $106,500 for build- 

 ings and improvements, are asked for the coming 

 biennium. 



Charities and Corrections. The insane asy- 

 lums are not only filled, but it is estimated thai 

 there are 1,000 lunatics in the jails, upon the poor 

 farms, and under private care and restraint in the 

 State. 



The State School for the Deaf has about 180 

 pupils, the Institute for Deaf and Blind Colored 

 Children about 75, and the State Orphans' Homo 

 about 350. 



The Confederate Soldiers' Home seems not to be 

 very liberally supported. The deficit for two years 

 was given as about $8,000, and many qualified ap- 

 plicants are refused admission on account of lack of 

 funds. 



At the close of November there were 4,483 peni- 

 tentiary convicts, distributed as follows : Contract 

 forces, 1,667 ; share forces, 640 ; railroad forces. 334 ; 

 Harlem State farm, 189 ; Rusk Penitentiary, 781 : 

 Huntsville Penitentiary, 872. 



In regard to the cost the Governor says : 



" An examination of the official reports shows 

 that for eight years past each of the penitentiaries 

 has been, and is now, from a financial standpoint, 

 a losing institution, the one at Rusk being by far 

 the greater loser. Had it not been for the Stale 

 and share farms, the contract farms, and the rail- 

 road forces, it would have been necessary to draw 

 very heavily on the treasury every year to supply 

 the deficit at both penitentiaries. According to tho 

 reports of those in charge of the system for the t wo 

 years ending Oct. 31, 1898, the receipts were $1,4 1:>.- 

 865.78, and the expenditures $1,871,186.77. 



Military. The strength of the organized militia 

 in April was 2,958. The quota under the first call 

 for volunteers was 4,229. Five regiments wer<) 

 furnished by the State for the war. 



Collections were made in the Sunday schools of 

 the State for the purpose of giving a Bible and ;i 

 sword to Capt. Philip, of the battle ship " Texa-.' 



The battlefield of San Jacinto is to be converted 

 into a park, and condemnation proceedings wn > 

 instituted this year for securing the land. About 

 250 acres will be secured soon, unless the owners 

 resist by appeal to higher courts. 



Railroads. During the first six months of tli 

 year, 63.08 miles of railroad were built in the Stat< . 

 The El Paso and Northeastern, which is to run 



